Patent Application
20080209333
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data networks and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for visualizing the nodes and interconnections of a data network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern data networks are complex and very large. Network management tools generally provide a graphical view of the communication links and the quantity of data that is communicated from node-to-node within a network. The positioning of nodes within a graphical view is generally performed manually and is not completely correlated with the actual physical location of the nodes to any particular coordinate system.
In wireless systems, where the nodes may be moved and/or are regularly altered, the connectivity between nodes and the actual physical position of the node is generally unknown. As a result, a graphical visualization tool generally produces inaccurate views of the network and, at best, when such views are created using a manual process, the views are updated in a delayed fashion. As such, a network operator is not provided with a real time view of node location and connectivity within a particular network.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a network visualization tool that allows an operator to display a network in real time with the nodes positioned in a graphical manner in their actual geographic locations.
The present invention is a visualization tool for displaying the geographic location and connectivity of nodes within a network. More specifically, the method and apparatus determines a geographic position of each node in a plurality of nodes within a data network; determines an icon to represent each node in the plurality of nodes; overlays each of the icons onto a geographically accurate map, where each icon is position at the geographic position for the node represented by the icon; determines node connectivity; and overlays, upon the geographically accurate map, a graphical link between pairs of icons representing node connectivity. In this manner, a network operator is provided a geographically accurate view of a data network including nodes and the connectivity of the nodes.
So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
The visualization computer 104 is coupled to a communications network 118 such as the Internet. Through the network 118, the network management server 120 may communicate with the visualization computer 104 to facilitate display of visualization tools upon the visualization computer 104. The network 118 is also connected to the network 102 that is to be displayed by the visualization tool.
The network management server 120 comprises at least one CPU 122, support circuits 124 and memory 126. The CPU 122 comprises one or more microprocessors and/or microcontrollers. The support circuits 124 are well-known circuits that facilitate operation of the CPU 122. The support circuits 124 comprise at least one of power supplies, clock circuits, cache, input/output circuits, network cards and the like. The memory 126 comprises at least one of digital storage devices or circuits such as read only memory, random access memory, disk drives, optical storage, removable storage, and the like. The memory 126 stores management software 128, node information 130 and at least one node position 132. In one embodiment, the management software 128 uses the well-known Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) or some other network management tool to manage the network 102. The management software 128 gathers the node information and node positions form the nodes in network 102. The management software 128 then formats this information to facilitate use by the visualization computer 104, e.g., KML format for GOOGLE EARTH.
The network 102 comprises a plurality of network nodes 1021, 1022, 1023, 1024, . . . 102N (where N is an integer greater than 0). These nodes together comprise the network 102. Generally, this network is a wireless network such as a mesh network provided by SkyPilot Networks Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. Typically, the network nodes communicate data with one another in a manner described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,149,183, issued Dec. 12, 2006 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,113,519, issued Sep. 26, 2006 which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
In one embodiment, each network node 102N comprises a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver 136. The GNSS receiver 136 uses satellite signals to compute the position of the network node 102N. This position of the network node 102N is communicated through the network 102 to the Internet 118 and finally to the network management server 120. In other embodiments, the location coordinates for the node location may be determined and manually recorded either in the node or in the server 120 during installation of the node. In still another embodiment, the location of the node may be determined using a signal timing technique, antenna sector or signal triangulation techniques and the like. One type of signal timing technique is described in commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/311,452, filed Dec. 19, 2005 (Attorney Docket SKY/014) and incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The network management server 120 stores the network position information 130 in memory 126. Additionally, the network nodes 102N communicate certain node information to the server 120 for storage in the memory 126 as node information 114.
Thus, the network 102 comprising network nodes 102N sends node position and node information through the network 118 (e.g., an Internet Protocol (IP) Network) to the server 120 for storage therein. The visualization computer 104 accesses the network management server 120 through, for example, the Internet (network 118) to display the node information and the node positions in a graphical interface upon the visualization computer 104.
In an alternate embodiment, the individual network nodes 1021 . . . 102n comprise visualization agent software 134 that creates appropriately formatted node information and node position that is communicated directly to the visualization computer 104 and stored therein as node information 114 and node position 116. In one embodiment, the visualization agent software 134 formats the node information and node position in KML format for display by GOOGLE EARTH.
Although a mesh network is discussed as one exemplary network embodiment that can be visualized using the present invention, the present invention may also be used to visualize point-to-multi-point and point-to-point networks. In fact, the current invention may be used for any network where the geographic position of the nodes are available to the visualization computer.
In the present invention, the positions are provided by a GNSS receiver, such as a GPS receiver, a GLONASS receiver, a Galileo receiver and the like. Other position location techniques could be used such as triangulation, manually entered position coordinates, antenna sector direction, over-the-air timing, and the like.
At step 208, the method 200 links the node information to the icon representing the node (e.g., using an HTTP link). At step 210, the method 200 determines node connectivity. The node connectivity is generally contained in the node information supplied by a node. The node connectivity identifies the neighboring nodes to which a particular node is presently connected. This connectivity information is used to graphically display interconnections between nodes.
At step 212, the position, icon, connectivity, and link information are formatted into an appropriate data format for use by the visualization software. In one embodiment, the information is formatted using KML when the visualization software is GOOGLE EARTH. For use with GOOGLE MAPS or YAHOO MAPS, the information is formatted using XML. Other formats for other forms of visualization software may be used.
At step 214, the method 200 stores the formatted node information and node position (collectively referred to herein as formatted information). At step 216, the method 200 queries whether the formatted information requires updating. If an update is needed, the method continues along path 228 to step 204. If no update is needed, the method proceeds to step 218. Updating the formatted information may occur in accordance with a schedule, periodically, in view of an aging plan, and the like.
At step 218, the method 200 queries whether a request for the formatted information has been received. If a request has not been received, the method proceeds to query step 224, wherein the method 200 queries whether the process should continue. If affirmatively answered, the method 200 proceeds along path 228 to step 204; otherwise, the method 200 ends at step 226.
If a query step 228 is affirmatively answered, the method 200 proceeds to step 220 to access the requested formatted information. At step 222, the formatted information is sent via the communications network to the visualization computer. Generally, the formatted information is sent using TCP/IP.
At step 306, the method 300 sends a request to the network management server 120 to request formatted information. The request may specify a particular network, or a network or networks in a specific geographic region. At step 308, the method 300 receives the formatted information.
At step 310, the method 300 creates an image for display that comprises a map background overlayed with at least one icon and at least one connectivity link. The visualization software uses the formatted information to overlay icons and geographic connections onto a map, where placement of the icons and connections are geographically accurate as defined by the node position contained in the formatted information. For example, GOOGLE EARTH uses the KML formatted information to overly the icons and connections onto a satellite image (map).
Upon completion of the map and its overlays, a display is created of all of the nodes within the network and their interconnections.
In one embodiment, the overlay and its underlying image are displayed in a manipulable graphical interface. As depicted in
Upon each manipulation, the method 200 of
In addition, the information of
All of the information displayed herein can be utilized within a particular embodiment that uses GOOGLE EARTH as the basis for the visualization tool to display the network nodes and their interconnections. Such information can be displayed because each of the nodes provides the location of the nodes to the visualization computer for generating the display.
The embodiments described above uses a network management server as an intermediary between the visualization computer and the network to be visualized. Alternatively, the nodes of the network may generate formatted information. The visualization computer may either request the formatted information directly from the nodes or the formatted information can be sent periodically from the nodes to the visualization computer. The method for creating the display is not dependent upon the source of the formatted information.
While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow.
