ERROR REPORT MANAGEMENT

• US 20120221901A1
• Filed: 02/28/2011
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: TANAKA, Shun
• Granted Patent: US 8,938,650 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0733 in a data processing system embedded in an image processing device, e.g. printer, facsimile, scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0775 Content or structure details of the error report, e.g. specific table structure, specific error fields
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0609 based on severity or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0613 based on the type or category of the network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0618 based on the physical or logical position

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems and methods are provided for managing error reporting in an information technology environment in which a plurality of information technology devices are connected to a network.

Claims

1. An apparatus for managing error reporting for network devices, said apparatus comprising:

a monitoring part that monitors for alert notifications from one or more network devices; and

a processing part that processes the alert notifications to filter the alert notifications based on specified criteria, and generate and output an error report that indicates only specific ones of the alert notifications that meet the specified criteria and does not indicate any alert notification that does not meet the specified criteria.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the specified criteria includes one or more of (a) a current location of the corresponding network device, (b) a user associated with the corresponding network device, and (c) a device type of the corresponding network device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the specified criteria include one or more keywords, and the processing part includes at least one alert notification that includes said one or more keywords in the error report.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing part associates each of the alert notifications with a priority level, based on device location information indicating a current location of the corresponding network device;

and

the processing part processes the alert notifications based on the associated priority levels to filter the alert notifications based on the specified criteria, and generates the error report indicating only specific ones of the alert notifications matching the specified criteria, the specified criteria being a specific or higher priority level.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the apparatus stores location-priority information identifying a plurality of office locations and, for each of the office locations, a corresponding priority level, and

in a case that the processing part determines, based on the device location information indicating a current location of a first network device, that the first network device is located at a first office location indentified in the location-priority information,

then the processing part associates the alert notification with a first priority level corresponding to the first office location, as identified in the location-priority information.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing part associates each of the alert notifications with a priority level, based on user identification information indicating a user associated with the corresponding network device;

and

the processing part processes the alert notifications based on the associated priority levels to filter the alert notifications based on the specified criteria, and generates the error report indicating only specific ones of the alert notifications matching the specified criteria, the specified criteria being a specific or higher priority level.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the apparatus stores user-priority information indentifying a plurality of users and, for each of the users, a corresponding priority level, and

in a case that the processing part determines, based on the user identification information indicating a user associated with a first network device, that a first user identified in the user-priority information is the user associated with the first network device,

then the processing part associates the alert notification with a first priority level corresponding to the first user, as identified in the user-priority information.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing part associates each of the alert notifications with a priority level, and

the apparatus selectively transmits each of the alert notifications to one of a plurality of notification destinations, based on the associated priority level of the alert notification.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus stores destination information identifying a plurality of priority levels and, for each of the priority levels, a corresponding notification destination, and

the apparatus selectively transmits each alert notification to the notification destination corresponding to the associated priority level of the alert notification.

10. A method for an error reporting management apparatus to manage error reporting, in a network to which a plurality of network devices are connected, said method comprising:

monitoring for alert notifications from one or more network devices; and

processing the alert notifications to filter the alert notifications based on the specified criteria, and generating and outputting an error report that indicates only specific ones of the alert notifications that meet the specified criteria and does not indicate any alert notification that does not meet the specified criteria.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the specified criteria includes one or more of (a) a current location of the corresponding network device, (b) a user associated with the corresponding network device, and (c) a device type of the corresponding network device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the specified criteria include one or more keywords, and the generated error report indicates only specific ones of the alert notifications having said one or more keywords.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

associating each of the alert notifications with a priority level, based on device location information indicating a current location of the corresponding network device; and

processing the alert notifications based on the associated priority levels to filter the alert notifications based on the specified criteria, and generating the error report indicating only specific ones of the alert notifications matching the specified criteria, the specified criteria being a specific or higher priority level.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing location-priority information identifying a plurality of office locations and, for each of the office locations, a corresponding priority level;

determining, based on device location information indicating a current location of a first network device, that the first network device is located at a first office location indentified in the location-priority information;

associating the alert notification with a first priority level corresponding to the first office location, as identified in the location-priority information; and

processing the alert notifications based on the associated priority levels to filter the alert notifications based on the specified criteria, and generating the error report indicating only specific ones of the alert notifications matching the specified criteria, the specified criteria being a specific or higher priority level.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

associating each of the alert notifications with a priority level, based on user identification information indicating a user associated with the corresponding network device; and

processing the alert notifications based on the associated priority levels to filter the alert notifications based on the specified criteria, and generating the error report indicating only specific ones of the alert notifications matching the specified criteria, the specified criteria being a specific or higher priority level.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing user-priority information indentifying a plurality of users and, for each of the users, a corresponding priority level;

determining, based on user identification information indicating a user associated with a first network device, that a first user identified in the user-priority information is the user associated with the first network device;

associating the alert notification with a first priority level corresponding to the first user, as identified in the user-priority information; and

processing the alert notifications based on the associated priority levels to filter the alert notifications based on the specified criteria, and generating the error report indicating only specific ones of the alert notifications matching the specified criteria, the specified criteria being a specific or higher priority level.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

associating each of the alert notifications with a priority level; and

selectively transmitting each of the alert notifications to one of a plurality of notification destinations, based on the associated priority level of the alert notification.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

associating each of the alert notifications with a priority level;

storing destination information identifying a plurality of priority levels and, for each of the priority levels, a corresponding notification destination; and

selectively transmitting each alert notification to the notification destination corresponding to the associated priority level of the alert notification, as indicated in the destination information.

19. A system for managing error reporting in a network to which a plurality of network devices are connected, said system comprising:

the plurality of network devices; and

an error reporting management apparatus, said error reporting management apparatus comprising;

a monitoring part configured to monitor for alert notifications from one or more network devices; and

a processing part configured to process the alert notifications to filter the alert notifications based on specified criteria, and generate and output an error report that indicates only specific ones of the alert notifications that meet the specified criteria and does not indicate any alert notification that does not meet the specified criteria.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the specified criteria is includes one or more of (a) a current location of the corresponding network device, (b) a user associated with the corresponding network device, and (c) a device type of the corresponding network device.