Method and system for using internal data structures for storing information related to remotely monitored devices

• US 20040128315A1
• Filed: 12/26/2002
• Published: 07/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Motoyama, Tetsuro, Fong, Avery
• Granted Patent: US 7,289,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

In a communication system having one or more monitored devices communicatively coupled to a monitoring system, a method of obtaining status information of a monitored device is described. The method includes a) accessing a database having information related to a monitored device; b) retrieving the information from the database; c) populating a map structure with the retrieved information; and d) obtaining the status information from one or more web pages associated with the monitored device using information from the map structure. The method further includes iterating the step of retrieving information from the database in order to obtain the status information until the database has no further information that would be used for extracting status information from the one or more web pages of the monitored device.

Claims

1. In a communication system having one or more monitored devices communicatively coupled to a monitoring system, a method of obtaining status information of a monitored device comprising:

a) accessing a database having information related to a monitored device;

b) retrieving the information from the database;

c) populating a map structure with the retrieved information; and

d) obtaining the status information from one or more web pages associated with the monitored device using information from the map structure.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

iterating the step of retrieving information from the database in order to obtain the status information until the database has no further information that would be used for extracting status information from the one or more web pages of the monitored device.

3. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

providing the map structure with information about one or more web pages of the monitored device; and

using information from the map structure to obtain status information of the monitored device.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein step a) further comprises:

identifying vendor and vendor model identifier information of the monitored device.

5. The method as in claim 4, further comprising:

determining one or more web pages associated with vendor and vendor model information of the monitored device.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein the step b) of retrieving information from the database further comprises:

providing an interface to a table in the database having vendor and vendor model identifier information that is used to determine the status of the monitored device; and

determining the one or more web pages associated with the vendor and vendor model information of the monitored device.

7. The method as in claim 6, further comprising:

providing an interface to the table with vendor and vendor model identifier information that is used to determine the status information of the monitored device from the one or more web pages associated with the monitored device.

8. In a communications system having one or more monitored devices communicatively coupled to a monitoring system, a method of reorganizing information retrieved from a database for use in obtaining status information of a monitored device comprising:

accessing the database and retrieving information used for obtaining status information of a monitored device; and

populating a data structure with information retrieved from the database, the information from the data structure being used to obtain status information from one or more web pages associated with the monitored device.

9. The method as in claim 8, further comprising:

storing information used for obtaining the status information of the monitored device in first and second tables of the database.

10. The method as in claim 8, wherein:

the step of populating the data structure is performed by initiating a calling sequence to obtain information from the first and second tables of the database.

11. The method as in claim 9, further comprising:

iterating the calling sequence until no further information is retrieved from the first and second tables for use in obtaining the status information of the monitored device.

12. A method of obtaining information from a database for use in retrieving status information from one or more web pages associated with a monitored device, the method comprising:

a) obtaining an identifier corresponding to the one or more web pages of the monitored device;

b) filtering information stored in a database using the identifier as a filter;

c) storing the filtered information in one or more tables of the database; and

d) using the filtered information stored in the one or more tables to obtain status information of the monitored device.

13. The method as in claim 12, wherein step a) further comprises:

obtaining web page information associated with a specific vendor and model of the monitored device and corresponding vendor model identifiers from said database; and

placing the obtained web page information and vendor model identifiers into a data structure vector.

14. The method as in claim 12, wherein step b) further comprises:

filtering information placed in the data structure vector in order to retrieve information within a range of vendor model identifiers specified by the filter,

15. In a communication system having one or more monitored devices communicatively coupled to a monitoring system, a system for obtaining status information of a monitored device comprising:

means for accessing a database having information related to a monitored device;

means for retrieving the information from the database;

means for populating a map structure with the retrieved information; and

means for obtaining the status information from one or more web pages associated with the monitored device using information from the map structure.

16. The system as in claim 15, further comprising:

means for iterating retrieving information from the database in order to obtain the status information until the database has no further information for use in extracting status information from the one or more web pages of the monitored device.

17. The system as in claim 15, wherein:

the map structure provides information about one or more web pages of the monitored device from which status information is sought.

18. The system as in claim 15, wherein:

means for accessing the database further includes a means for identifying vendor and vendor model identifier information of the monitored device.

19. The system as in claim 18, further comprising:

means for determining one or more web pages associated with vendor and vendor model information of the monitored device.

20. The system as in claim 15, wherein means for retrieving information from the database further comprises:

an interface to a table in the database having vendor and vendor model identifier information that is used to determine the status of the monitored device; and

means for determining the one or more web pages associated with the vendor and vendor model information of the monitored device.

21. The system as in claim 20, further comprising:

an interface to the table with vendor and vendor model identifier information that is used to determine the status information of the monitored device from the one or more web pages associated with the monitored device.

22. In a communications system having one or more monitored devices communicatively coupled to a monitoring system, a system for reorganizing information retrieved from a database for use in obtaining status information of a monitored device comprising:

means for accessing the database and retrieving information used for obtaining status information of a monitored device; and

means for populating a data structure with information retrieved from the database, the information from the data structure being used to obtain status information from one or more web pages associated with the monitored device.

23. The system as in claim 22, further comprising:

means for storing information used for obtaining the status information of the monitored device in first and second tables of the database.

24. The system as in claim 22, wherein:

means for populating the internal data structure initiates a calling sequence to obtain information from the first and second tables of the database.

25. The system as in claim 24, further comprising:

means for iterating the calling sequence until no further information is retrieved from the first and second tables for use in obtaining the status information of the monitored device.