Method and system for using abstract classes to extract status information from networked devices

• US 20060059255A1
• Filed: 08/27/2004
• Published: 03/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Motoyama, Tetsuro, Fong, Avery
• Granted Patent: US 7,574,503 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/022 Multivendor or multi-standard integration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0226 Mapping or translating multiple network management protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for extracting, for a selected communication protocol, status information related to a monitored device communicatively coupled to a network,including accessing the monitored device using the selected communication protocol to obtain at least vendor information related to the monitored device; obtaining, from a first memory, information identifying an access function for extracting the status information from an accessible data file on the monitored device; generating a string based on the obtained vendor information and the obtained access function information; retrieving, from a second memory in correspondence to the generated string, (1) information of a data processing object associated with the access fluction, and (2) an information map that includes at least a type of status information to be extracted from the monitored device and a weight associated with the status information; and accessing the monitored device using the access function, the information map, and the selected communication protocol to obtain the status information.

Claims

1. A method of extracting, for a selected communication protocol, status information related to a monitored device communicatively coupled to a network, comprising:

accessing the monitored device using the selected communication protocol to obtain at least vendor information related to the monitored device;

obtaining, from a first memory, information identifying an access function for extracting the status information from an accessible data file on the monitored device;

generating a string based on the obtained vendor information and the obtained access function information;

retrieving, from a second memory in correspondence to the generated string, (1) information of a data processing object associated with the access function, and (2) an information map that includes at least a type of status information to be extracted from the monitored device and a weight associated with the status information; and

accessing the monitored device using the access function, the information map, and the selected communication protocol to obtain the status information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the monitored device to obtain model information related to the monitored device,

wherein the generating step comprises generating the string using the vendor and the model information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

repeating the accessing, obtaining, generating, retrieving, and accessing steps for each communication protocol in a plurality of communication protocols used to extract the status information from the monitored device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the communication protocol among SNMP, HTTP, and FTP.

5. A system for extracting, for a selected communication protocol, status information related to a monitored device communicatively coupled to a network, comprising:

means for accessing the monitored device using the selected communication protocol to obtain at least vendor information related to the monitored device;

means for obtaining, from a first memory, information identifying an access function for extracting the status information from an accessible data file on the monitored device;

means for generating a string based on the obtained vendor information and the obtained access function information;

means for retrieving, from a second memory in correspondence to the generated string, (1) information of a data processing object associated with the access fluction, and (2) an information map that includes at least a type of status information to be extracted from the monitored device and a weight associated with the status information; and

means for accessing the monitored device using the access function, the information map, and the selected communication protocol to obtain the status information.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

means for accessing the monitored device to obtain model information related to the monitored device,

wherein the means for generating comprises means for generating the string using the vendor and the model information.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

means for selecting the communication protocol among SNMP, HTTP, and FTP.

8. A computer program product having a computer readable medium for extracting, for a selected communication protocol, status information related to a monitored device communicatively coupled to a network, comprising:

instructions for accessing the monitored device using the selected communication protocol to obtain at least vendor information related to the monitored device;

instructions for obtaining, from a first memory, information identifying an access function for extracting the status information from an accessible data file on the monitored device;

instructions for generating a string based on the obtained vendor information and the obtained access function information;

instructions for retrieving, from a second memory in correspondence to the generated string, (1) information of a data processing object associated with the access function, and (2) an information map that includes at least a type of status information to be extracted from the monitored device and a weight associated with the status information; and

instructions for accessing the monitored device using the access function, the information map, and the selected communication protocol to obtain the status information.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

instructions for accessing the monitored device to obtain model information related to the monitored device,

wherein the instructions for generating comprise instructions for generating the string using the vendor and the model information.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

instructions for repeating the instructions for accessing, instructions for obtaining, instructions for generating, instructions for retrieving, and instructions for accessing, for each communication protocol in a plurality of communication protocols used to extract the status information from the monitored device.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

instructions for selecting the communication protocol among SNMP, HTTP, and FTP.