Method and system of remote diagnostic, control and information collection using a shared resource

• US 7,392,307 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2001
• Issued: 06/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Motoyama, Tetsuro, Fong, Avery
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar; Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): ISMAIL, SHAWKI SAIF
• Application Number:
  US09/782,187
• Publication Number:
  US 20030014515A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,687 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-224, 709/230, 709202-203, 709217-219, 708/170, 708/214, 717/108, 717/127, 719/315
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A system, method and program product for diagnosing, controlling and collecting information from devices. Information regarding events of a target application executing in an application unit is collected and formatted into one of multiple data formats for transmission through one of multiple communication protocols using at least one shared system resource. The formatted data is transmitted through, e.g., e-mail or FTP to a predetermined destination or may be saved to local storage, e.g., a local disk. By sharing resources, code duplication is reduced or eliminated.

Claims

1. A system for collecting information regarding execution of a target software application residing in a device unit, the system comprising:

a monitoring software device having a plurality of monitoring components including an event logger, the monitoring device residing in the device unit;

a target application software interface configured to receive event data of the target software application and a plurality of instructions regarding monitoring of the target software application from the target software application for processing by the monitoring device, the target application interface residing in the device unit; and

a system resource residing in the device unit and having at least one system resource component shared among the plurality of monitoring components using at least one abstract class,

wherein the device unit is one of an image printing device and an appliance; and

the monitoring software device is configured to process the instructions sent from the target software application, wherein the instructions include instructions for sending previously stored event data of the target software application to a remote site, instructions for setting a data format and a communication protocol by which the previously stored event data is to be sent to the remote site, and instructions for storing the event data of the target software application in a local disk.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one system resource component includes at least one of a system clock, persistent system information storage, electronic mail transfer code, and file transfer code.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of monitoring components accesses the system resource using a system resource interface.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the target application includes one of a software program being executed on a computer or workstation under control of a user, a software program driving a control panel of a business device, a software program driving a control panel of an appliance, software generating data regarding state changes within a device, and software generating data regarding state changes within an appliance.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the information regarding execution of a target application includes at least one of a user identification, an application identification, a cumulative session number, a value of a starting time, a value of a duration, and an indication of a sequence of events with a corresponding elapsed time for each one of the events.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one system resource component includes a persistent system registry used for storing at least one of an application identification, a value indicating a cumulative usage, an indication of a local directory, a user identification, an indication of a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server, an indication of at least one recipient of data to be transmitted, an indication of a value of from data for data to be transmitted, an indication of a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, an indication of an FTP user, an indication of an FTP password, and an indication of an FTP target path.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring device having a plurality of monitoring components includes an event logger and wherein the at least one system resource component includes a system clock, wherein the event logger accesses the system clock at least for recording a time of starting a monitoring session.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring device having a plurality of monitoring components includes a transmitting device configured to transmit, to a predetermined recipient, formatted data corresponding to the information regarding execution of the target application.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the monitoring device having a plurality of monitoring components includes a formatting device configured to process the information regarding execution of the target application into the formatted data to be transmitted by the transmitting device.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the formatting device includes a data format processor configured to format the information regarding execution of the target application according to a requested data format.

11. The system according to claim 8, wherein the transmitting device includes a protocol processor configured to transmit the formatted data through a requested communication protocol.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the at least one system resource component includes electronic mail transfer code and file transfer code, and wherein the protocol processor is configured to access at least one of the electronic mail transfer code and the file transfer code for transmitting the formatted data through the requested communication protocol.

13. A computer-implemented method for collecting information from a target software application residing in a device unit, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining, from the target software application through a software interface, by a monitoring software device residing in the device unit and having a plurality of monitoring components, event data of the target software application and a plurality of instructions regarding monitoring of the target software application, wherein the plurality of monitoring components includes an event logger; and

processing, by the monitoring software device, the instructions sent from the target software application, wherein the instructions include instructions for sending previously stored event data of the target software application to a remote site, instructions for setting a data format and a communication protocol by which the previously stored event data is to be sent to the remote site, and instructions for storing the event data of the target software application in a local disk, wherein the processing step includes the steps of accessing a shared system resource and executing a plurality of instructions included in the system resource,

wherein the device unit is one of an image printing device and an appliance.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the system resource includes at least one of a system clock, persistent system information storage, electronic mail transfer code, and file transfer code.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein each one of the plurality of monitoring components accesses the system resource using a system resource interface.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein the target application includes one of a software program being executed on a computer or workstation under control of a user, a software program driving a control panel of a business device, a software program driving a control panel of an appliance, software generating data regarding state changes within a device, and software generating data regarding state changes within an appliance.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein the information regarding execution of a target application includes at least one of a user identification, an application identification, a cumulative session number, a value of a starting time, a value of a duration, and an indication of a sequence of events with a corresponding elapsed time for each one of the events.

18. The method according to claim 13, wherein the system resource includes a persistent system registry used for storing at least one of an application identification, a value indicating a cumulative usage, an indication of a local directory, a user identification, an indication of a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server, an indication of at least one recipient of data to be transmitted, an indication of a value of from data for data to be transmitted, an indication of a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, an indication of an FTP user, an indication of an FTP password, and an indication of an FTP target path.

19. The method according to claim 13, wherein the system resource includes a system clock, and wherein the event logger accesses the system clock at least for recording a time of starting a monitoring session.

20. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting, to a predetermined recipient, formatted data corresponding to the information regarding execution of the target application.

21. The method according to claim 20, further comprising:

processing the information regarding execution of the target application into the formatted data to be transmitted by a transmitting device.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the step of processing the information includes formatting the information regarding execution of the target application according to a requested data format.

23. The method according to claim 20, wherein the step of transmitting includes transmitting, through a protocol processor, the formatted data through a requested communication protocol.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the system resource includes electronic mail transfer code and file transfer code, and wherein the protocol processor is configured to access at least one of the electronic mail transfer code and the file transfer code for transmitting the formatted data through the requested communication protocol.

25. A program product for collecting information from a target software application residing in a device unit, the program product comprising a computer readable medium embodying program instructions for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

obtaining, from the target software application through a software interface, by a monitoring software device residing in the device unit and having a plurality of monitoring components, event data of the target software application and a plurality of instructions regarding monitoring of the target software application, wherein the plurality of monitoring components includes an event logger; and

processing, by the monitoring software device, instructions sent from the target software application, wherein the instructions include instructions for sending previously stored event data of the target software application to a remote site, instructions for setting a data format and a communication protocol by which the previously stored event data is to be sent to the remote site, and instructions for storing the event data of the target software application in a local disk, wherein the processing step includes the steps of accessing a shared system resource and executing a plurality of instructions included in the system resource,

wherein the device unit is one of an image printing device and an appliance.

26. The program product according to claim 25, wherein the system resource includes at least one of a system clock, persistent system information storage, electronic mail transfer code, and file transfer code.

27. The program product according to claim 25, wherein at least one of the plurality of monitoring components accesses the system resource using a system resource interface.

28. The program product according to claim 25, wherein the target application includes one of a software program being executed on a computer or workstation under control of a user, a software program driving a control panel of a business device, a software program driving a control panel of an appliance, software generating data regarding state changes within a device, and software generating data regarding state changes within an appliance.

29. The program product according to claim 25, wherein the information regarding execution of a target application includes at least one of a user identification, an application identification, a cumulative session number, a value of a starting time, a value of a duration, and an indication of a sequence of events with a corresponding elapsed time for each one of the events.

30. The program product according to claim 25, wherein the system resource includes a persistent system registry used for storing at least one of an application identification, a value indicating a cumulative usage, an indication of a local directory, a user identification, an indication of a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server, an indication of at least one recipient of data to be transmitted, an indication of a value of from data for data to be transmitted, an indication of a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, an indication of an FTP user, an indication of an FTP password, and an indication of an FTP target path.

31. The program product according to claim 25, wherein the system resource includes a system clock, and wherein the event logger accesses the system clock at least for recording a time of starting a monitoring session.

32. The program product according to claim 25, wherein the program instructions cause the system to further perform the step of transmitting, to a predetermined recipient, formatted data corresponding to the information regarding execution of the target application.

33. The program product according to claim 32, wherein the program instructions cause the system to further perform the step of processing the information regarding execution of the target application into the formatted data to be transmitted by a transmitting device.

34. The program product according to claim 33, wherein the step of processing the information includes formatting the information regarding execution of the target application according to a requested data format.

35. The program product according to claim 32, wherein the step of transmitting includes transmitting, through a protocol processor, the formatted data through a requested communication protocol.

36. The program product according to claim 35, wherein the system resource includes electronic mail transfer code and file transfer code, and wherein the protocol processor is configured to access at least one of the electronic mail transfer code and the file transfer code for transmitting the formatted data through the requested communication protocol.