MANAGING CONFIGURATIONS OF DISTRIBUTED DEVICES

• US 20080154957A1
• Filed: 12/26/2006
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PTC Inc.
• Original Assignee: Questra Corporation (PTC Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, John L., Rochte, Timothy A, Bhageshpur, Kiran
• Granted Patent: US 8,065,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A method manages configurations of devices in a system that communicates information between a device type. The method includes building a defined configuration for a device type. The defined configuration includes a set of value requirements. An actual configuration having values associated with the device is compared to the defined configurations. The actual configuration and defined configuration are stored in a database of the enterprise. The method also includes determining, in the enterprise, if the values of actual configuration match the corresponding value requirements of the defined configurations. The method runs business logic associated with the device based on a result from the step of determining if the values of the actual configuration match the corresponding values of the defined configurations. The matched configurations are stored for subsequent use.

Claims

1. In a system that communicates information between a device and an enterprise, a method for managing configurations of the devices, the method comprising:

building a defined configuration for a device type, the defined configuration including a set of value requirements;

comparing an actual configuration of the device to the defined configuration, the actual configuration and defined configuration being stored in a database of the enterprise, the actual configuration having values associated with the device;

determining, in the enterprise, if the values of actual configuration match the corresponding value requirements of the defined configuration;

running business logic associated with the device based on a result from the step of determining if the values of the actual configuration match the corresponding value requirements of the defined configuration; and

storing the matched configurations for subsequent use.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of collecting information from a device information source to obtain the actual configuration of the device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of establishing at least one dynamic group rule based on the result from determining if the values of the actual configuration match the corresponding value requirements of the defined configuration.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of sending a notification based on the result from the step of determining if the values of the actual configuration match the corresponding value requirements of the defined configuration.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the notification is an alert and the step of sending the notification further comprises sending the alert to a recipient including at least one of a user and a business system.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising a step of determining the recipient of the notification using group associations of a specific device in at least one of an alarm and alert condition.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of building the defined configuration for the device type further includes setting at least one mandatory element in the defined configuration.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the mandatory element includes a mandatory value requirement and the step of determining if the values of actual configuration match the corresponding value requirements of the defined configuration further includes requiring a match of the actual configuration to the mandatory value requirement of the defined configuration.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of determining if the values of actual configuration match the corresponding value requirements of the defined configuration further includes requiring a match if an elective value requirement of the defined configuration is present in the actual configuration.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of automatically associating the device with a group that reflects the result from the step of determining if the values of the actual configuration match the corresponding value requirements of the defined configuration.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining if the values of actual configuration match is repeated for each device in a set of devices.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of sending an up date and the step of running business logic are performed after the step of determining if the values of actual configuration match for all devices in the set of devices.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining if the values of actual configuration match the corresponding values of the defined configuration occurs after receiving the actual configuration from a device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of running business logic includes sending at least one of a software and configuration update to the device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining if the values of actual configuration match the corresponding value requirements of the defined configuration further includes using an expression containing at least one of a Boolean operator and numerical comparison operator to make the comparison between the values.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of building a defined configuration for a device type further includes building complex defined configurations to identify the value requirements.

17. A system for managing configurations of a device associated with a monitor agent, the system comprising:

a server that communicates with the monitor agent, the monitor agent being configured to collect information from the device to obtain an actual configuration of the device;

a database configured to store the actual configuration of the device and a defined configuration of a device type, the device type being associated with a set of devices;

the defined configuration being built for the device type and stored in the database, the defined configuration including a set of value requirements, and the actual configuration having values associated with the device; and

an enterprise configured to compare the actual configuration to the defined configuration and to determine whether the values of the actual configuration match the corresponding value requirements of the defined configuration, the enterprise being configured to store the matching defined configuration and run business logic associated with the device based on a result from the comparison between the values of the actual configuration and the corresponding values of the defined configuration.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the enterprise is configured to collect information from a device information source to obtain the actual configuration of the device.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the enterprise is configured to run the business logic if a change is determined when the actual configuration of the device is compared to the defined configuration.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the business logic includes sending a notification to at least one user including at least one of an alarm and an alert.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the alert is sent when the value requirements of the defined configuration do not match the actual configuration.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the enterprise is configured to automatically associate the device with a group that reflects the result from the comparison between the values of the actual configuration and the corresponding value requirements of the defined configuration.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the enterprise is configured to repeat the comparison between the values in the defined configuration and values of actual configuration for other devices in the set of devices.

24. The system of claim 17, further comprising at least one mandatory value requirement in the defined configuration, the actual configuration being matched to the mandatory value requirement.

25. The system of claim 17, further comprising an elective value requirement in the defined configuration, a match being required if the elective value requirement is present in the actual configuration.