Granted Patent B2

US 8,195,771 · App. 10/452,270 · Granted Jun 5, 2012

Abstract

Claims (31)

1. A method for automatically configuring network elements of a network, comprising:

configuring a network element via a controller using a plurality of configuration steps associated with a configuration request;

characterizing the configuration steps as a series of menu-driven screen commands associated with the network element, wherein the series of menu-driven screen commands is adapted to enable the controller to navigate menu screens of the network element;

storing the characterized series of menu-driven screen commands; and

processing subsequent similar configuration requests for said network element and other network elements of said network via said controller using the characterized series of menu-driven screen commands to execute said subsequent similar configuration requests.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying for which network elements the subsequent configuration requests are intended.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the network elements for which the subsequent configuration requests are intended are identified by prompting a user to input identification parameters for the intended network elements.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said identification parameters comprise site-specific and equipment-specific parameters of the intended network elements.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said controller characterizes the configuration steps of a plurality of configuration routines and processes subsequent similar configuration requests using the respective characterized menu-driven screen commands for executing said plurality of configuration routines.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuration of the network element using the configuration steps is performed by a network engineer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein subsequent configuration requests substantially only require a user to input site-specific and equipment-specific parameters for identifying the intended network elements.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network element is initially configured via an operational support system and configuration information is communicated to the network element via said controller.

9. A controller comprising a processor and a memory, for automatically configuring network elements of a network, said controller configured to:

characterize a plurality of configuration steps from a configuration of a network element as a series of menu-driven screen commands associated with said network element, wherein the configuration steps are associated with a configuration request, wherein the series of menu-driven screen commands is adapted to enable the controller to navigate menu screens of the network element;

store the characterized series of menu-driven screen commands; and

process subsequent similar configuration requests for said network element and other network elements of said network via said controller using the characterized series of menu-driven screen commands to execute said subsequent similar configuration requests.

10. The controller of claim 9 , wherein said controller is further configured to prompt a user to enter identification parameters for identifying for which network elements the subsequent configuration requests are intended.

11. The controller of claim 10 , wherein said identification parameters comprise site-specific and equipment-specific parameters of the intended network elements.

12. The controller of claim 9 , wherein said controller is configured to characterize the configuration steps of a plurality of configuration routines and process subsequent substantially similar configuration requests using the respective characterized menu-driven screen commands for executing said plurality of configuration routines.

13. The controller of claim 9 , wherein the network element is initially configured via an operational support system and configuration information is communicated to the network element via said controller.

14. The controller of claim 9 , wherein the configuration of the network element is performed by a network engineer.

15. The controller of claim 9 , wherein configuration requests are stored in said memory until they are executed by said controller.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

characterizing a plurality of configuration steps from a configuration of a network element as a series of menu-driven screen commands associated with said network element, wherein the configuration steps are associated with a configuration request, wherein the series of menu-driven screen commands is adapted to enable the controller to navigate menu screens of the network element;

storing the characterized series of menu-driven screen commands; and

processing subsequent similar configuration requests for said network element and other network elements using the characterized series of menu-driven screen commands to execute said subsequent similar configuration requests.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , further performing:

identifying for which network elements the subsequent configuration requests are intended.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the network elements for which the subsequent configuration requests are intended are identified by prompting a user to input identification parameters for the intended network elements.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein said identification parameters comprise site-specific and equipment-specific parameters of the intended network elements.

Assignments (9)