Method and System to Manage and Discover Network Elements to Optimize Energy Utilization in IP-based Networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025158883-A1
Application number	US-202318509830-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 15, 2023
Priority date	Nov 15, 2023
Publication date	May 15, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Devices, networks, systems, methods, and processes for optimizing the energy consumption of a communication network are described herein. A network optimizer can group multiple network devices in the communication network into one or more energy management groups. The network optimizer may optimize an energy consumption of the one or more energy management groups by generating and transmitting one or more energy optimization configurations. The network optimizer can generate a device replacement list for an energy management group to suggest one or more replacement devices for every replaceable device that is not capable of implementing an energy optimization function. The network optimizer may provide an interactive dashboard and may further facilitate a network operator to modify the energy management groups through the interactive dashboard. The network optimizer can monitor and control the energy consumption of the energy management groups dynamically, thereby resulting into reduction in the energy consumption of the communication network.

First claim

1 . A device, comprising:
a processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the processor; and a network optimization logic, configured to:
discover a plurality of network devices in a network;
determine a plurality of device parameters corresponding to the plurality of network devices;
retrieve device placement data indicative of placements of the plurality of network devices within the network;
group a first set of network devices of the plurality of network devices into a first energy management group dynamically based on the device placement data and a first set of device parameters of the plurality of device parameters corresponding to the first set of network devices;
determine an energy optimization configuration for the first energy management group, wherein the energy optimization configuration is dynamically determined based on one or more changes within the network;
wherein the first set of network devices are configured to transmit a status signal indicative of switching on or switching to an operational mode; and
wherein one or more ports of the first set of network devices stays operational to receive one or more control signals.

2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the network optimization logic is further configured to transmit the energy optimization configuration to the first set of network devices in the first energy management group.

3 . The device of claim 2 , wherein the network optimization logic is further configured to discover the plurality of network devices or transmit the energy optimization configuration to the first set of network devices by utilizing one or more network automation protocols.

4 . The device of claim 3 , wherein the energy optimization configuration is indicative of one or more power down times and one or more wake-up times.

5 . The device of claim 4 , wherein the first set of network devices switch off at the one or more power down times indicated by the energy optimization configuration, and wherein the first set of network devices switch on at the one or more wake-up times indicated by the energy optimization configuration.

6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the network optimization logic is further configured to:
retrieve historical usage data for the first set of network devices; and generate the energy optimization configuration based on the historical usage data.

7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the network optimization logic is further configured to group a second set of network devices of the plurality of network devices into a second energy management group based on the device placement data and a second set of device parameters of the plurality of device parameters corresponding to the second set of network devices.

8 . The device of claim 7 , wherein the network optimization logic is further configured to:
determine an operational configuration of the second set of network devices; and generate a device replacement list for the second energy management group based on the operational configuration of the second set of network devices.

9 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the device replacement list includes one or more replacement devices corresponding to each network device of the second set of network devices.

10 . The device of claim 9 , further comprising a display.

11 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the network optimization logic is further configured to:
generate an interactive dashboard indicative of the energy optimization configuration and the device replacement list; and display the interactive dashboard on the display.

12 . The device of claim 7 , wherein the network optimization logic is further configured to:
determine one or more critical network devices of the plurality of network devices based on the plurality of device parameters and the device placement data; and exclude the one or more critical network devices from the first energy management group or the second energy management group.

13 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of device parameters include one or more of:
device identifiers of the plurality of network devices, software versions of the plurality of network devices, or power-saving capabilities of the plurality of network devices.

14 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of device parameters and the device placement data are stored in corresponding plurality of network devices.

15 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of device parameters and the device placement data are stored in a storage device in the network.

16 . A method, comprising:
discovering a plurality of network devices in a network; determining a plurality of device parameters corresponding to the plurality of network devices; retrieving device placement data indicative of placements of the plurality of network devices in the network; grouping one or more network devices of the plurality of network devices into an energy management group dynamically based on the device placement data and one or more device parameters of the plurality of device parameters corresponding to the one or more network devices; determining an energy optimization configuration for the energy management group, wherein the energy optimization configuration is dynamically determined based on one or more changes within the network; and configuring the plurality of network devices to transmit a status signal indicative of switching to an operational mode, wherein one or more ports of the plurality of network devices stays operational to receive one or more control signals.

17 . A device comprising:
a processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the processor; and a network optimization logic, configured to:
discover a plurality of network devices in a network;
determine a plurality of device parameters corresponding to the plurality of network devices;
retrieve device placement data indicative of placements of the plurality of network devices in the network;
group one more network devices of the plurality of network devices into one or more energy management groups dynamically based on the device placement data and the plurality of device parameters; and
determine one or more energy optimization configurations corresponding to the one or more energy management groups, wherein
one or more ports of the plurality of network devices stays operational to receive one or more control signals; and
the energy optimization configuration is dynamically determined based on one or more changes within the network.

18 . The device of claim 17 , wherein the network optimization logic is further configured to:
transmit the one or more energy optimization configurations to the one or more energy management groups respectively.

19 . The device of claim 17 , wherein the network optimization logic is further configured to:
retrieve historical usage data for an energy management group of the one or more energy management groups; generate a power down schedule for the energy management group based on the historical usage data; and transmit the power down schedule to the energy management group.

20 . The device of claim 17 , wherein the network optimization logic is further configured to:
determine an operational configuration of an energy management group of the one or more energy management groups; and
generate a device replacement list for the energy management group based on the operational configuration of the energy management group.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Rayes Ammar
• Venkatraman Balaji R
• Salam Samer M

Classifications

• H04L41/0833

  for reduction of network energy consumption · CPC title

• H04L41/0893

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title

• H04L41/0894

  Policy-based network configuration management · CPC title

• H04L41/0823 Primary

  characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability (for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02) · CPC title