Method and system for device status tracking

• US 6,658,586 B1
• Filed: 05/09/2000
• Issued: 12/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ASAP Software Express, Inc. (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ASAP Software Express, Inc. (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Levi, Andrew E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman, Scott
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bonzo, Bryce P.
• Application Number:
  US09/567,852
• Time in Patent Office: 1,302 Days
• Field of Search: 714/4, 714/43, 714/57, 709/224
• US Class Current: 714/4.3
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/04 operating on the propulsion system, e.g. engine or drive motor
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/102 a signal being sent to a remote location, e.g. a radio signal being transmitted to a police station, a security company or the owner
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/33 of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3013 where the computing system is an embedded system, i.e. a combination of hardware and software dedicated to perform a certain function in mobile devices, printers, automotive or aircraft systems testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3093 Configuration details thereof, e.g. installation, enabling, spatial arrangement of the probes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 involving long-term monitoring or reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1418 Removal detected by failure in electrical connection between the appliance and a control centre, home control panel or a power supply
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/026 using e-messaging for transporting management information, e.g. email, instant messaging or chat
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning

Abstract

A user contracts for service with an operations center (12) in order to provide monitoring and tracking services for a plurality of devices (30). After contracting for service, the operations center provides an agent (81) for download by a user to one or more of the user'"'"'s devices (14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 630) for which the user has contracted for service. The agent is installed on the devices associated with the user'"'"'s sites and communicates with the operations center. An exception sentinel (748) monitors the status of selected monitored devices from a monitor server associated with the user'"'"'s site. A listening process (710) at the operations center listens for periodically sent beacon packets (640) generated by a monitored device (630). Using location indicators included with the beacon packets and generated by an agent (681) on the monitored device, the operations center provides notifications (712) to a handler regarding the location of the monitored device if the monitored device is reported as stolen. A tracking response (714) may be communicated to the monitored device to take special actions when the device is stolen and to update the agent and other portions of the monitored device.

Claims

1. A method for device monitoring comprising:

installing a device status exception sentinel on a monitor server;

configuring the exception sentinel to monitor the status of at least one monitored device distinct from the monitor server;

generating a virtual device identifier associated with respective monitored devices;

receiving, at the exception sentinel, status data associated with the monitored device;

comparing the status data to reference data to obtain comparison results;

processing the status data at the exception sentinel based on configuration data in accordance with the comparison results;

communicating sentinel data to an operations center, the sentinel data being based on the status data; and

alerting, from the operations center, an alert contact in response to the sentinel data received at the operations center.

2. The method for device monitoring according to claim 1, wherein installing the exception sentinel comprises receiving the exception sentinel via electronic mail.

3. The method for device monitoring according to claim 1, wherein installing the exception sentinel comprises receiving the exception sentinel via download from the operations center.

4. The method for device monitoring according to claim 1, wherein installing the exception sentinel comprises receiving the exception sentinel via physical storage media.

5. The method for device monitoring according to claim 1, wherein installing the exception sentinel comprises receiving the exception sentinel via a network connection.

6. The method for device monitoring according to claim 1, wherein configuring the exception sentinel comprises determining which monitored devices to report to the operations center.

7. The method for device monitoring according to claim 6 further comprising:

selecting, at the exception sentinel, a selected monitored device to examine;

determining, at the exception sentinel, the status of the selected device; and

determining whether to communicate the status of the selected device based on the configuration information.

8. The method for device monitoring according to claim 7, wherein determining the status of the selected device comprises contacting the selected device.

9. The method for device monitoring according to claim 8, wherein contacting the selected device comprises pinging the selected device.

10. The method for device monitoring according to claim 8, wherein the configuration data comprises a configuration file configured by an administrator.

11. The method for device monitoring according to claim 7, wherein selecting the monitored device comprises contacting the monitored device based on a predetermined time interval.

12. The method for device monitoring according to claim 1, wherein alerting the alert contact comprises:

selecting the alert contact from a plurality of alert contacts based on the sentinel data received at the operations center;

generating a message based on the sentinel data received at the operations center; and

communicating the message to the alert contact.

13. The method for device monitoring according to claim 12, wherein communicating the message comprises transmitting the message to the alert contact using electronic mail.

14. The method for device monitoring according to claim 12, wherein communicating the message comprises transmitting the message to the alert contact using a page associated with a pager.

15. The method for device monitoring according to claim 12, wherein communicating the message comprises transmitting the message to the alert contact using a facsimile transmission.

16. A method for device monitoring comprising:

installing a device status exception sentinel on a monitor server;

configuring the exception sentinel to monitor the status of at least one monitored device distinct from the monitor server;

generating a virtual device identifier associated with respective monitored devices;

receiving, at the exception sentinel, status data associated with the monitored device;

processing the status data at the exception sentinel based on configuration data;

communicating sentinel data to an operations center, the sentinel data being based on the status data;

alerting, from the operations center, an alert contact in response to the sentinel data received at the operations center;

determining whether the monitored device associated with the sentinel data has an associated license based on the virtual device identifier associated with the monitored device.

17. The method for device monitoring according to claim 16, determining whether the sentinel data is from a monitored device having an associated license comprises comparing the virtual device identifier associated with the monitored device to a list of device identifiers having associated valid licenses.

18. An apparatus for device monitoring comprising:

a processor;

a computer readable memory coupled to the processor;

an application stored in the memory and wherein the processor, when executing the application, is operable to;

install a device status exception sentinel on a monitor server;

configure the exception sentinel to monitor the status of at least one monitored device distinct from the monitor server;

generate a virtual device identifier associated with respective monitored devices;

request, at the exception sentinel, status data associated with the monitored device;

compare the status data to reference data to obtain a comparison result;

process the status data at the exception sentinel based on configuration data in accordance with the comparison result;

communicate sentinel data to an operations center, the sentinel data being based on the status data; and

alert, from the operations center, an alert contact in response to the sentinel data received at the operations center.

19. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 18, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to receive the exception sentinel via electronic mail.

20. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 18, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to receive the exception sentinel via download from the operations center.

21. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 18, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to receive the exception sentinel via a physical storage media.

22. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 18, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to receive the exception sentinel via a network.

23. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 18, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to determine which monitored devices to report to the operations center.

24. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 23 wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to:

select, at the exception sentinel, a selected monitored device to examine;

determine, at the exception sentinel, the status of the selected device; and

determine whether to communicate the status of the selected device based on the configuration information.

25. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 24, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to contact the selected device.

26. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 24, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to ping the selected device.

27. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 25, wherein the configuration data comprises a configuration file configured by an administrator.

28. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 24, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to select the monitored device based on a predetermined time interval.

29. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 18, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to:

select the alert contact from a plurality of alert contacts based on the sentinel data received at the operations center;

generate a message based on the sentinel data received at the operations center; and

communicate the message to the alert contact.

30. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 29, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to transmit the message to the alert contact using electronic mail.

31. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 29, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to transmit the message to the alert contact using a page associated with a pager.

32. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 29, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to transmit the message to the alert contact using a facsimile.

33. An apparatus for device monitoring comprising:

a processor;

a computer readable memory coupled to the processor;

an application stored in the memory and wherein the processor, when executing the application, is operable to;

install a device status exception sentinel on a monitor server;

configure the exception sentinel to monitor the status of at least one monitored device distinct from the monitor server;

generate a virtual device identifier associated with respective monitored devices;

request, at the exception sentinel, status data associated with the monitored device;

process the status data at the exception sentinel based on configuration data;

communicate sentinel data to an operations center, the sentinel data being based on the status data; and

alert, from the operations center, an alert contact in response to the sentinel data received at the operations center;

wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to determine whether the monitored device associated with the sentinel data has an associated license based on the virtual device identifier associated with the monitored device.

34. The apparatus for device monitoring according to claim 33, wherein the processor, when executing the application, is further operable to compare the virtual device identifier associated with the monitored device to a list of device identifiers having associated valid licenses.