Method and System for Generating Geographic Visual Displays of Status and Configuration Including Assigned Capacity of Hybrid-Fiber Coax Network Elements

Abstract

A system includes a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network having network elements operable for communicating telephony, data, and video signals with customer-premises equipment (CPE) of subscribers. The system includes a manager for monitoring status and the configuration including the assigned capacity of the network elements and for generating alarm data indicative of improper status or configuration of the network elements. The system includes a database for storing data indicative of the status and the configuration of the network elements and for storing data indicative of physical and logical connections between the network elements and the CPE. The system includes an alarm visualization tool operable with the manager and the database for generating visual displays of the status and configuration including the assigned capacity of the network elements overlaid with the alarm data and the stored data indicative of the physical and logical connections between the network elements and the CPE.

1 . A system comprising:
 a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network having network elements operable for communicating telephony, data, and video signals with customer-premises equipment of subscribers;   an HFC network manager operable for monitoring status and the configuration including the assigned capacity of the network elements and for generating alarm data indicative of improper status or configuration of the network elements;   a service, design, and inventory (SDI) database operable with the HFC network manager for storing data indicative of the status and the configuration of the network elements and for storing data indicative of physical and logical connections between the network elements and the customer-premises equipment; and   a fault manager having an alarm visualization tool operable with the HFC network manager and the database for generating visual displays of the status and configuration including the assigned capacity of the network elements overlaid with the alarm data and overlaid with the physical and logical connections between the network elements and the customer-premises equipment based on the stored data.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a landbase database for storing data indicative of geography of the HFC network, wherein the alarm visualization tool is operable with the HFC network manager, the SDI database, and the landbase database for generating the visual displays further overlaid with the geography of the HFC network. 
 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 an HFC network engineering database for storing data indicative of engineering layout of the HFC network, wherein the alarm visualization tool is operable with the HFC network manager, the SDI database, and the HFC network engineering database for generating the visual displays further overlaid with the engineering layout of the HFC network. 
 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a household passed database for storing data indicative of households passed in the HFC network, wherein the alarm visualization tool is operable with the HFC network manager, the SDI database, and the household passed database for generating the visual displays further overlaid with the households passed in the HFC network. 
 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein:
 the network elements include a host digital terminal (HDT) for communicating the telephony signals, a cable modem termination system (CMTS) for communicating the data signals, and video equipment for communicating the video signals, wherein the network elements further include a fiber optics node connected at one end to the HDT, the CMTS, and the video equipment by a fiber optics network and connected at the other end to the customer-premises equipment by coax. 
 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein:
 the alarm visualization tool generates visual displays of the alarm data via at least one of color codes and icons representing the network elements and the customer-premises equipment. 
 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein:
 the SDI database is operable to generate an SDI report for at least one of a network element and a customer-premises equipment, the report including information about the at least one network element and the customer-premises equipment, wherein the alarm visualization tool is operable for the displaying SDI reports for a selected network element and customer-premises equipment on the visual displays. 
 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a trouble ticket generator operable for generating trouble ticket alerts in response to improper status of at least one of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment, wherein the alarm visualization tool is operable with the trouble ticket generator for displaying the trouble ticket alerts for the at least one of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment having improper status on the visual displays. 
 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein:
 the alarm visualization tool is operable with HFC network manager and the trouble ticket generator for generating trouble ticket alerts with auto-populated status information. 
 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a correlator for correlating data including trouble ticket alerts generated by the trouble ticket generator and the status of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment, wherein the alarm visualization tool displays the correlated data on the visual displays. 
 
     
     
         11 . A system comprising:
 a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network having network elements operable for communicating telephony, data, and video signals with customer-premises equipment of subscribers;   an HFC network manager operable for monitoring status of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment of subscribers, for monitoring the configuration including the assigned capacity of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment, and for generating alarm data indicative of improper status or configuration of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment;   a service, design, and inventory (SDI) database operable with the HFC network manager for storing data indicative of the status and the configuration of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment and for storing data indicative of physical and logical connections between the network elements and the customer-premises equipment; and   a fault manager having an alarm visualization tool operable with the HFC network manager and the database for generating visual displays of the status and configuration including the assigned capacity of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment overlaid with the alarm data and overlaid with the physical and logical connections between the network elements and the customer-premises equipment based on the stored data.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  wherein:
 the network elements include a host digital terminal (HDT) for communicating the telephony signals, a cable modem termination system (CMTS) for communicating the data signals, and video equipment for communicating the video signals, wherein the network elements further include a fiber optics node connected at one end to the HDT, the CMTS, and the video equipment by a fiber optics network and connected at the other end to the customer-premises equipment by coax. 
 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11  wherein:
 the alarm visualization tool generates visual displays of the alarm data via at least one of color codes and icons representing the network elements and the customer-premises equipment. 
 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11  wherein:
 the SDI database is operable to generate an SDI report for at least one of a network element and a customer-premises equipment, the report including information about the at least one network element and the customer-premises equipment, wherein the alarm visualization tool is operable for the displaying SDI reports for a selected network element and customer-premises equipment on the visual displays. 
 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11  further comprising:
 a trouble ticket generator operable for generating trouble ticket alerts in response to improper status of at least one of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment, wherein the alarm visualization tool is operable with the trouble ticket generator for displaying the trouble ticket alerts for the at least one of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment having improper status on the visual displays. 
 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15  wherein:
 the alarm visualization tool is operable with HFC network manager and the trouble ticket generator for generating trouble ticket alerts with auto-populated status information. 
 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11  further comprising:
 a correlator for correlating data including trouble ticket alerts generated by the trouble ticket generator and the status of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment, wherein the alarm visualization tool displays the correlated data on the visual displays. 
 
     
     
         18 . A method for a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network provided with network elements operable for communicating telephony, data, and video signals with customer-premises equipment of subscribers, the method comprising:
 monitoring status of the network elements;   monitoring the configuration including the assigned capacity of the network elements;   generating alarm data indicative of improper status or configuration of the network elements;   storing data indicative of the status and the configuration of the network elements;   storing data indicative of physical and logical connections between the network elements and the customer-premises equipment; and   generating visual displays of the status and configuration including the assigned capacity of the network elements overlaid with the alarm data and overlaid with the physical and logical connections between the network elements and the customer-premises equipment based on the stored data.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 generating trouble ticket alerts in response to improper status of at least one of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment, wherein generating visual displays includes displaying the trouble ticket alerts for the at least one of the network elements and the customer-premises equipment having improper status on the visual displays. 
 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  further comprising:
 generating trouble ticket alerts with auto-populated status information.