Tracking or storing of equipment configuration data using immutable ledger functionality of blockchains

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11399031-B2
Application number	US-202016774989-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2020
Priority date	Feb 5, 2019
Publication date	Jul 26, 2022
Grant date	Jul 26, 2022

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing tracking or storing of equipment configuration data using immutable ledger functionality of blockchains. In various embodiments, in response to receiving a first request for first configuration data that is output by first equipment, a computing system might determine whether a communicatively coupled data repository contains the first configuration data. If so, the computing system might retrieve and send (to the requesting device) the first configuration data. If not, the computing system might send, to a blockchain system, a second request for identifying a blockchain containing a block containing the first configuration data. In response to such a blockchain being identified, the computing system might receive the identified blockchain; might abstract the block containing the first configuration data from the identified blockchain; might abstract the first configuration data from the block; and might send the first configuration data to the requesting device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, with a computing system and from a requesting device, a first request for first configuration data that is output by first equipment, the first configuration data being used to configure operation of the first equipment;
determining, with the computing system, whether a data repository that is communicatively coupled to the computing system contains the first configuration data that is responsive to the received first request;
based on a determination that the data repository contains the first configuration data that is responsive to the received first request, retrieving, with the computing system, the first configuration data that is responsive to the received first request, and sending, with the computing system, the retrieved first configuration data to the requesting device;
based on a determination that the data repository does not contain the first configuration data that is responsive to the received first request, sending, with the computing system and to a blockchain system, a second request for identifying a blockchain containing a block containing the first configuration data responsive to the received first request; and
in response to the blockchain system identifying a blockchain containing a block containing the first configuration data responsive to the received first request, performing the following:
receiving, with the computing system, a copy of the identified blockchain from the blockchain system;
abstracting, with the computing system and from the identified blockchain, the block containing the first configuration data responsive to the received first request;
abstracting, with the computing system and from the identified block, the first configuration data responsive to the received first request; and
sending, with the computing system, the first configuration data to the requesting device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing system comprises one of a data dissemination system, a named data system, a data collection system, a real-time processing system, an artificial intelligence (“AI”) system, a server computer, a cloud-based computing system over a network, or a distributed computing system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requesting device comprises one of a network node, a service provider device, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a television set, a smart television, a media player, a gaming console, a set-top box (“STB”), a digital video recording (“DVR”) device, a smart phone, a mobile phone, or a personal digital assistant.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first equipment is a physical device, wherein the first equipment comprises one of a compute node, an optical network device, a router, a server, an Internet of Things (“IoT”) sensor, an IoT actuator, or a customer interaction data collection system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first equipment is a virtual device, wherein the first equipment comprises one of a virtual compute node, a virtual network device, a virtual router, a virtual server, or a virtual customer interaction data collection system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first configuration data comprises second configuration data comprising at least one of basic input/output system (“BIOS”) configuration data, storage configuration data, specialty card configuration data, security configuration data, operating system (“OS”) configuration data, device driver configuration data, firmware configuration data, programming language translation configuration data, system utility configuration data, network configuration data, router configuration data, host configuration data, software configuration data, power configuration data, extensible firmware interface (“EFI”) configuration data, or EFI system partition (“ESP”) configuration data.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first configuration data further comprises third configuration data comprising at least one of information regarding who created the second configuration data, information regarding who updated the second configuration data, information regarding who changed the second configuration data, information regarding who has accessed the second configuration data, information regarding requesting devices, information regarding when the second configuration data was created, information regarding when the second configuration data was updated, information regarding when the second configuration data was changed, information regarding when the second configuration data was accessed, or geospatial data of requesting devices.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first configuration data further comprises a unique identifier (“UID”) associated with one of the first equipment or the first configuration data.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, with the first equipment, fourth configuration data to at least one of the data repository or the blockchain system.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein sending the fourth configuration data to the at least one of the data repository or the blockchain system comprises sending, with the first equipment, the fourth configuration data to the at least one of the data repository or the blockchain system either periodically or in response to at least one of the fourth configuration data being created, the fourth configuration data being updated, the fourth configuration data being changed, the first equipment being configured with the fourth configuration data, configuration of the first equipment being modified using the fourth configuration data, or configuration of the first equipment being changed using the fourth configuration data.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein sending the fourth configuration data to the at least one of the data repository or the blockchain system comprises sending, with the first equipment, the fourth configuration data to the at least one of the data repository or the blockchain system as beacon data.

12. A system, comprising:
a computing system, comprising:
at least one first processor; and
a first non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one first processor, the first non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a first set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one first processor, causes the computing system to:
receive, from a requesting device, a first request for first configuration data that is output by first equipment, the first configuration data being used to configure operation of the first equipment;
determine whether a data repository that is communicatively coupled to the computing system contains the first configuration data that is responsive to the received first request;
based on a determination that the data repository contains the first configuration data that is responsive to the received first request, retrieve the first configuration data that is responsive to the received first request, and send the retrieved first configuration data to the requesting device;
based on a determination that the data repository does not contain the first configuration data that is responsive to the received first request, send, to a blockchain system, a second request for identifying a blockchain containing a block containing the first configuration data responsive to the received first request; and
in response to the blockchain system identifying a blockchain containing a block containing the first configuration data responsive to the received first request, perform the following:
receiving a copy of the identified blockchain from the blockchain system;
abstra

Assignees

• Centurylink Ip Llc

Inventors

• Mcbride Kevin M
• Rudd Hunter
• Sutherland James E
• Casey Steven M

Classifications

• H04L41/147

  for predicting network behaviour · CPC title

• H04L41/149

  for prediction of maintenance · CPC title

• H04L41/0895

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• H04L63/12 Primary

  Applying verification of the received information (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32) · CPC title