Hierarchical Supervisor Imprints for Network Alarm Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing techniques for supervising communications networks face challenges in managing a large number of terminal units, particularly in filtering and analyzing unsolicited alarms, which can lead to an avalanche of notifications, burying high-priority alerts and overwhelming the supervisor unit.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a first supervisor device that generates imprints from predetermined fields of information notifications, counts occurrences, and notifies a master supervisor device, adapting the depth of imprints based on notification rates to prevent overload, and storing notifications for later retrieval upon request, allowing for real-time summary generation and processor conservation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a supervisor unit supervises a large number of terminal units, then the coverage of supervision is improved, but the supervisor unit is overwhelmed by an avalanche of alarms and cannot manage them in real time
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the supervision function into two levels: first supervisor devices that each supervise a limited number of terminal units, and a master supervisor device that supervises multiple first supervisor devices. This hierarchical segmentation allows the system to scale to monitor over one million units while keeping individual supervisor workloads manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
First supervisor devices act as intermediaries between terminal units and the master supervisor device. They receive detailed information from terminal units, generate condensed imprints, and forward these to the master supervisor, filtering and summarizing information to prevent alarm avalanches from overwhelming the central system.
2Loss of information
If all alarm information is transmitted to the supervisor unit, then complete information is available, but high-priority alarms are buried in lower-priority alarms
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the most relevant information from detailed alarm notifications by generating imprints that contain condensed representations of alarm data. This selective extraction maintains essential information while filtering out redundant details that would bury priority alarms in the noise.
Solution Approach 2:
Different levels of the supervision hierarchy handle different qualities of information: first supervisor devices process detailed local alarm information from individual units, while the master supervisor device receives and processes condensed imprint-level information. This local quality differentiation ensures priority detection at each appropriate level.
3Measurement precision
If detailed information from all notifications is processed, then analysis accuracy is improved, but processor load and memory usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial processing by generating imprints that contain only the essential condensed information from notifications rather than processing complete detailed data. This partial action maintains sufficient analysis accuracy for supervisory purposes while dramatically reducing processor load and memory requirements at the master supervisor level.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is provided for supervising a plurality of units in a communications network. The method includes a step of a first supervisor device receiving from a plurality of units information notifications having a plurality of information fields. For each information notification received, at least one imprint is generated, which includes codes extracted from predetermined fields of the notification. The method further includes counting the number of occurrences of at least one imprint, and notifying at least one master supervisor device of at least one imprint and the number of occurrences counted for that imprint.