System and Unified Setting Interface For Configuring Network Manageable Devices

• US 20100106811A1
• Filed: 12/30/2009
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Gtecko Limited
• Inventors: Glazer, Joshua, Liansky, Leonid, Leib, Evgeny
• Granted Patent: US 8,849,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0226 Mapping or translating multiple network management protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information

Abstract

A unified setting interface that enables a management application to configure network manageable devices, regardless of their type or manufacturer. Configuration of a network manageable device requires that certain information be provided to the network manageable device. For different types of devices from different manufacturers, this information and its format can vary. A management application using the unified setting interface does not require the individual interfaces for configuring network manageable devices from different manufacturers.

Claims

1. A system enabling the configuration of at least one network manageable device, the system comprising:

a unified setting interface that interfaces with at least one management application to generate a device request; and

a request generator that generates a submission request to the at least one network manageable device based on a translated device request received from the unified setting interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the unified setting interface allows the at least one management application to modify configurable parameters of the at least one network manageable device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein, for each of the configurable parameters, the unified setting interface provides a unique name regardless of the type of the network manageable device.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the unified setting interface comprises a set of commands through which the at least one management application sets the configurable parameters.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a database comprising a plurality of entries is associated with the at least one network manageable device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein each of the entries comprises a plurality of sub-entries, each of the sub-entries comprises at least one of a regular expression, a manageable device script, an authorization parameter, an identification parameter and an address of a configurable parameter.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the manageable device script is used for generating the submission request.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the submission request is in a format compliant with the at least one network manageable device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the submission request is at least an HTTP request.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a device interface that communicates with the at least one network manageable device using at least one of a Telnet connection, hypertext transfer protocol, simple network management protocol and universal plug and play protocol.

11. A system enabling the configuration of at least one network manageable device, the system comprising:

interface means for interfacing with at least one management application to generate a device request; and

request means for generating a submission request to the at least one network manageable device based on a translated device request received from the unified setting interface.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the interface means allows the at least one management application to modify configurable parameters of the at least one network manageable device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein, for each of the configurable parameters, the interface means generates a unique name regardless of the type of the network manageable device.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the interface means comprises a set of commands through which the at least one management application sets the configurable parameters.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising a database comprising a plurality of entries is associated with the at least one network manageable device.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein each of the entries comprises a plurality of sub-entries, each of the sub-entries comprises at least one of a regular expression, a manageable device script, an authorization parameter, an identification parameter and an address of a configurable parameter.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the manageable device script is used for generating the submission request.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the submission request is in a format compliant with the at least one network manageable device.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the submission request is at least an HTTP request.

20. The system of claim 11, further comprising a communication means that communicate with the at least one network manageable device using at least one of a Telnet connection, hypertext transfer protocol, simple network management protocol and universal plug and play protocol.