Methods and systems for managing a network

• US 20050149949A1
• Filed: 01/07/2004
• Published: 07/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Fanuc Automation North America Incorporated
• Original Assignee: GE Fanuc Automation North America Incorporated
• Inventors: Pusala, Ramesh, Tipton, Daniel Eugene, Gangaraju, Anantha Lakshmi
• Granted Patent: US 7,721,300 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/321
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

A system and method for managing a plurality of devices is provided. The system includes a user interface for controlling a plurality of devices configured as a network. The plurality of devices have corresponding device drivers to configure each of the plurality of devices to allow queuing operations to be performed in connection with the plurality of devices. The user interface is configured to communicate with the plurality of devices to identify and control jobs in a queue relating to each of the devices. The system also includes a monitoring system for monitoring the plurality of devices. The monitoring system is configured to provide notification to the user interface when a predetermined queue limit for at least one of the plurality of devices is exceeded.

Claims

1. A management system for managing a plurality of devices, said system comprising:

a user interface for controlling a plurality of devices configured as a network, the plurality of devices having corresponding device drivers to configure each of the plurality of devices to allow queuing operations to be performed in connection with the plurality of devices, said user interface configured to communicate with the plurality of devices to identify and control jobs in a queue relating to each of the devices; and

a monitoring system for monitoring the plurality of devices, said monitoring system configured to provide notification to said user interface when a predetermined queue limit for at least one of the plurality of devices is exceeded.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein the predetermined limit comprises at least one user defined value representing a job limit for a device.

3. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein the queue limit comprises a print queue limit.

4. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said user interface is configured to redirect jobs from one device to another device.

5. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said user interface is configured to search for jobs within the plurality of devices based upon user defined search criteria.

6. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said user interface is configured to control the operation of each of the plurality of devices, including at least one of pausing, resetting, resuming, canceling, resending and redirecting operations.

7. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said user interface is configured to assign a priority to jobs transmitted to the plurality of devices.

8. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said user interface is configured to limit access to control operations for controlling the plurality of devices based upon user login information.

9. A system in accordance with claim 1 further comprising a device interface for interfacing with the plurality of devices to allow communication between the user interface and the plurality of devices, the device interfaces corresponding to device drivers to configure the plurality of devices.

10. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said user interface is configured for web-based operation.

11. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein the queuing operations are performed using a virtual queue.

12. A broadcast manager for controlling a plurality of devices within a network, said broadcast manager comprising:

a user login component to allow access to a plurality of devices within a network, the plurality of devices having corresponding device drivers to configure each of the plurality of devices to allow queuing operations to be performed in connection with the plurality of devices;

a device configuring component to configure each of the plurality of devices, said device configuring component having queue limit fields for setting job queue limits for each of the plurality of devices;

a search component to search for jobs within each of the plurality of devices;

a job control component to control the operation of each of the plurality of devices; and

a notification component to provide notification when a queue limit is exceeded.

13. A broadcast manager in accordance with claim 12 further comprising a virtual queue for performing queuing operations.

14. A broadcast manager in accordance with claim 12 further comprising a priority component to set the priority for jobs to control the operation of the plurality of devices.

15. A broadcast manager in accordance with claim 14 further comprising a grouping component to group some of the plurality of devices to which commands are broadcast.

16. A broadcast manager in accordance with claim 12 further comprising a broadcast component to broadcast at least one of data and commands to at least one of the plurality of devices.

17. A broadcast manager in accordance with claim 12 wherein the queue limits each comprise a plurality of values representing job limits for each of the plurality of devices.

18. A broadcast manager in accordance with claim 12 further comprising a privileges component to limit access based upon user login information provided to said user login component.

19. A method for managing a plurality of devices within a network, said method comprising:

interfacing with a plurality of devices using corresponding device drivers to configure each of the plurality of devices to allow queuing operations to be performed in connection with the plurality of devices;

accessing each of the plurality of devices to determine whether a job queue limit is exceeded; and

providing notification when a job queue limit is exceeded.

20. A method in accordance with claim 19 further comprising modifying the job queue limits for at least one of the plurality of devices based upon a user input.

21. A method in accordance with claim 19 further comprising determining user access to the plurality of devices based upon user login information.

22. A method in accordance with claim 19 further comprising broadcasting commands to the plurality of devices to control operation of at least one of the plurality of devices.

23. A method in accordance with claim 22 wherein said broadcasting commands comprise transmitting the commands to the plurality of devices based upon user defined priority levels.

24. A method in accordance with claim 19 wherein the job queue limit comprises a plurality of values representing job limits for each of the plurality of devices.

25. A method in accordance with claim 19 further comprising redirecting jobs from one device to another device based upon user inputs.

26. A method in accordance with claim 19 further comprising assigning jobs to each of the plurality of devices based on the job queue limits.

27. A method in accordance with claim 19 further comprising communicating with the plurality of devices via an interface.

28. A method in accordance with claim 19 further comprising defining a plurality of search criteria to search for jobs within the job queues.

29. A method in accordance with claim 28 further comprising searching for jobs in the job queues based upon the search criteria.