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Method and apparatus for enabling the detection of transparent defects

Method and apparatus for enabling the detection of transparent defects description/claims

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/049,383, filed Feb. 2, 2005, entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENABLING THE DETECTION OF TRANSPARENT DEFECTS”, which has been allowed. The aforementioned related patent application is herein incorporated by reference.

In communication networks, customer impacting disruptions sometimes occur. Most of these disruptions produce alarms that allow network operators to quickly restore service. Occasionally, however, defects in the network occur and are masked as normal events. For example sometimes the network fails to detect the active status of an endpoint connected to it and sends a call destined to that endpoint directly to voicemail. This event occurs because of a miscommunication between the endpoint and the network and not because the endpoint is truly unavailable. Since the network is temporarily blind to the true status of the endpoint, this type of event is treated as normal even though customers are impacted by not being able to receive calls.

Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for enabling the detection of transparent defects in packet switched networks, e.g., VoIP networks.

In one embodiment, the present invention enables the network to determine the true state of events that appear normal but produce service disruptions by periodically probing the status of all network elements and endpoints and comparing this status to historical trends of the network. Events that deviate from a historical view will be alarmed to determine their true status. For example, a historical analysis may suggest that at a certain point during the day, 20% of endpoints should be unreachable and therefore subject to receiving voicemail, if a probe determines a fluctuation in the current data from this historical trend, network operators will be alerted so that they can further investigate the health of the network.

The teaching of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network related to the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of enabling the detection of transparent defects in a VoIP network of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method for collecting historical trend data of call volumes and call flows in a VoIP network of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method for analyzing historical trend data of call volumes and call flows to detect transparent defects in a VoIP network of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a high level block diagram of a general purpose computer suitable for use in performing the functions described herein.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures.

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