The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 08, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 16, 1997
Jeffrey A Chin, Belmont, CA (US);
Frank S Lee, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Leon Y Leong, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Serene H Fan, San Jose, CA (US);
Bay Networks, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for grouping the network entities that belong to a network system into logical groups, and generating a display of the network based on the logical groups. In the highest level display, a single visual indicator, such as an icon, is used to represent each logical group. Thus, a display of the entire network system need only contain as many visual indicators as there are logical groups. Typically, the number of logical groups will be significantly less than the number of actual network resources. Consequently, entire large network systems may be displayed without crowding the display screen with small, difficult to read icons. The logical groups are formed based on the type of connections that exist between the various logical entities in the network. Site groups are formed by combining all local area network connections that connection common network entities. Region groups are formed by combining all wide area network connections that connect common network entities. Small site groups may be merged into the region groups to further reduce the number of visual indicators required to visually represent the network system.