Alert processing

• US 6,980,102 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2003
• Issued: 12/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Benner, Bradley A., Dyer, Daniel J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pope, Daryl C
• Application Number:
  US10/455,690
• Publication Number:
  US 20040246120A1
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• Field of Search: 340/506, 340/511, 340/539.1, 340/3.1, 340/825.36, 340/825.49, 700/17
• US Class Current: 340/506
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32122 in a separate device, e.g. in a memory or on a display separate from image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0094 Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3204 of data relating to a user, sender, addressee, machine or electronic recording medium H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 Transmission

Abstract

A system for processing alerts receives alerts from managed elements on different specific transport mechanisms. An interpreter converts alerts in different specific formats to a system format. A notifier notifies a user about the alert in a user identified manner. The system is modular in that functions may be added as components which are available to multiple modules. Managed elements may be queried to determine new types of alerts, and the state of an element. Further, multiple events may be correlated to determine the state of an element.

Claims

1. A method of processing alerts, the method comprising:

receiving an alert;

translating the alert to a system format;

if a meaning of the alert is unknown, correlating a plurality of known alerts to determine the meaning of the unknown alert; and

notifying a user about the alert in a user identified manner.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the alert is received from a managed element, and further comprising querying the managed element.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the managed element is queried to determine the alerts supported.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the managed element is queried to determine its state.

5. The method of claim 1 and further comprising interpreting the alert.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the user identified manner is email or pager.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the user identified manner comprises a format.

8. A method of processing alerts, the method comprising:

receiving an alert from a managed device representative of an event;

translating the alert into a common internal alert format;

inspecting the alert to recognize the event and to determine if rules associated with the translated alert requires event correlation;

if the event is not recognized, considering the alert as well as previously received alerts to determine a meaning of the event; and

if a pattern of alerts matches a known correlated event, generating a new consolidated event that is associated to the event.

9. The method of claim 8 and further comprising passing the new consolidated event to a policy manager.

10. The method of claim 9 and further comprising:

inspecting the alert to determine if rules are associated with the translated alert;

if an action is selected for the alert, passing alert and action information to an action interface for invocation of a component to perform the action; and

if a user has subscribed for notification of events, determining a preferred notification method and format and invoking notification format and delivery interfaces.

11. A computer readable medium having instructions for causing a computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving an alert from a managed device representative of an event;

translating the alert into a common internal alert format;

inspecting the alert to recognize the event and to determine if rules associated with the translated alert requires event correlation;

if the event is not recognized, correlating the alert with previously received alerts to determine a meaning of the event; and

if a pattern of alerts matches a known correlated event, generating a new event that is associated to the alert.