System and method for communicating, monitoring and configuring a device operatively connected to a network
First Claim
1. A method using a computer system for automatically presenting values of variables obtained by a data engine from a selected type of device to a user interface in a human-understandable language, the system including a data dictionary containing information for translating the values of the variables in the native language of the device into the human-understandable language, and a data agent which is connected to the device, the method comprising the steps of:
- requesting by the data engine from the data dictionary, names of all variables associated with the selected type of device;
obtaining by the data agent from the selected type of device, values of the variables;
obtaining, by the data engine, from the data agent, the values obtained by the data agent;
obtaining from the data dictionary the translating information;
translating, by the data engine, the obtained values of the variables into the human-understandable language using the translating information obtained from the data dictionary; and
presenting, by the data engine, to the user interface, the translated values in the human-understandable language.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of monitoring a network is employed for communicating with a device operatively connected to the network. The network employs a data engine for interfacing with a data agent connected to the device. The method comprises detecting the presence of the device through the data agent interfacing the data engine and communicating with a first external repository, the first repository for storing device information about the device. Information corresponding to the device is selected from the information stored at the repository and the selected information is transferred from the first repository to the data engine for use in communicating with the device and to dynamically upgrade the network as devices are operatively linked to the network.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method using a computer system for automatically presenting values of variables obtained by a data engine from a selected type of device to a user interface in a human-understandable language, the system including a data dictionary containing information for translating the values of the variables in the native language of the device into the human-understandable language, and a data agent which is connected to the device, the method comprising the steps of:
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requesting by the data engine from the data dictionary, names of all variables associated with the selected type of device; obtaining by the data agent from the selected type of device, values of the variables; obtaining, by the data engine, from the data agent, the values obtained by the data agent; obtaining from the data dictionary the translating information; translating, by the data engine, the obtained values of the variables into the human-understandable language using the translating information obtained from the data dictionary; and presenting, by the data engine, to the user interface, the translated values in the human-understandable language. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method, using a computer system, for establishing communication with a device, said device having a known network address but having a language and/or protocol for communication with the device that is unknown to the system, said computer system comprising a data engine and a plurality of data agents, each one of the plurality of data agents being associated with a specific language and protocol, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) selecting one of the plurality of data agents based on the network address; (b) communicating with a data dictionary to obtain names of variables associated with a union of the selected network address and the selected data agent; and (c) obtaining values of the variables from the device at the selected network address required for determining a type of the device using the language and protocol of the selected data agent, wherein if the required values are obtained, a type of the device is determined from the values of the variables, and if the required values are not obtained, automatically repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) until the required values are obtained. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer system for communicating with a device connected to the system at a network address by the use of a data agent which communicates with the device using the specific protocol and/or language of the device, said system comprising:
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a data engine; a plurality of data agents operatively connected to the data engine, at least two of the data agents being adapted to utilize a different language and/or protocol for communicating with the device; and a data dictionary connected to the data engine, said data dictionary containing information for translating the values of device variables in the native language of the device into human understandable language and being adapted to automatically provide names of the device variables corresponding to both the network address and to the language and/or protocol of the device, wherein the data engine uses the names of the device variables provided by said data dictionary to automatically obtain values of the device variables from the device, and wherein the data engine automatically translates the values of the device variables into human understandable language using the information obtained from the data dictionary for translating the values. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification