Software fault management system

A method of managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing a Knowledge Base (KB) in an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB) said KB including a functional model of said managed network;
• storing a Management Information Base (MIB) in said I-MIB;
• and
• processing said software faults with a plurality of agents in an intelligent multi-agent system utilizing information from said I-MIB, said processing step including the steps of:
• performing reasoning, testing, and knowledge-maintenance activities utilizing a plurality of lower-level sub-agents;
• performing correlation and diagnosis activities with a plurality of middle-level agents;
• and
• controlling said middle-level agents with a top-level coordinator super-agent.

A method of managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing a Knowledge Base (KB) in an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MID), said KB including a functional model of said managed network;
• storing a Management Information Base (MIB) in said I-MITB;
• and
• processing said software faults with a plurality of agents in an intelligent multi-agent system utilizing information from said I-MIB, said processing step utilizing a trouble shooting assistant agent to perform the steps of:
• devising a plan of trouble shooting steps;
• executing the plan;
• and
• assisting engineers in debugging and correction tasks.

A method of managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing a Knowledge Base (KB) in an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB), said KB including a functional model of said managed network;
• storing a Management Information Base (MIB) in said I-MIB;
• and
• processing said software faults with a plurality of agents in an intelligent multi-agent system utilizing information from said I-MIB, said processing step utilizing model-based reasoning to process said software faults.

A method of managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing a Knowledge Base (KB) in an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB), said KB including a functional model of said managed network and a trouble report/known faults (TR/KF) case base;
• storing a Management Information Base (MIB) in said I-MIB;
• and
• processing said software faults with a plurality of agents in an intelligent multi-agent system utilizing information from said I-MIB said processing step utilizing case-based reasoning to process said software faults.

A Software Fault Management (SFM) system for managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said SFM system comprising:

• an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB) comprising a Management Information Base (MIB) and a Knowledge Base (KB), said KB including a functional model of said managed network;
• an intelligent multi-agent portion having a plurality of agents which process said software faults utilizing model-based reasoning and information from said I-MIB, said plurality of agents comprising:
• a plurality of middle-level agents for performing fault correlation and fault diagnosis, each of said middle-level agents comprising a plurality of lower-level sub-agents for performing reasoning, testing, and knowledge-maintenance activities;
• and
• a top-level coordinator super-agent which controls said middle-level agents;
• a trouble shooting assistant agent which devises a plan of trouble shooting steps, executes the plan, and assists engineers in debugging and correction tasks;
• and
• a human-computer interface which provides human operators the ability to interface with the SFM system for network operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAM&P).

A method of proactively managing software faults in a mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing knowledge in a knowledge base, said knowledge including a functional model of said network, fault models, and fault scenarios;
• monitoring said network for observed events and symptoms;
• determining a suspected fault to explain said observed events and symptoms, said determining step comprising:
• comparing said observed events and symptoms with stored performance data and statistics;
• and
• analyzing said comparison with said stored knowledge;
• determining whether the suspected fault is a known fault;
• implementing a preventive solution upon determining that the suspected fault is a known fault;
• performing a fault trend analysis upon determining that the suspected fault is not a known fault;
• performing diagnostic tests;
• determining whether a successful diagnosis was obtained;
• performing a fault localization process upon determining that a successful diagnosis was obtained, said fault localization process including analyzing relationships between components involved in the diagnosis of said fault;
• and
• providing diagnosis and localization information to trouble shooters.

A Software Fault Management (SFM) system for managing software faults in a telecommunications network having a plurality of network resources, said SFM system comprising:

• a Knowledge Base (KB), said KB including:
• a database of behavioral information regarding how the network resources respond in given fault scenarios;
• and
• a functional model of the telecommunications network;
• and
• a plurality of intelligent agents which process the software faults utilizing information from the KB, said agents comprising:
• a plurality of middle-level agents, each of said middle-level agents comprising a plurality of lower-level sub-agents for performing reasoning, testing, and knowledge-maintenance activities;
• and
• a top-level coordinator super-agent which controls said middle-level agents.

A method of managing software faults in a telecommunications network having a plurality of network resources, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing a database of behavioral information regarding how the network resources respond in given fault scenarios in a Knowledge Base (KB);
• storing a functional model of the telecommunications network in the KB;
• and
• processing the software faults with a plurality of intelligent agents utilizing information from the KB, said processing step including the steps of:
• performing reasoning, testing, and knowledge-maintenance activities utilizing a plurality of lower-level sub-agents;
• performing correlation and diagnosis activities with a plurality of middle-level agents;
• and
• controlling the middle-level agents with a top-level coordinator super-agent.

A method of managing software faults in a telecommunications network having a plurality of network resources, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing a database of behavioral information regarding how the network resources respond in given fault scenarios in a Knowledge Base (KB);
• storing a functional model of the telecommunications network in the KB;
• storing a trouble report/known faults (TR/KF) case base in the KB;
• and
• processing the software faults with at least one intelligent agent utilizing information from the KB and case-based reasoning.