Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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METHOD OF MANUFACTURE FOR A KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TOOL
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to knowledge management and more particularly to
a tool for
extracting data from various knowledge repositories to create a virtual single
knowledge
source.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
People who use computer systems and networks often need to look up information
about the
system they are using. Traditionally, information was stored in books and
manuals, which
were often kept physically near to the computer. If a user needed to look up
information, he
turned to a single source--the paper manuals stored conveniently nearby.
Currently, however, the amount of technical information available about a
given computer
system can be very large and can be stored at a wide variety of sources.
Information is often
provided to customers in "online" form, dispensing entirely with paper copies.
This online
information includes online databases, CD ROM databases, proprietary help
systems, and
online manuals. Large amounts of technical information are also available from
third party
online sources and from sources such as the World Wide Web.
Amid an apparent wealth of online information, people still have problems
finding the
information they need. Online information retrieval may have problems
including those
related to inappropriate user interface designs and to poor or inappropriate
organization and
structure of the information. Storage of information online in a variety of
forms leads to
certain information retrieval problems, several of which are described below.
The existence of a variety of information sources leads to the lack of a
unified information
space. An "information space" is the set of all sources of information that is
available to a user
at a given time or setting. When information is stored in many formats and at
many sources, a
user is forced to spend too much "overhead" on discovering and remembering
where different
information is located (e.g., online technical books, manual pages
("manpages"), release
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notes, help information, etc.). The user also spends a large amount of time
remembering how
to find information in each delivery mechanism. Thus, it is difficult for the
user to remember
where potentially relevant information might be, and the user is forced to
jump between
multiple different online tools to find it.
The existence of a variety of information sources leads to information
strategies that lack
cohesion. Users currently must learn to use and remember a variety of
metaphors, user
interfaces, and searching techniques for each delivery mechanism and class of
information.
No one type of interface suits all users. Furthennore, a user may need
different types of
searching techniques and interfaces, depending on the circumstances and the
nature of the
specific information needed.
The existence of a variety of information sources leads to lack of links
between sources of
information. Conventional delivery mechanisms often support only loosely
structured
navigation, such as keyword search or hyperlinks. Such mechanisms provide the
user with
only a local organization of information instead of providing a global picture
of the
information space.
The existence of a variety of information sources leads to frustration if the
information uses a
wide variety of terms or uses terms not familiar to the user. In addition,
users employ
concepts and terms differently than technical writers and authors.
Conventional delivery
mechanisms often rely on a keyword search as a primary means of finding
information. If the
user's vocabulary does not sufficiently overlap with indices employed by a
delivery
mechanism, a keyword search will result in a high percentage of disappointing
and frustrating
"term misses." The only recovery method for a failed keyword search is simply
to guess at
better query.
The existence of a variety of information sources leads to titles and
descriptions of the
information that are not intuitive to a user. Users often conceptually group
and describe
problems differently than do information organizers and writers. If, for
example, a user does
not know the title of a book or the name of a database, he may not be able to
find the
information stored therein.
As computer systems become more complex and as sources of online information
proliferate,
it becomes more and more difficult for users to locate the information they
need. Even worse,
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users may not always be aware of all the existing sources of information.
Moreover, certain
users may not use certain sources of information, even though they are aware
of them, if they
are not familiar with the interface or find it too difficult to use.
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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method is provided for managing data across an enterprise (i.e., a business,
company, etc.),
which allows users to browse through several databases and sources as if the
actual data
resided in one vast, all-encompassing database. A request for information is
received from a
user. For example, such a request may be in the form of a search query or
through selection
of a link. Data relating to the user request is searched for in at least two
geographically
separated information repositories, such as databases. A network such as an
intranet or the
Internet may be used to access the repositories. A wireless network could also
be used.
Preferably, the information repositories form part of a secure network. The
results of the
search are presented to the user such as by sending the results to a user
station where they can
be displayed. The user is allowed to browse through additional data of the
information
repositories. Links between data items and other data entries in the
information repositories
are created according to relationships the data items have to the other data
entries. A smart
engine may be used to create such links. For example, if you search for a
particular person,
the search engine returns information not only on the person, but also on the
clients, topics,
documents, and projects about which that person has made entries into the
information
repositories. This allows the user to browse across relationships (instead of
repeatedly
entering searches) that could not be found by ordinary search engines.
In one aspect of the present invention a chart showing statistics about data
in the information
repositories is generated. One of the most interesting tools provided by the
invention is the
ability to view statistics on people, clients, and topics. The invention can
generate Gantt charts
(charts that show timelines related to, in this case, people and clients),
line charts that show
the number of documents on a particular topic posted per year, or pie charts
that illustrate the
volume of entries on that topic found in various libraries.
As an option, where the request for information is about a person, data
relating to at least one
of clients, topics, documents, and projects about which that person has made
entries into the
information repositories is output to the user. As another option, the user is
allowed or
required to select a category as part of the request for information for
limiting the results of
the search. The categories may include person, document, topic, project,
and/or client. It
should be kept in mind that equivalent words could be used interchangeably
with these topics.
For example, a topic category of "employee" or "name" may be equivalent to the
topic
category "person."
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Preferably, the results of the search include abstracts of the data found
during the search.
Optionally, a dossier that includes people, prior documents, and past projects
pertaining
to the requested information is prepared based on the request for information.
In summary, one aspect of the invention provides for a method for managing
data across
an enterprise, comprising the steps of :
a) allowing a user to select a category from a plurality of predefined
categories of
information;
b) receiving an indication of the category selected by the user;
c) receiving a request for information which has predetermined associations
with
the selected category, said predetermined associations being previously
stored;
d) searching for a first set of data relating to the requested information,
said
searching being performed in at least two geographically separated information
repositories, wherein data items in the repositories include information
associated with at
least two categories selected from the group consisting of a person, a client,
a topic, a
document, a project, and an industry;
e) presenting the first set of data to the user, said first set of data being
grouped
in at least one category not selected by the user;
f) allowing the user to select one item from the first set of data and then
retrieving
a second set of data in the information repositories related to the item
selected by the
user;
g) displaying the second set of data to the user, the second set of data being
grouped in at least one category not selected by the user;
h) displaying a graphical image of links between the item selected by the user
and
the second set of data according to relationships between the item selected by
the user
and the second set of data.
Another aspect of the invention provides for a computer readable medium having
embodied thereon computer executable instructions for managing data across an
enterprise, the computer executable instructions comprising:
a) a code segment for allowing a user to select a category from a plurality of
predefined categories of information;
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b) a code segment for receiving an indication of the category selected by the
user;
c) a code segment for receiving a request for information which has pre-
determined associations with the selected category, said predetermined
associations
being previously stored;
d) a code segment for searching for a first set of data relating to the
requested
information, said searching being performed in at least two geographically
separated
information repositories, wherein data items in the repositories include
information
associated with at least two categories selected from the group consisting of
a person, a
client, a topic, a document, a project, and an industry;
e) a code segment for presenting the first set of data to the user, said first
set of
data being grouped in at least one category not selected by the user;
f) a code segment for allowing the user to select one item from the first set
of data
and then retrieving a second set of data in the information repositories
related to the item
selected by the user;
g) a code segment for displaying the second set of data to the user, the
second set
of data being grouped in at least one category not selected by the user;
h) a code segment for displaying a graphical image of links between the item
selected by the user and the second set of data according to relationships
between the
item selected by the user and the second set of data.
Another aspect of the invention provides for a system for managing data across
an
enterprise, the system comprising:
a) logic for allowing a user to select a category from a plurality of
predefined
categories of information;
b) logic for receiving an indication of the category selected by the user;
c) logic for receiving a request for information which has predetermined
associations with the selected category, said predetermined associations being
previously
stored;
d) logic for searching for a first set of data relating to the requested
information,
said searching being performed in at least two geographically separated
information
repositories, wherein data items in the repositories include information
associated with at
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least two categories selected from the group consisting of a person, a client,
a topic, a
document, a project, and an industry;
e) logic for presenting the first set of data to the user, said first set of
data being
grouped in at least one category not selected by the user;
f) logic for allowing the user to select one item from the first set of data
and then
retrieving a second set of data in the information repositories related to the
item selected
by the user;
g) logic for displaying the second set of data to the user, the second set of
data
being grouped in at least one category not selected by the user;
h) logic for displaying a graphical image of links between the item selected
by the
user and the second set of data according to relationships between the item
selected by
the user and the second set of data.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood when consideration is given to the
following detailed
description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings
wherein:
Figure 1 illustrates a process for managing data across an enterprise, which
allows users to
browse through several databases and sources as if the actual data resided in
one vast, all-
encompassing database;
Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a hardware implementation of one embodiment
of the
present invention;
Figure 3 depicts a process for providing a user interface for a data
management application
that extracts data from several data sources across an enterprise according to
one embodiment
of the present invention;
Figure 4 illustrates a user interface that may be used with the process shown
in Figure 3;
Figure 5 illustrates search results for a document search according to one
embodiment of the
present invention;
Figure 6 illustrates selection of a search result according to one embodiment
of the present
invention;
Figure 7 illustrates a detailed view of the search result of Figure 6
including several nodes;
Figure 8 illustrates the tree nodes of Figure 7 in an expanded state;
Figure 9 depicts a detailed view of an employee selected by clicking on the
employee's name
in the display shown in Figure 7;
Figure 10 depicts a search result for an employee in the Standard View in
accordance with
one embodiment of the present invention;
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Figure 11 illustrates the search result for an employee in the Categorized
View according to
one embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 12 illustrates a Topic View that illustrates additional topics that may
be of interest to a
search according to one embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 13 illustrates a process for providing an abstract for data in
accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 14 illustrates process for generating a chart in accordance with one
embodiment of the
present invention;
Figure 15 illustrates a Gantt chart for an employee according to an embodiment
of the present
invention;
Figure 16 shows a timeline chart for a company/client that illustrates
information on a specific
topic was posted about the company/client in accordance with an embodiment of
the present
invention;
Figure 17 illustrates a line chart and pie chart for the topic results shown
in Figure 12
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 18 is a flowchart of a process for developing a dossier in accordance
with an
embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 19 depicts an introduction window that appears upon initiation of the
process of Figure
18 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 20 illustrates a text box for entry of the name of the client about
whom a dossier is to
be prepared according to one embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 21 shows a client result window with a list of clients matching the
name entered in the
text box of Figure 20;
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Figure 22 illustrates a window that displays a list of industries associated
with the client(s)
selected from the list displayed in the window of Figure 21;
Figure 23 illustrates a list of other industries that appear in the window of
Figure 22 when the
View Other Industries button of the window of Figure 22 is selected;
Figure 24 depicts a window that displays user-selectable topics for the
proposal dossier from a
list of available topics;
Figure 25 illustrates a window that allows selection of items that will be
displayed in the
dossier;
Figure 26 is a verification window that allows a user to verify that all
information is correct;
Figure 27 illustrates the resultant dossier created by the process of Figure
18;
Figure 28 is a flowchart showing a Fault Management Process in accordance with
a preferred
embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 29 is a block diagram showing a Fault Management component in
accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 30 is a flowchart showing an Element Management Process in accordance
with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 31 is a flowchart showing a Three Tiered Customer Support Process in
accordance
with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and
Figure 32 is a flowchart showing a Data Mining Process in accordance with a
preferred
embodiment of the present invention.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The knowledge management tool according to the present invention is a new tool
for
enterprise-wide knowledge management. The knowledge management tool extracts
data from
various knowledge repositories to create a single knowledge source, allowing
users to browse
through several databases and sources as if the actual data resided in one
vast, all-
encompassing database. The intelligent extraction process also creates links
between items
according the relationships they have to other database entries. (For example,
if a search is
made for a particular person, the search engine returns information not only
on the person, but
also on the clients, topics, documents, and projects about which that person
has made entries
into knowledge exchange (KX) databases.) This allows the user to browse across
relationships (instead of repeatedly entering searches) that could not be
found by ordinary
search engines.
The knowledge management tool consists of a simple graphical user interface
(GUI) for
accessing the extracted data. The interface is similar to a Web browser: The
user can view
"pages" of information extracted from the knowledge exchange and click
hyperlinks to see
information about related items. The result is an application that allows a
user to search and
browse the knowledge exchange, creating a fast, efficient way to find and use
enterprise-wide
knowledge.
Figure 1 illustrates a process 100 for managing data across an enterprise
(i.e., a business,
company, etc.), which allows users to browse through several databases and
sources as if the
actual data resided in one vast, all-encompassing database. In operation 102,
a request for
information is received from a user. Such a request may be in the form of a
search query or
through selection of a link, for example. Data relating to the user request is
searched for in
operation 104 in at least two geographically separated information
repositories, such as
databases. A network such as an intranet or the Internet may be used to access
the
repositories. A wireless network could also be used. Preferably, the
information repositories
form part of a secure network. The results of the search are presented to the
user in operation
106 such as by sending the results to a user station where they can be
displayed. The user is
allowed to browse through additional data of the information repositories in
operation 108. In
operation 110, links between data items and other data entries in the
information repositories
are created according to relationships the data items have to the other data
entries. A smart
engine may be used to create such links. For example, when searching for a
particular person,
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the search engine returns information not only on the person, but also on the
clients, topics,
documents, and projects about which that person has made entries into the
information
repositories. This allows the user to browse across relationships (instead of
repeatedly
entering searches) that could not be found by ordinary search engines.
In one aspect of the present invention a chart showing statistics about data
in the information
repositories is generated. One of the most interesting tools provided by the
invention is the
ability to view statistics on people, clients, and topics. The invention can
generate Gantt charts
(charts that show timelines related to, in this case, people and clients),
line charts that show
the number of documents on a particular topic posted per year, or pie charts
that illustrate the
volume of entries on that topic found in various libraries.
As an option, where the request for information is about a person, data
relating to at least one
of clients, topics, documents, and projects about which that person has made
entries into the
information repositories is output to the user. As another option, the user is
allowed or
required to select a category as part of the request for information for
limiting the results of
the search. The categories may include person, document, topic, project,
and/or client. It
should be kept in mind that equivalent words could be used interchangeably
with these topics.
For example, a topic category of "employee" or "name" may be equivalent to the
topic
category "person."
Preferably, the results of the search include abstracts of the data found
during the search.
Optionally, a dossier that includes people, prior documents, and past projects
pertaining to the
requested information is prepared based on the request for information.
A preferred embodiment of a system in accordance with the present invention is
preferably
practiced in the context of a personal computer such as an IBM compatible
personal
computer, Apple Macintosh computer or UNIX based workstation. A representative
hardware environment is depicted in Figure 2, which illustrates a typical
hardware
configuration of a workstation in accordance with a preferred embodiment
having a central
processing unit 210, such as a microprocessor, and a number of other units
interconnected via
a system bus 212. The workstation shown in Figure 2 includes a Random Access
Memory
(RAM) 214, Read Only Memory (ROM) 216, an UO adapter 218 for connecting
peripheral
devices such as disk storage units 220 to the bus 212, a user interface
adapter 222 for
connecting a keyboard 224, a mouse 226, a speaker 228, a microphone 232,
and/or other user
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interface devices such as a touch screen (not shown) to the bus 212,
communication adapter
234 for connecting the workstation to a communication network (e.g., a data
processing
network) and a display adapter 236 for connecting the bus 212 to a display
device 238. The
workstation typically has resident thereon an operating system such as the
Microsoft
Windows NT or Windows/95 Operating System (OS), the IBM OS/2 operating system,
the
MAC OS, or UNIX operating system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate
that the present
invention may also be implemented on platforms and operating systems other
than those
mentioned.
A preferred embodiment is written using JAVA, C, and the C++ language and
utilizes object
oriented programming methodology. Object oriented programming (OOP) has become
increasingly used to develop complex applications. As OOP moves toward the
mainstream of
software design and development, various software solutions require adaptation
to make use
of the benefits of OOP. A need exists for these principles of OOP to be
applied to a
messaging interface of an electronic messaging system such that a set of OOP
classes and
objects for the messaging interface can be provided.
OOP is a process of developing computer software using objects, including the
steps of
analyzing the problem, designing the system, and constructing the program. An
object is a
software package that contains both data and a collection of related
structures and procedures.
Since it contains both data and a collection of structures and procedures, it
can be visualized
as a self-sufficient component that does not require other additional
structures, procedures or
data to perform its specific task. OOP, therefore, views a computer program as
a collection of
largely autonomous components, called objects, each of which is responsible
for a specific
task. This concept of packaging data, structures, and procedures together in
one component
or module is called encapsulation.
In general, OOP components are reusable software modules which present an
interface that
conforms to an object model and which are accessed at run-time through a
component
integration architecture. A component integration architecture is a set of
architecture
mechanisms which allow software modules in different process spaces to utilize
each others
capabilities or functions. This is generally done by assuming a common
component object
model on which to build the architecture. It is worthwhile to differentiate
between an object
and a class of objects at this point. An object is a single instance of the
class of objects, which
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is often just called a class. A class of objects can be viewed as a blueprint,
from which many
objects can be fonned.
OOP allows the programmer to create an object that is a part of another
object. For example,
the object representing a piston engine is said to have a composition-
relationship with the
object representing a piston. In reality, a piston engine comprises a piston,
valves and many
other components; the fact that a piston is an element of a piston engine can
be logically and
semantically represented in OOP by two objects.
OOP also allows creation of an object that "depends from" another object. If
there are two
objects, one representing a piston engine and the other representing a piston
engine wherein
the piston is made of ceramic, then the relationship between the two objects
is not that of
composition. A ceramic piston engine does not make up a piston engine. Rather
it is merely
one kind of piston engine that has one more limitation than the piston engine;
its piston is
made of ceramic. In this case, the object representing the ceramic piston
engine is called a
derived object, and it inherits all of the aspects of the object representing
the piston engine
and adds further limitation or detail to it. The object representing the
ceramic piston engine
"depends from" the object representing the piston engine. The relationship
between these
objects is called inheritance.
When the object or class representing the ceramic piston engine inherits all
of the aspects of
the objects representing the piston engine, it inherits the thermal
characteristics of a standard
piston defined in the piston engine class. However, the ceramic piston engine
object
overrides these ceramic specific thermal characteristics, which are typically
different from
those associated with a metal piston. It skips over the original and uses new
functions related
to ceramic pistons. Different kinds of piston engines have different
characteristics, but may
have the same underlying functions associated with it (e.g., how many pistons
in the engine,
ignition sequences, lubrication, etc.). To access each of these functions in
any piston engine
object, a programmer would call the same functions with the same names, but
each type of
piston engine may have different/overriding implementations of functions
behind the same
name. This ability to hide different implementations of a function behind the
same name is
called polymorphism and it greatly simplifies communication among objects.
With the concepts of composition-relationship, encapsulation, inheritance and
polymorphism,
an object can represent just about anything in the real world. In fact, one's
logical perception
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of the reality is the only limit on determining the kinds of things that can
become objects in
object-oriented software. Some typical categories are as follows:
= Objects can represent physical objects, such as automobiles in a traffic-
flow
simulation, electrical components in a circuit-design program, countries in an
economics model, or aircraft in an air-traffic-control system.
= Objects can represent elements of the computer-user environment such as
windows,
menus or graphics objects.
= An object can represent an inventory, such as a personnel file or a table of
the latitudes
and longitudes of cities.
= An object can represent user-defined data types such as time, angles, and
complex
numbers, or points on the plane.
With this enormous capability of an object to represent just about any
logically separable
matters, OOP allows the software developer to design and implement a computer
program
that is a model of some aspects of reality, whether that reality is a physical
entity, a process, a
system, or a composition of matter. Since the object can represent anything,
the software
developer can create an object which can be used as a component in a larger
software project
in the future.
If 90% of a new OOP software program consists of proven, existing components
made from
preexisting reusable objects, then only the remaining 10% of the new software
project has to
be written and tested from scratch. Since 90% already came from an inventory
of extensively
tested reusable objects, the potential domain from which an error could
originate is 10% of
the program. As a result, OOP enables software developers to build objects out
of other,
previously built objects.
This process closely resembles complex machinery being built out of assemblies
and sub-
assemblies. OOP technology, therefore, makes software engineering more like
hardware
engineering in that software is built from existing components, which are
available to the
developer as objects. All this adds up to an improved quality of the software
as well as an
increased speed of its development.
Programming languages are beginning to fully support the OOP principles, such
as
encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, and composition-relationship. With
the advent of
the C++ language, many commercial software developers have embraced OOP. C++
is an
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OOP language that offers a fast, machine-executable code. Furthermore, C++ is
suitable for
both commercial-application and systems-programming projects. For now, C++
appears to be
the most popular choice among many OOP programmers, but there is a host of
other OOP
languages, such as Smalltalk, Common Lisp Object System (CLOS), and Eiffel.
Additionally, OOP capabilities are being added to more traditional popular
computer
programming languages such as Pascal.
The benefits of object classes can be summarized, as follows:
= Objects and their corresponding classes break down complex programming
problems
into many smaller, simpler problems.
= Encapsulation enforces data abstraction through the organization of data
into small,
independent objects that can communicate with each other. Encapsulation
protects the
data in an object from accidental damage, but allows other objects to interact
with that
data by calling the object's member functions and structures.
= Subclassing and inheritance make it possible to extend and modify objects
through
deriving new kinds of objects from the standard classes available in the
system. Thus,
new capabilities are created without having to start from scratch.
= Polymorphism and multiple inheritance make it possible for different
programmers to
mix and match characteristics of many different classes and create specialized
objects
that can still work with related objects in predictable ways.
= Class hierarchies and containment hierarchies provide a flexible mechanism
for
modeling real-world objects and the relationships among them.
= Libraries of reusable classes are useful in many situations, but they also
have some
limitations. For example:
= Complexity. In a complex system, the class hierarchies for related classes
can become
extremely confusing, with many dozens or even hundreds of classes.
= Flow of control. A program written with the aid of class libraries is still
responsible
for the flow of control (i.e., it must control the interactions among all the
objects
created from a particular library). The programmer has to decide which
functions to
call at what times for which kinds of objects.
= Duplication of effort. Although class libraries allow programmers to use and
reuse
many small pieces of code, each programmer puts those pieces together in a
different
way. Two different programmers can use the same set of class libraries to
write two
programs that do exactly the same thing but whose internal structure (i.e.,
design) may
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be quite different, depending on hundreds of small decisions each programmer
makes
along the way. Inevitably, similar pieces of code end up doing similar things
in
slightly different ways and do not work as well together as they should.
Class libraries are very flexible. As programs grow more complex, more
programmers are
forced to reinvent basic solutions to basic problems over and over again. A
relatively new
extension of the class library concept is to have a framework of class
libraries. This
framework is more complex and consists of significant collections of
collaborating classes
that capture both the small scale patterns and major mechanisms that implement
the common
requirements and design in a specific application domain. They were first
developed to free
application programmers from the chores involved in displaying menus, windows,
dialog
boxes, and other standard user interface elements for personal computers.
Frameworks also represent a change in the way programmers think about the
interaction
between the code they write and code written by others. In the early days of
procedural
programming, the programmer called libraries provided by the operating system
to perform
certain tasks, but basically the program executed down the page from start to
finish, and the
programmer was solely responsible for the flow of control. This was
appropriate for printing
out paychecks, calculating a mathematical table, or solving other problems
with a program
that executed in just one way.
The development of graphical user interfaces began to turn this procedural
programming
arrangement inside out. These interfaces allow the user, rather than program
logic, to drive
the program and decide when certain actions should be performed. Today, most
personal
computer software accomplishes this by means of an event loop which monitors
the mouse,
keyboard, and other sources of external events and calls the appropriate parts
of the
programmer's code according to actions that the user performs. The programmer
no longer
determines the order in which events occur. Instead, a program is divided into
separate pieces
that are called at unpredictable times and in an unpredictable order. By
relinquishing control
in this way to users, the developer creates a program that is much easier to
use. Nevertheless,
individual pieces of the program written by the developer still call libraries
provided by the
operating system to accomplish certain tasks, and the programmer must still
determine the
flow of control within each piece after it's called by the event loop.
Application code still
"sits on top of' the system.
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Even event loop programs require programmers to write a lot of code that
should not need to
be written separately for every application. The concept of an application
framework carries
the event loop concept further. Instead of dealing with all the nuts and bolts
of constructing
basic menus, windows, and dialog boxes and then making these things all work
together,
programmers using application frameworks start with working application code
and basic user
interface elements in place. Subsequently, they build from there by replacing
some of the
generic capabilities of the framework with the specific capabilities of the
intended application.
Application frameworks reduce the total amount of code that a programmer has
to write from
scratch. However, because the framework is really a generic application that
displays
windows, supports copy and paste, and so on, the programmer can also
relinquish control to a
greater degree than event loop programs permit. The framework code takes care
of almost all
event handling and flow of control, and the programmer's code is called only
when the
framework needs it (e.g., to create or manipulate a proprietary data
structure).
A programmer writing a framework program not only relinquishes control to the
user (as is
also true for event loop programs), but also relinquishes the detailed flow of
control within the
program to the framework. This approach allows the creation of more complex
systems that
work together in interesting ways, as opposed to isolated programs, having
custom code,
being created over and over again for similar problems.
Thus, as is explained above, a framework basically is a collection of
cooperating classes that
make up a reusable design solution for a given problem domain. It typically
includes objects
that provide default behavior (e.g., for menus and windows), and programmers
use it by
inheriting some of that default behavior and overriding other behavior so that
the framework
calls application code at the appropriate times.
There are three main differences between frameworks and class libraries:
= Behavior versus protocol. Class libraries are essentially collections of
behaviors that
you can call when you want those individual behaviors in your program. A
framework, on the other hand, provides not only behavior but also the protocol
or set
of rules that govern the ways in which behaviors can be combined, including
rules for
what a programmer is supposed to provide versus what the framework provides.
= Call versus override. With a class library, the code the programmer
instantiates
objects and calls their member functions. It's possible to instantiate and
call objects in
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the same way with a framework (i.e., to treat the framework as a class
library), but to
take full advantage of a framework's reusable design, a programmer typically
writes
code that overrides and is called by the framework. The framework manages the
flow
of control among its objects. Writing a program involves dividing
responsibilities
among the various pieces of software that are called by the framework rather
than
specifying how the different pieces should work together.
= Implementation versus design. With class libraries, programmers reuse only
implementations, whereas with frameworks, they reuse design. A framework
embodies the way a family of related programs or pieces of software work. It
represents a generic design solution that can be adapted to a variety of
specific
problems in a given domain. For example, a single framework can embody the way
a
user interface works, even though two different user interfaces created with
the same
framework might solve quite different interface problems.
Thus, through the development of frameworks for solutions to various problems
and
programming tasks, significant reductions in the design and development effort
for software
can be achieved. A preferred embodiment of the invention utilizes HyperText
Markup
Language (HTML) to implement documents on the Internet together with a general-
purpose
secure communication protocol for a transport medium between the client and
the Newco.
HTTP or other protocols could be readily substituted for HTML without undue
experimentation. Information on these products is available in T. Berners-Lee,
D. Connoly,
"RFC 1866: Hypertext Markup Language - 2.0" (Nov. 1995); and R. Fielding, H,
Frystyk, T.
Bemers-Lee, J. Gettys and J.C. Mogul, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol --
HTTP/1.1: HTTP
Working Group Internet Draft" (May 2, 1996). HTML is a simple data format used
to create
hypertext documents that are portable from one platform to another. HTML
documents are
SGML documents with generic semantics that are appropriate for representing
information
from a wide range of domains. HTML has been in use by the World-Wide Web
global
information initiative since 1990. HTML is an application of ISO Standard
8879; 1986
Information Processing Text and Office Systems; Standard Generalized Markup
Language
(SGML).
To date, Web development tools have been limited in their ability to create
dynamic Web
applications which span from client to server and interoperate with existing
computing
resources. Until recently, HTML has been the dominant technology used in
development of
Web-based solutions. However, HTML has proven to be inadequate in the
following areas:
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= Poor performance;
= Restricted user interface capabilities;
= Can only produce static Web pages;
= Lack of interoperability with existing applications and data; and
= Inability to scale.
Sun Microsystem's Java language solves many of the client-side problems by:
= Improving performance on the client side;
= Enabling the creation of dynamic, real-time Web applications; and
= Providing the ability to create a wide variety of user interface components.
With Java, developers can create robust User Interface (UI) components. Custom
"widgets"
(e.g., real-time stock tickers, animated icons, etc.) can be created, and
client-side performance
is improved. Unlike HTML, Java supports the notion of client-side validation,
offloading
appropriate processing onto the client for improved performance. Dynamic, real-
time Web
pages can be created. Using the above-mentioned custom UI components, dynamic
Web
pages can also be created.
Sun's Java language has emerged as an industry-recognized language for
"programming the
Internet." Sun defines Java as: "a simple, object-oriented, distributed,
interpreted, robust,
secure, architecture-neutral, portable, high-performance, multithreaded,
dynamic, buzzword-
compliant, general-purpose programming language. Java supports programming for
the
Internet in the form of platform-independent Java applets." Java applets are
small, specialized
applications that comply with Sun's Java Application Programming Interface
(API) allowing
developers to add "interactive content" to Web documents (e.g., simple
animations, page
adornments, basic games, etc.). Applets execute within a Java-compatible
browser (e.g.,
Netscape Navigator) by copying code from the server to client. From a language
standpoint,
Java's core feature set is based on C++. Sun's Java literature states that
Java is basically,
"C++ with extensions from Objective C for more dynamic method resolution."
Another technology that provides similar function to JAVA is provided by
Microsoft and
ActiveX Technologies, to give developers and Web designers wherewithal to
build dynamic
content for the Internet and personal computers. ActiveX includes tools for
developing
animation, 3-D virtual reality, video and other multimedia content. The tools
use Internet
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standards, work on multiple platforms, and are being supported by over 100
companies. The
group's building blocks are called ActiveX Controls, small, fast components
that enable
developers to embed parts of software in hypertext markup language (HTML)
pages.
ActiveX Controls work with a variety of programming languages including
Microsoft Visual
C++, Borland Delphi, Microsoft Visual Basic programming system and, in the
future,
Microsoft's development tool for Java, code named "Jakarta." ActiveX
Technologies also
includes ActiveX Server Framework, allowing developers to create server
applications. One
of ordinary skill in the art readily recognizes that ActiveX could be
substituted for JAVA
without undue experimentation to practice the invention.
Knowledge Management Tool Source Databases
In an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, the information found
in the
knowledge management tool is extracted from the following databases:
Libraries:
Business Process Management (BPM) Library
Change Management Library
Communications Library
Enterprise Business Solutions (EBS) Library
Financial Services Library
Government Library
Process Competency Library
Products & Resources InfoSource
Strategy Knowledge Base
Technology Library
Discussions:
Change Management Forum
Financial Services Discussion
Products Industries Forum
Technology Discussion
Telecom Discussion
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Other:
Client Experience
Network Directory
Personnel Directory
Name & Address Book
Note: Any data errors are most likely errors in the source data. Please
contact the
administrator for the source database if you find errors in the extracted
information. The
extraction process for the knowledge management tool tries to clean the data
as much as
possible to make the use of the application easy and informative. However, due
to the variety
of data and data sources, the extraction process cannot clean all data. Data
that cannot be
cleaned or safely removed is retained. Any changes to the data in the source
databases will be
reflected on the next extraction and knowledge management tool update.
Figure 3 depicts a process 300 for providing a user interface for a data
management
application that extracts data from several data sources across an enterprise,
optionally in a
secure environment. In operation 302, a user is allowed to input a search
query. Data items
found during a search based on the query are received in operation 304 and
displayed in nodes
arranged in a tree format in operation 306. A portion of the data items are
hyper linked to
detailed views of the data items. Such a detailed view may be created by
opening the item or
displaying an abstract of the item. A detailed view of one of the hyper linked
data items is
displayed in operation 308 upon selection of the one of the hyper linked data
items by the
user. In operation 310, the selected hyper linked data items are added to a
history list. This
feature can include not only a displayable listing of the data items but also
use of a "back"
button.
In an aspect of the present invention, selection of a type of search is
allowed. Types of
searches include searches by person, document, topic, project, and/or client.
The data items
that are displayed are limited to those matching the selected type of search.
As an option,
each item found during the search is categorized and marked with an icon that
represents the
category. Further, the data items may be sorted by one or more categories
including person,
client, and/or topic
Preferably, a portion or all of the nodes expand to display additional data
and/or subnodes
upon selection. Also preferably, a user is allowed to save data items in a
bookmark list for
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later retrieval by opening the bookmark list and selecting a data item saved
in the bookmark
list.
Performing Searches
Figure 4 illustrates a user interface 400 that may be used with the process
shown in Figure 3.
When using the knowledge management tool, the user usually begins by selecting
the search
type from the leftmost dropdown box 402. There one can choose from the
following search
types:
Person - You can search for current and former employees. "Person" search
results are marked by a single stick figure icon.
Document - You can search for various documents and document types
located on the KX. "Document" search results are marked with a document
icon
Topic - You can search for author-specified topics of KX documents and
discussion items. "Topic" search results are marked with a key icon.
Project - You can search for projects listed in the AC Client Experience
database. "Project" search results are marked with a factory icon.
Client - You can search for clients listed in the AC Client Experience
database
as well as clients linked to KX documents. "Client" search results are marked
with two interlocked stick figures.
After choosing the search type, type the search text in the search text box
404 and press the
search button 406 (or simply hit the enter key). The main window will display
a list of items
that contain the search text. Figure 5 illustrates search results for a
document search. As
shown, the display includes categories of information for each result,
including title 500, type
of document 502, a date 504, and the information repository 506 where the
document is being
stored.
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A user can choose and double-click on one of the items from the list to see
detailed
information about that item. Figure 6 illustrates selection of the search
result 600 entitled
"Model Bank Initiative." Figure 7 illustrates a detailed view 700 of the
"Model Bank
Initiative," including several nodes 702, 704.
From the detailed view, one can:
= Get more information on that item in the form of document abstracts or
database
charts.
= Order the item from the KX via Mailback (only for documents).
= Follow links to other items.
= Perform a new search by repeating the steps above.
Navigating Search Results
After the knowledge management tool returns the results of your search, a tree
of related
items and some details about those items is displayed. The tree nodes can be
expanded or
collapsed by clicking on the adjacent plus or minus sign. See Figure 8, which
illustrates the
tree nodes 702 and 704 of Figure 7 in an expanded state. Items that are linked
to more data
can be shown in blue or underlined, for example, and can be clicked/double-
clicked to jump
to a detailed view of that item. Figure 9 depicts a detailed view 900 of
"Richard L. Brower"
702 selected by clicking on the name "Richard L. Brower" in the display shown
in Figure 7.
The tree view can be used to browse the information found in the knowledge
management
tool by following the chain of linked items. Each time a link is followed,
that item is added to
the search history, making it easy to return there. Further, interesting
information that is
likely to be viewed frequently can be added to the bookmarks or saved by
copying and
pasting into other applications.
Standard vs. Categorized Views
If a search was performed on a person, topic or client, the results may be
viewed two different
ways. The first view, Standard View, simply sorts the items under the
appropriate tree
headings based on the entity type. The second view, Categorized View, also
sorts the artifacts
and projects based on the particular person, client, or topic to which they
are related. For
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example, a search for Kishore S. Swaminathan under the Standard View setting
would list the
documents, topics, projects, and clients which he has been a part of.
Figure 10 depicts the search result 1000 for Kishore S. Swaminathan in the
Standard View. If
the view state was switched to Categorized View, expanding the topic
"Knowledge
Management" would show all documents and projects that Kishore has produced
related to
that topic. Figure 11 illustrates the search result 1100 for Kishore S.
Swaminathan in the
Categorized View.
To change the view type, simply check the desired view type under the View
Menu bar item
1102. See Figure 11. This setting may not take effect until the next time you
run knowledge
management tool.
Navigating the Search History
A user can easily jump between items he or she has found by navigating through
the search
history. There are two ways to navigate:
= Use the forward and back buttons 1104,1106 on the upper left of the display
to
navigate sequentially through your most recent searches.
= Use the history dropdown (by pressing the arrow 1108 next to the search
text) to jump
to a specific item among the most recent searches.
Related Topics
When viewing information about a topic, the knowledge management tool can help
a user to
find other topics that may be of interest to a search. Related topics are
topics that commonly
are associated with the same documents as the current topic. Figure 12
illustrates a Topic
View 1200 that illustrates additional topics that may be of interest to a
search. To view the
related topics for a topic, expand the Related Topics node 1202 in the Topic
View.
Obtaining Documents from the KX
The knowledge management tool can include a direct connection to an
information-displaying
program, such as Lotus Notes, for obtaining documents found while browsing.
There are two
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illustrative options for viewing their content: reading abstracts taken from
optional add-on
databases or ordering the document for mailback via physical mail, email,
and/or facsimile.
Document and project abstracts
When installing the knowledge management tool, users are given the option of
also
downloading and installing various Abstract Add-on databases. These databases
contain
abstracts of documents and projects taken from each respective knowledge
exchange library.
(For more on installing abstract add-on databases, see Installing Abstract Add-
On Databases.)
In some configurations of the present invention, to view abstracts of
documents and projects
from particular libraries, a user must have the abstract add-on database for
that library
installed on his or her PC. In other configurations, the abstracts may be
stored in one or more
of the knowledge repositories.
Installing Abstract Add-on Databases from a Knowledge Repository
To download the Abstract Add-on databases that enable viewing of document and
project
abstracts, go to the Technology Library and locate the knowledge management
tool Abstract
Add-on page. Following the directions on the page for Abstract Add-on
databases, select the
Abstract Add-ons you wish to receive. You will receive the installation for
the Abstract Add-
on database(s) as a mail-back in an email Inbox. Follow the included
instructions.
Illustrative Abstract Add-on databases* with document and project abstracts
that can be
offered are:
o Business Process Management (BPM) Library
o Change Management, Process Competency, Technology, and Strategy
Libraries
o Communications Library
o Enterprise Business Solutions (EBS) Library
o Financial Services Library
o Government Library
o Products & Resources InfoSource
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* Abstracts of discussion databases do not have to me made available. Instead,
keywords
associated with postings can be taken from discussion databases and linked to
the person
responsible for the posting.
To view abstracts of documents and projects found while browsing the knowledge
management tool (KMT): Double-click on the document you wish to view and click
the
"View the abstract for this document" button, or select View I Abstract from
the Menu bar.
Order via Mailback
This feature allows a user to order attachments from the knowledge exchange
for documents
with attachments. If not connected, the order will be placed in the local
outgoing mailbox.
When viewing a document select Tools I Order via Mailback from the Menu bar.
Searching in Abstracts / Project Descriptions
Figure 13 illustrates a process 1300 for providing an abstract for data. In
operation 1302, a
request for information from a user is received and processed. Data relating
to the user
request is searched for in at least one information repository in operation
1304. The results of
the search are presented to the user in operation 1306 such as by sending the
results to a user
station where they can be displayed. In operation 1308, at least one abstract
database is
searched for abstracts of the search results. It should be noted that it is
possible that not all
search results will have abstracts. Links to the abstracts of the search
results in the abstract
database are created or recognized and displayed in operation 1310. Selection
of one of the
links to the abstracts by the user is recognized in operation 1312 and the
abstract associated
with the selected link is displayed in operation 1314.
Preferably, the abstract database is installed on a user station on which the
search results are
output. Ideally, the user is prompted to install the abstract database if the
abstract database is
not installed on the user station. Also ideally, the user may select one of a
plurality of abstract
databases for installation on the user station.
In one aspect of the present invention, a check for an updated version of the
abstract database
is performed before searching the abstract database for the abstracts of the
search results.
This is to allow the user to install an update or an updated abstract
database. As an
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alternative, the abstract databases may also be stored in the information
repositories. As an
option, the abstract can be sent to the user utilizing a mailback function,
such as via facsimile,
electronic mail, etc.
The knowledge management tool has the ability to search for document abstracts
and project
descriptions that contain a given text string. To use this feature, select
Tools I Search in
Abstracts. Once the window appears, type in the text for which you'd like to
search and select
the desired source(s). Once selections have been made, press the button to
begin searching.
The search process could be slow on slower machines, but the process can be
interrupted if
you find it is taking too long. The results will appear in the knowledge
management tool list
window.
Automated searching and monitoring
In one embodiment of the present invention, an automated monitoring engine
monitors
internal activities and events on the network based on user-specified
information. The
monitoring engine has the ability to monitor the activities such as the
activities of a particular
employee, a client, or even particular projects or groups of projects.
Whenever a new
publication, note, or report related to the object of interest is published or
posted to the data
repository, the user will be infonned about it. The user can also be given the
opportunity to
view the information. For example, a page with links to the document and a
description or
title of the document can be displayed.
In another embodiment of the present invention, an automated monitoring engine
searches
internal and/or external sources based on user-specified information. The
monitoring engine
has the ability to monitor the external sources such web sites and news about
the company.
Whenever a new publication, note, report, article, or web page related to the
object of interest
is published or posted to the data repository, the user will be informed about
it. The user can
also be given the opportunity to view the information. For example, a page
with links to the
document, etc. and a description or title of the document can be displayed.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, an automated searching
engine monitors
external sources based on user-specified information, preferably on the
Internet. The
searching engine has the ability to monitor the external sources such web
sites and news about
the company. Whenever a new publication, note, report, article, or web page
related to the
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object of interest is published or posted to the data repository, the user
will be informed about
it. The user can also be given the opportunity to view the information. For
example, a page
with links to the document and a description or title of the document, etc.
can be displayed.
Generating charts
One of the most interesting tools provided in the knowledge management tool is
the ability to
view statistics on people, clients, and topics. The knowledge management tool
can generate
Gantt charts (charts that show timelines related to, in this case, people and
clients), line charts
that show the number of KX documents on a particular topic posted per year, or
pie charts
that illustrate the volume of entries on that topic found in various KX
libraries.
Figure 14 illustrates process 1400 for generating a chart in accordance with
one embodiment
of the present invention. In operation 1402, a request for information is
received from a user.
Such a request may be in the form of a search query or through selection of a
link. A search
for data relating to the request for information is performed in operation
1404 in at least two
geographically separated information repositories of an enterprise. A network
such as an
intranet or the Internet may be used to access the repositories. A wireless
network could also
be used. The results of the search are presented to the user in operation
1406, such as by
sending the results to a user station where they can be displayed. In
operation 1408, the user
is allowed to select a search result from the results of the search. A search
result that is
selected by the user is recognized in operation 1410. A chart that illustrates
information
related to the search result selected by the user is generated and displayed.
See operations
1412 and 1414.
In one aspect of the present invention, the chart is of a type selected from
the group consisting
of: a Gantt chart showing a timeline, a line chart that shows a number of
documents on a
particular topic posted to the information repositories during a preselected
period of time, and
a pie chart that illustrates the volume of entries on a topic found in the
information
repositories. In another aspect of the present invention, the chart
illustrates a person's activity
by at least one of topics and keywords associated with items the person has
posted to at least
one of the information repositories of the enterprise. The posting may include
notes,
documents, or any other type of information saved in the information
repository.
Alternatively, the chart may illustrate a timeline of postings about a client
of the enterprise.
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As an option, a second chart that differs from the chart may be generated and
displayed. The
chart may be a line chart that illustrates a number of documents submitted to
the information
repositories on a given topic, while the second chart may be a pie chart that
categorizes
postings on the given topic according to the information repository from which
they came, for
example. Figure 17 illustrates such line chart 1702 and pie chart 1704 for the
topic results
shown in Figure 12 and is discussed below under "Topic charts."
All these charts can be easily copied and pasted into other documents and
other applications
such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. See Copying and pasting text and charts
for more
information.
Person charts
After searching and selecting a person (i.e. the person's name is displayed on
the left side
above the main window), click the "Chart" button to the left of the main
window, or select
View I Chart Data from the Menu bar.
The knowledge management tool will display a KX Profile for the selected
individual. The
chart illustrates the person's KX activity by the topics or keywords
associated with items the
person has posted to various KX libraries.
Figure 15 illustrates a Gantt chart 1500 for Mike Ethelston. The chart shows
the user that in
1998 Ethelston posted articles to the KX on Shared Services 1502 and Financial
Management
1504.
Client charts
After searching for and selecting a client (i.e. the client's name is
displayed on the left side
above the main window), click the "Chart" button to the left of the main
window, or select
View I Chart Data from the Menu bar.
The knowledge management tool will display a KX Profile for the selected
client. The chart
illustrates the KX postings relative to that client in various KX libraries.
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For example, the chart 1600 for Microsoft, illustrated in Figure 16, shows
that people began
posting client documents about Microsoft on the KX in 1996 as well as the
point in time when
information on a specific topic was posted about Microsoft.
Topic charts
After searching for and selecting a topic (i.e. the topic is displayed on the
left side above the
main window), click the "Chart" button to the right of the main window, or
select View
Chart Data from the Menu bar.
The knowledge management tool will display two different charts on any given
topic. The
line chart on the left illustrates the number of documents submitted to the KX
on the given
topic each year. The pie chart on the right categorizes the postings on the
given topic
according to the KX library from which they came.
Figure 17 depicts topic charts for Electronic Commerce. The pie chart 1700
shows that in
1999, 61 percent of KX documents about Electronic Commerce were posted in the
Technology Library. Similarly, the line chart 1702 shows that between 1996 and
1997, the
number of Electronic Commerce documents on the KX jumped from about 100 to
about 500.
The scroll bar 1704 beneath the pie chart can be scrolled to the right or left
to see a similar
breakdown for each year.
Adding and viewing bookmarks
Like Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Intemet Explorer, the knowledge
management tool has
the ability to store bookmarks of your favorite or most frequently visited
items.
To bookmark a knowledge management tool location, select the item you want to
add to your
bookmark file. Click on Bookmarks I Add Bookmark from the Menu bar. That
location will
be stored by name and search topic (i.e. People, Topic, Document, Client, or
Project) in your
bookmark file.
To view your bookmarks at any time, select Bookmarks I View Bookmarks from the
Menu
bar.
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Copying and pasting text and charts
Pasting Information
You can copy and paste the information you find into another word processor.
To do so,
select the item to be copied and press Control + C, or select Edit I Copy from
the Menu bar.
You should now be able to paste the information into another application for
future reference.
If you choose an item that contains sub-items (indicated by a "+" or "-" on
the left of the
item), the sub-items will also be copied.
Copying person and client graphs
Similar to text entries, you can copy the graphs and paste them into other
applications.
While viewing the graph page, press Control + C, or select Edit I Copy from
the Menu bar.
You should now be able to paste the graph into another application for future
reference.
Topic graphs
You copy topic graphs similarly to person and client graphs, except that you
are given a
choice of which of the two topic graphs you want to copy. Click on the line
graph icon to
copy the line graph or click on the pie graph icon to copy the pie graph of
the year you are
currently viewing.
Sorting listings by column headings
Listings in the knowledge management tool can be sorted in much the same way
as columns
in a database or Windows Explorer. To sort listing in a column, click on the
column heading
at the top of the column.
For example, in the Person view, you can sort the Name column (or Octel,
Location, Level,
GMU, or LMU) by clicking on the box containing the word "Name."
Proposal Wizard
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Figure 18 is a flowchart of a process 1800 for developing a dossier in
accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention. In operation 1802, a name of one or more
clients which
may be relevant to the proposal is received. The name may be input or selected
by the user,
for example. A list of industries associated with the client(s) is presented
to the user in
operation 1804. A search may be conducted in information repositories of the
enterprise to
find the industries with which the client is associated. The user is allowed
to select an
industry from the list of industries in operation 1806. A search for
information relating to the
client and the selected industry is performed in operation 1808, such as by
using the data
management tool. The dossier is prepared in operation 1810 utilizing the
information found
during the searching.
In one aspect of the present invention, an alternate list of industries having
industries different
from the industries on the list of industries associated with the client is
presented. The user is
allowed to select one of the alternate industries. As an option, topics
associated with the
client are displayed and the user is allowed to select one or more of.the
topics for insertion of
information relating to the selected topic(s) in the dossier.
The dossier may be arranged in sections according to people, documents, and
projects.
Preferably, the people section is arranged according to the number of
documents and projects
an individual has produced related to the client, industry, or topic. Also
preferably, the
documents and projects sections are arranged chronologically, such as with the
most recent
information displayed first.
The process of Figure 18 may be implemented in a computer system in the form
of a Proposal
Wizard. The Proposal Wizard is designed to aid in the task of writing a
proposal for a
particular client in a particular industry based on various topics used
throughout the firm.
After supplying the wizard with the appropriate information, a complete
dossier will be
developed which includes experienced people, prior documents, and past
projects pertaining
to the desired information. The wizard is a 5-step process as explained below.
= Step 1- After an introduction window 1900 (Figure 19), a text box window
2000 is
shown. See Figure 20. Enter the name of the client in the text box 2002 and
press the
Next button 2004. As shown in Figure 21, a list of clients 2102 matching the
name
entered in the text box is displayed in a client result window 2100. Select
one or more
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clients which may be relevant to the proposal. Increasing the number of
clients may
increase the time necessary to prepare the proposal dossier.
= Step 2 - A list of industries associated with the selected client(s) is
presented in
window 2200, as shown in Figure 22. Select the appropriate industry for the
proposal.
If the proper industry is not shown, press the View Other Industries button
2202 to
select from an alternate list of industries. Figure 23 illustrates a list of
other industries
2204 that appear in window 2200 when the View Other Industries button 2202 is
pressed.
= Step 3 - Referring to Figure 24, choose any appropriate topics for the
proposal dossier
from the list of available topics 2402 in window 2400. Select topics from the
lists
associated with the BI Competencies or each of the selected clients and click
the right-
arrow button 2404 to add them to the proposal dossier. A dossier may be
prepared
without any topics selected; therefore, it is not necessary to choose a topic
to proceed.
Increasing the number of topics may increase the time necessary to prepare the
proposal dossier.
= Step 4 - Window 2500 allows selection of items which will be displayed in
the
proposal dossier. See Figure 25. Select the items which you wish to have
displayed in
the proposal dossier.
= Step 5 - Verify that all information is correct in window 2600 (Figure 26)
and click
the Finish button 2602 to prepare the dossier.
Figure 27 illustrates the resultant dossier. As shown, expandable nodes and
sub-nodes
relating to people 2700, documents 2702, and projects 2704 are displayed.
Each section of the dossier is arranged for easy access to the best
information. The People
sections are arranged according to the number of documents and projects an
individual has
produced related to that client, industry, or topic. The Documents and
Projects sections are
arranged chronologically, with the most recent information displayed first.
The Proposal Wizard Picks section of the dossier is an attempt to predict the
most relevant
people, documents, and projects for the proposal based on a weighting scheme.
The weighting
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scheme takes into account a person's (or document's or project's) relevance
with respect to the
chosen clients, industry, and topics. This is by no means a complete list, but
merely a starting
point.
The following table is used to clarify terms used in the detailed description
of the invention.
AAA Authentication, Authorization, Addressing
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
AIN Advanced Intelligent Networks
AMA Automatic Message Accounting
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
BIM Business Integration Methodology
BSS Business Support System
CDR Call Detail Record
DTMF Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
IN Intelligent Network
IP Internet Protocol
JPEG Joint Picture Expert Group
LMDS Local Multi-Point Distribution Service
MPEG Moving Picture Expert Group
NGN Next Generation Network
OSS Operational Support Systems
PCM Pulse Code Modulation
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
QoS Quality of Service
RAS Remote Access Server
SCE Service Creation Environment
SCP Service Control Point
SMDS Switched Multi Megabit Data Service
SSP Service Switching Point
SONET Synchronous Optical Network
STP Service Transfer Point
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
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xDSL Generic name for Digital Subscriber Line
(D)WDM (Dense) Wave Division Multiplexing
Data networks today rely heavily on shared medium, packet-based LAN
technologies for both
access and backbone connections. The use of packet switching systems, such as
bridges and
routers, to connect these LANs into global internets is now widespread. An
internet router
must be capable of processing packets based on many different protocols,
including IP, IPX,
DECNET, AppleTALK, OSI, SNA and others. The complexities of building networks
capable of switching packets around the world using these different protocols
is challenging
to both vendors and users.
Standards-based LAN systems work reasonably well at transfer rates up to about
100 Mbps.
At transfer rates above 100 Mbps, providing the processing power required by a
packet switch
interconnecting a group of networks becomes economically unrealistic for the
performance
levels desired. This inability to economically "scale up" performance is
beginning to cause
restrictions in some user's planned network expansions. Also, today's data
networks do not
provide network managers with enough control over bandwidth allocation and
user access.
Tomorrow's networks are expected to support "multimedia" applications with
their much
greater bandwidth and real-time delivery requirements. The next generation
networks should
also have the ability to dynamically reconfigure the network so that it can
guarantee a
predetermined amount of bandwidth for the requested quality of service (QOS).
This includes
providing access, performance, fault tolerance and security between any
specified set of end
systems as directed by the network's manager. The concept is to provide
network managers
with complete "command and control" over the entire network's infrastructure--
not just tell
them when a failure has occurred.
A new set of technologies known as asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) may
provide the best
long-term solution for implementing the requirements of both private and
public internets.
ATM promises to provide a more economical and scalable set of technologies for
implementing the ultra-high-performance information networks that will be
required to
provide the quality of service users will demand. Thus, over the next 20
years, the network
infrastructure may change from packet-based standards to one based on ATM cell
switching.
While changes in the accompanying network will be dramatic, it would be
desirable for users
making the transition to be able to retain their most recent equipment
investment.
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Another expected change in tomorrow's networks is a change in data flow. Data
flow in
today's network typically follows the client-server computing model. This is
where many
clients are all transferring data into and out of one or more network servers.
Clients do not
normally talk to each other; they share data by using the server. While this
type of data
exchange will continue, much more of the information flow in tomorrow's
networks will be
peer-to-peer. Since the ultimate goal is a truly distributed computing
environment where all
systems act as both the client and server, more of the data flow will follow a
peer-to-peer
model. The network will be required to provide more direct access to all peers
wishing to use
high-performance backbone internets connecting, for example, the desktop
computers.
The bulk of information transported in the future will be of digital origin.
This digital
information will require a great deal more bandwidth than today's separate
voice, fax, and
SNA networks which operate with acceptable performance using voice grade
telephone lines.
Voice will shrink as a percentage of total traffic, while other forms of
information including
image and video will greatly increase. Even when compressing is available, the
bandwidth
requirements for both inside and outside building networks will need to be
greatly expanded.
Text files and images can be sent over existing packet-based networks because
the delivery of
this information is not time critical. The new traffic (voice and video) is
delivery time
sensitive--variable or excessive latency will degrade the quality of service
and can render this
information worthless.
The usefulness of packet switching networks for the transmission of digital
information,
particularly burst type information, has long been recognized. Such networks
are generally
point-to-point in nature in that a packet from a single source is directed to
a single destination
by an address attached to the packet. The network responds to the packet
address by
connecting the packet to the appropriate destination.
Packet switching networks are also used which combine burst type data with the
more
continuous types of information such as voice, high quality audio, and motion
video.
Commercialization of voice, video and audio transmission makes it desirable to
be able to
connect packets to multiple destinations, called packet broadcasting. For
example, a broadcast
video service such as pay-per-view television involves a single source of
video packets, each
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of which is directed to multiple video receivers. Similarly, conferencing
capabilities for voice
communication also require single source to multiple destination transmission.
One prior packet broadcast arrangement comprises a network consisting of a
packet
duplication arrangement followed by a packet routing arrangement. As a
broadcast packet
enters this network, packet copies are made in the packet duplicating
arrangement until as
many copies exist as there are destinations for the packet. A translation
table look up is then
performed at the duplication arrangement outputs for each of the packet copies
to provide a
different, single destination address for each copy. All of the packet copies
with their new
packet addresses are then applied to the packet routing arrangement, which
connects them to
the appropriate network output ports.
In packet switching networks, packets in the form of units of data are
transmitted from a
source--such as a user terminal, computer, application program within a
computer, or other
data handling or data communication device--to a destination, which may be
simply another
data handling or data communication device of the same character. The devices
themselves
typically are referred to as users, in the context of the network. Blocks or
frames of data are
transmitted over a link along a path between nodes of the network. Each block
consists of a
packet together with control information in the form of a header and a trailer
which are added
to the packet as it exits the respective node. The header typically contains,
in addition to the
destination address field, a number of subfields such as operation code,
source address,
sequence number, and length code. The trailer is typically a technique for
generating
redundancy checks, such as a cyclic redundancy code for detecting errors. At
the other end of
the link, the receiving node strips off the control information, performs the
required
synchronization and error detection, and reinserts the control information
onto the departing
packet.
Packet switching arose, in part, to fulfill the need for low cost data
communications in
networks developed to allow access to host computers. Special purpose
computers designated
as communication processors have been developed to offload the communication
handling
tasks which were formerly required of the host. The communication processor is
adapted to
interface with the host and to route packets along the network; consequently,
such a processor
is often simply called a packet switch. Data concentrators have also been
developed to
interface with hosts and to route packets along the network. In essence, data
concentrators
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serve to switch a number of lightly used links onto a smaller number of more
heavily used
links. They are often used in conjunction with, and ahead of, the packet
switch.
In virtual circuit (VC) or connection-oriented transmission, packet-switched
data transmission
is accomplished via predetermined end-to-end paths through the network, in
which user
packets associated with a great number of users share link and switch
facilities as the packets
travel over the network. The packets may require storage at nodes between
transmission links
of the network until they may be forwarded along the respective outgoing link
for the overall
path: In connectionless transmission, another mode of packet-switched data
transmission, no
initial connection is required for a data path through the network. In this
mode, individual
datagrams carrying a destination address are routed through the network from
source to
destination via intermediate nodes, and do not necessarily arrive in the order
in which they
were transmitted.
The widely-used Telenet public packet switching network routes data using a
two-level
hierarchy. The hierarchy comprises a long distance-spanning backbone network
with a
multiplicity of nodes or hubs, each of which utilizes a cluster of backbone
switches; and
smaller geographic area networks with backbone trunks, access lines and
clustered lower level
switches connected to each hub. Packet-switched data is transmitted through
the network via
VCs, using CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee
of the
International Telecommunications Union) X.75 protocol, which is a compatible
enhancement
of X.25 protocol.
For a communication session to proceed between the parties to a connection, it
is essential
that data be presented in a form that can be recognized and manipulated. The
sequence of
required tasks at each end, such as the format of the data delivered to a
party, the rate of
delivery of the data, and resequencing of packets received out of order, is
generally handled in
an organized manner using layered communication architectures. Such
architectures address
the two portions of the communications problem, one being that the delivery of
data by an end
user to the communication network should be such that the data arriving at the
destination is
correct and timely, and the other being that the delivered data must be
recognizable and in
proper form for use. These two portions are handled by protocols, or standard
conventions for
communication intelligently, the first by network protocols and the second by
higher level
protocols. Each of these protocols has a series of layers. Examples of layered
architectures
include the Systems Network Architecture (SNA) developed by IBM, and the
subsequently
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developed Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. The latter has
seven layers,
three of which are network services oriented including physical, data link,
and network layers,
and the other four providing services to the end user by means of transport,
session,
presentation, and application layers, from lowest to highest layer.
X.25 is an interface organized as a three-layered architecture for connecting
data terminals,
computers, and other user systems or devices, generally refereed to as data
terminal
equipment (DTE), to a packet-switched network through data circuit terminating
equipment
(DCE) utilized to control the DTE's access to the network. The three layers of
the X.25
interface architecture are the physical level, the frame level and the packet
level. Although
data communication between DCEs of the network is routinely handled by the
network
operator typically using techniques other than X.25, communication between the
individual
user system and the respective DCE with which it interfaces to the network is
governed by the
X.25 or similar protocol. In essence, X.25 establishes procedures for
congestion control
among users, as well as call setup (or connect) and call clearing (or
disconnect) for individual
users, handling of errors, and various other packet transmission services
within the DTE-DCE
interface.
X.25 is employed for virtual circuit (VC) connections, including the call
setup, data transfer,
and call clearing phases. Call setup between DTEs connected to the network is
established by
one DTE issuing an X.25 call-request packet to the related DCE, the packet
containing the
channel number for the logical connections, the calling and called DTE
addresses, parameters
specifying the call characteristics, and the data. The destination DCE issues
an incoming call
packet, which is of the same general format as the call-request packet, to the
destination DTE,
the latter replying with a call-accepted packet. In response, the calling DCE
issues a call-
connected packet to its related DTE. At that point the call is established and
the data transfer
phase may begin by delivery of data packets. When the call is compared, i.e.,
the session is to
end, a call-clearing procedure is initiated.
Prospective routing paths in the network are initially determined by a network
control center,
which then transmits these predetermined paths to the backbone switches as
routing tables
consisting of primary and secondary choices of available links from each hub.
The secondary
choices are viable only in the event of primary link failures, and the
specific secondary link
selection is a local decision at the respective hub based principally on
current or recent traffic
congestion patterns. The unavailability of an outgoing link from a hub at the
time of the call
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setup effects a clearing back of the VC for the sought call to the preceding
hub. An alternative
link is then selected by that hub, or, if none is available there, the VC
circuit is again cleared
back to the next preceding hub, and so forth, until an available path is
uncovered from the
routing tables. Messages concerning link and/or hub failures are communicated
immediately
to the network control center, and that information is dispatched to the rest
of the network by
the center.
In typical present-day concentrators and packet switches, the data processing
devices reside in
a plurality of cards or boards containing printed circuits or integrated
circuits for performing
the various functions of the respective device in combination with the system
software.
Typically, the cards are inserted into designated slots in cages within a
console, with
backplane access to a data bus for communication with one another or to other
devices in the
network. The VME bus is presently the most popular 16/32-bit backplane bus.
References
from time to time herein to cards or boards will be understood to mean the
various devices
embodied in such cards or boards.
Many public data networks (PDNs) offer little or no security for
communications between
users and hosts or other data processing devices within the network, in
keeping with the
"public purpose" of the network and the desire for accessibility by a large
number of actual
and prospective users. Where restrictions on access are necessary or
desirable, it is customary
to assign each authorized user an identification (ID) number or a password, or
both, which
must be used to gain access to the host. More elaborate security measures are
necessary where
access may be had to highly confidential data.
Some data communication networks involve a variety of different customers each
of whom
makes available a host and one or more databases to its users, and may place a
level of
security on its database which differs from the level placed by other
customers on their
respective hosts and databases. In those instances, it is customary to make
the host responsible
for security and access to itself and its associated database. Thus, a user
might have access to
certain destinations in the network without restriction, but no access to
other destinations.
Market Drivers
According to Yankee Group Research, network management costs continue to
increase, with
network managers spending an average of 45 percent of their budget on ongoing
network
management, 20 percent on equipment, and 35 percent on network transport
services. It is a
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constant battle to reduce these costs yet somehow improve overall service to
their customers.
Reducing overall network management costs can be very difficult in today's
business
envirormlent. Networks continue to become more complex, with more and more
demands
being placed on the network managers and planners. For example, the
exponential growth of
remote access has made their jobs more difficult, as the requirement to
establish and manage
connections for remote offices and telecommuters is often required without
additional
personnel or budget resources. Unfortunately, network managers and planners
spend so much
time in "firefighting" mode, trying to support their complex networks, that
very little time is
actually spent planning for network growth and enhancements. Combined with
this is the fact
that it is becoming difficult to keep highly skilled employees given the
demand for certain
skills in the marketplace, and the premiums that will be paid for those
skills. So, what is a
network manager to do? More and more, they are looking outside for help.
The market for customer network management services is generally referred to
as Managed
Networked Services (MNS). Yankee Group estimates this market will estimated to
grow
from $3B to 9B within the next three years. MNS became the focus of service
providers in
1995 as they saw revenues for frame relay network services double for two
years in a row.
What began as a way to boost the popularity of frame relay services by
offering to lease and
manage routers has blossomed into a diverse set of services that are now
closer to those
associated with outsourcing. Yankee Group research shows that 37 percent of
Fortune 1000
managers are already outsourcing or plan to outsource their ongoing network
operations
management. In addition, it is the communications provider that is thought of
as the most
likely provider for one-stop shopping services.
The present invention's overall approach to implementing the NM/MNS market
offering is
two fold. The current opportunity that presents itself is MNS. While this
market opportunity
for clients is large, they need assistance in understanding data network
management - for
years they have been solely focused on voice. Additionally, they need to move
into this
market quickly in order to maintain and grow revenue. To this end, the present
invention
includes a set of assets consisting primarily of job aids and software that
can greatly reduce
our clients lead time for service implementation.
Secondly, the present invention assists service providers by providing them
the tools to better
manage their carrier data networks - the packet switched networks of the
future. The present
invention significantly enhances and scales MNS assets to address carrier
network
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management in a data networking world. This solution template enables the
convergence of
circuit and packet switching network control centers and workforces.
The present invention's market offering suggests companies take a graduated
approach to
delivering MNS. One end of the continuum consists of MNS for current network
services,
including leased lines, frame relay, and X.25. On the far end is outsourced
MNS
characterized by long-term contracts, involving hundreds of millions of
dollars. The
NM/MNS market offering is proposing our clients go beyond the management of
the router
and the WAN, and into the world of the local area network (LAN), even as far
as the desktop
and business applications. Service providers have been intimidated by these
propositions in
the past, since management of the LAN and its equipment and applications has
clearly not
been their forte.
It is hard to describe a typical MNS engagement because this is such a new.
There are three
"entry points" in which the present invention can become involved in helping
our companies
to move into the MNS market:
Business Strategy - Companies may look to the present invention for assistance
in
creating a business strategy for entering the MNS market. Typically, this type
of
engagement will defines a company's target market for MNS (small, mid-market,
large) and defines the service offerings that are best suited for the company
to offer.
These engagements will be followed by analysis, design and implementation
projects.
Requirements Analysis - Companies may already have developed a concrete
business
strategy that defines which services they will offer within markets. In this
case, the
present invention's work will begin by helping define the company's network
environment requirements. This work will be followed by design and
implementation
projects.
Design and Implementation - Companies may be ready to move to the design and
implementation phases of creating an MNS capability. Generally, the present
invention will confirm that their network meets the requirements to provide
the
service, then assist the client in the designing and implementing an
appropriate
solution suite.
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In an effort to clearly communicate exactly how we define NM/MNS we have
created an
online catalog of services. The present invention's solution is a continuous
cycle that begins
with the four major processes associated with NM/MNS. These processes drive
the
technology and the people components of the solution. Within each of these
processes are a
number of core functions and sub-functions. The MNS Online Catalog contains
all of this
information, including the supporting process, technology and organizational
solutions for
each function.
Our solution is called the Managed Networked Services Integrated Solution
(MNSIS) and has
been developed using an approach which integrates Process, Technology, and
People
considerations.
Process
At the highest level, there are four major processes that must be performed to
manage any
network:
= Service Planning
= Managing Change
= Operations Management
= Service Management
Each process should be performed in order to provide a complete NM/MNS
solution. As
mentioned above, each process has a number of associated functions and sub-
functions that
provide the complete picture of the process. The major functions associated
with each
process are as follows.
Technology
The main goal of the technology solution is to provide access to network
information to make
informed decisions. The present invention includes three layers of management:
element
management, information services management and presentation management. Every
action
starts with an incident. Processing is tailored to handling the incident with
technology that
responds to the unique characteristics of each incident.
Element ManaQer
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The element manager communicates with the network elements to receive alarms
and alerts
through trapping and polling techniques. The element manager is the layer
where the primary
data reduction functions reside. At this layer, events received at the element
manager will be
filtered, aggregated and correlated to further isolate problems within the
network.
Information that is deemed critical to monitor and manage the network is
translated into a
standard object format and forwarded to the Information Services Manager. An
element
manager can be, but is not necessarily, software which adheres to open
standards such as the
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and the Object Management Group's
(OMG)
Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA).
Information Services Manager
The information services manager provides the data management and data
communications
between element managers and presentation managers. All information forwarded
from the
element managers is utilized by the information services manager to provide
information to
the network operators. The information services manager adheres to CORBA
standards to
provide ubiquitous information access via an Object Request Broker (ORB). The
ORB
allows the information services manager to share management information stored
in
distributed databases.
The information services manager stores critical management information into
operational
(real-time) and analytical (historical) distributed databases. These databases
provide common
data storage so that new products can be easily inserted into the management
environment.
For example, if an event is received at an element manager that is deemed
critical to display
to a network user, the information services manager will store a copy of the
alarm in the
operational database and then forward the alarm to the appropriate network
operator.
Media and textual databases are also provided by the information services
manager. The
databases includes online manuals for administrative purposes, as well as for
the maintenance
specialists to access element specific information. The databases also provide
procedures,
policies and computer based training to network users.
The information services manager provides requested information (real-time and
historical) to
the network users via the presentation manager.
Presentation Manager
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The presentation manager performs the function its name implies: the
presentation of the
information to an end user. Because different locations and job functions
require access to
different types of information, there are at least two types of display
methods. The first is for
graphic intensive presentations and the second is for nomadic use, such as
field technicians.
The first environment requires a graphic intensive display, such as those
provided by X-
Windows/MOTIF. The second environment is potentially bandwidth poor where dial-
up or
wireless access may be used along with more traditional LAN access. This is
also where
browser technology is employed.
People
The people vision for the NM/MNS include an organization model for customer
service
support, the corresponding roles and responsibilities for this organization
model and a
conceptual design for workforce transformation to packet switching.
Customer Service Support
Customer service support provides a single point of contact that is customer
focused. This
single point of contact provides technical expertise in resolving customer
incidents, troubles
and requests. Generally a three tiered support structure is optimal for
satisfying customer
service needs. Each tier, or level, possesses an increasing level of skill,
with tasks and
responsibilities distributed accordingly. Such a structure is as follows:
Tier 1- typically has a broad set of technical skills and is the first level
of
support to the customer. Typically this group is responsible for resolving 60-
70 percent of the opened problems.
Tier 2 - are technical experts and field support personnel who may specialize
in specific areas. Typically this group is responsible for resolving 30-40
percent of the opened problems.
Tier 3 - are considered solution experts and often consist of hardware
vendors,
software vendors or custom application development / maintenance teams (in-
depth skills needed to investigate and resolve difficult problems within their
area of expertise). They are the last resort for solving the most difficult
problems. Typically this group is responsible for resolving 5 percent or fewer
of the opened problems.
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The above model is generally referred to as the Skilled Model because
personnel at all three
tiers are highly skilled. This model generally creates a high percentage of
calls resolved on
the first call. Other approaches include:
Functional Model
In this model, users are requested to contact different areas (via VRU)
depending on the
nature of the incident. Calls are routed to the customer support
representative best able to
handle the call. This model can easily be coupled with the Skilled Model, and
has been at
previous client engagements.
Bypass Model
In this model, Tier 1 only logs calls, they do not resolve calls. One
advantage of this model
is that skilled resources don't have to waste time logging calls.
Software and Assets
Managed Networked Services Integrated Solution- The integrated network
management
solution template consists of a suite of best of breed third party software
products that
automate problem diagnosis, notification, custom-developed reporting, and IP
services
monitoring. This solution template is a great first step in realizing our
technology solution
vision.
Web-Based SLA Reporting Tool - is a browser based tool that provides the
personalized SLA
reports to customers in both a template and ad-hoc format.
Data Mining Demonstration - Provides the capability to analyze network
management data
looking for patterns and correlations across multiple dimensions. Build models
of the
behavior of the data in order to predict future growth or problems and
facilitate managing the
network in a proactive, yet cost-effective manner.
Customer to Event Mapping Module - Add-on module to the Managed Networked
Services
Integrated Solution which maps network element events, to service offerings,
to customers.
This tool allows the Customer Service Representative to proactively address
network outages
with customers.
Process Definitions and Functions
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Service Planning
Service Planning includes both the strategic and tactical planning required to
manage
distributed environments effectively. Although most planning typically occurs
during rollout
of the system, certain planning activities must otherwise take place. Service
Planning ensures
that change can be successfully controlled and implemented.
= Service Management Planning
= Operations Management Planning
= Managing Change Planning
= Strategic Planning
Managing Change
Includes processes and procedures for handling necessary changes to systems or
the
organization in a distributed environment.
= Change Control
= Testing
= Implementing
= Software Distribution
Operations Management
Systems Management consists of the day-to-day operational functions required
to maintain
the system (e.g. fault detection / correction, security management and
performance
management).
= Production Control
= Monitoring and Control
= Fault Management
= Security Management
Service Management
Service Management controls the overall service to the users of the system. It
isolates users
from how the system is managed, and ensures that users receive the quality
support services
they need to carry out their daily business activities.
= SLA/OLA Management
= Help Desk
= Quality Management
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Billing = and Accounting
The present invention includes a system, method, and article of manufacture
for providing a
hybrid circuit switched/packet switched network. This hybrid network is used
as a
transitioning network to transition from old "Core" network architectures to
"New Core"
networks. In the present description, the details of the NGN transitioning
network will first be
set forth after which details relating to specific billing aspects of the
present invention will be
described.
PSTN, wireless, and cable networks have continued to grow at their organic
rates determined
by the growth of the vertical services they were providing. In the beginning,
the data
networks used a small portion of the backbone SONET bandwidth, while PSTN was
still the
dominant bandwidth user. Due to the exponential growth in IP traffic, the IP
based data
networks are soon slated to utilize more bandwidth than the PSTN. Also huge
technical
advances in packet technologies have made it possible to carry traditional
voice over IP
networks. This has started a move towards the "Next Generation Network (NGN)"
where
there will be more sharing of common network infrastructure to provide
services, and these
services will start to become more interoperable. The main thrust of
technologies in the
"NGN" will be to provide interoperability between the new packet based
infrastructure and
existing legacy infrastructures. Due to the large investments made in the
legacy
infrastructure, they will continue to exist for some time, but most new
innovations will occur
on the packet based infrastructure. Slowly, the parallel networks that were
created to serve
distinct services will merge to use a common packet based backbone and only
differ in how
access is provided (wire-line, wireless, cable, satellite). The "NGN" is a
transition network
which will exist during the transformation from the current "Core" to the "New
Core".
As packet technologies continue to develop rapidly, it will be possible to
support what was
once a distinct set of services (voice, video, wireless) on separate parallel
networks, on one
integrated packet based network. There will still be separate access
technologies (wireless,
satellite, cable, wire-line) to access these services, but the access networks
will all use a
common "New Core" network and its capabilities. The services will be
interoperable across
various access technologies, and users will freely use services that cross
many access
technologies, e.g. wireless to cable phone services, web browsing from
wireless devices etc.
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The present invention maps a course for the network evolution from circuit to
packet switched
technology using a migratory approach in which the network becomes a hybrid
circuit and
packet topology over a 3 to 7 year period.
Next, the network architecture for the wire-line network as it transforms from
"Core" to
"NGN" to "New Core" will be described. Followed by architecture for cable,
wireless and
satellite based access networks.
The Wire-line Network Architecture
"Core" Network Architecture
The current wire-line "Core" network consists of parallel PSTN, SMDS, ATM,
Frame-Relay,
B/PRI and IP networks. The PSTN network has been evolving over the last
century and is a
mix of old and new circuit switched technologies. The PSTN network mainly
provides point-
to-point interactive two-way voice communication services. The service set has
evolved to
include many intelligent network (IN) service features. During the late 1980s,
Advanced
Intelligent Networks (AIN) emerged as the architecture to support new voice
based services
on the PSTN infrastructure.
IN requirements and architecture in the current "Core"
The major IN requirements include session establishment, advanced call
processing, call
routing and call treatment (network messages and call termination). Examples
of applications
and features are the CLASS family of services (Call waiting, Call forwarding,
Conference
calling, Call rejection), enhanced call routing, Number Portability, Calling
Card Services, and
Audio delivered Information Services (e.g. travel, stocks and weather).
These IN capabilities are enabled by devices such as SCP, STP, SSP and EIP in
the AIN
environment. These devices participate in the execution and completion of an
IN service. In
order to develop, test and launch new IN service applications on the above
mentioned
components, service providers deploy Service Creation Environment (SCE)
platforms, which
provide an environment to quickly create new IN services. These SCE platforms
are closely
tied to the runtime environment and therefore with very few exceptions become
a major
undertaking and a complex coordination effort to launch a new or modified IN
service in the
"Core" network environment.
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Data networks in the "Core"
While the PSTN was growing in feature functionality as well as traffic demand,
new data
networks have been created to support the inter-networking of computing
devices. These data
networks provide interconnection to geographically dispersed computing devices
at varying
levels of transmission bandwidth (e.g. 56/64K, T-1/E-1, T-3/E-3, OC-3/STM-1).
The data
networks consist of many technologies e.g. SMDS, ATM, frame-relay and IP. In
some cases,
these data networks themselves are parallel networks, in other cases, they
share a common
technology in the backbone (e.g. ATM can be the backbone for frame relay and
IP data
networks). These data networks share the same SONET based backbone with the
PSTN
network. The services on the PSTN and the data networks are very distinct and
non-
interoperable (example: voice versus web access).
With the rapid explosion of the Internet, and innovation in packet based
technologies, the IP
based data network has become the dominant network in terms of user traffic,
and its growth
is slated to continue exponentially. This phenomenon has created a dilemma for
traffic
planners and engineers of the Core network. They have seen traffic grow on the
access
portions of their networks (PSTN) but have realized very little financial
benefits from this
usage because third party service providers have been the termination point of
these internet
data users. The incumbents have began to devise intelligent network solutions
for this data
traffic (example RAS with SS7 gateway) in order to solve two major challenges:
1) off
loading data traffic from the voice infrastructure to alleviate the congestion
issues that face
traditional voice customers and 2) collecting revenues from the third party
data services
providers (ISP's) for access and routing callers to their Points Of Presence.
Due to the high growth in IP and other data services, many new service
providers have
emerged that are building only IP based data networks, and provide only IP
based data
services. Their business strategy is to continue to ride the technological
innovation of IP and
packet based technologies and build complete suites of services on a packet
based
infrastructure. Because they are investing in only one form of network (as
opposed to many
parallel networks), their unit cost of services is low, they are not
encumbered by legacy
networks and systems, and they can provide cheaper and better services to
customers; hence
they pose a significant threat to incumbent telecom service providers.
Internet
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The Internet is a method of interconnecting physical networks and a set of
conventions for
using networks that allow the computers they reach to interact. Physically,
the Internet is a
huge, global network spanning over 92 countries and comprising 59,000
academic,
commercial, government, and military networks, according to the Government
Accounting
Office (GAO), with these numbers expected to double each year. Furthermore,
there are
about 10 million host computers, 50 million users, and 76,000 World-Wide Web
servers
connected to the Internet. The backbone of the Internet consists of a series
of high-speed
communication links between major supercomputer sites and educational and
research
institutions within the U.S. and throughout the world.
Protocols govern the behavior along the Internet backbone and thus set down
the key rules for
data communication. Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
has an open
nature and is available to everyone, meaning that it attempts to create a
network protocol
system that is independent of computer or network operating system and
architectural
differences. As such, TCP/IP protocols are publicly available in standards
documents,
particularly in Requests for Comments (RFCs). A requirement for Internet
connection is
TCP/IP, which consists of a large set of data communications protocols, two of
which are the
Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol.
The International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization
Sector
("ITU-T") has established numerous standards governing protocols and line
encoding for
telecommunication devices. Because many of these standards are referenced
throughout this
document, summaries of the relevant standards are listed below for reference.
ITU G.711 Recommendation for Pulse Code Modulation of 3kHz Audio Channels.
ITU G.722 Recommendation for 7kHz Audio Coding within a 64kbit/s channel.
ITU G.723 Recommendation for dual rate speech coder for multimedia
communication
transmitting at 5.3 and 6.3 kbits.
ITU G.728 Recommendation for coding of speech at 16kbit/s using low-delay code
excited
linear prediction (LD-CELP)
ITU H.221 Frame Structure for a 64 to 1920 kbit/s Channel in Audiovisual
Teleservices
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ITU H.223 Multiplexing Protocols for Low Bitrate Multimedia Terminals
ITU H.225 ITU Recommendation for Media Stream Packetization and
Synchronization on
non-guaranteed quality of service LANs.
ITU H.230 Frame-synchronous Control and Indication Signals for Audiovisual
Systems
ITU H.231 Multipoint Control Unit for Audiovisual Systems Using Digital
Channels up to
2 Mbit/s
ITU H.242 System for Establishing Communication Between Audiovisual Terminals
Using Digital Channels up to 2Mbits
ITU H.243 System for Establishing Communication Between Three or More
Audiovisual
Terminals Using Digital Channels up to 2 Mbit/s
ITU H.245 Recommendation for a control protocol for multimedia communication
ITU H.261 Recommendation for Video Coder-Decoder for audiovisual services
supporting
video resolutions of 352x288 pixels and 176x144 pixels.
ITU H.263 Recommendation for Video Coder-Decoder for audiovisual services
supporting
video resolutions of 128x96 pixels, 176x144 pixels, 352x288 pixels, 704x576
pixels and
1408x 1152 pixels.
ITU H.320 Recommendation for Narrow Band ISDN visual telephone systems.
ITU H.321 Visual Telephone Terminals over ATM
ITU H.322 Visual Telephone Terminals over Guaranteed Quality of Service LANs
ITU H.323 ITU Recommendation for Visual Telephone Systems and Equipment for
Local
Area Networks which provide a non-guaranteed quality of service.
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ITU H.324 Recommendation for Terminals and Systems for low bitrate(28.8 Kbps)
multimedia communication on dial-up telephone lines.
ITU T. 120 Transmission Protocols for Multimedia Data.
In addition, several other relevant standards exist including:
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network, the digital communication standard
for
transmission of voice, video and data on a single communications link.
RTP Real-Time Transport Protocol, an Internet Standard Protocol for
transmission of real-
time data like voice and video over unicast and multicast networks.
IP Internet Protocol, an Internet Standard Protocol for transmission and
delivery of data
packets on a packet switched network of interconnected computer systems.
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol
MPEG Motion Pictures Expert Group, a standards body under the International
Standards
Organization(ISO), Recommendations for compression of digital Video and Audio
including
the bit stream but not the compression algorithms.
SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol
RSVP Resource Reservation Setup Protocol
UDP User Datagram Protocol
The popularity of the TCP/IP protocols on the Internet grew rapidly because
they met an
important need for worldwide data communication and had several important
characteristics
that allowed them to meet this need. These characteristics, still in use
today, include:
1) A common addressing scheme that allows any device running TCP/IP to
uniquely
address any other device on the Internet.
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2) Open protocol standards, freely available and developed independently of
any
hardware or operating system. Thus, TCP/IP is capable of being used with
different
hardware and software, even if Internet communication is not required.
Independence from any specific physical network hardware, allows TCP/IP to
integrate many
different kinds of networks. TCP/IP can be used over an Ethernet, a token
ring, a dial-up line,
or virtually any other kinds of physical transmission media.
An understanding of how information travels in communication systems is
required to
appreciate the recent steps taken by key players in today's Internet backbone
business. The
traditional type of communication network is circuit switched. The U.S.
telephone system
uses such circuit switching techniques. When a person or a computer makes a
telephone call,
the switching equipment within the telephone system seeks out a physical path
from the
originating telephone to the receiver's telephone. A circuit-switched network
attempts to
form a dedicated connection, or circuit, between these two points by first
establishing a circuit
from the originating phone through the local switching office, then across
trunk lines, to a
remote switching office, and finally to the destination telephone. This
dedicated connection
exists until the call terminates.
The establishment of a completed path is a prerequisite to the transmission of
data for circuit
switched networks. After the circuit is in place, the microphone captures
analog signals, and
the signals are transmitted to the Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) Central Office
(CO) in
analog form over an analog loop. The analog signal is not converted to digital
form until it
reaches the LEC Co, and even then only if the equipment is modern enough to
support digital
information. In an ISDN embodiment, however, the analog signals are converted
to digital at
the device and transmitted to the LEC as digital information.
Upon connection, the circuit guarantees that the samples can be delivered and
reproduced by
maintaining a data path of 64 Kbps (thousand bits per second). This rate is
not the rate
required to send digitized voice per se. Rather, 64Kbps is the rate required
to send voice
digitized with the Pulse Code Modulated (PCM) technique. Many other methods
for
digitizing voice exist, including ADPCM (32Kbps), GSM (13 Kbps), TrueSpeech
8.5 (8.5
Kbps), G.723 (6.4 Kbps or 5.3 Kbps) and Voxware RT29HQ (2.9 Kbps).
Furthermore, the 64
Kbps path is maintained from LEC Central Office (CO) Switch to LEC CO, but not
from end
to end. The analog local loop transmits an analog signal, not 64 Kbps
digitized audio. One of
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these analog local loops typically exists as the "last mile" of each of the
telephone network
circuits to attach the local telephone of the calling party.
This guarantee of capacity is the strength of circuit-switched networks.
However, circuit
switching has two significant drawbacks. First, the setup time can be
considerable, because
the call signal request may find the lines busy with other calls; in this
event, there is no way to
gain connection until some other connection terminates. Second, utilization
can be low while
costs are high. In other words, the calling party is charged for the duration
of the call and for
all of the time even if no data transmission takes place (i.e. no one speaks).
Utilization can be
low because the time between transmission of signals is unable to be used by
any other calls,
due to the dedication of the line. Any such unused bandwidth during the
connection is
wasted.
Additionally, the entire circuit switching infrastructure is built around 64
Kbps circuits. The
infrastructure assumes the use of PCM encoding techniques for voice. However,
very high
quality codecs are available that can encode voice using less than one-tenth
of the bandwidth
of PCM. However, the circuit switched network blindly allocates 64 Kbps of
bandwidth for a
call, end-to-end, even if only one-tenth of the bandwidth is utilized.
Furthermore, each circuit
generally only connects two parties. Without the assistance of conference
bridging
equipment, an entire circuit to a phone is occupied in connecting one party to
another party.
Circuit switching has no multicast or multipoint communication capabilities,
except when
used in combination with conference bridging equipment.
Other reasons for long call setup time include the different signaling
networks involved in call
setup and the sheer distance causing propagation delay. Analog signaling from
an end station
to a CO on a low bandwidth link can also delay call setup. Also, the call
setup data travels
great distances on signaling networks that are not always transmitting data at
the speed of
light. When the calls are international, the variations in signaling networks
grows, the
equipment handling call setup is usually not as fast as modem setup and the
distances are even
greater, so call setup slows down even more. Further, in general, connection-
oriented virtual
or physical circuit setup, such as circuit switching, requires more time at
connection setup
time than comparable connectionless techniques due to the end-to-end
handshaking required
between the conversing parties.
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Message switching is another switching strategy that has been considered. With
this form of
switching, no physical path is established in advance between the sender and
receiver; instead,
whenever the sender has a block of data to be sent, it is stored at the first
switching office and
retransmitted to the next switching point after error inspection. Message
switching places no
limit on block size, thus requiring that switching stations must have disks to
buffer long
blocks of data; also, a single block may tie up a line for many minutes,
rendering message
switching useless for interactive traffic.
Packet switched networks, which predominate the computer network industry,
divide data
into small pieces called packets that are multiplexed onto high capacity
intermachine
connections. A packet is a block of data with a strict upper limit on block
size that carries
with it sufficient identification necessary for delivery to its destination.
Such packets usually
contain several hundred bytes of data and occupy a given transmission line for
only a few tens
of milliseconds. Delivery of a larger file via packet switching requires that
it be broken into
many small packets and sent one at a time from one machine to the other. The
network
hardware delivers these packets to the specified destination, where the
software reassembles
them into a single file.
Packet switching is used by virtually all computer interconnections because of
its efficiency in
data transmissions. Packet switched networks use bandwidth on a circuit as
needed, allowing
other transmissions to pass through the lines in the interim. Furthermore,
throughput is
increased by the fact that a router or switching office can quickly forward to
the next stop any
given packet, or portion of a large file, that it receives, long before the
other packets of the file
have arrived. In message switching, the intermediate router would have to wait
until the
entire block was delivered before forwarding. Today, message switching is no
longer used in
computer networks because of the superiority of packet switching.
To better understand the Internet, a comparison to the telephone system is
helpful. The public
switched telephone network was designed with the goal of transmitting human
voice, in a
more or less recognizable form. Their suitability has been improved for
computer-to-
computer communications but remains far from optimal. A cable running between
two
computers can transfer data at speeds in the hundreds of megabits, and even
gigabits per
second. A poor error rate at these speeds would be only one error per day. In
contrast, a dial-
up line, using standard telephone lines, has a maximum data rate in the
thousands of bits per
second, and a much higher error rate. In fact, the combined bit rate times
error rate
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performance of a local cable could be 11 orders of magnitude better than a
voice-grade
telephone line. New technology, however, has been improving the performance of
these
lines.
The Internet is composed of a great number of individual networks, together
forming a global
connection of thousands of computer systems. After understanding that machines
are
connected to the individual networks, we can investigate how the networks are
connected
together to form an internetwork, or an internet. At this point, internet
gateways and internet
routers come into play.
In terms of architecture, two given networks are connected by a computer that
attaches to both
of them. Internet gateways and routers provide those links necessary to send
packets between
networks and thus make connections possible. Without these links, data
communication
through the Internet would not be possible, as the information either would
not reach its
destination or would be incomprehensible upon arrival. A gateway may be
thought of as an
entrance to a communications network that performs code and protocol
conversion between
two otherwise incompatible networks. For instance, gateways transfer
electronic mail and
data files between networks over the internet.
IP Routers are also computers that connect networks and is a newer term
preferred by
vendors. These routers must make decisions as to how to send the data packets
it receives to
its destination through the use of continually updated routing tables. By
analyzing the
destination network address of the packets, routers make these decisions.
Importantly, a
router does not generally need to decide which host or end user will receive a
packet; instead,
a router seeks only the destination network and thus keeps track of
information sufficient to
get to the appropriate network, not necessarily the appropriate end user.
Therefore, routers do
not need to be huge supercomputing systems and are often just machines with
small main
memories and little disk storage. The distinction between gateways and routers
is slight, and
current usage blurs the line to the extent that the two terms are often used
interchangeably. In
current terminology, a gateway moves data between different protocols and a
router moves
data between different networks. So a system that moves mail between TCP/IP
and OSI is a
gateway, but a traditional IP gateway (that connects different networks) is a
router.
Now, it is useful to take a simplified look at routing in traditional
telephone systems. The
telephone system is organized as a highly redundant, multilevel hierarchy.
Each telephone
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has two copper wires coming out of it that go directly to the telephone
company's nearest end
office, also called a local central office. The distance is typically less
than 10 km; in the U.S.
alone, there are approximately 20,000 end offices. The concatenation of the
area code and the
first three digits of the telephone number uniquely specify an end office and
help dictate the
rate and billing structure.
The two-wire connections between each subscriber's telephone and the end
office are called
local loops. If a subscriber attached to a given end office calls another
subscriber attached to
the same end office, the switching mechanism within the office sets up a
direct electrical
connection between the two local loops. This connection remains intact for the
duration of
the call, due to the circuit switching techniques discussed earlier.
If the subscriber attached to a given end office calls a user attached to a
different end office,
more work has to be done in the routing of the call. First, each end office
has a number of
outgoing lines to one or more nearby switching centers, called toll offices.
These lines are
called toll connecting trunks. If both the caller's and the receiver's end
offices happen to have
a toll connecting trunk to the same toll office, the connection may be
established within the
toll office. If the caller and the recipient of the call do not share a toll
office, then the path
will have to be established somewhere higher up in the hierarchy. There are
sectional and
regional offices that form a network by which the toll offices are connected.
The toll,
sectional, and regional exchanges communicate with each other via high
bandwidth inter-toll
trunks. The number of different kinds of switching centers and their specific
topology varies
from country to country, depending on its telephone density.
Using Network Level Communication for Smooth User Connection
In addition to the data transfer functionality of the Internet, TCP/IP also
seeks to convince
users that the Intemet is a solitary, virtual network. TCP/IP accomplishes
this by providing a
universal interconnection among machines, independent of the specific networks
to which
hosts and end users attach. Besides router interconnection of physical
networks, software is
required on each host to allow application programs to use the Internet as if
it were a single,
real physical network.
The basis of Internet service is an underlying, connectionless packet delivery
system run by
routers, with the basic unit of transfer being the packet. In internets
running TCP/IP, such as
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the Internet backbone, these packets are called datagrams. This section will
briefly discuss
how these datagrams are routed through the Internet.
In packet switching systems, routing is the process of choosing a path over
which to send
packets. As mentioned before, routers are the computers that make such
choices. For the
routing of information from one host within a network to another host on the
same network,
the datagrams that are sent do not actually reach the Internet backbone. This
is an example of
internal routing, which is completely self-contained within the network. The
machines
outside of the network do not participate in these intemal routing decisions.
At this stage, a distinction should be made between direct delivery and
indirect delivery.
Direct delivery is the transmission of a datagram from one machine across a
single physical
network to another machine on the same physical network. Such deliveries do
not involve
routers. Instead, the sender encapsulates the datagram in a physical frame,
addresses it, and
then sends the frame directly to the destination machine.
Indirect delivery is necessary when more than one physical network is
involved, in particular
when a machine on one network wishes to communicate with a machine on another
network.
This type of communication is what we think of when we speak of routing
information across
the Internet backbone. In indirect delivery, routers are required. To send a
datagram, the
sender must identify a router to which the datagram can be sent, and the
router then forwards
the datagram towards the destination network. Recall that routers generally do
not keep track
of the individual host addresses (of which there are millions), but rather
just keeps track of
physical networks (of which there are thousands). Essentially, routers in the
Internet form a
cooperative, interconnected structure, and datagrams pass from router to
router across the
backbone until they reach a router that can deliver the datagram directly.
The changing face of the internet world causes a steady inflow of new systems
and
technology. The following three developments, each likely to become more
prevalent in the
near future, serve as an introduction to the technological arena.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a networking technology using a high-
speed,
connection-oriented system for both local area and wide area networks. ATM
networks
require modern hardware including:
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1) High speed switches that can operate at gigabit (trillion bit) per second
speeds to
handle the traffic from many computers.
2) Optical fibers (versus copper wires) that provide high data transfer rates,
with host-to-
ATM switch connections running at 100 or 155 Mbps (million bits per second).
3) Fixed size cells, each of which includes 53 bytes.
ATM incorporates features of both packet switching and circuit switching, as
it is designed to
carry voice, video, and television signals in addition to data. Pure packet
switching
technology is not conducive to carrying voice transmissions because such
transfers demand
more stable bandwidth.
Frame relay systems use packet switching techniques, but are more efficient
than traditional
systems. This efficiency is partly due to the fact that they perform less
error checking than
traditional X.25 packet-switching services. In fact, many intermediate nodes
do little or no
error checking at all and only deal with routing, leaving the error checking
to the higher layers
of the system. With the greater reliability of today's transmissions, much of
the error
checking previously performed has become unnecessary. Thus, frame relay offers
increased
performance compared to traditional systems.
An Integrated Services Digital Network is an "international telecommunications
standard for
transmitting voice, video, and data over digital lines," most commonly running
at 64 kilobits
per second. The traditional phone network runs voice at only 4 kilobits per
second. To adopt
ISDN, an end user or company must upgrade to ISDN terminal equipment, central
office
hardware, and central office software. The ostensible goals of ISDN include
the following:
1) To provide an internationally accepted standard for voice, data and
signaling;
2) To make all transmission circuits end-to-end digital;
3) To adopt a standard out-of-band signaling system; and
4) To bring significantly more bandwidth to the desktop.
An ISP is composed of several disparate systems. As ISP integration proceeds,
formerly
independent systems now become part of one larger whole with concomitant
increases in the
level of analysis, testing, scheduling, and training in all disciplines of the
ISP.
Fault Management
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The NGN operations architecture specifies the points of insertion and
collections for network
wide events that feed the Fault Management systems. Since the components of
the packet
portion of the hybrid NGN infrastructure are in most cases manageable by SNMP
or some
other standard management protocol the major challenges are the following:
1. Correlation of the events from the packet infrastructure with the Core
circuit-based
network events to provide the operators with a seamless service oriented view
of the overall
health of the network;
2. Event gathering and interpretation from the Core circuit network elements;
and
3. Mediation and standardization of the network messages to aid processing by
the network
management framework of the NGN.
The network management components of the NGN provide comprehensive solutions
to
address these challenges. Correlation is provided by the use of rules based
inference engines.
Event gathering and interpretation is typically performed by custom
development of software
interfaces which communicate directly with the network elements, process raw
events and
sort them by context prior to storing them. For example, alarms versus command
responses.
The mediation and standardization challenge is addressed by using a
comprehensive library of
all possible message types and network events categorize the numerous messages
that the
NGN generates.
Figure 28 is a flowchart showing a Fault Management Process 2800 in accordance
with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention. The Fault Management Process
2800 begins
with a transmitting step 2802. In step 2802, data is transmitted over the
hybrid network,
including video and mixed audio information. The data transmission generally
makes full use
of the hybrid networks mixed circuit-switched an packet-switched components.
As discussed
above, the hybrid network includes approximately all the advantages of a
packet based
network while still making use of the older circuit-switched components
already in place.
The system is able to do this by correlating events raised by both the circuit-
switched and
packet-switch network elements, as discussed later in relation to event and
correlating steps
2804 and 2806.
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In a circuit-switched event gathering step 2804, an event is obtained from a
circuit-switched
based network element. As discussed above, event gathering and interpretation
is typically
performed by custom developed software interfaces which communicate directly
with the
network elements, process raw network events, and sort the events by context
prior to storing
them. After obtaining the events, the events are correlated in a correlation
step 2806.
In a correlation step 2806, the event gathered in step 2804 is correlated with
a second event
obtained from a packet-switched network element. As with circuit-switched
network
elements, packet-switched event gathering and interpretation is typically
performed by custom
developed software interfaces which communicate directly with the network
elements,
process raw network events, and sort the events by context prior to storing
them. As
discussed above, the correlation is preferably provided by a rules based
inference engine.
After the events are correlated, a fault message is created in a fault message
step 2808.
In a fault message step 2808, a fault message is created based on the
correlated first and
second events obtained in steps 2804 and 2806. Preferably the fault message is
created
utilizing a comprehensive library of all possible message types and network
events which
categorizes the numerous messages that the hybrid network generates.
Figure 29 is a block diagram showing a Fault Management component 2900 in
accordance
with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The Fault Management
component
2900 records failures and exceptions in network devices (e.g. network routers
or UNIX
servers) and performs the following operations:
1) performs root-cause correlation of the failures and exceptions;
2) immediately takes corrective and/or informative actions such as sending a
page, logging a
help desk ticket, sending an electronic mail message, or calling a resolution
script;
3) stores the information into a Database Component for later analysis by the
Reporting
Component; and
4) allows real time viewing of faults in a network map and network event
views.
The Fault Management component 2900 includes the following elements:
UNIX Servers 2902- Any UNIX Server with BMC Patrol clients loaded.
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NT Servers 2904 - Any NT Server with BMC Patrol clients loaded.
SNMP Devices 2906 - Any SNMP manageable device.
HP OV Network Node Manager (Collector Component) 2908 - HP OpenView Network
Node
Manager is one product which performs several functions. In this context it is
it is responsible
for receiving performance information from BMC Patrol clients via BMC Patrol
View.
Seagate NerveCenter 2910 - In a fault management context, Seagate NerveCenter
performs
root-cause correlation of faults and events across the network.
HP OV Network Node Manager Network Map 2912 - HP OpenView Network Node Manager
is one product which performs several functions. In this context it is
responsible for
maintaining and displaying the node level network map of the network the MNSIS
architecture monitors.
HP OV Network Node Manager 2914 - HP OpenView Network Node Manager is one
product which performs several functions. In this context it is it is
responsible for receiving
and displaying all events, regardless of their source.
Netcool HP OV NNM Probe 2916 - An Omnibus Netcool probe which is installed on
the
same system as HP OV Network Node Manager and forwards events to the Omnibus
Netcool
Object Server.
Micromuse Internet Service Monitors 2918- An Omnibus Netcool suite of active
probes
(monitors) which monitor internet services such as FTP, POP3, SMTP, NNTP, DNS,
HTTP,
and RADIUS. These monitors collect availability and performance data and
forward the
information as alerts to the Omnibus Netcool Object Server.
Netcool Obtect Server 2920 - The Omnibus Netcool Object Server is a real-time
memory
resident database which stores all current events (alerts). The events are
viewable by
operations personnel using a number of event lists and views, all of which are
highly
customizable by each operator.
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Notification Spooler 2922 - A custom provided sub-component which spools job-
files that
specify which events have occurred for possible notifications.
Spooled Job 2924 - Each spooled job represents a specific event that was
received by the
Netcool Object Server and may need to result in one or more notification
actions. Each job is
stored as a file in a special notification spool directory.
Notification Actor 2926 - A custom provided sub-component which determines the
alert time,
source node, and alert type from the loaded spooled job and initiates
notification actions based
as specified in the configuration file. Notification actions include
alphanumeric pages,
trouble tickets, email, and resolution scripts. Multiple notification actions
can be specified in
the configuration files such that different actions are taken for different
alert times, source
nodes, and/or alert types. Default actions are also supported.
Alphanumeric Page 2928 - An alphanumeric page sent using Telamon TelAlert via
modem
dialing the relevant paging provider. The alphanumeric page message provides
contextual
notification of actions to be performed. Context can include any information
but frequently
contains information such as the device name, problem description, and
priority.
Electronic Mail Message 2930 - An internet mail message send using the UNIX
mail utility.
The mail message is frequently used to provide non-urgent notification of
situations or actions
automatically performed by the MNSIS architecture along with detailed context.
Local Script Execution 2932 - Initiates any local script on the machine, which
may initiate
scripts or applications on other machines.
Remedy Gateway 2934 - The Omnibus Netcool Remedy Gateway automatically reads
alerts
in the Netcool Object Server and opens tickets within Remedy as customized by
the user. The
Remedy trouble ticket ID is returned to the Omnibus and can be viewed as
further reference.
Remedy 2936 - Remedy Action Request System, a trouble ticketing system.
Oracle Gateway 2938 - The Omnibus Netcool Oracle Gateway automatically reads
alerts in
the Netcool Object Server and logs records within Oracle as customized by the
user.
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Oracle 2940 - Oracle is a relational database management system.
Generate Time Key Script 2942 - Script which generates New Time Records from
alerts in
the Netcool Object Server.
New Time Records 2944 -Time records corresponding to new alerts in Netcool
Object Server
which need to be added to the Oracle time tables.
SOL Loader Script 2946 - A custom script which automatically loads records
into Oracle via
SQL Loader Direct Load.
Element Management
As discussed above, the element manager works with the Information Services
Manager and
the Presentation Manager to assist in the management of the hybrid network
system. The
three components are briefly described below to provide context for the
detailed discussion of
the element manager that follows.
Element Manager
The element manager communicates with the network elements to receive alarms
and alerts
through trapping and polling techniques. The element manager is the layer
where the primary
data reduction functions reside. At this layer, events received at the element
manager will be
filtered, aggregated and correlated to further isolate problems within the
network.
Information that is deemed critical to monitor and manage the network is
translated into a
standard object format and forwarded to the Information Services Manager. An
element
manager can be, but is not necessarily, software which adheres to open
standards such as the
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and the Object Management Group's
(OMG)
Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA).
Information Services ManaQer
The information services manager provides the data management and data
communications
between element managers and presentation managers. All information forwarded
from the
element managers is utilized by the information services manager to provide
information to
the network operators. The information services manager adheres to CORBA
standards to
provide ubiquitous information access via an object request broker (ORB). The
ORB allows
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the information services manager to share management information stored in
distributed
databases.
The information services manager stores critical management information into
operational
(real-time) and analytical (historical) distributed databases. These databases
provide common
data storage so that new products can be easily inserted into the management
environment.
For example, if an event is received at an element manager that is deemed
critical to display
to a network user, the information services manager will store a copy of the
alarm in the
operational database and then forward the alarm to the appropriate network
operator.
Media and textual databases are also provided by the information services
manager. The
databases includes online manuals for administrative purposes, as well as for
the maintenance
specialists to access element specific information. The databases also provide
procedures,
policies and computer based training to network users.
The information services manager provides requested information (real-time and
historical) to
the network users via the presentation manager.
Presentation ManaQer
The presentation manager performs the function its name implies: the
presentation of the
information to an end user. Because different locations and job functions
require access to
different types of information, there are at least two types of display
methods. The first is for
graphic intensive presentations and the second is for nomadic use, such as
field technicians.
The first environment requires a graphic intensive display, such as those
provided by X-
Windows/MOTIF. The second environment is potentially bandwidth poor where dial-
up or
wireless access may be used along with more traditional LAN access. This is
also where
browser technology is employed.
The Element Management Aspect of the present invention works in conjunction
with other
components of the system, such as Fault Management, to provide communication
between the
various network elements of the system.
Figure 30 is a flowchart showing an Element Management Process 3000 in
accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention. The Element Management Process
3000
begins with a monitoring step 3002. In step 3002, the Element Manager monitors
the system
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for events generated by network elements. Generally, the Element Manager
continuously
monitors the system to translate events for other system components, such as
the Fault
Management Component.
In an event receiving step 3004, the Element Manager receives events from
various network
elements. Preferably the events are provided by custom software interfaces
which
communicate directly with network elements. The software interfaces preferably
process the
raw network events and sort them by context prior to providing the events to
the Element
Manager.
In a filtering and correlating step 3006, the Element Manager filters and
correlates the events
received in step 3004. Preferably the correlation is provided by a rules based
inference
engine. After collecting and correlating the events, the Element Manager
performs a
translation step 3008. In step 3008, the events correlated in step 3006 are
translated into
standard object format. Generally a comprehensive library of all message types
generated by
the hybrid system is utilized to translate the correlated events into standard
object format.
Once the events are translated, they are ready for use by other system
components, such as
Fault Management or Billing.
Customer Support Structure
The organization model for customer service support in the NGN network
provides a single
point of contact that is customer focused. This single point of contact
provides technical
expertise in resolving customer incidents, troubles and requests. Generally a
three tiered
support structure is greatly increases customer satisfaction in service needs.
Each tier, or
level, possess an increased level of skill, with tasks and responsibilities
distributed
accordingly.
Figure 31 is a flowchart showing a Three Tiered Customer Support Process 3100
in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The Three
Tiered
Customer Support Process 3100 begins with a First Tier step 3102. In step
3102, a customer
with a hybrid network problem is provided access to customer support personnel
having a
broad set of technical skills. The broad set of technical skills allows this
group to solve about
60-70% of all hybrid network problems. If the customers network problem is
solved at this
stage, the process ends. However, if the customers network problem is not
solved at this
stage, the process continues to a Second Tier step 3104.
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In the Second Tier step 3104, the customer is provided access to technical
experts and field
support personnel who may specialize in specific areas. The greater
specialized nature of this
group allows it to solve many problems the group in step 3102 could not solve.
This group is
generally responsible for solving 30-40% of all hybrid network problems. If
the customers
network problem is solved at this stage, the process ends. However, if the
customers network
problem is not solved at this stage, the process continues to a Third Tier
step 3106.
In the Third Tier step 3106, the customer is provided access to solution
experts who are often
hardware vendors, software vendors, or customer application development and
maintenance
teems. Customer network problems that get this far in the customer support
process 3100
need individuals possessing in-depth skills to investigate and resolve the
difficult problems
with there area of expertise. Solution experts are the last resort for solving
the most difficult
problems. Typically this group solves about 5% of all hybrid network problems.
The above model is generally referred to as the Skilled Model because
personnel at all three
tiers are highly skilled. This model generally creates a high percentage of
calls resolved on
the first call. Other approaches include a Functional Model, and a Bypass
Model. In the
Functional Model users are requested to contact different areas depending on
the nature of the
incident. Calls are routed to the customer support representative best able to
handle the call.
This model can easily be coupled with the Skill Model above. In the Bypass
Model First Tier
only logs calls, they do not resolve calls. One advantage of this model is
that skilled
resources don't have to waste time logging calls.
In more detail, a customer calling a customer support center in accordance
with one
embodiment of the present invention is first asked a series of questions by an
interactive voice
response (IVR) system or an live operator. The customer uses Touch-Tone keys
on the
telephone to respond to these queries from the IVR, or responds normally to a
live operator.
When a product support engineer becomes available, the previously gathered
information
(both from the IVR query responses and the diagnostic information solicited
from the system
problem handlers and element managers) is available to the product support
engineer.
After reviewing the situation with the customer, the product support engineer
can query the
customer's computer via support agents for additional information, if
necessary.
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In systems according to the preferred embodiment, the customer spends less
time interacting
with a product support engineer, and is relieved of many of the
responsibilities in diagnosing
and resolving problems. Automated diagnoses and shorter customer interactions
save the
product support center time, resources, and money. At the same time, the
customer receives a
better diagnosis and resolution of the problem than could usually be achieved
with prior art
product support techniques.
In addition, one embodiment of the present invention makes the Internet a
viable alternative to
telephone calls as a tool for providing consumer product support. Many on-line
computer
services, such as Prodigy and America On-Line, provide, for a fee as a part of
their on-line
service, software for connecting to and accessing the Internet.
The Internet access software accesses and "handshakes" with an "Internet Entry
Server",
which verifies the PIN number, provides the access and times the user's access
time. The
Internet Entry Server is programmed to recognize the PIN number as entitling
the user to a
limited prepaid or "free" Internet access time for on-line help services. Such
a time period
could be for a total time period such as 1 hour or more, or access to on-line
help services can
be unlimited for 90 days, 6 months, etc., for example, with the access time
paid for by the
sponsor/vendor. The first time a customer uses the on-line help service, the
Internet Entry
Server performs a registration process which includes a number of personal
questions and
custom data gathering in the form of queries provided by the sponsor/vendor
for response by
the user.
The pertinent answers are then immediately provided to the sponsor/vendor. The
Internet
Entry Server then "hot-links" the customer to the sponsor/vendor's Internet
domain or Home
Page for a mandatory "guided tour" where the user is exposed to any current
product
promotion by the sponsor/vendor and can download promotional coupons, product
information, etc. After this mandatory guided tour is completed, the customer
is allowed to
enter queries for help in installing or using the sponsor/vendor's product. As
an optional
promotional service, upon termination of the on-line help session, access to
other information
on the Internet can be provided. Once the "free" on-line help service time or
time period is up,
the Internet Entry Server prompts the user with one or more of a plurality of
options for
extending the availability of on-line help. For example, the user can be
prompted to enter a
credit card number to which on-line help charges can be charged; he or she can
be given the
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opportunity to answer additional survey information in return for additional
"free" on-line
help; or a 900 subscriber paid telephone access number can be provided through
which
additional on-line help will be billed via the normal telephone company 900
billing cycles.
Data Mining
The present invention includes data mining capability that provides the
capability to analyze
network management data looking for patterns and correlations across multiple
dimensions.
The system also constructs models of the behavior of the data in order to
predict future
growth or problems and facilitate managing the network in a proactive, yet
cost-effective
manner.
A technique called data mining allows a user to search large databases and to
discover hidden
patterns in that data. Data mining is thus the efficient discovery of
valuable, non-obvious
information from a large collection of data and centers on the automated
discovery of new
facts and underlying relationships in the data. The term "data mining" comes
from the idea
that the raw material is the business data, and the data mining algorithm is
the excavator,
shifting through the vast quantities of raw data looking for the valuable
nuggets of business
information.
Because data can be stored in such a wide variety of formats and because the
data values can
have such a wide variety of meanings, data mining applications have in the
past been written
to perform specific data mining operations, and there has been little or no
reuse of code
between application programs. Thus, each data mining application is written
from scratch,
making the development process long and expensive. Although the nuggets of
business
information that a data mining application discovers can be quite valuable,
they are of little
use if they are expensive and untimely discovered. Returning to the mining
analogy, even if
gold is selling for $900 per ounce, nobody is interested in operating a gold
mine if it takes two
years and $901 per ounce to get it out of the ground.
Accurate forecasting relies heavily upon the ability to analyze large amounts
of data. This task
is extremely difficult because of the sheer quantity of data involved and the
complexity of the
analyses that must be performed. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that
the data often
resides in multiple databases, each database having different internal file
structures.
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Rarely is the relevant information explicitly stored in the databases. Rather,
the important
information exists only in the hidden relationships among items in the
databases. Recently,
artificial intelligence techniques have been employed to assist users in
discovering these
relationships and, in some cases, in automatically discovering the
relationships.
Figure 32 is a flowchart showing a Data Mining Process 3200 in accordance with
a preferred
embodiment of the present invention. The Data Mining Process 3200 begins with
an
identifying step 3202. In step 3202, the system identifies patterns and
correlations in the
system data over the hybrid communication system. Preferably the system data
is analyzed
across multiple dimensions to provide better future system behavior
prediction.
In a model building step 3204, the system builds a model of the network
behavior based on
the patterns and correlations identified in step 3202. Data mining is a
process that uses
specific techniques to find patterns in data, allowing a user to conduct a
relatively broad
search of large databases for relevant information that may not be explicitly
stored in the
databases. Typically, a user initially specifies a search phrase or strategy
and the system then
extracts pattems and relations corresponding to that strategy from the stored
data. Such a
search system permits searching across multiple databases. The extracted
patterns and
relations can be: (1) used by the user, or data analyst, to form a prediction
model; (2) used to
refine an existing model; and/or (3) organized into a summary of the target
database, as in
predicting step 3206.
In a predicting step 3206, the system predicts future behavior of the network
based on the
model generated in step 3204. There are two existing forms of data mining: top-
down; and
bottom-up. Both forms are separately available on existing systems. Top-down
systems are
also referred to as "pattern validation," "verification-driven data mining"
and "confirmatory
analysis." This is a type of analysis that allows an analyst to express a
piece of knowledge,
validate or validate that knowledge, and obtain the reasons for the validation
or invalidation.
The validation step in a top-down analysis requires that data refuting the
knowledge as well as
data supporting the knowledge be considered. Bottom-up systems are also
referred to as "data
exploration." Bottom-up systems discover knowledge, generally in the form of
patterns, in
data.
Finally, in a managing step 3208, the network is managed based on the future
behavior of the
network. Data mining involves the development of tools that analyze large
databases to
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extract useful information from them. As an application of data mining,
customer purchasing
patterns may be derived from a large customer transaction database by
analyzing its
transaction records. Such purchasing habits can provide invaluable marketing
information.
For example, retailers can create more effective store displays and more
effective control
inventory than otherwise would be possible if they lcnow consumer purchase
patterns. As a
further example, catalog companies can conduct more effective mass mailings if
they know
that, given that a consumer has purchased a first item, the same consumer can
be expected,
with some degree of probability, to purchase a particular second item within a
defined time
period after the first purchase.
Classification of the data records to extract useful information is an
essential part of data
mining. Of importance to the present invention is the construction of a
classifier, from records
of known classes, for use in classifying other records whose classes are
unknown. As
generally known in the prior art, a classifier is generated from input data,
also called a training
set, which consist of multiple records. Each record is identified with a class
label. The input
data is analyzed to develop an accurate description, or model, for each class
of the records.
Based on the class descriptions, the classifier can then classify future
records, referred to as
test data, for which the class labels are unknown.
As an example, consider the case where a credit card company which has a large
database on
its card holders and wants to develop a profile for each customer class that
will be used for
accepting or rejecting future credit applicants. Assuming that the card
holders have been
divided into two classes, good and bad customers, based on their credit
history. The problem
can be solved using classification. First, a training set consisting of
customer data with the
assigned classes are provided to a classifier as input. The output from the
classifier is a
description of each class, i.e., good and bad, which then can be used to
process future credit
card applicants. Similar applications of classification are also found in
other fields such as
target marketing, medical diagnosis, treatment effectiveness, and store
location search.
In data mining applications of classification, very large training sets such
as those having
several million examples are common. Thus, it is critical in these
applications to have a
classifier that scales well and can handle training data of this magnitude. As
an additional
advantage, being able to classify large training data also leads to an
improvement in the
classification accuracy.
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Another desirable characteristic for a data mining classifier is its short
training time, i.e., the
ability to construct the class descriptions from the training set quickly. As
a result, the
methods of the invention are based on a decision-tree classifier. Decision
trees are highly
developed techniques for partitioning data samples into a set of covering
decision rules. They
are compact and have the additional advantage that they can be converted into
simple
classification rules. In addition, they can be easily converted into
Structured Query language
(SQL) statements used for accessing databases, and achieve comparable or
better
classification accuracy than other classification methods.
Another data mining classifier technique solves the memory constraint problem
and
simultaneously improve execution time by partitioning the data into subsets
that fit in the
memory and developing classifiers for the subsets in parallel. The output of
the classifiers are
then combined using various algorithms to obtain the final classification.
This approach
reduces running time significantly. Another method classifies data in batches.
While various embodiments have been described above, it should be understood
that they
have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the
breadth and scope
of a preferred embodiment should not be limited by any of the above described
exemplary
embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following
claims and their
equivalents.
