Automatic translation between CMIP PDUs and custom data structures

Abstract

A method for translating attribute data carried in Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) Protocol Data Units (PDUs) to/from custom designed data structures. A supplementary method for incorporating user's preferences on the data structures and the relationships between different fields in these data structures and the corresponding attribute values is also provided. The translation method automatically performs conversions between the user-designed data structures and various CMIP requests/responses automatically, and, in accordance with user's preferences. The method allows users to simplify and/or compact the storage representation of the Managed Objects by taking advantage of application specific knowledge, and by eliminating unnecessary fields from CHOICE data types in the target data structures. Benefits of the methods presented in this disclosure include automatic translation of CMIP PDUs to/from user-designed data structures, ability to store Managed Object data in space-efficient manner, and automatic generation of data structures for use in communicating with devices using proprietary data representation.

Claims

I claim:

1. A method for use in a computer to translate data between CMIP PDUs and user-designed data structures, comprising in combination the steps of:

a) providing GDMO definitions to a GDMO compiler to generate GDMO meta data;

b) providing ASN.1 definitions to an ASN.1 compiler to generate ASN.1meta data;

c) loading said GDMO meta data and said ASN.1 meta data into said computer's memory;

d) analyzing said GDMO meta data and said ASN.1 meta data in said computer's memory to generate default configuration specifications for Managed Object classes and attributes present in said GDMO meta data and all ASN.1 data types referenced by said attributes in a first configuration file, wherein said step of generating default configuration specifications further comprises the steps of:

i) creating an MOClassTable in said computer's memory for storing configuration specifications of the Managed Object classes present in said GDMO meta data;

ii) creating a GlobalAttributeTable in said computer's memory for storing the configuration specifications of the attributes belonging to said Managed Object classes;

iii) creating an ASN1TypeTable in said computer's memory for storing the configuration specifications of the ASN.1 types referenced by said attributes;

iv) processing the meta data of each Managed Object class present in said GDMO meta data and populating said MOClassTable, said GlobalAttributeTable and said ASN1TypeTable with Managed Object Class, Attribute and ASN.1 Type configurations, respectively; and

v) writing said configuration information from said tables into said first configuration file.

e) allowing the user to modify said configuration file to incorporate his/her preferences on the data structures to be used for representing instances of said Managed Object classes by modifying said generated configuration specifications for said Managed Object classes, attributes belonging to said Managed Object classes and ASN.1 types referenced by said attributes:

f) analyzing said modified configuration specifications for said Managed Object classes, said attributes and said ASN.1 types to generate translation tables, and data structures based on user's preferences as recorded in said modified configuration specifications for storing instance data of said Managed Object classes; and

g) performing translations between CMIP PDUs and said user-designed data structures according to said translation tables.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of processing the meta data of a Managed Object class comprises recursively applying for each unconfigured super class of said Managed Object class and for said Managed Object class, the steps of:

a) creating an entry for said Managed Object class in the MOClassTable;

b) generating a structure-name for said Managed Object class by adding a prefix to the name of said Managed Object class, and storing it in said MOClassTable entry;

c) generating a unique integer (localForm) for said Managed Object class, and storing it in said MOClassTable entry; and

d) creating a ClassAttributeTable for this Managed Object class, and storing a pointer to it in said MOClassTable entry.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of creating a ClassAttributeTable comprises the steps of:

a) creating a list of all attributes present in all packages of said Managed Object class; and

b) for each attribute in said attribute-list, adding entries into said Managed Object class's ClassAttributeTable and GlobalAttributeTable if they do not already exist.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of creating an entry in the GlobalAttributeTable comprises the steps of:

a) adding a new entry for said attribute in the GlobalAttributeTable;

b) generating a unique integer (localForm) for said attribute, and storing it in said GlobalAttributeTable entry;

c) looking up ASN.1 type information for said attribute by traversing a pointer from said attribute's GDMO meta data into a corresponding ASN.1 meta data structure;

d) checking whether configuration information exists for said ASN.1 type in said ASN1TypeTable; and

e) copying configuration information from said ASN.1TypeTable entry into said GlobalAttributeTable entry if an ASN1TypeTable entry exists for said ASN.1 type; otherwise, creating a default configuration for said attribute if said ASN.1 type is not primitive, and adding said default configuration to the GlobalAttributeTable; said default configuration contains ASN.1 to C and C to ASN.1 conversion function names derived from appending ".sub.-- asn2c", and, ".sub.-- c2asn" to said attribute's name.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of creating an entry for said attribute in the ClassAttributeTable of said Managed Object comprises the steps of:

a) setting a localForm identifier of said for said attribute to the localForm identifier value used in said attribute's GlobalAttributeTable entry;

b) setting a field-name in C structure to the name of said attribute; and

c) setting an attribute-label field in said ClassAttributeTable entry to the name of said attribute.

6. A method for use in a computer to translate data between CMIP PDUs and user-designed data structures, comprising in combination the steps of:

a) providing GDMO definitions to a GDMO compiler to generate GDMO meta data;

b) providing ASN.1 definitions to an ASN.1 compiler to generate ASN.1 meta data;

c) loading said GDMO meta data and said ASN.1 meta data into said computer's memory;

d) analyzing said GDMO meta data and said ASN.1 meta data in said computer's memory to generate default configuration specifications for Managed Object classes and attributes present in said GDMO meta data and all ASN.1 data types referenced by said attributes in a first configuration file,

e) allowing the user to modify said configuration file to incorporate his/her preferences on the data structures to be used for representing instances of said Managed Object classes by modifying said generated configuration specifications for said Managed Object classes, attributes belonging to said Managed Object classes and ASN.1 types referenced by said attributes;

f) analyzing said modified configuration specifications for said Managed Object classes, said attributes and said ASN.1 types to generate translation tables, and data structures based on user's preferences as recorded in said modified configuration specifications for storing instance data of said Managed Object classes, wherein said step of analyzing modified configuration specifications and generating translation-tables comprises the steps of:

i) reading each configuration specification from the modified configuration file;

ii) creating an entry in said MOClassTable if said configuration specification is a CLASS specification;

iii) creating an entry in said GlobalAttributeTable if said configuration specification is an ATTRIBUTE specification; and

iv) creating an entry in said ASN.1TypeTable if said configuration specification is a TYPE specification and

g) performing translations between CMIP PDUs and said user-designed data structures according to said translation tables.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of creating an entry in said MOClassTable for said CLASS specification comprises the steps of:

a) creating a new entry in said MOClassTable;

b) retrieving a Managed Object class name in said CLASS specification;

c) retrieving the localForm identifier in said CLASS specification, and storing said localForm identifier in said MOClassTable entry;

d) verifying that said localForm identifier for said Managed Object class is not already used for another Managed Object class's entry;

e) retrieving C Structure Name for said Managed Object class from the DATA-TYPE specification of said CLASS specification, and storing it in said MOClassTable entry;

f) obtaining size of said C structure by using sizeof( ) operator and storing it in said MOClassTable entry;

g) retrieving the attribute-name and field-name pairs from the ATTRIBUTES specification of said CLASS specification;

h) verifying that no entry for this class already exists in said MOClassTable;

i) creating a ClassAttributeTable entry and storing a pointer to said ClassAttributeTable entry in said MOClassTable entry;

j) for each attribute-name, field-name pair read from said ATTRIBUTES specification of said CLASS specification, adding an entry to said ClassAttributeTable entry; and

k) obtaining an offset of said attribute-name in said C structure by using offsetof( ) macro and storing it in said ClassAttributeTable entry.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of creating an entry in said GlobalAttributeTable for said ATTRIBUTE specification comprises the steps of:

a) creating a new entry in said GlobalAttributeTable;

b) retrieving the attribute name in said ATTRIBUTE specification;

c) retrieving the localForm identifier in the ATTRIBUTE specification;

d) verifying that said localForm identifier is not already used for any other entry in said GlobalAttributeTable;

e) storing said localForm identifier in said GlobalAttributeTable entry;

f) retrieving a choice member name specified in CHOICE-PICKED specification, if such specification exists, and storing said choice member name in said GlobalAttributeTable entry;

g) retrieving an array-size specified in ARRAY-SIZE specification, if such specification exists, and storing said array-size in said GlobalAttributeTable entry;

h) retrieving the ASN-to-C conversion function name specified in ASN2C specification, if such specification exists, and storing said ASN-to-C conversion function name in said GlobalAttributeTable entry; and

i) retrieving the C-to-ASN conversion function name specified in C2ASN specification, if such specification exists, and storing said C-to-ASN conversion function name in said GlobalAttributeTable entry.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of creating an entry in said ASN1TypeTable for said TYPE specification comprises the steps of:

a) creating a new entry in said ASN1TypeTable;

b) retrieving an ASN.1 type name in said TYPE specification

c) retrieving a choice member name specified in CHOICE-PICKED specification, if such specification exists, and storing said choice member name in said ASN1TypeTable entry;

d) retrieving the array-size specified in ARRAY-SIZE specification, if such specification exists, and storing said array-size in said ASN1TypeTable entry;

e) retrieving the ASN-to-C conversion function name specified in ASN2C specification, if such specification exists, and storing said ASN-to-C conversion function name in said ASN1TypeTable entry; and

f) retrieving the C-to-ASN conversion function name specified in C2ASN specification, if such specification exists, and storing said C-to-ASN conversion function name in said ASN1TypeTable entry.

10. A method for use in a computer to translate data between CMIP PDUs and user-designed data structures, comprising in combination the steps of:

a) providing GDMO definitions to a GDMO compiler to generate GDMO meta data;

b) providing ASN.1 definitions to an ASN.1 compiler to generate ASN.1 meta data;

c) loading said GDMO meta data and said ASN.1 meta data into said computer'smemory;

d) analyzing said GDMO meta data and said ASN.1 meta data in said computer's memory to generate default configuration specifications for Managed Object classes and attributes present in said GDMO meta data and all ASN.1 data types referenced by said attributes in a first configuration file;

e) allowing the user to modify said configuration file to incorporate his/her preferences on the data structures to be used for representing instances of said Managed Object classes by modifying said generated configuration specifications for said Managed Object classes, attributes belonging to said Managed Object classes and ASN.1 types referenced by said attributes;

f) analyzing said modified configuration specifications for said Managed Object classes, said attributes and said ASN.1 types to generate translation tables, and data structures based on user's preferences as recorded in said modified configuration specifications for storing instance data of said Managed Object classes; and

g) performing translations between CMIP PDUs and said user-designed data structures according to said translation tables, wherein said step of performing translations from a CMIP PDU to said user-designed data structure comprises the steps of:

i) retrieving the Managed Object Class information from CMIP PDU;

ii) locating an entry for said Managed Object class in said MOClassTable using said Managed Object Class Information;

iii) retrieving size of the C data structure from said MOClassTable entry;

iv) creating a C data structure of said size; and

v) for each attribute included in said CMIP PDU, and translating said attribute's information into desired C data type, and storing the C value at appropriate location in said C structure created above.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of translating said attribute information in said CMIP PDU to desired C data type, and storing said C value comprises the steps of:

a) retrieving said attribute's GlobalAttributeTable entry;

b) checking whether ASN-to-C conversion function name exists in said attribute's entry in said GlobalAttributeTable;

c) locating the entry for said attribute in said Managed Object class's ClassAttributeTable;

d) retrieving the offset of said attribute in said Managed Object class's C structure from said ClassAttributeTable entry;

e) if said ASN-to-C conversion function exists, invoking said ASN-to-C conversion function, passing it said attribute-value in said CMIP PDU, and a pointer to a position in said C structure offset by said offset-value;

f) if said ASN-to-C conversion function does not exist, copying the attribute-value in CMIP PDU by copying primitive data values directly to a position that is at said offset bytes distance from the beginning of said C structure;

g) obtaining the index of said attribute's entry in said ClassAttributeTable, and setting a bit in the bit.sub.-- mask field to 1 to indicate that said field in C data structure is initialized with a value from said CMIP PDU. Said bit-position in bit-mask is same as said index value; and

h) if said CMIP PDU is a GetArgument, only attribute-identifiers, but no attribute-values would be present in said CMIP PDU; in this case only the bit.sub.-- mask field in the C structure would be updated, and no attribute-value translation takes place.

12. A method for use in a computer to translate data between CMIP PDUs and user-designed data structures, comprising in combination the steps of:

a) providing GDMO definitions to a GDMO compiler to generate GDMO meta data;

b) providing ASN.1 definitions to an ASN.1 compiler to generate ASN.1 meta data;

c) loading said GDMO meta data and said ASN.1 meta data into said computer's memory;

d) analyzing said GDMO meta data and said ASN.1 meta data in said computer's memory to generate default configuration specifications for Managed Object classes and attributes present in said GDMO meta data and all ASN.1 data types referenced by said attributes in a first configuration file;

e) allowing the user to modify said configuration file to incorporate his/her preferences on the data structures to be used for representing instances of said Managed Object classes by modifying said generated configuration specifications for said Managed Object classes, attributes belonging to said Managed Object classes and ASN.1 types referenced by said attributes;

f) analyzing said modified configuration specifications for said Managed Object classes, said attributes and said ASN.1 types to generate translation tables, and data structures based on user's preferences as recorded in said modified configuration specifications for storing instance data of said Managed Object classes; and

g) performing translations between CMIP PDUs and said user-designed data structures according to said translation tables, wherein said step of performing translations from said user-designed data structure to a CMIP PDU comprises the steps of:

i) retrieving the Managed Object Class information from a user-provided parameter that identifies Managed Object Class associated with said user data structure;

ii) locating the entry for said Managed Object class in said MOClassTable using said Managed Object class Information;

iii) retrieving said Managed Object Class's ClassAttributeTable entry by following ClassAttributeTablePointer in said MOClassTable entry;

iv) creating an instance of said CMIP PDU's type; and

v) retrieving bit-mask information from said user data structure, and for each bit in the bit-mask with a value of one, noting index of said bit, and identifying corresponding attribute by looking up an entry at said index position in said ClassAttributeTable entry, and creating an entry for said attribute in CMIP PDU.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of creating an entry for said attribute value in said CMIP PDU from said user C data structure comprises the steps of:

a) retrieving offset of said attribute in said Managed Object class's C structure from said ClassAttributeTable entry;

b) retrieving said attribute's GlobalAttributeTable entry;

c) retrieving said attribute's AttributeInfo structure from said GlobalAttributeTable entry;

d) creating and adding an attribute-entry consisting of attributeId and attributeValue fields;

e) copying object-identifier of said attribute from said AttributeInfo structure to said attributeId field of said attribute-entry in said CMIP PDU;

f) retrieving said attribute's ASN.1 type information from said AttributeInfo structure;

g) creating an instance of said ASN.1 type;

h) checking whether C-to-ASN conversion function name exists in said attribute's entry in said GlobalAttributeTable;

i) if said C-to-ASN conversion function exists, invoking said C-to-ASN conversion function, passing it a pointer to said attribute's location in said C structure by adding said offset value to a pointer to said C structure;

j) if said C-to-ASN conversion function does not exist, copying primitive attribute-value at said attribute's location in C structure to said attributeValue field in said attribute-entry in said CMIP PDU; and

k) if said CMIP PDU is a GetArgument, only attribute-identifiers, but no attribute-values would be set in said attribute-entry in said CMIP PDU, using said bit-index information in the C structure would be used to set attribute-identifier fields.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention

This invention relates to a technique and translator for translating attribute-data carried in various CMIP PDUs into user-designed data structures. Typically one data structure is used to represent the attribute-data of an instance of a Managed Object class defined using GDMO specifications. The ability to store data in user-designed structures, as opposed to some mechanically generated structures is useful for a variety of purposes (simpler data representation, compact storage, easier integration with other applications, etc.) in implementing Telecommunications Management Network (TMN) applications.

2. Background of the Invention

The GDMO information modeling and the CMIP protocol provide a very powerful and generic framework for implementing OSI systems management. However, the power and generality of this framework has a high cost in terms of the complexity involved in the implementation of Systems Management applications based on the CMIP protocol.

There are at least four methods that may be of some use in implementing CMIP protocol based management applications.

Anezaki describes a method in U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,948 for automatically generating C structures by parsing ASN.1 definitions. This method does not provide any mechanism for the users to customize the C structures, and also does not have any special support for the semantics of CMIP PDUs and GDMO constructs.

Bapat describes a translator in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,256 for translating objects defined using ASN.1 and GDMO constructs into a relational database schema for persistent storage. This method also performs mechanical translations, without allowing users to customize the data representation. This method also does not have any special support for the translation of CMIP PDUs to/from target data representation.

X/Open CAE Specification C502 describes a method for translating objects defined using ASN.1 and GDMO constructs into C data structures; these C structures are mechanically generated, without allowing the user to define the target data structures.

X/Open CAE Specification C306 defines an Application Programming Interface for accessing the CMIP PDU data that is translated according to mechanical mapping schemes described in X/Open CAE Specification C502. This method also does not provide any direct support for users to define the target data structures for representing the Managed Object data and performing automatic translations between CMIP PDUs and the user data structures. With this method, such translations should be performed completely by user-written code.

All of the above approaches retain the complexity of data representation, and leave it to the users to implement the mapping between the attribute data in CMIP PDUs to application-specific data structures. However, because of the need to handle a large number of Managed Object (MO) classes, attributes, ASN.1 types and different types of CMIP PDUs, it becomes a tedious and error-prone process to implement translations for all resulting permutations and combinations. Consequently, there is a need for a simple, reliable method to make these translations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to automate the above process by providing direct translation mechanisms between CMIP data and user-designed data structures, and to allow simplification of the data structures. Simplification of data representation is achieved by several means, including, allowing user to choose any data type to represent an attribute value which can significantly simplify the data representation when it is coupled with application specific knowledge, providing means to remove unnecessary CHOICE members, providing means to remove unnecessary attributes from being represented in the data structure, and, allowing usage of fixed-length arrays to represent variable-length ASN.1 "SET OF" or "SEQUENCE OF" types.

The process also supports representation of Managed Object attribute data in a space-efficient manner or in a form suitable for efficient database access by CMIP a well as non-CMIP applications. Carefully designed user's data structures, as opposed to generic internal representations used in the above mentioned traditional approaches, can result in such efficient representations.

It is another objective to simplify the representation of Managed Object attribute-data by providing a configuration mechanism to remove unused CHOICE member fields in ASN.1 types, unused attributes from data structures.

It is another objective to provide a configuration mechanism that allows the users to specify to the system what data structures are to be used for representing Managed Object data for different Managed Object classes.

It is another objective to generate an initial configuration file based on GDMO and ASN.1 meta data that the user can modify to specify his/her own translation mechanisms and the data structures to be used for representing different ASN.1 types and GDMO attributes.

It is another objective to provide a mechanism to propagate the configuration information provided for some Managed Object classes and ASN.1 types to other Managed Object Classes and attributes that use them.

For the purpose of describing the invention, the user-designed data structures are assumed to be C structures. However, the methods of this invention can be implemented in other general purpose languages, and hence this invention should not be restricted to the C language implementation.

I provide a method for translating CMIP PDUs to/from custom designed data structures, and a second method for specifying the relationship between different fields in the custom data structures and the attribute data carried in the CMIP PDUs. The second method includes mechanisms to generate initial configuration files and for propagating configuration information of some GDMO and ASN.1 constructs to other GDMO constructs that use them, thereby minimizing the configuration effort. The translation tables generated by the second method are used by the first method for performing automatic translations between the attribute data carried in CMIP PDUs and the corresponding fields in user-designed data structures.

The benefits of the system include the ability to translate CMIP data to or from user-designed data structures without writing CMIP Request/Response-specific or Managed Object Class-specific code, simplification of data representation by allowing user to specify the data structures to be used for representing CMIP, GDMO and ASN.1 data, efficient data representation in memory by allowing the user to specify the data structures taking advantage of application specific knowledge, and providing efficient database access to CMIP as well as non-CMIP applications by using customized data structures to represent Managed Object attribute data.

The present preferred embodiment consists of two components: an incremental configuration program that allows users to easily specify the data types to be used for representing Managed Object data, and a translator library module providing translation code for converting data between various CMIP PDUs and the Managed Object Class specific data structures, using the translation tables generated by the configuration program.

Both these components use the meta data generated by ASN.1 and GDMO compilers. Such compilers are well known to those skilled in the art and are described in the DSET ASN.C Programmer's Reference Manual and the DSET GDMO Compiler Reference Manual, respectively.

In the present preferred embodiments I generate an initial configuration file, generate translation tables, translate attribute data from a CMIP Request/Response PDU into a user designated data structure, and translate attribute data from user-designated C structure to a CMIP Request/Response PDU.

According to the present invention, a method for generating an initial configuration file from the ASN.1 and GDMO meta data includes the steps of creating an entry in the Managed Object Class table (MOClassTable) for each Managed Object Class that is of interest to the user, creating a Class Attribute Table for each entry in the MOClassTable (referred to as ClassAttributeTable) which includes entries for attributes belonging to this class (or derived from super classes), creating an entry for each used attribute with a primitive ASN.1 type as its syntax, in the Global Attribute Table (referred to as GlobalAttributeTable), creating an entry in the ASN.1 Type Table (referred to as ASN1TypeTable) for each complex ASN.1 type that is used as syntax for a used attribute, generating unique localForm identifiers for each entry in the MOClassTable (referred to as localFormClassId) and for each entry in the GlobalAttributeTable (referred to as localFormAttributeId), generating default CLASS specification for each class in MOClassTable, generating default ATTRIBUTE specification for each attribute in the GlobalAttributeTable, and generating default TYPE specification for each ASN.1 type in the ASN1TypeTable.

A method for generating translation tables includes the steps of parsing the input configuration file and building the MOClassTable and ClassAttributeTable using the CLASS specifications in the configuration file, building the GlobalAttributeTable using the ATTRIBUTE specifications in the configuration file, and building the ASN1TypeTable using the TYPE specifications in the configuration file, propagating the configuration information for not yet configured Managed Object Classes by copying the configuration information from their super classes, propagating the ASN.1 Type configuration to attributes that have complex syntax, but not yet configured, and generation of translation tables (MOClassTable, ClassAttributeTables, GlobalAttributeTable, and ASN1TypeTable) containing this information in a form convenient for usage by the translator library module.

A method for translating attribute-data from a CMIP Request/Response PDU (GET, GET-RESPONSE, SET, SET-CONFIRMED, SET-RESPONSE, CREATE, CREATE-RESPONSE, EVENT-REPORT) into a user-designed data structure includes the steps of finding the appropriate MOClassTable entry based on ManagedObjectClass field of the Request/Response PDU (eventType information in case of EVENT-REPORT), finding the ClassAttributeTable entry for each attribute referenced in the Request/Response PDU and turning on the corresponding bit in the bit.sub.-- mask field of the data structure, and translating the attribute-value (not applicable for GET request) to user chosen data type for this attribute using the user-specified ASN-to-C conversion function, if any, or by using default translation methods, and, copying the translated attribute-value into the C structure at a position given by the fieldOffset field in the ClassAttributeTable entry.

A method for translating attribute data from user-designed C structure to a CMIP Request/Response PDU (GET, GET-RESPONSE, SET, SET-CONFIRMED, SET-RESPONSE, CREATE, CREATE-RESPONSE, EVENT-REPORT) includes the steps of finding the appropriate MOClassTable entry based on the Managed Object Class information passed to the translation API (eventType information in case of EVENT-REPORT), fetching the ClassAttributeTable entry for each attribute whose bit in the bit.sub.-- mask field of the input C structure is set (the bit-position in the bit.sub.-- mask corresponds to the table-index in the ClassAttributeTable entry), adding an element to the attribute-list of the CMIP Request/Response PDU, and setting the attributeId field, translating the attribute-value (not applicable for GET request) present in the input C structure at an offset given by the fieldOffset field in the ClassAttributeTable using the user-specified C-to-ASN conversion function, if any, or by using the default translation methods, and setting the attribute-value field of the corresponding element in the attribute-list of the CMIP Request/Response PDU.

The invention is best understood by referring to the attached figures and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a present preferred system diagram with all the components, inputs, outputs and the relationships between them.

FIG. 2a is a diagram showing the generation of ASN.1 meta data by the ASN.1 compiler.

FIG. 2b is a diagram showing the generation of GDMO meta data by the GDMO compiler.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration program generating CMIP<-->C translation tables or a new configuration file from the ASN.1 and GDMO meta data, and an optional input configuration file.

FIG. 4 is a diagram representing the structure of the MOClassTable generated by the configuration program.

FIG. 5 is a diagram representing the structure of the GlobalAttributeTable generated by the configuration program.

FIG. 6 is a diagram representing the structure of the ASN1TypeTable generated by the configuration program.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of the overall process of generating CMIP<-->C translation tables or a new configuration file.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the processing of the input configuration file as in step 215 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the creation of an entry in the MOClassTable for an MO class as in step 265 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the creation of an entry in the GlobalAttributeTable for an attribute as in step 275 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the creation of an entry in the ASN1TypeTable for an ASN.1 type as in step 285 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing processing of CHOICE-PICKED configuration specification as in step 380 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing processing of ARRAY-SIZE configuration specification as in step 385 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing processing of ASN2C configuration specification as in step 390 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing processing of C2ASN configuration specification as in step 395 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart showing the process of generating translation table entries or configuration specifications for MO classes as in step 220 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing the process of creating default configuration for an MO class as in step 730 of FIG. 16.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart showing the process of creating ClassAttributeTable for an MO class as in step 790 of FIG. 17.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing the process of adding an entry for an attribute in the ClassAttributeTable as in step 835 of FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing the process of adding an entry for an attribute in the GlobalAttributeTable as in step 860 of FIG. 19.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart showing the process of generating translation table entries or configuration specifications for attributes as in step 225 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing the process of generating translation table entries or configuration specifications for ASN.1 types as in step 230 of FIG. 7.

FIGS. 23a and 23b show the process of translating a CMIP CreateArgument into customized C structures.

FIG. 24 is a flow chart showing the process of translating an attribute value into the corresponding field in the customized C structure as in step 1205 of FIG. 23b.

FIG. 25 is a flow chart showing the process of direct translation of an attribute value to its corresponding field in the customized C structure as in step 1265 of FIG. 24.

FIG. 26 is a flow chart showing the process of translating a primitive typed attribute value to its corresponding field in the customized C structure as in step 1315 of FIG. 25.

FIG. 27 is a flow chart showing the process of determining whether an attribute's value is of a numeric type as in step 1360 of FIG. 26.

FIG. 28 is a flow chart showing the process of determining whether an attribute's value is of a numeric type as in step 1375 of FIG. 26.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

1. Overview

The preferred embodiment of the present invention is implemented in the form of a configuration program and a run-time translator library module as shown in FIG. 1. The configuration program 7 creates an initial configuration file 6, propagates user's configuration to all relevant constructs, and creates translation tables 3 and C data structures according to input configuration information. The run-time translator library module 8 uses the translation tables 3 generated by the configuration program 7 to implement translations between CMIP PDU 1 and the corresponding user-designed C data structure 9. An ASN.1 encoding/decoding module 2 is used to decode/encode CMIP PDUs from/to standard encoding schemes into a format that can be conveniently used by application programs. The set of encoding/decoding routines constituting this module can be of the type described in the DSET ASN.C Programmer's Reference Manual.

FIGS. 2a and 2b show the generation of ASN.1 Type information (also referred to as ASN.1 meta data) and GDMO Template information (also referred to as GDMO meta data) by the ASN.1 and GDMO compilers from ASN.1 and GDMO definitions respectively. The ASN.1 compiler and GDMO compiler parse the ASN.1 and GDMO definitions and generate meta data that represent the information provided in original source files in a format that is convenient for use by other applications that need to access this information (such as the configuration program, translator, ASN.1 encoder/decoder). The usage of ASN.1 and GDMO compilers are described in the DSET ASN.C Programmer's Reference Manual and GDMO Compiler Programmer's Manual, respectively.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration program in isolation. The configuration program 7 receives ASN.1 and GDMO meta data 4 and 5, and, user's configuration specifications (if any) as input, and generates translation tables (ASN1TypeTable, MOClassTable and GlobalAttributeTable) or a new configuration file as output. The configuration program can be used in two modes: in one mode it generates a new configuration file based on the ASN.1 and GDMO meta data and any optional input configuration file; in the second mode, it generates the translation tables for use by the translator module. In the first mode, the configuration program can be used iteratively such that the user needs to provide configuration information for only a few MO classes and ASN.1 types, and propagate the same configuration information to all other MO classes and attributes that depend on them. This facility minimizes the amount of configuration work that the user needs to perform. When the configuration is complete, the user can run the configuration program in the second mode to generate the translation tables for use by the run-time translator library module.

FIGS. 4 through 6 illustrate the information stored in various tables that are used in the configuration and translation processes. Section 3 describes these tables in detail.

FIGS. 7 through 22 are flow charts illustrating the steps involved in the configuration process. These are described in detail in section 5.

FIGS. 23a through 28 are flow charts illustrating the steps involved in translating a CMIP CreateArgument to user-designed C data structure for the corresponding MO Class. Translations to/from other CMIP arguments follow similar steps and hence are not explicitly shown in flow charts. Section 6 describes these flow charts in detail, and identifies differences in translating from/to other CMIP arguments to/from C structures.

Section 2 discusses the relationship between relevant GDMO templates and the configuration specifications used/generated by the configuration program. Section 4 introduces the various CMIP request/response Arguments which are translated to/from user's C structures by the translator module.

2. Configuration Specifications and GDMO Templates

The configuration program uses three types of specifications for allowing the user to customize the structures to be used to represent Managed Object data and the translations to/from these structures. The CLASS configuration specifications, ATTRIBUTE configuration specifications, and the TYPE configuration specifications are used to provide configuration information at Managed Object Class, Attribute, and ASN.1 type levels, respectively.

2.1 Class Level Configuration

The CLASS configuration specifications preferably provide the C structure name, the set of attributes of this class that the user is interested in keeping in the C structure, and an integer value identifier (called localForm identifier) for the class.

A sample template for such a specification is given below.

    ______________________________________
    CLASS <class-label> {
    DATA-TYPE <C-structure-name> ;
    LOCAL-ID <number> ;
    ATTRIBUTES › <attribute-label> ›: field-name-in-C-structure!
    ›, <attribute-label> ›: field-name-in-C-structure! !*! ;
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    ATTRIBUTE <attribute-label> {
    FIELD-TYPE <field-type-in-C-structure>
    ›, ARRAY-SIZE = <number>! ;
    LOCAL-ID <number>
    › CHOICE-PICKED <choice-member> ; !
    › ASN2C <asn.1-to-c-conversion-function-name> ; !
    › C2ASN <C-to-ASN.1-conversion-function-name> ; !
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    TYPE <type-label> {
    FIELD-TYPE <field-type-in-C-structure>
    ›, ARRAY-SIZE = <number>! ;
    › CHOICE-PICKED <choice-member> ; !
    › ASN2C <asn.1-to-c-conversion-function-name> ; !
    › C2ASN <C-to-ASN.1-conversion-function-name> ; !
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    <class-label> MANAGED OBJECT CLASS
    ›DERIVED FROM <class-label> ›,<class-label>!*;
    ›CHARACTERIZED BY <package-label> ›, <package-label>!*;
    ›CONDITIONAL PACKAGES <package-label>
    PRESENT IF condition-definition
    ›, <package-label> PRESENT IF condition-definition!*;
    REGISTERED AS object-identifier;
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    au3CTPBidirectional MANAGED OBJECT CLASS
    DERIVED FROM
    "Rec. M.3100:1992":connectionTerminationPointBidirectional,
    au3CTPSink,
    au3CTPSource;
    REGISTERED AS { g774ObjectClass 1 };
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    CLASS au3CTPBidirectional {
    DATA-TYPE RM.sub.-- Au3CTPBidirectional
    LOCAL-ID 1;
    ATTRIBUTES
            alarmStatus,
            au3CTPld,
            characteristicInformation,
            currentProblemList,
            downstreamConnectivityPointer,
            nameBinding,
            objectClass,
            operationalState,
            pointerSinkType,
            pointerSourceType,
            supportedByObjectList,
            upstreamConnectivityPointer
    }
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    <package-label> PACKAGE
    ›BEHAVIOUR <behaviour-definition-label>
    ›, <behaviour-definition-label>!*;!
    ›ATTRIBUTES<attribute-label> propertyList ›<parameter-label>!*
    ›, <attribute-label> propertyList ›parameter-label>!*!*;!
    ›ATTRIBUTE GROUPS <group-label> ›<attribute-label>!*
    ›, <group-label> ›<attribute-label>!*!*;!
    ›ACTIONS <action-label> ›<parameter-label>!*
    ›, <action-label> ›<parameter-label>!*!*;!
    NOTIFICATIONS <notification-label> ›<parameter-label>!*
    ›, <notification-label> ›<parameter-label>!*!*;!
    ›REGISTERED AS object-identifier!;
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    <attribute-label> ATTRIBUTE
    derived-or-with-syntax-choice;
    ›MATCHES FOR qualifier ›, qualifier!* ;!
    ›BEHAVIOUR <behaviour-definition-label>
    ›, <behaviour-definition-label>!* ;!
    ›PARAMETERS <parameter-label> ›, <parameter-label>!* ;!
    REGISTERED AS object-identifier;
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    alarmStatusM3100 ATTRIBUTE
    WITH ATTRIBUTE SYNTAX ASN1DefinedTypesModule.
    AlarmStatus;
    MATCHES FOR EQUALITY;
    BEHAVIOUR
    alarmStatusBehaviour BEHAVIOUR
    DEFINED AS "The Alarm Status attribute type indicates the
    occurrence of an abnormal condition relating to an object.
    This attribute may also function as a summary indicator of
    alarm conditions associated with a specific resource. It is used
    to indicate the existence of an alarm condition, a pending
    alarm condition such as threshold situations, or (when used as
    a summary indicator) the highest severity of active alarm
    conditions. When used as a summary indicator, the order of
    severity (from highest to lowest) is:
    activeReportable-Critical
    activeReportable-Major
    activeReportable-Minor
    activeReportable-Indeterminate
    activeReportable-Warning
    activePending
    cleared ";;
    REGISTERED AS {m3100Attribute 6};
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    AlarmStatus ::= ENUMERATED {
            cleared(0),
            activeReportable-Indeterminate(1),
            activeReportable-Warning(2),
            activeReportable-Minor(3),
            activeReportable-Major(4),
            activeReportable-Critical(5),
            activePending(6)}
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    ATTRIBUTE alarmStatus {
            LOCAL-ID 6;
            FIELD-TYPE unsigned char;
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    <group-label> ATTRIBUTE GROUP
    ›GROUP ELEMENTS <attribute-label> ›, <attribute-label>!* ;
    ›FIXED ;!
    ›DESCRIPTION delimited-string;!
    REGISTERED AS object-identifier;
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    <notification-label> NOTIFICATION
    ›BEHAVIOUR <behaviour-definition-label>
    ›, <behaviour-definition-label>!*;!
    ›PARAMETERS <parameter-label> ›, <parameter-label>!*;!
    ›WITH INFORMATION SYNTAX type-reference
    ›AND ATTRIBUTE IDS <field-name><attribute-label>
    ›, <field-name><attribute-label>!*!;!
    ›WITH REPLY SYNTAX type-reference;!
    REGISTERED AS object-identifier;
    ______________________________________

    __________________________________________________________________________
    CreateArguement ::= SEQUENCE
    managedObjectClass  ObjectClass,
    instance CHOICE
    {
    managedObjectInstance
                    ObjectInstance,
    superiorObjectInstance
                    (8) ObjectInstance
    } OPTIONAL,
    accessControl (5) AccessControl OPTIONAL,
    referenceObjectInstance
                  (6) ObjectInstance OPTIONAL,
    attributeList (7) IMPLICIT SET OF Attribute OPTIONAL
    }
    CreateResult ::= SEQUENCE
    {
    managedObjectClass
                  ObjectClass OPTIONAL,
    managedObjectInstance
                  ObjectInstance OPTIONAL,
    currentTime
               (5) IMPLICIT GeneralizedTime OPTIONAL,
    attributeList
               (6) IMPLICIT SET OF CMIP-Attribute OPTIONAL
    }
    GetArguement ::= SEQUENCE
    {
    baseManagedObjectClass
                    ObjectClass,
    baseManagedObjectInstance
                    ObjectInstance,
    accessControl
               (5) Access Control OPTIONAL,
    synchronization
               (6) IMPLICIT CMISSync DEFAULT bestEffort,
    scope      (7) Scope DEFAULT baseObject,
    filter     CMISFilter DEFAULT and {},
    attributeIdList
               (12) IMPLICIT SET OF AttributeId OPTIONAL
    }
    GetResult ::= SEQUENCE
    {
    managedObjectClass
                  ObjectClass OPTIONAL,
    managedObjectInstance
                  ObjectInstance OPTIONAL,
    currentTime
               (5) IMPLICIT GeneralizedTime OPTIONAL,
    attributeList
               (6) IMPLICIT SET OF CMIP-Attribute OPTIONAL
    }
    SetArgument ::= SEQUENCE
    {
    baseManagedObjectClass
                    ObjectClass,
    baseManagedObjectInstance
                    ObjectInstance,
    accessControl
               (5) AccessControl OPTIONAL,
    synchronization
               (6) IMPLICIT CMISSync DEFAULT bestEffort,
    scope      (7) Scope DEFAULT baseObject,
    filter     CMISFilter DEFAULT and {},
    modificationList
               (12) IMPLICIT SET OF
    SEQUENCE
    {
            modifyOperator
                    (2) IMPLICIT ModifyOperator DEFAULT
    replace,
            attributeId
                     AttributeId,
            attributeValue
                     ANY DEFINED BY attributeId OPTIONAL
    }
    }
    SetResult ::= SEQUENCE
    {
    managedObjectClass
                  ObjectClass OPTIONAL,
    managedObjectInstance
                  ObjectInstance OPTIONAL,
    currentTime
               (5) IMPLICIT GeneralizedTime OPTIONAL,
    attributeList
               (6) IMPLICIT SET OF
    CMIP-Attribute OPTIONAL
    }
    EventReportArgument ::= SEQUENCE
    {
    managedObjectClass
                  ObjectClass,
    managedObjectInstance
                  ObjectInstance,
    eventTime  (5) IMPLICIT GeneralizedTime OPTIONAL,
    eventType  EventTypeId,
    eventInfo  (8) ANY DEFINED BY eventType OPTIONAL
    }
    __________________________________________________________________________

• Inventors
  Adusumilli, Panduranga Rao;
• Assignee
  DSET Corporation (Bridgewater, NJ)
• Published
  Feb-9-1999
• Current US Classes:
  707/101
  717/100
  717/141
• Application #
  772142
• International Classes
  G06F 017/30
• Field of Search
  1/1 395/500 395/705 707/103 707/1-10 707/100-104 707/200-206 370/249 370/465 364/280.4 364/283.4 364/281.3 364/282.1 364/282.2 364/283.3
• Examiner
  Black; Thomas G.
• Agent
  Buchanan Ingersoll, P.C.
• US Patent References:
  4994998
  5291583
  5295256
  5315709
  5519868
  5608720
  5632035
  5704041