CN1205541C - Method and system providing mediation function - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a method for providing a media function in a system, the system includes at least first and second devices capable of cooperating or communicating with each other, the method includes: providing a loadable device for performing the media function an intermediary program, wherein said intermediary function provides a transformation between physical units or objects of a telecommunications system or a processing system including a mutually exclusive communication mechanism, a copy of said intermediary program being loaded into one or both of said devices , and when an application program requiring a mediation and involving cooperation or communication between these devices is executed in one of the devices, wherein the first device is a network unit, the network unit is a network switching center, network controller, base station or user equipment.

Description

Method and system for providing media function

technical field

The present invention relates to a method and system for providing media functions.

Background technique

In general, a mediation function or mediation device (MD) provides a transformation between physical units or objects of a telecommunications system or a processing system including mutually exclusive communication mechanisms.

For example, a typical architecture implementing a user interface such as a graphical user interface (GUI) has a separate user interface application, such as a GUI application. The application communicates with another element, such as a network element (NE), using a client/server architecture, such as a CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) architecture. In this case (eg GUI), the application (eg GUI application) acts as a client and said other unit acts as a server. Hereinafter, CORBA will be used as an example. In addition to CORBA, any other client/server architecture may also be utilized.

In order to be a CORBA compliant server, some additional components must be installed within the network element. The most important components are ORB (Object Request Broker) and Server Object Implementation (OI).

But in some cases, the implementation of ORB and OI in network elements may become unfeasible due to technical barriers. In this case, a mediation device (MD) is usually implemented which is placed between the GUI and the network element. The media device implements a CORBA server for the GUI and uses other usually proprietary technologies to interface the network elements NE.

FIG. 2 shows a typical architecture with an operating or processing device 20 , a network element (NE) 28 and a conventional mediation device (MD) 25 providing intermediary functions between said device 20 and network element 28 .

The device or unit 20 may be any device providing a user interface, which in the example shown is a GUI application 21 comprising a processing unit 22, an object request broker (ORB) 23 and possibly a Java-based user interface (UI) application24.

The mediation device 25 also includes an object request broker 26 and a mediation function 27 . Said intermediary device 25 is capable of communicating with the object request broker 23 of the device 20 .

The network unit 28 includes an EMT (External Messaging) unit 29 and any kind of functional means 30 . The mediation device 25 communicates with the network unit 28 eg using the EMT language translated by the EMT unit 29 in a known manner.

As shown in Figure 2, the conventional mediation device 25 is typically implemented as a function within a dedicated computing unit. This solution has many disadvantages. First, media functions require dedicated, ie extra, computing units, which reduces reliability because there are more hardware components that can malfunction or fail. Second, conventional media devices also come with versioning issues. Because the media device and network unit are managed as separate components, if the interface of the network unit changes, the media device may no longer function correctly. Finally, the maintenance load and system cost will rise.

Contents of the invention

The present invention solves the above problems and provides a method and system for providing media functions in the system.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing a media function in a system, the system comprising at least first and second devices capable of cooperating or communicating with each other, the method comprising:

providing a loadable media program for performing media functions providing transformation between physical units or objects of a telecommunications system or processing system including a mutually exclusive communication mechanism,

loading a copy of the media program into one or both of the devices, and

when an application requiring an intermediary and involving cooperation or communication between these devices is executed in one of said devices, said intermediary program is executed,

Wherein the first device is a network unit, and the network unit is a network switching center, network controller, base station or user equipment,

said media program is temporarily or permanently stored in said first device, wherein said loadable media program is delivered as part of said first device or is located in said first device for downloading,

said loadable media program is transferred, installed and activated in said second device for execution of said loadable media program in said second device, and

The second device includes a user interface for managing one or more functions of the first device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a system is provided, including at least first and second devices capable of cooperating or communicating with each other, and providing intermediary functions for the first and second devices, including:

storage means for storing a loadable media program performing media functions providing transformation between physical units or objects of a telecommunications system or processing system including mutually exclusive communication mechanisms,

means for loading a copy of said media program into one or both of said devices, and

means for running an intermediary program when an application program requiring an intermediary and involving cooperation or communication between these devices is executed in one of said devices,

Wherein the first device is a network unit, the network unit is a network switching center, a network controller, a base station or user equipment, and the first device includes the storage device for storing a loadable media program,

said intermediary program is delivered as part of said first device or resides in said first device for downloading,

said loadable media program is transferred, installed and activated in said second device for execution of said loadable media program in said second device, and

The second device includes a user interface for managing one or more functions of the first device.

The second device may comprise a user interface such as a graphical user interface (GUI).

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the media functionality is implemented as a loadable media program, which will hereinafter be referred to as a loadable media agent (LMA). The loadable media agent described performs the same functions as a conventional media device, but it can be dynamically loaded into any computing unit.

This provides the advantage that the intermediary functions do not require a dedicated computing unit, ie a separate device. The loadable media agent can be made dependent on some device such as a network element.

Preferably, an offline version of the loadable media agent is delivered as part of the network element. Thus, the loadable media agent is a media device agent of a network element, which can be instantiated in any computing element of the network.

Preferably, the offline copy of the loadable media agent is located within the same network element that will be managed by an interface such as a GUI. When an interaction between an interface such as a GUI and a network element begins, the loadable media agent is transferred to the appropriate computing element (eg, the one providing the interface), where it is installed and activated.

Said loadable media agent is usually activated in the same computing unit as the interface (eg GUI). After activation of said loadable media agent, the interface and network elements can communicate with each other without any problem, and both are completely unaware that the communication takes place via the loadable media agent and not the conventional media device.

The described loadable media agent does not require any dedicated computing unit or other additional hardware components. Thus, the reliability of the system and method according to the present invention is increased, while maintenance and system costs are reduced.

Furthermore, said loadable media agent is always compatible with units such as the network unit NE from which it originates, and it can still function correctly even if the interface of said unit changes.

The above-mentioned advantages of intermediary functions that do not require special computing units and that there are no versioning issues also enable the use of new technologies such as CORBA.

The present invention is applicable to various applications or interfaces that require media functions, and to any technical solution that must implement media device functions. The invention is not limited to GUI design. Another field of application of the invention is, for example, network management with media devices or other types of interfaces.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the system and method according to the present invention, and

Fig. 2 shows a conventional structure including media devices.

Detailed ways

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the invention illustrating the storage and processing of a Loadable Media Agent (LMA). FIG. 1 is a UML (Unified Modeling Language) diagram showing structure and interaction in an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an example including a GUI (Graphical User Interface) application 4 is shown.

With regard to the interaction in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , the intermediary functions take place between the GUI application 4 of the device 1 representing the client and the network element (NE) 13 by a configurable program stored in the memory of the network element 13. Incoming Media Agency (LMA) 19 offers. The architecture shown in FIG. 1 includes some additional components related to the delivery of the LMA from the network element (device) 13 to the client 1 and the installation and activation of the loadable media agent within the client 1 .

The network element (NE) 13 may be, for example, a network switching center, a network controller, a base station, and the like.

The shown structure represents only one embodiment, in order to store the LMA 19 temporarily or preferably permanently in the network element 13, and to transmit, install and activate the LMA in the client 1 when an intermediary function is required between the devices 1 and 13 , the structure may also be implemented in any other suitable form.

The device 1 may be any structure that provides an interface, such as a user interface, or any other function required for a communication medium between the devices 1 and 13 . The device 1 comprises, for example, a web browser 2 , an executable installer 3 , a graphical user interface application 4 and an LMA component 8 . Similar to the structure of the GUI application 21 shown in FIG. 2 , the GUI application 4 of FIG. 1 includes an application framework 5 , an object request broker (ORB) 6 and possibly a Java-based user interface application 7 .

The LMA component 8 is a structure that provides the processing and storage functions required to install and activate a loadable media agent 19 from the device 13 to the component 8 at least when the media functionality is required. The installation and activation process may be performed as follows (other processes based on different technologies are also possible). First, the user loads the HTML page 15 using the web browser 2 . The HTML page 15 is linked with an installer 17 . When the user issues an installation command, for example by clicking on the symbol of said installer 17, the browser 2 transmits the installer to the device 1 and activates the installer. When activated in the device 1, the installer 3 installs and activates the LMA 8 in the device 1. A web browser 2, an HTTP server 14 and an HTML page 15 are only required during the installation phase. Once installed, they do not play a role in the actual media functionality.

After activation of the loadable media agent, the LMA component 8 of device 1 acts as a media device integrated into device 1 and provides appropriate communication between devices 1 and 13 .

After installation and activation of the loadable media agent, said component 8 comprises units providing the functionality of the ORB 9, converting all data sent to or from the EMT component 16 of the device 13 into an appropriate interpretable language EMT unit 10, mediation function 11 similar to mediation function 27 of conventional mediation device 25 shown in FIG.

Described equipment 13 comprises HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) server 14, HTML (Hyper Text Linkage Markup Language) page 15, EMT unit 16, installation program 17, LMA 19 stored in the memory of any kind of functional unit 18, equipment 13 .

In order to provide a client/server architecture that enables the intermediary functionality, the web browser 2 may search and find the installer 3 within a network such as the Internet, and send instructions to the HTTP server 14 of the device 13 to obtain information including the appropriate HTML page for installing tools. The server 14 instructs the page storage 15 to read and store the HTML page instructed by the web browser 2 . The installer 17 is stored in the device 13 and then used in the device 1 . The installers 3 and 17 in device 1 and device 13 are thus fully identical. An installer within device 13 may include an LMA. Such inclusions are represented in Figure 1 by diamond symbols. The web browser 2/server 14 need only find and deliver the installer.

When activated within the device 1 by the web browser 2, the installer may handle the entire installation. In fact, the installer 17 and LMA 19 within the device 13 can be self-extracting builders or installation scripts, which are well known concepts in desktop and server environments. The web browser loads the installer including the LMA into the device 1, and thereafter runs the installer. As a result, the installer installs and activates the LMA within the device 1 , resulting in the structure of the assembly 8 shown in FIG. 1 . The arrow from the web browser to the installer 17 is marked with "load", which instructs the browser 2 to transfer the file including the installer and the LMA 19 from the memory of the device 13 to, i.e. load into the memory of the device 1.

After installing and activating the LMA, the devices 1 and 13 can communicate with each other without problems, for example by exchanging LMT language messages between the units 10 and 16 . Furthermore, as exemplarily shown in FIG. 1 , the devices 1 and 13 may communicate with each other, for example using "HTTP".

The LMA is preferably permanently stored within the device 13 during fabrication, installation or setup, so as to always respect the actual version of the device 13 . The LMA may be stored in any suitable form, preferably a Java-based form. The LMA may be stored as a ".jar" (Java Archive) file.

The mobility of the LMA is based on principles such as Java's "compile once, run anywhere" and thus may be a Java component. In an actual embodiment, the loadable media agent may be a Java bytecode file that can be downloaded and run in any environment.

In the embodiment of Fig. 1, the EMT is an example of a dedicated communication method between the loadable media agent 8 (serving as a media device) and the device 13 (NE).

With regard to the interaction in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , the mediation functions take place between the GUI application 4 of the device (client) 1 and the device (network element NE) 13, and are proxied by a loadable media within the loading component 8. (LMA)19 available.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , the components related to LMA delivery, installation and activation are web browser 2 , installer 3 , HTTP server 14 , HTML page storage 15 and installer 17 . These components represent examples only, and it is possible to implement the required transfer (copy), install and activate functions in any other form to load a copy of the media agent 19 into the device 1, and install and activate it appropriately.

In addition to loading media programs when media functionality is required as described above, there are several alternative methods of loading media programs, such as:

loading the media program into the second device when the media is needed;

When the media program is changed or revisited in the first device 13 (for example when there is a new version available), said media program is automatically loaded into the second device;

Load the media program into the second device 1 at a predetermined moment (e.g. every ten minutes...)

The media program is loaded into the second device when the device is activated.

These alternatives are examples of loading strategies that may also be superseded by other loading criteria.

Although an interface represented by a GUI design is provided in the above-described embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto but is applicable to other types of interfaces requiring a client/server structure. Furthermore, the present invention is equally applicable to other types of client/server architectures involving cooperation or communication requiring intermediary functionality between two separate devices for network management and the like.

Claims (6)

1, a kind of method that is used for providing medium capability in system, described system comprises first and second equipment that can cooperate mutually or communicate by letter at least, described method comprises:

Be provided for carrying out packed into the media program of medium capability, wherein said medium capability provides telecommunication system or the physical location of disposal system or the conversion between the object that comprises the mutual exclusion communication mechanism,

The copy of described media program is packed in the described equipment one or two, and

Need media and relate to cooperation between these equipment or during the application program of communication, move described media program when carrying out in described equipment therein,

Wherein said first equipment is network element, and described network element is switching centre, network controller, base station or the subscriber equipment of network,

Described media program temporarily or for good and all is stored in described first equipment, and the wherein said media program of packing into is sent as the part of described first equipment, perhaps is arranged in described first equipment in order to downloading,

The described media program of packing into is transmitted in described second equipment, is installed and activated, so that in described second equipment, carry out the described media program of packing into, and

Described second equipment comprises the user interface of the one or more functions that are used to manage described first equipment.

2, according to the process of claim 1 wherein that described user interface is graphical user interface GUI.

3, according to any one method in the aforesaid right requirement, wherein said media program is a java applet.

4, a kind of system comprises first and second equipment that can cooperate mutually or communicate by letter at least, and for described first and second equipment provide medium capability, comprising:

Be used to store the memory storage of packed into the media program of carrying out medium capability, wherein said medium capability provides telecommunication system or the physical location of disposal system or the conversion between the object that comprises the mutual exclusion communication mechanism,

Be used for pack into device in one or two of described equipment of the copy of described media program, and

Be used for carrying out and need media and relate to cooperation between these equipment or during the application program of communication, move the device of described media program when described equipment therein,

Wherein said first equipment is network element, and described network element is switching centre, network controller, base station or the subscriber equipment of network, and described first equipment comprises the described memory storage of media program of can packing into that is used to store,

Described media program is sent as the part of described first equipment, perhaps is arranged in described first equipment in order to downloading,

The described media program of packing into is transmitted in described second equipment, is installed and activated, so that in described second equipment, carry out the described media program of packing into, and

Described second equipment comprises the user interface of the one or more functions that are used to manage described first equipment.

5, according to the system of claim 4, wherein said user interface is graphical user interface GUI.

6, according to the system of aforesaid right requirement 4 or 5, wherein said media program is a java applet.