Apparatus and method for managing state of external apparatus

• US 7,162,492 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2002
• Issued: 01/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Yokoshi, Noriyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): TRUONG, CAM Y T
• Application Number:
  US10/075,642
• Publication Number:
  US 20030046306A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,791 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/100, 707/3, 707/4, 707/2, 707/103, 707/200, 707203-205, 707/103.R, 709/206, 709/204, 709/200, 709/225
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

An apparatus for managing a state of an external apparatus connected thereto includes a database storing the state of the external apparatus, a managed object (MO) managing the state of the external apparatus, and a control interface for the MO performing outer control from the database. The MO is provided in the database and realized by an application, and the interface is provided in the MO.

Claims

1. An apparatus including a processor for managing a state of an external apparatus connected thereto, comprising:

a database;

a plurality of managed objects (MOs);

each managed object (MO) of the plurality of managed object managing the state of the external apparatus, said each MO being provided in said database and realized by an application, said each MO having a table storing information on the state of the external apparatus, a stored procedure defining a method related to the table and a notification of a state change;

a control interface through which a MO of the plurality of managed objects performs outer control of the external apparatus from said database, the interface being provided in said MO;

a protocol conversion part converting the information in a first protocol into a second protocol for transmitting the information between said database and the external apparatus, wherein the control interface establishes an interface between the MO and the protocol conversion part;

the protocol conversion part further receiving a result of outer control from the external apparatus, converting the result into grammar of said database, returning information on the result of the outer control to said MO by the stored produced and if the result shows that the outer control is completed, said database is updated and responses to the application; and

a result notification interface for notifying said database of the result of the outer control performed by said MO with a result being correlated with the outer control, the result notification interface being provided in said MO.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a change notification interface for notifying said MO of a change in the state of the external apparatus, the change notification interface being provided in said MO.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said database and said protocol conversion part comprise a server computer managing the external apparatus.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said MO performs outer control or a notification is transmitted to said MO from outside before said database completes transaction processing requested by a user application connected to the apparatus.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, further comprising an event notification interface for notifying the user application of an event, the event notification interface being provided in said MO.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein an operation statement for operating said MO is provided in a query language for posing a query to said database from the user application.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said MO is operated by using a reference statement of a query language for posing a query to said database front the user application.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said control interface is provided with a function of extending transaction processing in said database.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein control of establishing a session with said database is extended so that operations of a plurality of users are performed as one transaction.

10. A method of managing a state of an external apparatus, comprising:

providing a plurality of managed objects (MOs);

realizing each managed object (MO) of the plurality of MOs by an application, wherein said each MO being provided in a database, and said each MO having a table storing information on the state of the external apparatus, a stored procedure defining a method related to the table and a notification of a state change;

managing the state of the external apparatus by a MO of the MOs;

storing the state of the external apparatus in the database;

performing outer control of the external apparatus by the MO from said database through a control interface, the control interface being provided in the MO;

converting the information in a first protocol into a second protocol for transmitting the information between said database and the external apparatus, wherein the control interface establishes an interface between the MO and a protocol conversion part, said protocol conversion part further receiving a result of outer control from the external apparatus, converting the result into grammar of the database, returning information on the result of the outer control to the MO by the stored produced and if the result shows that the outer control is completed, the database is updated and responses to the application; and

notifying the database of the result of the outer control performed by the MO with a result being correlated with the outer control via a result notification interface being provided in the MO.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the MO is notified of a change in the state of the apparatus provided external to the database via a change notification interface provided in the MO.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein a server computer comprising the database and the protocol conversion part manages the apparatus connected to the server computer.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the MO performs outer control or a notification is transmitted to the MO from outside before the database completes transaction processing requested by a user application connected to the server computer.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the user application is notified of an event via an event notification interface provided in the MO.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein an operation statement for operating the MO is provided in a query language for posing a query to the daxabase from said user application.

16. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the MO is operated by using a reference statement of a query language for posing a query to the database from the user application.

17. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the control interface is provided with a fUnction of extending transaction processing in the database.

18. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein control of establishing a session with the database is extended so that operations of a plurality of users are performed as one transaction.