MXPA00009191A - Management of a telecommunications system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a management system and method for a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system having a plurality of objects representing elements of the telecommunications system and/or operations that may be applied to those elements. The management system comprises a management controller connectable to an item of telecommunications equipment of the telecommunications system for passing messages over a communications link between the management controller and a management element of the telecommunications system to invoke management operations. Further, the management system comprises means for defining a number of messages which may be generated by the management controller or the management element for passing over the communications link, each message being arranged to include one or more information elements. At least one of the messages is arranged to identify one of said objects as an information element and to cause different management operations to be invoked dependent on the object identified. By this approach, a separate message is not required for each management operation, and instead particular management operations can be invoked by virtue of the object specified within a particular message. This enables a simple generic interface to be provided between the management system and the telecommunicaitons system that is independent of the particular management functions that need to be performed on any particular telecommunications system. Hence, this enables the management system to be readily reused with different telecommunications systems without the requirement to alter the message interface between the management system and the telecommunications system.

Description

ADMINISTRATION OF A TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEM FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the administration of a telecommunications system and in particular to administration systems and methods for interfacing with the telecommunications system to carry out management functions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In a typical telecommunications system, a subscriber terminal may be located at the subscriber's premises to handle incoming and outgoing calls of said subscriber. One or more lines may be provided from the subscriber terminal to support one or more items of telecommunications equipment located at the subscriber's premises. Additionally, a central terminal can be provided to control several subscriber terminals, and in particular to manage calls between a subscriber terminal and other components of a telecommunications network. As the number of users of telecommunications networks increases, there is currently an increase in the demand for such networks so that they can support more users. As techniques are developed to enable such systems to support an increasing number of subscriber terminals, and therefore more users, then it is clear that telecommunication systems become more complex, and therefore the administration of such systems Telecommunications becomes more complicated. As the number of elements in telecommunications systems increases, clearly the volume of information to be managed tends to increase. For example, the various elements within the telecommunications system must be configured, and therefore the configuration information will have to be distributed to said elements. In addition, administrative functions such as the management of alarms generated by the elements of the telecommunications system and the downloading of computer programs to telecommunications systems should be implemented. You already know how to provide a management system, such as an element manager, to handle the various management functions. Typically, the administration system will be arranged to establish a connection with an article of telecommunications equipment, for example a central terminal, and to subsequently initiate the various administration functions. However, since the size of the communications system increases, and therefore more and more elements must be managed, then the variety of management information and the functions that must pass over the communication links between the element manager and the system Telecommunications tends to be larger, resulting in the requirement of a complex interface between the administrator system and the telecommunications system. EP-A-0,762,786 discloses a system having message transfer points conformed from a number of specific transfer points to a particular management message. The system allows for central processing within a large telecommunications network, while providing simplified administration message transfer using small, low-cost transfer points. WO-A-95/20297 describes an element manager for a telecommunications network comprising a data store and first and second interfaces for connecting the data storage to a network administrator and to individual network elements managed by the administrator Of elements. The data store comprises a network of cells. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved technique for managing a telecommunications system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Viewed from a first aspect, the present invention provides a management system for a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system has a plurality of objects representing elements of the telecommunications system and / or operations that can be applied to said elements, at least one of the objects of the plurality representing an element of the telecommunications system and an operation that is will apply to said element, the administration system comprises: a connected management controller, when the administration operations are to be invoked, to an element of telecommunications equipment of the telecommunications system to pass messages on a communication link between the management controller and a management element of the telecommunications system to invoke management operations, a set of basic messages that can be generated by the management controller or the management element to pass over the telecommunications link to invoke basic operations and corresponding administration, each basic message being arranged to include one or more information elements with reference to the processing of the message, at least a first message in the set arranged to include an information element that identifies one of said objects; the management element being arranged, upon receiving said first message, to cause the corresponding basic administration operation to be invoked, unless the object specified in such message represents an element of the telecommunications system and an operation to be applied to that element, in which case the administration element causes a management operation to be invoked that depends on the operation represented by such an object, wherein the first message can be used to invoke different management operations dependent on the object identified in the first message. In accordance with the present invention, a management system administration controller is arranged to establish a communication link with a telecommunications system management element to enable the management operations to be invoked. Additionally, the administration system has access to a number of messages that can be generated to pass over the communications link so that the management operations are invoked, each message being arranged to include one or more information elements. The telecommunications system has a plurality of objects representing objects representing elements of the telecommunications system and / or operations that can be applied to said elements, and, in accordance with the present invention, at least one of the messages is arranged to identify one of the objects as an information element and to cause different administration operations that will be invoked depending on the identified object. Under this approach, a separate message is not required for each administration operation, and instead specific management operations can be invoked by virtue of the specified object within a particular message. This allows the number of messages required to operate the interface between the administration system and the telecommunications system to be drastically reduced, thus greatly simplifying the interface between the administration system and the telecommunications system. Traditionally, under this approach, it is possible to develop a generic interface between the administration system and the telecommunications system that depends on the particular management functions that must be performed in any particular telecommunications system. Therefore, this allows the administration system to be easily reused with different telecommunications systems without requiring modification of the message interface between the administration system and the telecommunications system. The objects provided by the telecommunications system can represent various entities. For example, at least one object of the plurality of objects can represent an element of the system of -telecommunications. In addition, at least one object of the plurality of objects can represent an element of the telecommunications system and an operation that will be applied to that element. It will also be evident that objects can represent other combinations of elements and / or operations. For example, an object can represent a single element and a group of operations that will be applied to that element, or alternatively an object can represent a group of elements and an operation that will be applied to that group of elements. In preferred embodiments, the first message in the set is arranged to include two information elements, a first information element that identifies a particular object of said plurality of objects, and the second information element identifying data of the object replacing the data. of the corresponding object in the particular object. In this way, this message can be used to change the content of a particular object, and for example can be used to modify the configuration data of an object. However, in preferred embodiments, the particular object identified by the first information element can represent an element of the telecommunications system and an operation that will be applied to said element, the management controller being arranged to pass the first message on the telecommunications link to the administration element to invoke an administration operation, the administration operation invoked depending on the operation represented by the particular object. In this way, this first message can also be used to invoke a number of different administration operations, the exact administration operation being invoked depending on the operation represented by the particular object. This allows the same basic message to be used over the communication link between the management system and the telecommunications system, while the objects provided by the telecommunications system and referenced in the message determine the management function to be used. Therefore, the message established for the interface between the administration system and the telecommunications system can be developed independently of the structure of the telecommunications system and of the administration functions that will be carried out with respect to said telecommunications system. In preferred embodiments, a second message in the set is set to include an information element that identifies one of said plurality of objects, the reception of the second message causing the identified object to be retrieved and issued as an information element within of a third message in the set. Additionally, in preferred modalities, a fourth message is issued in the set to inform about the reception of a message that passed over the communication link. Preferably, the fourth message is issued in case the message about which will be reported in the fourth message can not be processed correctly, the fourth message including as an information element the indication of the processing problem. For example, the information element may specify that the message being reported was sent to an unknown object, or, in the case of the first message, that the object data created to replace the directed object was of a size that did not correspond to the mentioned object, etc. In the simplest mode, the element of telecommunications equipment to which the management controller connects will also contain the administration element. However, in alternative modes, the management controller may be connected to the first element of the telecommunications equipment of the telecommunications system, and the management element of the telecommunications system resides in a second element of the telecommunications equipment., and the messages are routed to and from the administration element by means of a connection means of the telecommunications system that is connected to the first and second elements of the telecommunications equipment. In such embodiments, the connection means preferably is an inverse path that is used to transfer telecommunications signals between the first and second elements of the telecommunications equipment, in the reverse path a management slot is provided to facilitate the transfer of the message between the management element and the first element of telecommunications equipment. Seen from a second aspect, the present invention provides a telecommunications system comprising: a memory for maintaining a plurality of objects representing elements of the telecommunications system and / or operations that can be applied to said elements, at least one of the plurality of objects represented an element of the telecommunications system and an operation that will be applied to said element; a management element to communicate over a communication link with a management controller to enable the management operations to be invoked; a connected management controller, when management operations are invoked, to an item of the telecommunications system equipment to pass messages over the communication link between the management controller and the telecommunications system management element to invoke the management operations; a set of basic messages that can be generated by the management controller or the management element to pass over the communications link to invoke the corresponding basic management operations, each basic message being arranged to include one or more information elements with reference to processing of the message, at least a first message in the set being arranged to include an information element that identifies one of said elements; the administration element being arranged, upon receiving said first message, to cause the corresponding basic administration operation to be invoked, unless the object specified in said message represents a telecommunications system element and an operation to be applied to said element, in which case the administration element causes a management operation to be invoked that depends on the operation represented by said object, wherein the first message can be used to invoke different management operations depending on the object identified in the first message. In a third aspect, the present invention provides a method for managing a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system has a plurality of objects representing elements of the telecommunications system and / or operations that can be applied to said elements, at least one object of the plurality of objects representing an element of the telecommunications system and an operation that will be applied to said element, the method comprises the steps of: connecting an administration controller to an article of telecommunications equipment of the telecommunications system; selecting a message from a set of basic messages that can be generated by the management controller or a telecommunications system management element to pass over a communication link to invoke the corresponding basic management operations, each basic message in the message set being arranged to include one or more information elements with reference to the processing of the message, at least one first message in the set being arranged to include an information element that identifies one of said objects; passing the selected message over the communication link between the management controller and the telecommunications system management element to invoke an administration operation; and invoking the administration operation, wherein, upon receipt of said first message by the administration element, the invocation step involves causing the corresponding basic administration operation to be invoked unless the object specified in such message represents an element of the telecommunications system and an operation that will be applied to such an element, in which case the invocation step involves causing an administration operation to be invoked that depends on the operation represented by that object, wherein the first message can be used to invoke different management operations dependent on the object identified in the first message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will be described in greater detail, by way of example only, with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a general schematic description of an example of a wireless telecommunications system wherein the present invention can be employed; Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of an example of a subscriber terminal of the telecommunications system of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of an example of a central terminal of the telecommunications system of Figure 1; Figure 3A is a schematic illustration of a modem shelf of a central terminal of the telecommunications system of Figure 1; Figure 4 is an illustration of an example of a frequency plan for the telecommunications system of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a block diagram showing elements of an access concentrator, a central terminal and an element manager in accordance with the preferred embodiments of the present invention; Figures 6A to 6F illustrate the format of various messages that are used to administer communications between the administration system and the telecommunications system in accordance with the preferred embodiments of the present invention. Figures 7A to 7D illustrate the format of the information elements contained within the message illustrated in Figures 6A to 6F; and Figure 8 is an interaction diagram illustrating the sequence of messages that pass between the administration controller of the administration system and a shelf controller of the telecommunications system to perform the function of downloading programs in accordance with the modalities prefer from the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITY The present invention can be used to manage any type of telecommunications system, for example a wired telecommunications system, or a wireless telecommunications system. Additionally, the present invention may be employed with a telecommunications system arranged to handle any type of telecommunications signal, for example, a telephone signal, a video signal, or data signals such as those used to transmit data on the Internet, or willing to support new technologies such as wide-wave technology and on-demand television. However, for the purpose of describing a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the use of a wireless telecommunications system to handle telephony signals, such as POTS (former simple telephony system) signals, will be considered. Before describing a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an example of such a wireless telecommunications system will be discussed wherein the present invention can be employed, with reference first to figures 1 to 4. Figure 1 is a general description schematic of an example of a wireless telecommunications system. The telecommunications system includes one or more service areas 12, 14 and 16, each of which obtains service from a respective central terminal (CT) 10 that establishes a radio-electronic link with the subscriber terminals (ST) 20 within the area respective. The area covered by a central terminal 10 may vary. For example, in a rural area with a low density of subscribers, a service area 12 can cover an area with a radius of 15 to 20 km. A service area 14 in an urban environment where there is a high density subscriber terminals 20 can only cover an area with a radius of the order of 100 m. In a suburban area with an intermediate density of subscriber terminals, a service area 16 will cover an area with a radius of the order of 1 km. It will be appreciated that the area covered by a particular central terminal 10 may be chosen to adjust the local requirements of the expected or actual subscriber density, local geographic considerations, etc., and is not limited to the examples illustrated in figure 1. In addition, coverage does not need to be, and typically will not be circular in extension, due to antenna design considerations, geographic factors , buildings etc, which will affect the distribution of the signals transmitted. The central terminals 10 for respective service areas 12, 14, 16 can be connected to each other by means of links 13, 15 and 17 which interface, for example, with a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 18. The links can be include conventional telecommunications technology using copper wires, fiber optics, satellites, microwaves, etc. The wireless telecommunications system of Figure 1 is based on providing radioelectronic links between the subscriber terminals 20 at fixed locations within a service area (for example 12, 14, 16) and the central terminal 10 for an area of service. These wireless radioelectronic links are established on previously determined frequency channels, a frequency channel typically consisting of a frequency of up-signals from one subscriber terminal to the terminal exchange and another frequency for descending signals from the central terminal to the subscriber terminal.

Due to the bandwidth problems, it is not practical for each individual subscriber terminal to have its own dedicated frequency channel to communicate with a central terminal. Therefore, techniques should be developed to allow the data elements in relation to different wireless links (ie different ST-CT communications) to be transmitted simultaneously on the same frequency channel without interfering with each other. One such technique involves the use of a "code division multiple access" (CDMA) technique in which a set of orthogonal codes can be applied to the data that will be transmitted on a particular frequency channel, the data elements with reference to different wireless links being combined with different orthogonal codes from the set. The signals to which an orthogonal code has been applied can be considered as being transmitted on a corresponding orthogonal channel within a particular frequency channel. One way to operate such wireless telecommunication systems is a fixed allocation mode, wherein a particular ST is directly associated with a particular orthogonal channel of a particular frequency channel. The outgoing and incoming calls of elements of telecommunications equipment connected to said ST will always be managed by such orthogonal channel in said particular frequency channel, the orthogonal channel being always available and dedicated to that particular ST. However, as the number of users of telecommunications networks increases, and there is an increased demand for such networks to be able to support more users. To increase the number of users that can be supported by a single central terminal, an alternative way to operate such a wireless communication system is in a demand allocation mode, where a larger number of ST is associated with the central terminal than the number of available orthogonal channels that sustain traffic. These orthogonal channels are subsequently assigned to particular ST as required by the demand. This approach means that more STs can be supported by a single central terminal than is possible in a fixed allocation mode, the exact number supported depending on the level of dial tone service that the service provider desires. In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, each subscriber terminal 20 has demand-based access to its central terminal 10, whereby the number of subscribers that can receive service exceeds the number of wireless links available. Figure 2 illustrates an example of a configuration for a subscriber terminal 20 for the telecommunications system of Figure 1.

Figure 2 includes a schematic representation of the user's premises 22.

A user radio unit (CRU) 24 is mounted in the user's premises. The user's radio unit 24 includes a flat panel antenna or the like 23. The user's radio unit is mounted at a location in the user's premises, or on a pole, etc., or in an orientation such that the antenna flat panel 23 within the user's radio unit 24 sees in address 26 of the central terminal 10 for the service area where the user's radio unit 24 is located. The user's radio unit 24 is connected via a branch line 28 to a power supply unit (PSU) 30 within the user's premises. The power supply unit 30 is connected to the local power supply to supply power to the user's radio unit 24 and a network terminal unit (NTU) 32. The user unit 24 is also connected by a power supply unit 24. energy 30 to the network terminal unit 32, which in turn is connected to the telecommunications equipment in the user's premises, for example to one or more telephones 34, facsimile machines 36 and computers 38. The telecommunications equipment is represented within the premises of a single user. However, this is not necessarily the case, since the subscr terminal 20 can support multiple lines, so that various subscr lines can be supported by a single subscr terminal 20. The subscr terminal 20 can also be arranged to support analog and digital telecommunications, for example analog telecommunications in 16, 32 or 64 kbit / sec or digital communications in accordance with the BRA standard of the ISDN network. Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of an example of a central terminal of the telecommunications system of Figure 1. The common equipment frame 40 comprises a number of shelves for equipment 42, 44, 46 including a combiner shelf and power amplifier. RF (RFC) 42, a power supply shelf (PS) 44 and a number of modem shelves (MS) 46 (in this example four). The combiner shelf RF 42 allows the modem shelves 46 to operate in parallel. If "n" modem shelves are provided, then the combiner shelf RF 42 combines and amplifies the power of "n" transmission signals, each transmission signal being from each of the "n" modem shelves, and amplifies and divides the "n" signals received, so that separate signals can pass the respective modem shelves. The power supply ledge 44 provides a connection to the local power source and merges various components into the common equipment frame 40. A bidirectional connection extends between the combiner shelf RF 42 and the antenna of the central terminal 52, as an omnidirectional antenna, mounted on a pole of the central terminal 50. In this example a central terminal 10 is connected by a point-to-point microwave link to a location where an interface is made with the public switched telephone network 18, which it is shown schematically in figure 1. As mentioned above, other types of connections (for example copper or f optic wires) can be used to link the central terminal 10 to the public switched telephone network 18. In this example the shelves for modems are connected via lines 47 to a microwave terminal (MT) 48. A microwave link 49 extends from the microwave terminal 48 to a point-to-point microwave antenna 54 mounted on the pole 50 for a main connection to the public switched telephone network 18. A personal computer, workstation or the like can be provided as a site controller (SC) 56 to support the central terminal 10. The site controller 56 may be connected to each modem shelf of the central terminal 10 via, for example, RS232 connections, 55. The site controller 56 may then provide support functions such as fault location, alarms and states and configuration of the central terminal 10. A site controller 56 will typically support a single central terminal 10, although a plurality of site controllers 56 may be networked to support a plurality of central terminals 10. As an alternative to the RS232 connections, 55, which extend to a site controller 56, the data connections as an X.25, 57 link, (shown with guide line 3) could be provided from a keyboard 228 to a switching node 60 of an element manager (EM) 58. An element manager 58 can support a number of distributed central terminals 10 connected by respective connections to the switching node. 60. The element manager 58 enables a potentially large number (for example up to or more than 1000) of central terminals 10 to be integrated into a management network. Element manager 58 is based around a powerful workstation 62 and may include a number of 64 computer terminals for network engineers and control personnel. Figure 3A illustrates various parts of a modem shelf 46. An RF transmit / receive unit (RFU-eg, instrumented on a card in a modem shelf) 66 generates RF signals of modulated transmission at medium energy levels and retrieves and amplifies the baseband RF signals for the subscriber terminals. The RF unit 66 is connected to an analog card (AN) 68 which performs the A-D / D-A conversions, the baseband filtering and the sum of vectors of the various signals transmitted from the modem cards (MC) 70. The analog unit 68 is connected to a number of modem cards 70 (typically from 1 to 8). The modem cards perform the baseband signal processing of the transmission and reception signals from / to the subscriber terminals 20. This may include the 1/2 rate convolution coding and the x16 display with the "access" codes multiplexed by code division "(CDMA) in the transmission signals, and the recovery of synchronization, elimination of deployment and correction of errors in reception signals. The modem cards 70 are connected to a tributary unit (TU) 74 terminating the connection with the public switched telephone network 18 (for example by one of the lines 47) and handles the telephony information signaling to the terminals of subscriber through one of the modems. Additionally, each modem shelf 46 includes a shelf controller 72 that is used to handle the operation of the entire modem shelf and the sub-elements of the daughter network (NSE). The shelf controller (SC) has an RS232 serial port for connection to the site controller 57 or the keyboard 228. The shelf controller communicates the control and data information via a backplane asynchronous data bus directly with the other elements of the modem shelf. Other network sub-elements are connected via modem cards. The wireless telecommunications between a central terminal 10 and the subscriber terminals 20 can operate with various frequencies. Figure 4 illustrates a possible example of the frequencies that can be used. In the present example, the wireless telecommunication system intends to operate in the 1.5-2.5 GHz band. In particular, the present example is intended to operate in the band defined by ITU-R (CCIR) Recommendation F.701 ( 2025-21 10MHz, 2200-2290MHz). Figure 4 illustrates the frequencies that are used for the uplink from the subscriber terminals 20 to the central terminal 10 and for the downlinks from the central terminal 10 to the subscriber terminals 20. It will be noted that the uplink radio channels 20 and descending 12 of 3.5MHz are provided centered at approximately 2155MHz. The separation between the reception and transmission channels exceeds the minimum required separation of 70MHz. In this example, each modem shelf is arranged to support a frequency channel (i.e. an upward frequency plus the corresponding downstream frequency), with techniques such as "code division multiplexed access" (CDMA) used to enable a plurality of wireless links to subscriber terminals that will be simultaneously supported on a plurality of orthogonal channels within each frequency channel. Typically, radioelectronic traffic from a particular central terminal 10 will extend within the area covered by an adjacent central terminal 10. To avoid, or at least reduce interference problems caused by nearby areas, only a limited number of available frequencies will be used by any given central terminal 10. This is discussed in more detail in GB-A-2,301, 751, which also provides further details on CDMA encoding / decoding, and on the signal processing steps employed in the subscriber terminals and central terminal to administer communications CDMA among these. The above description has provided a general description of a suitable wireless telecommunications system in which the present invention may be employed. The techniques used in the preferred embodiments of the present invention for managing the wireless telecommunications system will be discussed below. As discussed previously, in the demand assignment operation mode, more STs than existing channels sustaining traffic to handle wireless links with those STs can be supported, the exact number supported depending on the level of dial tone service desired by the service provider. However, the use of demand allocation mode complicates the interface between the central terminal and the main exchange of a public switched telephone network (PSTN). In the interface of the main exchange side, the CT must provide services to the main exchange, since all the subscribers are connected with direct service, even when they are not actually purchased by a radiofrequency channel. Without taking into account whether the ST is acquired or not by the main exchange, all subscribers must have a presence in the interface with the main exchange. Without some form of concentration, it is clear that it will be necessary to provide a large number of interfaces to the plant. However, most major PSTN exchanges still use non-concentrated interfaces, for example V5.1 or CAS, and only relatively few use concentrated interfaces, such as TR303 or V5.2. To prevent each central terminal from having to provide such a large number of interfaces to the main exchange, it is proposed to use an access concentrator, which transmits signals to, and receives signals from, the central terminal using concentrated interfaces, but maintains an interface. not concentrated with the main exchange, protocol conversion and mapping functions used within the access concentrator to convert signals from a concentrated format to a non-concentrated format, and vice versa. Such an access concentrator is illustrated in Figure 5, which illustrates elements of the access concentrator and the exchange terminal used to handle calls. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, although the access concentrator 100 is illustrated in FIG. 5 as a separate unit to the central terminal 10, and in fact this is the preferred instrumentation, it is also possible that the functions of the access concentrator can be provided within the central terminal 10 in situations where it is considered appropriate. As illustrated in Figure 5, the access concentrator 100 has a number of tributary units 110, referred to thereafter as XTU (tax units (addressed) of exchange) that provide a non-concentrated interface to the main exchange center. a telecommunications network. When an incoming call is received on a path 200 from the main exchange of a telecommunications network, then the XTU 1 10 receiving the call is arranged to determine from the information associated with such incoming call which subscriber terminal line is destined the incoming call and to later use such information to have access to a database 150 associated with such XTU 1 10 to retrieve all the necessary information on such subscriber terminal line to enable the call and to be routed through the concentrator of access to the central terminal and later on a wireless link to the subscriber terminal.

In the preferred embodiments, the XTUs 1 10 are connected to the main exchange of the telecommunications network via lines E1. The number of required lines E1 will depend on the number of subscriber terminal lines supported by the wireless telecommunications system, each terminal subscriber line having a dedicated timer slot on a predetermined E1 connection. * Once the XTU 1 10 has retrieved the necessary information from the database 150, then the XTU 1 10 are arranged to make contact with the tributary unit 120 within the access concentrator 100, hereinafter designated CTU 120 ( Hub Tax Unit) to request a call manager within CTU 120 to determine an appropriate path for directing calls on the backplane between the XTU 110 and the CTU 120, on the reverse path between the access concentrator 100 and the terminal central 100, and over the wireless link between the central terminal and the subscriber terminal, to which the call is destined. The exact mechanism used by the call manager to determine the path for routing the call between the access concentrator, the central terminal and the subscriber terminal is not important for the purposes of the present invention. However, a detailed analysis of a preferred technique for performing this procedure is described in detail in UK patent application No. 9712168.5 filed on June 1, 1997.

However, briefly, the call manager preferably establishes a call object to represent the call, and subsequently stores the information retrieved from the database 150 by the XTU as attributes of that call object. Additionally, the call manager preferably employs certain elements within the access concentrator and the central terminal to determine if there is a radioelectric slot available to carry the call between the central terminal and the subscriber terminal. Here, the term "radioelectronic slot" refers to the bandwidth elements in which each frequency channel is subdivided, these radioelectronic slots being assigned to particular calls as required. Once a radio-electronic slot has been located for the call, the call manager within the CTU 120 causes the subscriber terminal to which it is addressed to be invited to acquire the wireless link over the radio-electronic slot. Once the subscriber's terminal has acquired the wireless link over the appropriate radio-electronic slot, then the call manager employs elements to locate carrier timing slots over the links of the reverse path interface between the access concentrator 100 and the central terminal 10 , and on the backplane concentrated between the XTU 1 10 and the CTU 120 in the access concentrator 100. The backplane and the reverse path are referred to as "concentrates", because the number of timing slots provided is less than the Actual number of subscriber terminals supported by the system. Therefore, a carrier timing slot is located dynamically and when required. Therefore, unlike the E1 connections, the XTU 110 and the exchange enter, where the data in relation to a particular subscriber terminal line will always appear over a particular time slot of a particular E1 line, the data for a terminal line The particular subscriber can appear in any free carrier timer slot on the backplane and the reverse path, since these timer slots are dynamically located at the time the call is initiated. Once the above procedure has been carried out, then the call can be routed from the XTU 110 on the backplane to the CTU 120, and from there on the reverse path to a tributary unit 130 within one of the modem shelves of the central terminal with which the subscriber's terminal has established the wireless link, this tributary unit 130 is referred to as a DTU 130 (unit tributary of allocation by demand). As discussed above with reference to Figure 3A, the data is subsequently routed via modem card 70, an analog card 68, an RF transmit / receive unit 66, and subsequently via the RF combiner 42 ledge, before transmitted from the central terminal antenna to the subscriber terminal on the wireless link.

The above description has analyzed the general technique used to route an incoming call from a main exchange of a telecommunications network to a particular subscriber terminal. A similar procedure is used in the return direction from outgoing calls from a subscriber terminal to the main exchange. In this case, when the subscriber terminal makes contact with the central terminal to establish an outgoing call then once the radio-electronic link establishes the DTU 130 within the appropriate central terminal modem shelf it enters the database 180 for recovering the necessary information (for example slot identification of E1) to allow the call to be routed through the reverse path and the backplane to the correct line E1 towards the switch. The recovered information is then transmitted with the Adjust to CTU 120 message to allow the creation of a call object. As mentioned above with reference to Figure 3, element managers are used in preferred embodiments of the present invention to operate the wireless telecommunication system and these element managers interface with the shelves of the different equipment of the telecommunication system to through the shelf controllers. Accordingly, an element manager can establish a connection with a shelf controller in order to perform management functions relating to telecommunication elements of the telecommunication system.

According to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the telecommunication system maintains a hierarchical structure of objects for the purpose of molding the structure of the telecommunication system and preferably, the administration of telecommunication elements of the telecommunication system is brought to performed by the appropriate manipulation of the corresponding objects within the hierarchical object structure. The objects provided within the hierarchical structure can represent several entities. For example, an object can represent a telecommunication element of the telecommunication system. In addition, an object can represent not only an element of the telecommunication system, but also an operation that will be applied to that element. In addition, other combinations of elements and / or operations can be represented by objects. For example, an object can represent a single element and a group of operations to be applied to that element, or alternatively an object can represent a group of elements and an operation to apply to that group of elements. Thus, as an example, each of the databases 150, 180 can be represented by a database object and certainly the individual records within those databases can be represented by separate objects depending on the database object in question. the hierarchical structure. In addition, certain objects may refer to a particular element of the telecommunication system, such as a disk storage device, and may also define an operation to be applied to that element. Thus, for example, a single object can specify a disk storage device and a written operation to apply to that disk storage device. As will be discussed in more detail later when describing the messages passed between the element manager and the shelf controllers of the telecommunication system, the basic principle behind the communications between the element manager and the shelf controllers is that most of the the operations should be considered as the transfer of an object from one side of the communications to the other. In preferred embodiments, all objects in the hierarchical structure are identified by a hierarchical addressing scheme. In accordance with the addressing scheme used in preferred modalities, each object has a Relative Distinguished Name (RDN) which includes a type attribute that specifies an object type and an instance attribute that identifies the particular instance of that type of object. Although the RDN provides a unique identifier for an object when viewed from its immediate superior or main object in the object structure, it is possible that there are objects that have the same RDN within the entire object structure. Consequently, to provide a unique identifier for a particular object, a Distinguished Name (DN) is defined, which is formed by the concatenation of all RDNs for each object instance in the contention path from the path object of the Object structure towards the object instance that is identified.

As discussed above, an element manager can establish a connection with a shelf controller of the telecommunication system in order to perform management functions. Accordingly, an element manager 210 can establish a connection with a shelf controller 140 of the access concentrator 100 to perform management functions relating to the telecommunication elements provided within the access concentrator 100. Alternatively, the element manager 210, or a different element manager, can establish a connection with the shelf controller 170 of a modem shelf 46 of the central terminal 10 in order to perform management functions relating to the telecommunication elements provided in that modem shelf . In addition, the preferred modality telecommunication system provides a management timer slot in each channel of the reverse path between the access concentrator 100 and the central terminal 10, and thus, it is possible for the element manager 210 to connect to the controller of shelf 140 of access concentrator 100, but to initiate administration functions that will be performed within the modem shelf managed by shelf controller 170. In such instances, the necessary information about administration functions is routed in packets in the suitable timing slot for the reverse path from shelf controller 140 to shelf controller 170 to allow management functions to be performed on that modem shelf. In preferred embodiments, the transport mechanism defined by Q.921 is used to transfer this information between the element manager and the shelf controller 170. Each shelf controller has a Terminal Terminal Point Identification (TEI), and This TEI is associated with the information packets to ensure that the correct shelf controller receives those information packets. Similarly, if the element manager 210 is connected to the shelf controller 170, the administration functions relating to the access concentrator 100 can be passed from the element manager 210 to the shelf controller 170, and then be routed over the reverse path to the shelf controller 140 of access concentrator 100. Furthermore, it should be noted that the aforementioned functionality is not simply limited to a single "hop" between a central terminal modem shelf and the access concentrator. For example, the element manager can be connected to a modem shelf and handle another modem shelf on a different central terminal by transferring the information on the reverse path between the modem shelf (to which the element manager is connected) and the access concentrator, and then on another reverse path between the access concentrator and the modem shelf that will be managed by the element manager. According to preferred embodiments of the present invention, the element manager 210 is provided with an administration controller 220 for interfacing with the shelf controllers 140,170 in telecommunication equipment, such as the access concentrator 100 and a modem shelf. central terminal 46. The communication between the management controller 220 of the element manager 210 and the shelf controller of the telecommunication equipment is effected via messages. Accordingly, within the administration controller 220 of the item manager 210, a series of messages is defined, which may be sent in the interface between the management controller 220 and the shelf controller 140,170. Similarly, each shelf controller 140,170 will also have access to the same series of messages. In preferred embodiments, the administration controller 220 and shelf controllers 140, 170 include a software element to analyze each type of message, with the structure of each message being defined in the software code. However, alternatively, the group of messages can be defined in an accessible storage for the management controller 220, or shelf controllers 140,170, for example, internal memory of the element manager 210. Several messages used in preferred embodiments to communicate between the management controller 220 of the element manager 210 and the shelf controller 140,170 of the telecommunication system are illustrated in FIGS. 6A to 6F. These figures represent in a tabular way the format of each message, with the width of the box representing a byte of information. In addition, the syntax of the messages follows the general data format rules defined by the Q.931 standard.

Figure 6A illustrates the format of a "Set" message that is issued by the management controller 220 in preferred embodiments for instructing the shelf controller 140,170 to overwrite an object identified within the message with the object data as well. defined in the message. The first byte of the Adjust message is used to identify a protocol discriminator required by the Q.931 standard. In preferred embodiments, the protocol discriminator defines the Adjust message as part of a user defined message setting. The same protocol discriminator is also included in the other messages that will be discussed below, to indicate that those messages are part of the same user-defined message setting. The last four bits of the second byte are used to identify the length in bytes of a call reference that will be included within the message. The same call reference is then included within the message and takes a number of bytes as specified by the call reference length. The call reference is assigned by the message transmitter and any message returned in response to that message will also contain the same call reference. Consequently, this allows a particular transaction to be identified. In addition, in preferred embodiments, an address indicator is associated with the call reference, preferably having only one bit value. If the address indicator has a logical value of "0", then in preferred modes this indicates that the message is initiating a transaction. If the address indicator has a logical value of "1", this indicates that the message is being returned in response to a previous message that has the same call reference. A function code is also included in each message, and in preferred embodiments it is specified with a value of 7 bits. If the function code has a value of "1", then this indicates that the message is an Adjustment message. The Adjustment message also includes two pieces of information, in addition to the information mentioned above. The first information element is a Distinguished Name information element that only identifies the object to which the Adjust message applies. The second information element is an Object information element that contains object data to replace the current object data of the object identified by the Distinguished Name information element. The content of these information elements will be discussed in more detail with reference to Figures 7A to 7D. Figure 6B illustrates the structure of a Get Request message which is used to request that an object be returned in response to the Get Request message, the particular object being identified within the message. As with the Adjust message, the Get Request message includes a protocol discriminator, a call reference length, an address indicator, a call reference and a function code. In this case, the function code has a value of "2" to identify that the message is a Get Request message. The Get Request message also includes an information element, i.e. a Distinguished Name information element to identify the object that is being requested. In response to a Get Request message, either a Get Result message (illustrated in Figure 6C) or an Acknowledge message (illustrated in Figure 6D) will be returned. The Get Result message is returned if the Get Request message is processed correctly. As illustrated in Figure 6C, the Get Result message includes a protocol discriminator, a call reference length, an address indicator, a call reference and a function code having the same formats as those illustrated above for the Adjust and Get Request messages. In this case, the function code has a value of "3" to identify that the message is a Get Result message. The Get Result message then includes a simple information element, ie an object information element that contains the data of the requested object. If for some reason, the Get Request message can not be processed, then a Recognition message is used as illustrated in Figure 6D. Again, the Recognition message includes a protocol discriminator, a call reference length, an address indicator, a call reference and a function code, and in this case the function code has a value of "4" for indicate that the message is a Recognition message. The Recognition message then includes a simple information element, ie a Result information element. The Result information element includes a code identifying the reason why the Get Request message could not be processed, these codes being discussed in more detail later when the Result information element illustrated in Figure 7C is described. The Get Result message discussed previously with reference to Figure 6C, is only issued in response to a Get Request message. However, in the preferred embodiments, there are certain cases in which the telecommunication system may wish to transmit objects to the element manager by its own will. For example, in the event that an alarm occurs in relation to a particular element of the telecommunication system, then the telecommunication system may wish to send a corresponding object to the element manager to notify the element manager of that alarm. In such situations, an Unsolicited Get message is used, and the content of the Unsolicited Get message is illustrated in Figure 6E. This Unsolicited Obtaining message has a format similar to the Get Result message, but it also includes an extra element of information, that is, a Distinguished Name information element, to identify the object whose data is included in the Object information element. included in the Unsolicited Acquisition message. Since this Obtain message is not requested, it is clear that the Distinguished Name information element is required in order for the element manager to identify the object to which the object data refers in the Object information element. For this message, the function code has a value of "5" to indicate that the message is an Unsolicited Obtain message. As will be discussed in detail later, in some cases, the Unsolicited Acquirement message will be sent as a result of some ongoing operation that was initiated by an Adjust message, in which case the call reference within the Unsolicited Acquire message will be identical to the original Adjust message. However, for completely unsolicited objects, the Unsolicited Obtain message will have a call reference of zero. An additional message that is provided in preferred embodiments of the present invention is a User Name message, illustrated in Figure 6F. This message is used to allow a specific specified user to enter the system, without any existing user leaving the system. The User Name message, like all other messages discussed, has a protocol discriminator, a call reference length, an address indicator, a call reference and a function code, in this case, the code function has a value of "6" to identify the message as a Username message. In addition, the User Name message has a Password information element which identifies a password string that identifies the particular user seeking to enter the system. In response to a Username message, a Recognition message is returned, the Result information element of which is identified if the process of entering the system has been successful or the reason why the entry to the system failed. To allow a user to leave the system, the same User Name message is used in preferred modes, but in this case, a zero-length password is specified. According to the normal procedure used in response to a User Name message, all existing users leave the system and consequently, the current user is removed from the system. However, the zero-length password results in no new user connecting to the system, thus achieving the result of removing the current user from the system. Again, an acknowledgment message is returned to identify whether or not the User Name message has been correctly processed. Having discussed the different messages stored within the memory 230 of the element manager 210 and within the memories 270, 280 accessible by the shelf controllers 140, 170, the information elements used within these different messages will now be described with reference to Figures 7A to 7D. The fields in the information elements can be of fixed or variable length. In Figures 7A to 7D, fixed length fields are shown in the diagrams as the exact number of bytes. Variable-length fields, which use the highest bits of each byte as a continuation indicator (1 for additional bytes), are shown in the diagrams as a single byte, with a "0" in the highest bit. It should be noted that according to the preferred modalities, a variable length field will have a maximum of four bytes, which, due to the presence of the continuation indicator in each byte, corresponds to 28 bits of valid information. Figure 7A illustrates the structure of the Distinguished Name information element. First, a variable length field provides the identification of the information element, which in this case will identify that the information element is a Distinguished Name information element. Then, a fixed one-byte field is used to identify the length of the information element that follows, with another one-byte fixed field used to identify the type number and instance pairs that will follow in the Distinguished Name information element. As mentioned above, a Distinguished Name that identifies a particular object instance is formed by the concatenation of all Relative Distinguished Names for each object instance in the contention path from the root object to the object instance that is identified. Each Relative Distinguished Name is identified by the combination of a type attribute that specifies an object type and an instance attribute that identifies the particular instance of that type of object. Consequently, for each object instance in the contention path, there will be a type and instance pair. Thus, the Distinguished Name information element includes a number of variable length field pairs, the first variable length field being arranged to identify each type and the second variable length field being arranged to identify each instance. Therefore, starting with the most significant object instance in the contention path, in preferred modalities being this the object immediately below the root object, the rest of the Distinguished Name information element is taken with type / instance pairs that identify each instance of object in the contention path. Figure 7B illustrates the structure of the Object information element. As with the Distinguished Name information element, the Object information element includes a variable length field that identifies an information element identification to indicate that the information element is indeed an Object information element. A fixed-length one-byte field is then used to specify the length in bytes of the object data included within the Object information element. The Object information element then includes the object data itself, which take the number of bytes identified in the length field. Figure 7C illustrates the structure of the Result information element. As with the Object information element, the Result information element includes a variable length field that provides identification of the information element, followed by a fixed length field that specifies the length of the result code included within the element of Result information. The result code is a variable length field that indicates how the message that is recognized by the Recognition message has been processed. The six possible result codes used in preferred embodiments of the present invention are as follows: 0 EMID_RESULT_OK (indicates process successfully completed) 1 EMID_RESULT_UNKNOWNDN (Distinguished name not known) 2 EMID_RESULT_BADPASSWORD (3) EMID_RESULT_INSUFFRIGHTS (user does not have access rights required) 4 EMID_RESULT_BADOBJECTSIZE (incorrect object size - object must be the same size as the one being overwritten) 5 EMID_RESULT_OUTOFSEQUENCE (reference to processes such as s / w download, where messages must be processed in sequence) 6 EMID_RESULT_UNKNOWNMSG (instance of which message is not recognized) Figure 7D illustrates the information element of Password contained within the User Name message. This Password information element has a variable length field that specifies the information element identification, followed by a fixed length field that specifies the length of the password included within the Password information element. The password is then included within the password information element. By using the series of messages described above, a simple interface mechanism is established between the element manager and the shelf controllers of the telecommunication system. Moreover, the interface is generic, since it is independent of the particular management functions that need to be performed in any particular telecommunication system. For example, Figure 8 is an interaction diagram illustrating how the simple message series described above can be used to perform a software download function in preferred embodiments of the present invention. To initiate the software download function, the management controller 220 of element manager 210 issues a message of Fit to shelf controller 140, the Distinguished Name information element within this Adjust message that identifies an EXEMAN_OPEN object and the Object information element that identifies the object data that will be associated with the EXEMAN_OPEN object. The EXEMAN_OPEN object identifies an executable administrator and an open command that will be applied by that executable administrator. Accordingly, upon receipt of the Adjust message, the shelf controller 140 causes the executable administrator to open a specified file within the object data of the Object information element.

Then, the shelf controller 140 returns an Unsolicited Retrieval message to the management controller 220, this Unsolicited Retrieval message that identifies an EXEMAN_PROGRESS object in its Distinguished Name information element. The object information element of the Unsolicited Get message then includes the object data that will be associated with the EXEMAN_PROGRESS object. This EXEMAN_PROGRESS object is used to provide a progress report on the operation of the executable administrator and thus, the object data in the Object information element of the Unsolicited Obtain message will identify whether the executable administrator has been able to process correctly the open command. If for any reason the data returned in the Unsolicited Reach message indicates that the executable administrator has not been able to open the file, then, as illustrated in Figure 8, the management controller 220 is ready to send a subsequent message of Adjust, which identifies an EXEMAN_CLOSE object. This will cause the shelf controller 140 to instruct the executable administrator to close the file, and the shelf controller 140 will then issue a return message of Unsolicited Obtaining to the management controller, including the EXEMANJPROGRESS object to confirm whether the closing command has been correctly processed. However, assuming that the original unsolicited Get message sent in response to the Adjust message (EXEMAN_OPEN) indicated that the open command was correctly processed, the management controller sets a "Continuity" indicator ("Going") to true and then is arranged to send a Set message to the shelf controller 140 that contains an EXEMAN_WRITE object. The Object information element within the Adjust message will include a block of data that will be written to the previously opened file. The EXEMAN_WRITE object identifies the executable administrator and a write command, and the shelf handler 140 will respond to the EXEMAN_WRITE object causing the executable administrator to write the identified data within the EXEMAN_PROGRESS object to the file already opened. The shelf controller 140 will then return an Unsolicited Obtaining message to the management controller including the EXEMAN_PROGRESS object which will identify the condition of the write command. If for some reason the EXEMAN_PROGRESS object indicates that the write command has not been correctly processed, then the "Continuity" indicator is set to false and a message is sent from Set by the management controller 220 to the shelf controller 140, including an EXEMAN_CLOSE object, in order to cause the executable administrator to close the file. Then, the shelf controller 140 will return an Unsolicited Reach message to the management controller 220, including the EXEMAN_PROGRESS object, to confirm whether the closing command has been completed successfully. However, assuming that the write command has been correctly processed, then it is determined if there are more blocks of data to be sent to the shelf controller to write to the open file, and if so, 140 additional messages are sent to the shelf controller. of Adjust, which includes the EXEMAN_WRITE object that specifies the data blocks to be written. When there are no additional data blocks to be sent, then the management controller 220 is ready to send an Adjust message, which includes the EXEMAN_CLOSE object, which will cause the executable administrator to close the identified file. The shelf controller 140 will then return an Unsolicited Retrieval message to the management controller 220, including the EXEMAN_PROGRESS object, to confirm whether the closing command has been correctly processed. Accordingly, it can be seen in Figure 8, that a software download procedure can be performed using only the small series of previously defined messages. Certainly, for downloading software, only the Adjust message and the unsolicited Obtain message are required. Although the software download has been discussed as an example of a complex procedure which can be performed using the simple interface mechanism described above, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that there are many other administration functions which are also They can handle in this way. For example, different line testing procedures can also be performed using the series of simple messages previously discussed. Although a particular embodiment has been described herein, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited thereto and that many modifications and additions can be made thereto within the scope of the invention. For example, various combinations of the features of the following dependent claims could be made with the features of the independent claims, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (13)

NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION CLAIMS

1. - An administration system for a telecommunication system, the telecommunication system having a plurality of objects that represent elements of the telecommunication system and / or operations that can be applied to those elements, at least one of the plurality of objects that represent a element of the telecommunication system and an operation to be applied to that element, the administration system comprises: a management controller connected, when the administration operations are required, to a piece of telecommunication equipment of the telecommunication system to pass messages on a communication link between the management controller and an administration element of the telecommunication system to invoke administration operations; a series of basic messages which can be generated by the management controller or by the management element to pass over the communication link to invoke corresponding basic management operations, each basic message being arranged to include one or more referred information elements when the message is processed, at least one first message in the series that is arranged to include an information element that identifies one of said objects; the administration element being arranged, at the time of receiving said first message, to cause the corresponding basic administration operation to be invoked, unless the object specified in that message represents an element of the telecommunication system and an operation to be applied to that element, in which case, the administration element causes an administration operation to be invoked which is dependent on the operation represented by this object, where the first message can be used to invoke different administration operations dependent on the object identified in the first message

2. The administration system according to claim 1, further characterized in that the first message is arranged to include two information elements, a first information element that identifies a particular object of said plurality of objects, and the second element of information. information identifying object data for replacing the corresponding object data in the particular object, and the corresponding basic administration operation causes the object data in the second information element to be written to the particular object.

3. The administration system according to any preceding claim, further characterized in that a second message in the series is arranged to include an information element that identifies one of said plurality of objects, receiving the second message that causes the identified object recover and exit as an information element within a third message in the series.

4. The administration system according to claim 2 or 3, further characterized in that a fourth message in the series is issued to recognize the reception of a message passed on the communication link.

5. The administration system according to claim 4, further characterized in that the fourth message is issued if the message to be recognized by the fourth message could not be correctly processed, the fourth message including as an information element, an indication of the processing problem.

6. The administration system according to any preceding claim, further characterized in that the management controller is connected to a first piece of telecommunications equipment of the telecommunication system, and the management element of the telecommunication system is located in a second piece of telecommunication equipment, and the messages are routed to and from the administration element through a means of connection of the telecommunication system connecting the first and second pieces of telecommunication equipment.

7. The administration system according to claim 6, further characterized in that the connection means is an inverse path used to transfer telecommunication signals between the first and second pieces of telecommunication equipment, a management slot being provided in the reverse path to facilitate the transfer of the messages between the telecommunication element. administration and the first piece of telecommunication equipment.

8. A telecommunication system, comprising: a storage to maintain a plurality of objects representing elements of the telecommunication system and / or operations that can be applied to those elements, at least one of the plurality of objects representing an element of the telecommunication system and an operation to apply to that element; a management element to communicate over a communication link with a management controller to allow invocation of administration operations; a connected management controller, when the management operations are invoked, to a piece of telecommunications equipment of the telecommunication element to pass messages on the communication link between the management controller and the administration element of the telecommunication system to invoke the administration operations; a series of basic messages which can be generated by the management controller or the management element to pass over the telecommunications link to invoke corresponding basic element operations, each basic message being arranged to include one or more information elements referred to when the message is processed, at least a first message in the series being arranged to include an information element that identifies one of said objects; the administration element being arranged, upon receipt of said first message, to cause the corresponding basic administration operation to be invoked unless the object specified in that message represents an element of the telecommunication system and an operation to apply to that element, in which case, the administration element causes an administration operation to be invoked which is dependent on the operation represented by that object, wherein the first message can be used to invoke different administration operations dependent on the object identified in the first message

9. The telecommunication system according to claim 8, further characterized in that the administration element is a shelf controller provided within a piece of telecommunication equipment for managing the operation of a shelf of telecommunication components.

10. The telecommunication system according to claim 8 or 9, further characterized in that wireless links are used to route the telecommunication signals between at least some of the pieces of telecommunication equipment of the telecommunication system.

11. A method for administering a telecommunication system, the telecommunication system having a plurality of objects representing elements of the telecommunication system and / or operations that can be applied to those elements, at least one of the plurality of objects representing a element of the telecommunication system and an operation to apply to that element, the method comprises the steps of: connecting an administration controller to a piece of telecommunication equipment of the telecommunication system; selecting a message from a series of basic messages, which can be generated by the management controller or a telecommunication system management element to pass over a communications link to invoke corresponding basic management operations, each basic message in the series of messages being arranged to include one or more information elements referred to when the message is processed, at least one first message in the series being arranged to include an information element that identifies one of said objects; passing the selected message over the communication link between the management controller and the management element of the telecommunication system to invoke an administration operation; and invoking the administration operation, wherein, upon receiving said first message by the management element, the invoking step involves causing the corresponding basic management operation to be invoked unless the object specified in that message represents a system element. of telecommunication and an operation to apply to that element, in which case, the invoking step involves causing a management operation to be invoked which is dependent on the operation represented by that object, wherein the first message may be used to invoke different management operations dependent on the object identified in the first message

12. The method according to claim 1, further characterized in that the first message of said series of messages is arranged to include two information elements, a first information element that identifies a particular object of said plurality of objects, and the second information element that identifies object data to replace corresponding object data in the particular object and the corresponding basic administration operation causes the object data in the second information element to be written to the particular object.

13. An operable computer program for configuring a management system for performing a method according to claim 11 or 12. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a management system and method for a telecommunication system, the telecommunication system having a plurality of objects that represent elements of the telecommunication system and / or operations that can be applied to those elements; the administration system comprises an administration controller that is connected to a piece of telecommunication equipment of the telecommunication system to pass messages on a communication link between the management controller and a management element of the telecommunication system to invoke management operations; In addition, the administration system comprises means for defining a number of messages, which can be generated by the administration controller or the administration element to pass over the communication link, each message being arranged to include one or more information elements.; at least one of the messages is arranged to identify one of said objects as an information element and cause different management operations dependent on the identified object to be invoked; with this method, a separate message is not required for each administration operation and instead, particular management operations can be invoked by virtue of the specified object within a particular message; this allows to provide a simple generic interface between the administration system and the telecommunication system that is independent of the particular management functions that need to be performed in any particular telecommunication system; consequently, this allows the administration system to be easily reused with different telecommunication systems, without the requirement of altering the message interface between the administration system and the telecommunication system. HL / MC / osu * aom * eos * yac * cgm * avc * sff * ald * pbg * P00 / 1045F