Method of and Apparatus
For Selecting IPX/IGX Nodes in a Multi-Domain Environment
United States Patent
6,693,876
Zey
February 17,
2004
Selecting IPX/IGX nodes
in a multi-domain environment
Abstract
A method is disclosed for connecting a customer
representative to a customer switch within a
telecommunications network having a plurality of switch
domains, each switch domain including a plurality of
switches each having a corresponding switch name. At
least one of the switches is a gateway switch. The method
includes receiving a switch name corresponding to a
selected customer switch and displaying a listing of
switches residing within a first one of the switch
domains. A determination is then made on whether the
received switch resides in a first switch domain. A list
of gateway switches residing within the selected switch
domain is also provided. And from this list a gateway
switch is selected in accordance with its availability. A
connection is thereafter made via the gateway switch to
the received switch. If the received switch is determined
not to be resident in the displayed switch listing, a
further listing of switches of another switch domain is
displayed. A determination is next made on whether the
received switch resides within the now displayed switch
domain. This process is repeated until a match is made or
until it is determined that the received switch is not
resident in any of the switch domains.
1. A method of determining a switch domain from among a
plurality of switch domains in a telecommunications
network, each of said switch domains comprising a
plurality of customer switches and at least one gateway
switch, said method comprising the steps of:
(1) obtaining a switch name corresponding to a selected
customer switch;
(2) displaying a listing of switches residing within one
switch domain;
(3) determining whether said selected customer switch
resides within said one switch domain by comparing said
displayed switch listing with said obtained switch name;
(4) displaying a listing of switches residing within
another switch domain if said selected customer switch
does not reside within said one switch domain; and
(5) repeating step(3) and step(4) until said selected
customer switch is found to reside within a switch domain
or until all available switch domains have been reviewed.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said telecommunications
network includes a plurality of gateway switches residing
in at least one of said switch domains of said plurality
of switch domains, further comprising the steps of:
providing a list of gateway switches residing within said
selected switch domain; and
selecting a gateway switch from said list of gateway
switches for establishing a connection to the selected
customer switch by way of said selected gateway switch.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:
selecting a gateway switch from among said plurality of
gateway switches in accordance with the respective
availability of said gateway switches.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein said gateway switches
of said plurality of gateway switches form a loop, said
method further comprising the step of:
selecting a gateway switch from said loop of switches in
accordance with a predetermined order for each of said
gateway switches forming said loop.
5. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps
of:
displaying a listing of said switch domains;
indicating the selected switch domain within said listing
of switch domains; and
providing a listing of gateway switches in the switch
domain selected in said indicating step.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:
displaying said listing of switches in response to a
prompt by a user indicating that the switch domain of
said obtained switch name is not known.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps
of:
displaying the respective listings of switches residing
within each of a plurality of switch domains; and
determining whether said selected customer switch resides
within a switch domain of one of said plurality of switch
domains.
8. The method of claim 4, wherein said switches comprise
IPX/IGX switches.
9. In a telecommunications network having a plurality of
switch domains, a method of determining the switch domain
wherein a customer switch is located and the connection
of said customer switch within said switch domain,
comprising the steps of:
obtaining a switch name corresponding to a selected
customer switch;
comparing said obtained switch name with the names of the
switches located in said plurality of switch domains;
selecting a switch domain from said plurality of switch
domains that contains said selected customer switch; and
selecting a gateway switch from a plurality of gateway
switches within said selected switch domain to which said
selected customer switch is connected.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step
of:
providing a listing of gateway switches residing within
said selected switch domain.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein said plurality of
gateway switches form a loop of switches, further
comprising the step of:
selecting a gateway switch from said loop of switches in
accordance with a predetermined ordering for said gateway
switches forming said loop.
12. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps
of:
displaying a listing of said plurality of switch domains;
indicating said selected switch domain within said
listing of switch domains; and
providing said listing of gateway switches within said
selected switch domain.
13. The method of claim 9, wherein upon determining that
said selected customer switch is not included within one
switch domain of said plurality of switch domains,
further comprising the steps of:
comparing the obtained switch name with the switch names
of another switch domain; and
determining whether said selected customer switch resides
in said other switch domain by comparing said obtained
switch name with the names of switches in said one switch
domain.
14. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps
of:
displaying respective listings of switches residing
within said plurality of corresponding switch domains;
and
determining whether said selected customer switch resides
within a switch domain of said plurality of switch
domains per listing in one of said respective listings of
said obtained switch name.
15. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step
of:
connecting said selected customer switch to a customer
service representative.
16. In a telecommunications network having at least one
processor and a plurality of switch domains, a system for
determining a switch domain in which a customer switch is
located, comprising:
a plurality of switches residing within each of said
switch domains, said switches including customer switches
and at least one gateway switch;
means for enabling a user to obtain a customer switch
name that corresponds to a selected customer switch;
means for displaying a listing of switches residing
within one of said switch domains; and
means for determining whether said selected customer
switch resides within said one switch domain by comparing
the names of the switches on said displayed listing with
said customer switch name.
17. System of claim 16, further comprising:
means for connecting said user to said selected customer
switch if it is determined that said customer switch
resides within said one switch domain.
18. System of claim 16, wherein said displaying means
further displays a listing of switches residing within
another of said switch domains if it is determined that
said selected customer switch does not reside within said
one switch domain; and
wherein said determining means further determines if said
selected switch resides within said other switch domain
by comparing the switch listing of said other switch
domain with said customer switch name.
19. System of claim 16, wherein said switches comprise
IPX/IGX switches.
20. A computer program product for implementing a method
of determining a switch domain from among a plurality of
switch domains in a telecommunications network, each of
said switch domains comprising a plurality of customer
switches and at least one gateway switch, said computer
program product embodied on a computer readable medium,
executable on a data processing system, said computer
program product method comprising:
instructions for providing a first listing of switches,
wherein first listing of switches comprising names of
switches residing within a first switch domain;
instructions for receiving a first user selection
interaction, said first user selection interaction
designating a customer switch name included in said first
listing of switches;
instructions for providing a second listing of switches,
wherein second listing of switches comprising names of
switches residing within a second switch domain;
instructions for receiving a second user selection
interaction, said second user selection interaction
designating said customer switch name included in said
second listing of switches; and
instructions for repeatedly providing subsequent listings
of switches, wherein said subsequent listings of switches
comprising names of switches in respective subsequent
switch domains, and said subsequent listings of switches
provided if said second selection user interaction is not
received and until a subsequent selection user
interaction is received, or until listings of names of
switches in all respective available subsequent switch
domains have been provided.
21. The computer program product of claim 20 further
comprises:
instructions for providing a list of gateway switches,
wherein said list of gateway switches includes names of
gateway switches residing within a switch domain
designating as also having a customer switch residing
therein.
22. The computer program product of claim 21 further
comprises:
instructions for providing availability information for
said gateway switches in said list of gateway switches.
23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein
gateway switches residing within a switch domain being
coupled together in a loop arrangement, the computer
program product further comprises:
instructions for obtaining an available gateway switch
within the switch domain designating as also having a
customer switch residing therein.
24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein
instructions for obtaining an available gateway switch
further comprise:
instructions for accessing gateway switches in the loop
arrangement in a predetermined order;
instructions for checking gateway switches in the loop
arrangement for availability; and
instructions for circumnavigating the loop arrangement
until an available gateway switch is obtained.
25. The computer program product of claim 21 further
comprises:
instructions for providing a listing of switch domains;
instructions for receiving a further selection user
interaction, said further selection user interaction
designating a switch domain within said listing of switch
domains; and
instructions for providing a second listing of gateway
switches, wherein gateway switches of said second listing
of gateway switches residing in the designating switch
domain.
26. The computer program product of claim 20 further
comprises:
instructions for receiving a user prompt, said user
prompt indicating that said customer switch name is not
known; and
instructions for providing a listing of switch names in
response to receiving said user prompt.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to information switching in a
communications network and, in particular, to performing
tests upon switches within such communications network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Telecommunications networks include multiple links or
trunks interconnected by nodes or switches. The
interconnecting switches are typically high speed digital
switches using known protocols. Digital switches used for
this purpose include, for example, the well known
internetwork packet exchange switches (IPX) and its wider
bandwidth version IGX switches.
Communication using IPX/IGX switches is performed by way
of routers over access links a using switching protocols
such as the conventional Frame-Relay protocol. Switches
manufactured by the Stratacom Company are but one example
of this type of high speed digital switch. Such IPX/IGX
switches are connected with other IPX/IGX switches in
conventional telecommunication networks. One example of
such a network of interconnected switches is the Concert
Framed Relay Service network.
In a modem telecommunications networks such as the
Concert Framed Relay Service network, the IPX/IGX
switches are divided into a relatively small number of
switch domains. Each switch domain is provided with a
number of gateway switches which must be used in order to
gain access to the IPX/IGX switches within the switch
domain. Thus, in order to access a selected IPX/IGX
switch organized in this manner, one must have
information with respect to the switch domain in which
the selected switch resides, as well as information with
respect to which switches residing within the domain are
designated as the gateway switches of the domain.
When IPX/IGX switches fail, customers often call customer
service representatives within one of the service
organizations that provide a first line support for the
communications network. These service organizations
include global product support organizations or global
virtual network organizations. The customer service
representatives in these organizations must attempt to
immediately solve the reported problem. When they fail,
the customer problem is turned over to other types of
support organizations. The resolution of the customer
problem is therefore delayed. This delay can undermine
customer satisfaction.
In order to deal with some of the problems reported by
customers, it is sometimes necessary to access an IPX/IGX
switch associated with the customer reporting the
problem. Specific procedures must then be applied in
order to troubleshoot the customer switch and assist the
customer.
However, prior to the instant invention, it is often
difficult or impossible for a customer service
representative to know or determine the switch domain in
which the customer switch resides. Furthermore, even if
the customer service representative does know the domain
whereat the customer switch resides, it nonetheless can
be time consuming to determine which of the many switches
within the domain is being used as the gateway switch for
gaining access to the customer switch.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method that
enables a user in a first line support of a
telecommunications network to establish a connection with
the switch of a customer having problem with his
telephone service.
Furthermore, such a method should not require any
information not customarily or readily available in order
to establish the connection.
Additionally, in order to facilitate the operation
performed by the user, it is desirable to assist a user
to gain access to a gateway switch in the domain in which
the customer switch resides.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method is disclosed for connecting a user terminal to a
customer switch within a telecommunications network that
has a plurality of switch domains, each switch domain
having a plurality of switches including customer
switches and at least one gateway switch. The switches
each have a switch name. The method includes obtaining a
switch name corresponding to a received switch and
displaying a listing of switches residing within a first
switch domain. A switch domain is selected by determining
whether the obtained switch resides within a first switch
domain in accordance with the displayed switch listing
and the switch name. From a provided list of gateway
switches residing within the selected switch domain, a
gateway switch is selected for establishing a connection
to the obtained switch. The selection of the gateway
switch from a plurality of gateway switches is done in
accordance with their availability. This can be achieved
by first grouping the plurality of gateway switches into
a group ordered in a configuration such as a loop and
then using a predetermined loop order to select the
switch. If the received switch is determined not to be
within the displayed switch listing, a further listing of
switches residing within a second switch domain is
displayed. A further determination is then made on
whether the received switch resides within the second
switch domain in accordance with the further displayed
listing and the obtained switch name.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a preferred embodiment of the node selection
method of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a computer screen showing a display of an
exemplary IPX/IGX switch domain menu;
FIGS. 3A-E are representative of computer files
containing exemplary listings of IPX/IGX switches
organized according to the switch domain in which the
IPX/IGX switches reside;
FIG. 4 is a computer screen showing a video display of an
exemplary IPX/IGX switch domain menu; and
FIG. 5 is a computer screen showing commands that can be
use in the node selection method of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a first domain
determination method of the present invention. The method
of the present invention is advantageously applied to a
telecommunications network having a plurality of IPX/IGX
switches with the IPX/IGX switches being divided into
switch domains. A telecommunications network wherein the
first domain determination method can be advantageously
applied is set forth for example in "Method and
Article of Manufacture for Communication to
Telecommunications Switches, Such as IPX Switches",
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/914,537, filed on
Aug. 8, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,164, the disclosure
of which being incorporated by reference herein. The
operations of the inventive domain selection method can
be performed by a processor having conventional memory
which is coupled to the switches of a telecommunications
network.
In particular, the inventive domain determination method
can be used by a user who may be a customer service
representative in an organization serving as a first line
of support for customers of the telecommunications
network. By way of the inventive domain selection method,
the user could establish a virtual connection with the
site of a customer who had lodged a complaint about his
telephone service, so that the customer could assist the
service representative in promptly resolving the
complaint.
Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a IPX/IGX switch
domain menu 10 of the present invention for use within a
telecommunications network. IPX/IGX switch domain menu 10
can be used by the customer service representative of the
support organization to locate a particular IPX/IGX
switch in the telecommunications network for the purpose
of establishing a virtual connection with a customer in
response to a report of a problem by the customer.
When a problem is received from a customer, the customer
service representative usually knows the name of the
IPX/IGX switch of the customer. However, in order to
perform certain troubleshooting procedures, the
representative has to know which domain includes the
selected switch. Thus, the customer service
representative can use the inventive domain determination
method to determine the correct domain based upon the
knowledge of the customer switch as shown in step 2 of
FIG. 1.
In the exemplar case wherein the switches of a
telecommunications network are divided into five switch
domains, a IPX/IGX switch domain menu 10 having an entry
for each of the five switch domains is displayed. This
permits the user of menu 10 to select the correct switch
domain if he knows the domain wherein the selected switch
resides. However, usually the user does not have this
knowledge.
Referring now to FIGS. 3A-E, there are shown switch
listing files 20-60. Each switch listing file 20-60
corresponds to a domain in a multi-domain
telecommunications network. A listing of all switches
residing in their corresponding domains is contained
within each switch listing file 20-60. The information
regarding which switches are in each domain is collected
prior to execution of the inventive method.
For the exemplar case in hand, if the user does not know
which of the five switch domains listed in IPX/IGX switch
domain menu 10 includes the customer switch, the user
would enter an N prompt on switch domain menu 10. When
the N prompt is entered, a display of at least one switch
listing file 20-60 is provided. In a preferred embodiment
of the invention, at least two switch listing files 20-60
could be displayed simultaneously.
Thus, as shown in step 3 of FIG. 1, switch listing files
20, 30 are displayed in response to the user entering a
prompt such as for example the N prompt. Switch listing
file 20 includes a substantially complete listing of the
names of the IPX/IGX switches resident in domain 1, while
switch listing file 30 includes a substantially complete
listing of the names of the IPX/IGX switches resident in
domain 2. Since the user would normally know the name of
the selected customer switch, it is possible for the user
to review switch listing files 20, 30 to determine
whether the customer switch is resident within domain 1
or domain 2, per decision step 4. The customer switches
within each of the switch domains may be arranged in an
alphabetical order.
If the user does not find the customer switch in either
domain 1 or domain 2, he presses the Enter key. A display
of further switch listing files ensues, as for example by
the display of switch listing files 40, 50, per step 5.
As shown, switch listing file 40 includes a substantially
complete listing of the names of the IPX/IGX switches
resident in domain 3, while switch listing file 50
includes a substantially complete listing of the names of
the IPX/IGX switches resident in domain 4. Per step 6,
the user can therefore review switch listing files 40, 50
to determine whether the customer switch is resident
within either domain 3 or domain 4.
If the user does not find the customer switch in the
listings of domain 1 through domain 4, he again presses
the Enter key. The further use of the Enter key causes
the display of switch listing file 60 as shown in step 7.
Switch listing file 60 includes a substantially complete
list of the names of the IPX/IGX switches resident in
domain 5. The user can therefore review switch listing
file 60 to determine whether the customer switch is
resident within domain 5, per step 8.
If no match is found between the customer switch and any
of the switches in the exemplar five domains, the user is
informed that no match exists per step 9. The user can
then select an appropriate option in command menu 80 to
begin search for another switch, per step 11.
Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown an exemplar
IPX/IGX switch domain menu 70. IPX/IGX switch domain menu
70 can assist the user in establishing a virtual
connection to the customer switch. A list of the five
domains present within the telecommunication network is
provided in IPX/IGX switch domain menu 70. When the user
determines which of the five domains includes the
customer switch as set forth above, he can use IPX/IGX
switch domain menu 70 to select the correct domain as
shown per step 12.
In the preferred embodiment each of the five domains can
include five gateway switches for permitting access to
the remaining switches of the domain. A list of the
gateway switches of each of the five domains is
maintained in order to facilitate access to the customer
switch by the user. Thus, when the user selects a domain
by means of IPX/IGX switch domain menu 70, a gateway
switch within the selected domain can be automatically
obtained for the user as shown in step 13.
Typically the gateway switches of a domain are coupled in
a loop arrangement wherein they are accessed in a
predetermined loop order until an available gateway
switch is found. If none of the gateway switches is
available after all have been tried, the inventive domain
determination method will continue to attempt to access a
gateway switch by circumnavigating around the loop until
one of the gateway switches becomes available.
Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown command menu 80
provided to the user via a video display. Command menu 80
is displayed if a match is found between the selected
switch name and the switch names in a switch listing,
such as for example switch listing file 20. Using command
menu 80 the user can select a desired command and proceed
to attempt to solve the customer problem. Thus, the user
gains access to a gateway switch, as shown in step 14,
and establishes a virtual connection to the customer
switch, as shown in step 15.
In another embodiment, IPX/IGX switch domain menus 10, 70
are not required by the user to determine a domain and a
gateway switch based upon a selected switch name provided
by a customer. In this embodiment, the user can merely
input the name of the selected user switch. The selected
switch name is then compared by the processor of the
network against the switch names within the switch
listing file, for example switch listing file 20, without
any display of switch listing 20 being necessary. If a
match is found, the gateway switch is found.
In order to execute the command entered by the user from
command menu 80, an attempt is made to connect to the
first switch in the loop configured gateway switches of
the first domain. If the first gateway switch of the loop
is busy, access to the second gateway switch is
attempted. When access is obtained using this method, the
user is provided with a virtual terminal to the customer
switch. When the virtual connection to the customer
switch is established, the selected command is executed.
If no match is found between the selected switch name and
the switch names in the switch listing file, the selected
switch name is compared against the switch names within
the next switch listing file, for example switch listing
file 30, without any display of switch listing file 30
being necessary. If a match is found in the next switch
listing file, a gateway switch is determined for the user
and a virtual connection established. Otherwise the
process of testing the next domain continues until a
match is found or the user is informed that the selected
switch name does not exist in memory, per step 8. The
user can then attempt to establish the virtual connection
by entering another switch name as shown in step11.
If the user wants to view the nodes available in each of
the domains while using the alternate embodiment, option
N in the domain menu can be selected. Option N produces a
display of the switch listing files, for example switch
listing files 20-60. The correct domain can then be
selected by the user by comparing the name of the user
switch against the switches in the various domains as
previously described.
The above description of the preferred embodiments is
provided to enable a person skilled in the art to make
and use the present invention. The various modifications
to these embodiments should be readily apparent to those
skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined
herein can be applied to other embodiments without the
use of the inventive faculty. Thus, the present invention
is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown
herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent
with the principles and novel features disclosed.
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