US 11,310,131 B2Granted

Data network analysis system and method for a communication network

AssigneeLevel 3 Communications, LLC

InventorsSteve R. Wakumoto, Andrew S. Gerber, John D. Clouatre

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A data network analysis system includes a computer-executable set of instructions that obtain service account information associated with a route provided to a customer through a data communication network having network elements. Using the service account information, the instructions identify a termination port that terminates the route to a customer premises equipment of the customer, and at least one target port of the route and those network elements that are assigned to convey the route through one or more of the network elements. The instructions then obtain the routing information for the route from each of the network elements that are assigned to convey the route.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A data network analysis system comprising:

a computing system including at least one processor and at least one tangible memory for storing instructions that are executed by the at least one processor to:
obtain service account information associated with a route provided to a customer through a data communication network comprising a plurality of network elements;
using the service account information, identify a termination port that terminates the route to a customer premises equipment of the customer;
identify at least one target port of the route;
identify a subset of the network elements that are assigned to convey the route through one or more of the network elements;
obtain the routing information for the route from each of the network elements that are assigned to convey the route, wherein the routing information includes at least an Internet Protocol (IP) address;
normalize the obtained routing information from each of the network elements, wherein normalizing the obtained routing information includes normalizing the IP address;
and
generate a spoof message that originates at the termination port and is destined for the target port, the spoof message comprising a ping message.

6 more elements

A data network analysis method comprising:

obtaining, using instructions stored on at least one computer-readable medium and executed by at least one processor, service account information associated with a route provided to a customer through a data communication network comprising a plurality of network elements;
identifying, using the instructions, a termination port that terminates the route to a customer premises equipment of the customer using the service account information;
identifying, using the instructions, at least one target port of the route;
identifying, using the instructions, a subset of the network elements that are assigned to convey the route through one or more of the network elements;
obtaining, using the instructions, the routing information for the route from each of the network elements that are assigned to convey the route, wherein the routing information includes at least an Internet Protocol (IP) address;
normalizing the obtained routing information from each of the network elements, wherein normalizing the obtained routing information includes normalizing the IP address;
facilitate, using the instructions, display of the normalized routing information on a display for view by a user;
and
generating, using the instructions, a spoof message that originates at the termination port and is destined for the target port, the spoof message comprising a ping message.

6 more elements

An article of manufacture, comprising a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the computer to perform the operations comprising:

obtain service account information associated with a route provided to a customer through a data communication network comprising a plurality of network elements;
using the service account information, identify a termination port that terminates the route to a customer premises equipment of the customer;
identify at least one target port of the route;
identify a subset of the network elements that are assigned to convey the route through one or more of the network elements;
obtain the routing information for the route from each of the network elements that are assigned to convey the route, wherein the routing information includes at least an Internet Protocol (IP) address;
normalize the obtained routing information from each of the network elements, wherein normalizing the obtained routing information includes normalizing the IP address;
and
generate a spoof message that originates at the termination port and is destined for the target port, the spoof message comprising a ping message.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/056,650Filed 29 Feb 2016
Published: US 2017/0250911 A131 Aug 2017
Granted: 19 Apr 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

H04L 43/10
Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks: active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
H04L 43/045
Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation: for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
H04L 45/02
Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks: topology update or discovery
H04L 45/03
Topology update or discovery: by updating link state protocols

Family

US 2017/0250911 A1Pre-grant publication · published 31 Aug 2017
US 11,310,131 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

Building an agent or pulling many patents? Use the API or MCP server instead of scraping pages. Get an API key