Event consumers for an event management system

• US 7,502,845 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 03/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hance, Howard M., Thatcher, Michael A., Novik, Lev, Sanghvi, Ashvinkumar J., Kenny, Patrick R., Nosov, Alexander E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn; Nathan J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Siddiqi; Mohammad A
• Application Number:
  US11/428,282
• Publication Number:
  US 20060248539A1
• Time in Patent Office: 984 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-226, 719/310, 719/318, 719/321, 719/328, 719/319
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

An event management system includes an email consumer for handling email, a paging consumer, an active scripting consumer, a log file consumer, an event log consumer, and a command line consumer. The events in the event management system are represented as objects and each consumer is represented as a class. The system also includes an event forwarding consumer to forward events. The event management system allows the creation of an instance of an event filter which filters events based on event filter properties. The system also allows the creation of an instance of an event consumer which defines an action and creation of a binding between the instance of the event filter and the instance of the event consumer such that the binding includes properties identifying the instance of the event filter and the instance of the event consumer.

Claims

1. An event management system having an associated processor and computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor, comprising:

a set of event consumers, each of the event consumers in the set of event consumers being configured to perform an action in response to an occurrence of an event; and

an event management module configured to create;

an event filter object having at least two properties that identify events that are intended to cause one or more actions to be performed; and

a binding object to specify at least two binding properties to bind the event filter object to one or more of the event consumers in the set of event consumers, the binding object binding the event filter object to at least one event consumer in the set of event consumers when the properties presented by the event filter object match the at least two binding properties of the binding object, the at least one event consumer being to execute when one or more of the events associated with the event filter object occurs.

2. An event management system of claim 1, wherein the set of event consumers includes at least one of:

an email consumer configured to handle email messages;

a paging consumer configured to generate a page message;

an active scripting consumer configured to execute at least one script;

a log file consumer configured to record information in a log file;

an event log consumer configured to log messages to an event log;

or

a command line consumer configured to launch at least one process.

3. An event management system of claim 2, wherein the email consumer is an SMTP consumer.

4. An event management system of claim 2, wherein the event log consumer is an NT event log consumer.

5. An event management system of claim 2, further comprising a forwarding consumer to forward events.

6. An event management system of claim 1, wherein events in the event management system are represented as objects.

7. An event management system of claim 1, wherein each consumer in the event management system is represented as a class.

8. An event management system of claim 1, wherein the event management module is configured, independent of the event filter object and the set of event consumers, to provide selective association and disassociation of the event filter object and the event consumers.

9. An event management system of claim 1, further comprising an event provider, wherein the event provider includes at least one of:

a Win32 provider;

a Windows Driver Model (WDM) provider;

an event log provider;

a registry provider;

a performance counter provider;

a active directory provider;

a Windows installer provider;

or

a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) provider.

10. A computer system having an associated processor and computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor, comprising:

an event provider configured to generate events;

an event consumer selected from a set of event consumers, the event consumer being configured to perform an action in response to an occurrence of an event generated by the event provider;

an event filter configured to specify at least two properties about the event in response to the occurrence of the event; and

a binding object specifying at least two binding properties to bind the event filter to the event consumer selected from the set of event consumers, wherein the event filter when bounded to the at least one selected event consumer is to invoke the event consumer when the properties specified by the event filter match the binding properties of the binding object.

11. A computer system of claim 10, wherein the set of event consumers include at least one of:

an email consumer configured to send at least one email message;

a paging consumer configured to send at least one page message;

an active scripting consumer configured to execute at least one script;

a log file consumer configured to record information in a log file;

an event log consumer configured to log at least one message to an event log;

or

a command line consumer configured to launch at least one process.

12. A computer system of claim 10, wherein the event providers includes at least one of:

a Win32 provider;

a Windows Driver Model (WDM) provider;

an event log provider;

a registry provider;

a performance counter provider;

a active directory provider;

a Windows installer provider;

or

a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) provider.

13. A computer system of claim 10, wherein the event consumer includes an instance of a class associated with an application program.

14. A computer system of claim 10, wherein the event filter includes an instance of a class associated with an application program.

15. A computer system of claim 10, further comprising an event management module configured, independent of the event filter and the set of event consumers, to provide selective association and disassociation of the event filter and the event consumers.

16. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from a user, event filter information to use in implementing at least one event filter;

implementing a plurality of event filters based on the received event filter information, wherein each of the event filters specifies at least two criteria indicative of a triggering event arising within a computing system, the triggering event indicating that one or more actions is to be performed;

receiving, from the user, an instruction to implement a plurality of event consumers, each of the plurality of event consumers being configured to perform at least one action in response to a triggering event arising within the computing system; and

receiving, from the user, an instruction to implement at least one binding object, the binding object configured to provide selective association of at least one of the plurality of event filters with at least one of the plurality of event consumers, such that when the two criteria of the at least one of the plurality of event filters occur, an associated at least one of the plurality of event consumers is executed to perform at least one action in response to the occurrence of the two criteria.

17. A method of claim 16, wherein the binding object is configured to provide selective association of between at least one of the plurality of event filters consumers with at least one of the plurality of event consumers independently of the plurality of event filters and plurality of event consumers.

18. A method of claim 16, wherein the binding object is configured to provide selective association of a selected plurality of event filters with a single selected event consumer.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the binding object is configured to provide selective association of a single selected event filter with a selected plurality of event consumers.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of the plurality of event filters is configured to perform at least one action, including:

sending an email;

generate a page message;

execute at least one script;

recording information in a log file;

logging messages to an event log;

or

launching at least one process.