Adaptor Module for Telecommunication Service Portability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing service applications in telecommunication networks are not fully portable across different network layers and service managers due to the lack of appropriate abstraction, making it difficult for them to access service-specific information and interact seamlessly with various network entities.
Innovation Solution
An adaptor module is introduced that maps service output messages to network input messages and vice versa, providing a subset-based translation to ensure compatibility and abstraction, allowing service applications to interact with network layers independently, thus enabling portability across different network entities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a service application uses a low-level protocol API to interact with the network layer, then it can access detailed service-specific information, but it loses portability across different network layers and service managers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an adaptor module as an intermediary component between the service application and the network layer. This adaptor translates high-level service application messages into low-level protocol API messages and vice versa, allowing the service application to access detailed service-specific information through the protocol API while maintaining portability across different network layers. The adaptor acts as a mediator that bridges the gap between the high-level abstract interface and the low-level vendor-specific protocol.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is segmented into distinct functional layers: the service application layer, the adaptor layer, and the network layer with protocol API. This segmentation allows each layer to operate independently with its own message formats and protocols, enabling the service application to remain portable while the adaptor handles the complexity of protocol-specific details and service-specific information access.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a high-level abstract API is provided for service applications, then portability is improved, but service-specific information from the network layer becomes inaccessible
Solution Approach 1:
The adaptor module serves as an intermediary that translates messages between the high-level abstract API used by service applications and the low-level protocol API that provides access to service-specific information. The adaptor receives high-level messages from the service application, translates them into appropriate protocol-specific messages, and passes them to the network layer, while also translating responses back to the high-level interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds an additional dimensional layer (the adaptor layer) between the service application and the network layer. This extra dimension enables the service application to interact with the network through a high-level abstract interface while still accessing detailed service-specific information, as the adaptor handles the translation and mapping between different message formats and protocols.
3Ease of operation
If vendor-specific protocol APIs are used directly by service applications, then detailed network control is achieved, but compatibility across different suppliers' network entities is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The adaptor module acts as an intermediary that shields the service application from vendor-specific protocol details. It translates the vendor-neutral high-level messages into vendor-specific protocol API calls, allowing the service application to maintain detailed network control through the protocol API while preserving compatibility across different suppliers' network entities. The adaptor absorbs the vendor-specific variations.
Solution Approach 2:
The adaptor module is designed to be universal, supporting multiple vendor-specific protocol APIs through a single high-level interface. It provides multi-functionality by handling translation to and from different protocol formats, enabling the same service application to operate across network entities from different suppliers without modification, while still accessing detailed network control capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
An adaptor module for use with a service manager adapted to functionally lie between a service application operable to provide a service and a network layer of a telecommunication network service entity, the adaptor module being operable to; receive from the service manager a service output message generated by the service application, map the service output message to a corresponding network input message accepted by the network layer, and pass the network input message to the service manager for transmission to the network layer.