Method for efficiently storing information used to extract status information from a device coupled to a network in a multi-protocol remote monitoring system

• US 7,447,766 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2003
• Issued: 11/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Motoyama, Tetsuro, Fong, Avery
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Higa; Brendan Y
• Application Number:
  US10/460,150
• Publication Number:
  US 20040255014A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,971 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/202, 709/203, 709217-219, 709220-226, 709/228, 709/230, 709/245, 709/250, 707 3- 4, 358/1.15
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for efficiently storing information configured to be used for a plurality of communication protocols to extract status information related to a remotely monitored device among distinct devices communicatively coupled to a network, including selecting a communication protocol among the plurality of communication protocols; determining whether information for accessing the device using the selected communication protocol is stored in an internal storage table; accessing an external information storage unit to obtain the information for accessing the device using the selected communication protocol if the determining step determines that the information for accessing the device using the selected communication protocol is not stored in the internal storage table; and storing, in the internal storage table, the information for accessing the device using the selected communication protocol obtained from the external information storage unit.

Claims

1. A method of efficiently storing information configured to be used for a plurality of communication protocols to extract status information related to a remotely monitored device among distinct devices communicatively coupled to a network, comprising:

selecting a communication protocol among the plurality of communication protocols;

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain a vendor name and a model name of the remotely monitored device by using the selected communication protocol;

determining whether information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol is stored in an internal storage table;

accessing an external information storage unit to obtain the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol if the determining step determines that the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol is not stored in the internal storage table; and

storing, in the internal storage table, the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol obtained from the external information storage unit,

wherein the accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain the vendor name and the model name comprises;

determining that the selected communication protocol failed to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device;

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device by using another communication protocol and the information for accessing the device;

determining that the another communication protocol failed to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device;

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain a model name of the remotely monitored device by using one of the plurality of communication protocols and the information for accessing device;

determining that the one of the plurality of communication protocols failed to obtain the model name of the remotely monitored device; and

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain information that is common to all vendors and models from the remotely monitored device when the model name and vendor name of the remotely monitored device have not been obtained.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information for extracting status information comprises information to extract common information for each of the distinct devices communicatively coupled to the network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information for extracting status information comprises information to extract common information for those devices, of the distinct devices, from a common vendor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the information for extracting status information comprises information to extract common information for those devices, of the distinct devices, having common vendor and model information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected communication protocol is one of an HTML/XML protocol and an SNMP protocol.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the remotely monitored device and using the vendor name of the remotely monitored device and the model name of the remotely monitored device to obtain the status information from the remotely monitored device.

6. A system for efficiently storing information configured to be used for a plurality of communication protocols to extract status information related to a remotely monitored device among distinct devices communicatively coupled to a network, comprising:

an information storage unit configured to support a plurality of communication protocols, said information storage unit storing information used for a selected communication protocol among the plurality of communication protocols;

a storage table configured to store information for accessing the remotely monitored device using the plurality of communication protocols; and

a processor configured to access the remotely monitored device to obtain a vendor name and a model name of the remotely monitored device by using the selected communication protocol, determine whether information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol is stored in the storage table, and to access the information storage unit to obtain the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol if the processor determines that the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol is not stored in the storage table,

wherein the processor is configured to store the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device obtained from the information storage unit in the storage table, to determine that the selected communication protocol failed to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device, to access the remotely monitored device to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device by using another communication protocol and the information for accessing the device, to determine that the another communication protocol failed to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device, to access the remotely monitored device to obtain a model name of the remotely monitored device by using one of the plurality of communication protocols and the information for accessing device, to determine that the one of the plurality of communication protocols failed to obtain the model name of the remotely monitored device, and to access the remotely monitored device to obtain information that is common to all vendors and models from the remotely monitored device when the model name and vendor name of the remotely monitored device have not been obtained.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the information for extracting status information comprises information to extract common information for each of the distinct devices communicatively coupled to the network.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the information for extracting status information comprises information to extract common information for those devices, of the distinct devices, from a common vendor.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the information for extracting status information comprises information to extract common information for those devices, of the distinct devices, having common vendor and model information.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the information storage unit is configured to store information used by the processor to access the device in an HTML/XML protocol, a SNMP protocol, or both of said protocols.

14. The system of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to access the remotely monitored device and use the vendor name of the remotely monitored device and the model name of the remotely monitored device to obtain the status information from the remotely monitored device.

11. A computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to implement a method of efficiently storing information configured to be used for a plurality of communication protocols to extract status information related to a remotely monitored device among distinct devices communicatively coupled to a network, the method comprising:

selecting a communication protocol among the plurality of communication protocols;

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain a vendor name and a model name of the remotely monitored device by using the selected communication protocol;

determining whether information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol is stored in an internal storage table;

accessing an external information storage unit to obtain the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol if the determining step determines that the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol is not stored in the internal storage table; and

storing, in the internal storage table, the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol obtained from the external information storage unit,

wherein the accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain the vendor name and the model name comprises;

determining that the selected communication protocol failed to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device;

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device by using another communication protocol arid the information for accessing the device;

determining that the another communication protocol failed to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device;

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain a model name of the remotely monitored device by using one of the plurality of communication protocols and the information for accessing device;

determining that the one of the plurality of communication protocols failed to obtain the model name of the remotely monitored device; and

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain information that is common to all vendors and models from the remotely monitored device when the model name and vendor name of the remotely monitored device have not been obtained.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

accessing the remotely monitored device and using the vendor name of the device and the model name of the device to obtain the status information from the device.

12. A system for efficiently storing information configured to be used for a plurality of communication protocols to extract status information related to a remotely monitored device among distinct devices communicatively coupled to a network, comprising:

means for selecting a communication protocol among the plurality of communication protocols;

means for accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain a vendor name and model name of the remotely monitored device by using the selected communication protocol;

means for determining whether information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol is stored in an internal storage table;

means for accessing an external information storage unit, to obtain the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol if the means for determining determines that the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol is not stored in the internal storage table; and

means for storing, in the internal storage table, the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol obtained from the external information storage unit,

wherein the means for accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain the vendor name and the model name comprises;

means for determining that the selected communication protocol failed to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device;

means for accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device by using another communication protocol and the information for accessing the device;

means for determining that the another communication protocol failed to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device;

means for accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain a model name of the remotely monitored device by using one of the plurality of communication protocols and the information for accessing device;

means for determining that the one of the plurality of communication protocols failed to obtain the model name of the remotely monitored device; and

means for accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain information that is common to all vendors and models from the remotely monitored device when the model name and vendor name of the remotely monitored device have not been obtained.

16. The system of claim 12, further comprising a means for accessing the device and using the vendor name of the device and the model name of the device to obtain the status information from the device.

17. A method of efficiently storing information configured to be used for a plurality of communication protocols to extract status information related to a remotely monitored device among distinct devices communicatively coupled to a network, comprising:

selecting a communication protocol among the plurality of communication protocols;

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain a vendor name and a model name of the remotely monitored device by using the selected communication protocol;

determining whether information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol is stored in an internal storage table;

accessing an external information storage unit to obtain the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol if the determining step determines that the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol is not stored in the internal storage table; and

storing, in the internal storage table, the information for extracting status information from the remotely monitored device using the selected communication protocol obtained from the external information storage unit,

wherein the accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain the vendor name and the model name comprises;

determining that the selected communication protocol failed to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device;

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain the vendor name of the remotely monitored device by using another communication protocol and the information for accessing the device;

determining that the another communication protocol obtained the vendor name of the remotely monitored device;

accessing the remotely monitored device to obtain a model name of the remotely monitored device by using one of the plurality of communication protocols and the information for accessing device;

determining that the one of the plurality of communication protocols failed to obtain the model name of the remotely monitored device; and

accessing the remotely monitored to obtain information that is specific to the obtained vendor name and independent of the model name from the remotely monitored device when the model name is not obtained and the vendor name is obtained.