Handling of commands passed between the server and client stations of a telecommunications system

A communications manager for a client station arranged to control a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the client station storing a portion of the object model in memory including at least one object of the object model to allow the client station to perform an operation on the at least one object of the object model, the communications manager comprising:

• means for establishing first and second interfaces with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station via an interface, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;
• a command manager for receiving commands via the first interface from a queue maintained on the server station, the client station having a processor arranged to process the commands received via the first interface, the commands requiring an operation to be performed on the at least one object by the command manager in order to reconfigure the at least one object for storage in the memory;
• a retrieval means, responsive to a command requiring an operation to be performed on an object not currently in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, for retrieving from the server station via the second interface said object for inclusion in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, during which time no further commands are processed by the processor.

A method of controlling a telecommunications system from a client station, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the method comprising the steps of:

• employing a communications manager in the client station to establish first and second interfaces with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;
• storing in a memory of the client station a portion of the object model including at least one object of the object model to allow an operation to be performed on the at least one object;
• processing commands received by the client station via the first interface from a queue maintained on the server station, the commands requiring an operation to be performed on the at least one object in order to reconfigure the at least one object for storage in the memory;
• responsive to a command requiring an operation to be performed on an object not currently in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, retrieving from the server station via the second interface said object for inclusion in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, during which time no further commands are processed by the processor.