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Europäisches Patentamt *EP000963076B1* (19) European Patent Office Office européen des brevets (11) EP 0 963 076 B1 (12) EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION (45) Date of publication and mention (51) Int Cl.7: H04L 12/24, H04L 29/06, of the grant of the patent: H04L 12/26, H04Q 3/00 21.07.2004 Bulletin 2004/30 (21) Application number: 99303867.8 (22) Date of filing: 18.05.1999 (54) Method for computer internet remote management of a telecommunication network element Verfahren zur computerunterstützten Fernverwaltung eines Telekommunikations Netzwerkelementes über das Internet Méthode pour la gestion à distance d’ordinateur d’un élément de réseau de télécommunication par Internet (84) Designated Contracting States: (56) References cited: DE FR GB WO-A-97/44937 WO-A-98/04067 WO-A-99/15950 US-A- 5 748 098 (30) Priority: 31.05.1998 US 88463 US-A- 5 751 914 US-A- 5 761 502 (43) Date of publication of application: • LARSEN A K: "A SPEC FOR WEB-BASED 08.12.1999 Bulletin 1999/49 MANAGEMENT LEAVES SOME KEY ISSUES UNADDRESSED" DATA (73) Proprietor: LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. COMMUNICATIONS,US,MCGRAW HILL. NEW Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974-0636 (US) YORK, vol. 26, no. 3, 1 March 1997 (1997-03-01), pages 43-44,46, XP000659543 ISSN: 0363-6399 (72) Inventors: • CARLSUND P ET AL: "AN ELEMENT MANAGER • Barker, William Edward BASED ON WEB TECHNOLOGY" ERICSSON Geneva, Illinois 60134 (US) REVIEW,SE,ERICSSON. STOCKHOLM, no. 1, • Connelly, Lisa M. 1998, pages 46-51, XP000734509 ISSN: Lisle, Illinois 60532 (US) 0014-0171 • Eggert, Marvin A. • ROLF M: "WEB TECHNOLOGY BASED Aurora, Illinois 60506 (US) NETWORK ELEMENT MANAGEMENT OF AN • Foley, Michael P. ATM SWITCH" ISS. WORLD Elmwood Park, Illinois 60707 (US) TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONGRESS. • MacFarlane, Kenneth R. (INTERNATIONAL SWITCHING Wheaton, Illinois 60187 (US) SYMPOSIUM),CA,TORONTO, PINNACLE • Parsons, Philip M. GROUP, 21 September 1997 (1997-09-21), pages Lisle, Illinois 60532 (US) 589-594, XP000704515 • Rai, Girish • CANELA Z ET AL: "INTEGRATING WEB-BASED Bartlett, Illinois 60103 (US) USER INTERFACES IN TMN SYSTEMS" NOMS • Rog, Jerry Edward ’98. 1998 IEEE NETWORK OPERATIONS AND Bartlett, Illinois 60103 (US) MANAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM. NEW ORLEANS, • Vangsness, Kurt A. LA, FEBR. 15 - 20, 1998, IEEE NETWORK Aurora, Illinois 60506 (US) OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM, NEW YORK, NY: IEEE, US, vol. 1 (74) Representative: CONF. 10, 3 November 1997 (1997-11-03), pages Watts, Christopher Malcolm Kelway, Dr. et al 110-129, XP000799766 ISBN: 0-7803-4352-2 Lucent Technologies (UK) Ltd, 5 Mornington Road Woodford Green Essex, IG8 0TU (GB) Note: Within nine months from the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to the European patent granted. Notice of opposition shall be filed in a written reasoned statement. It shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has been paid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent Convention). EP 0 963 076 B1 Printed by Jouve, 75001 PARIS (FR) (Cont. next page) EP 0 963 076 B1 • MEER DE H ET AL: "TUNNEL AGENTS FOR • JANDER M: "WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION" ENHANCED INTERNET QOS" IEEE DATA COMMUNICATIONS, MCGRAW HILL. CONCURRENCY, IEEE SERVICE CENTER, NEW YORK, US, vol. 25, no. 16, 21 November PISCATAWAY, NY, US, vol. 6, no. 2, 1 April 1998 1996 (1996-11-21), pages (1998-04-01), pages 30-39, XP000752815 ISSN: 39-42,44,46,48,50,52-53, XP000633488 ISSN: 1092-3063 0363-6399 • YUCEL S ET AL: "MULTIMEDIA QOS SERVICE • CASTORI P: "Extending MMS event detection to AND MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURE USING satisfy user-provided predicate-based CORBA/JAVAPLATFORM" ANNUAL REVIEW conditions" COMPUTERS IN INDUSTRY, OF COMMUNICATIONS, NATIONAL ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS. ENGINEERING CONSORTIUM, CHICAGO, IL, US, AMSTERDAM, NL, vol. 32, no. 1, 5 December vol. 51, 1998, pages 715-722, XP000793173 ISSN: 1996 (1996-12-05), pages 1-15, XP004015624 0886-229X ISSN: 0166-3615 • MAKINAE N ET AL: "COMMUNICATION • ANONYMOUS: "Method for Agent Construction" PLATFORM FOR SERVICE OPERATIONS RESEARCH DISCLOSURE, vol. 41, no. 410, 1 SYSTEMS IN ADVANCED INTELLIGENT June 1998 (1998-06-01), XP002177150 Havant, NETWORK" 1997 IEEE INTERNATIONAL UK, article No. 41085 CONFERENCE ON COMMUNICATIONS. • ANDERSON J M: "DISTRIBUTED NETWORK MONTREAL, JUNE 8 - 12, 1997, IEEE MANAGEMENT IN AN INTERNET INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT" IEEE GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS (ICC), NEW YORK, IEEE, US, TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE. vol. 2, 8 June 1997 (1997-06-08), pages 872-877, PHOENIX, ARIZONA, NOV. 3 - 8, 1997, GLOBAL XP000742063 ISBN: 0-7803-3926-6 TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE • MICHEL T ET AL: "COLLABORATIVE NETWORK (GLOBECOM), NEW YORK, IEEE, US, vol. 1, 3 MANAGEMENT" MILCOM ’98. IEEE MILITARY November 1997 (1997-11-03), pages 180-184, COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE XP000737531 ISBN: 0-7803-4199-6 PROCEEDINGS. BOSTON, MA, OCT. 19 - 21, • SHUKLA R ET AL: "TOSS: TONICS FOR 1998, IEEE MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS OPERATION SUPPORT SYSTEMS SYSTEM CONFERENCE, NEW YORK, NY: IEEE, US, vol. MANAGEMENT: USING THE WORLD WIDE WEB 2, 19 October 1998 (1998-10-19), pages 599-603, AND INTELLIGENT SOFTWARE AGENTS" XP000830601 ISBN: 0-7803-4507-X NOMS ’98. 1998 IEEE NETWORK OPERATIONS • LIU H ET AL: "WWW-BASED INTERNET AND MANAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM. NEW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM" NOMS ORLEANS, LA, FEBR. 15 - 20, 1998, IEEE ’98. 1998 IEEE NETWORK OPERATIONS AND NETWORK OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT MANAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM. NEW ORLEANS, SYMPOSIUM, NEW YORK, NY: IEEE, US, vol. 1 LA, FEBR. 15 - 20, 1998, IEEE NETWORK CONF. 10, 3 November 1997 (1997-11-03), pages OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT 100-109, XP000799765 ISBN: 0-7803-4352-2 SYMPOSIUM, NEW YORK, NY: IEEE, US, vol. 1 CONF. 10, 3 November 1997 (1997-11-03), pages 11-20, XP000799756 ISBN: 0-7803-4352-2 • BOGLER G ET AL: "TMN IN THE INTERNET AGE: NETWORK MANAGEMENT BY MULTIPARTY COOPERATION" ISS ’97. WORLD TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONGRESS. (INTERNATIONAL SWITCHING SYMPOSIUM). GLOBAL NETWORK EVOLUTION: CONVERGENCE OR COLLISION? TORONTO, SEPT. 21 - 26, 1997, ISS. WORLD TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONGRESS. (INTERNATIONAL SWITCHING SYMPOSIUM), TORONTO, P, vol. 2, 21 September 1997 (1997-09-21), pages 603-609, XP000704517 2 EP 0 963 076 B1 Description [0001] This invention relates to methods of managing at least one of the network elements in a telecommunications network having a plurality of network elements. 5 [0002] Network management systems in which a management computer, or work station, runs a management com- puter program, or management application, to manage a set of management agent computer programs, or manage- ment agents, associated with a corresponding set of network elements are known. Such known management systems employ a communication protocol that employs a management information base for each network that defines the interface between the management application and the network element. These management systems are implement- 10 ed only at the individual network elements and have not been successfully employed for large scale management of a telecommunications network. [0003] CARLSUND P ET AL: 'AN ELEMENT MANAGER BASED ON WEB TECHNOLOGY' ERICSSON REVIEW, SE, ERICSSON. STOCKHOLM, no. 1, 1998, pages 46-51, XP000734509 ISSN: 0014-0171 and ROLF M: 'WEB TECH- NOLOGY BASED NETWORK ELEMENT MANAGEMENT OF AN ATM SWITCH' ISS. WORLD TELECOMMUNICA- 15 TIONS CONGRESS. (INTERNATIONAL SWITCHING SYMPOSIUM), CA, TORONTO, PINNACLE GROUP, 21 Sep- tember 1997 (1997-09-21), pages 589-594, XP000704515 describe the management of network elements with a man- agement system that is Web enabled, and where the network element is managed by a computer executing the Web browser. [0004] According to this invention there is provided a method as claimed in claim 1. 20 [0005] A method is provided for remotely managing a network element of a telecommunications network through a special communication link including a computer internet. A management computer is connected to an element man- agement system server through a communication link including a computer internet. At least one of the plurality of network elements is also coupled to the element management server through the computer internet and the at least one of the plurality of network elements is managed via communications conveyed through the element management 25 server between the management computer and the at least one network element. [0006] Preferably, management is facilitated by the management server generating an interactive web page at a client workstation with objects associated with management of the at least one network element. The interactive web page is transmitting from the management server through the computer internet to the management computer and displayed at the interactive web page at the management computer for management communications between the 30 management computer and the network element. Objects of the interactive web page include objects associated with preferably all three of operation, administration and maintenance of the network element. [0007] In an embodiment, the interactive web page includes a detailed status summary page for each network ele- ment of the telecommunications network, a relatively high system status summary of all the plurality of network elements and a list of all active alarms within the telecommunications network. 35 [0008] The plurality of network elements each have an associated applications processor with a management agent application for interfacing the element management server with the network element. The application processor in- cludes