A/V equipment control over a network

• US 20060277297A1
• Filed: 04/14/2006
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Grass Valley USA Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Snell Limited (Belden Inc.)
• Inventors: Kellagher, Sandy, Riches, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 8,407,328 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

Audio visual or other equipment modules in a common enclosure are controlled through an SNMP control agent by interrogating module locations for the presence of an equipment module; determining an equipment type; determining a list of available control objects associated with that equipment type; associating values identified by equipment type and by control parameter with the control objects of equipment modules to be controlled; and communicating said values across a network.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring or controlling a plurality of equipment modules employing a common network agent, said network agent controlling one or more addressable module locations, the method comprising:

interrogating the addressable module locations for the presence of an equipment module;

for each equipment module identified, determining an equipment type;

for each equipment type identified, determining a list of available control objects associated with that equipment type;

associating values with the control objects of equipment modules to be controlled; and

communicating said values across a network, wherein the values are identified by equipment type and by control parameter.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein interrogating module locations is performed periodically.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said list of available control objects has a specified order, and wherein values are identified by position in the list of control objects.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising compiling a database of said values, said database structured according to equipment type and control object.

5. A method according to claim 4, further comprising receiving an SNMP command;

parsing said command to determine an equipment type and a control object; and

returning or updating the value in said database corresponding to that equipment type and control object.

6. A method for automatically creating or updating a MIB for an agent controlling a plurality of equipment modules, the method comprising:

determining an equipment type and location for each module to be controlled by said agent;

determining the available control objects associated with each equipment type identified; and

creating a data array for storing values for each control object for each equipment module to be controlled by said agent, each location of the array addressable by equipment type and location and by control object number.

7. A method for monitoring or controlling a plurality of equipment modules, the method comprising receiving information from at least one of said equipment modules;

associating a dot separated string of integers with a data object related to said equipment module by making use of said information received from said equipment module, wherein said received information includes the location of said equipment module; and

utilizing said associated dot separated string of integers in a step in or preparatory to monitoring or controlling said equipment module.

8. A computer program product comprising code constructed and adapted to operate as an SNMP agent which communicates the values of data objects describing or controlling the operation or status of an equipment module to or from an SNMP manager and which uses module location and module type information obtained from said equipment module to interpret SNMP messages from said SNMP manager.

9. A computer program product according to claim 8, in which said information is obtained from said module when the operation of the agent is initiated.

10. A computer program product according to claim 8, in which said information is obtained from said module at regular intervals.