Method and apparatus for monitoring remote devices through a local monitoring station and communicating with a central station supporting multiple manufacturers

• US 7,519,729 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2002
• Issued: 04/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Motoyama, Tetsuro, Fong, Avery
• Primary Examiner(s): Donaghue; Larry D
• Assistant Examiner(s): BHATIA, AJAY M
• Application Number:
  US10/157,905
• Publication Number:
  US 20050246437A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,510 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/222, 709/220, 709/237, 709/224, 719/327
• US Class Current: 709/237
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0213 Modular or universal configuration of the monitoring system, e.g. monitoring system having modules that may be combined to build monitoring program; monitoring system that can be applied to legacy systems; adaptable monitoring system; using different communication protocols

Abstract

A method and apparatus for monitoring at least one network connected device (monitored device) using a controller is disclosed. Initially, the controller/monitoring system attempts to establish communication with the monitored device. If the controller cannot be configured to interface with the monitored device, then configuration information, such as, manufacturer, model, and a unique identifier are obtained from the monitored device. In the process of determining the configuration information, a determination is made to find out if the monitored device is supported by the controller using information from System Support Database (SSD). A device object is created using information from the SSD, thus establishing a communication protocol between the controller and the monitored device Subsequently, configuration information for the monitored device is updated in the System Configuration Database (SCD).

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of monitoring a device communicatively coupled to a monitoring computer via a network, the method comprising:

determining, by the monitoring computer, if the monitoring computer is able to communicate with said device by attempting to access the device using an address obtained from a first digital repository;

accessing said device to attempt to obtain first device information indicating that the device was provided by a system-supported vendor using information stored in a second digital repository, if the determining step determines that the monitoring computer is able to communicate with said device;

accessing said device to attempt to obtain second device information indicating that the model of the device is a system-supported model using the information stored in the second digital repository, if the monitoring computer obtained the first device information indicating that the device was provided by a system-supported vendor;

obtaining, from the second digital repository, first information necessary to obtain status information for all devices having addresses stored in the first digital repository;

obtaining, from the second digital repository, second information necessary to obtain status information for all devices provided by the system-supported vendor of the device, if the first device information was obtained from the device;

obtaining, from the second digital repository, third information necessary to obtain status information for devices of the system-supported model of the device, if the second device information was obtained from the device;

obtaining status information from the device using the first information;

obtaining status information from the device using the second information, if the first device information was obtained from the device; and

obtaining status information from the device using the third information, if the second device information was obtained from the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining if the monitoring computer is able to communicate with said device comprises:

querying the first digital repository with at least one of manufacturer, model, and unique identifier of said device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining if the monitoring computer is able to communicate with said device comprises querying said device with data stored in the first digital repository.

4. The method as in claim 3, wherein the first digital repository is a system configuration digital repository and comprises:

information for enabling communication between the monitoring computer and said device; and

status information related to said device, the status information being added after initialization of the monitoring computer for monitoring said device.

5. The method as in claim 1, wherein the second digital repository is a system support database and comprises information about vendors and device models supported by the monitoring computer.

6. In a network-based system having a monitoring computer and a device communicatively coupled via a network, the monitoring computer communicatively coupled to first and second databases, a computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program product, when executed by the monitoring computer, causes the monitoring computer to monitor the device, the computer program product comprising:

instructions for determining if the monitoring computer is able to communicate with said device by attempting to access the device using an address obtained from a first digital repository;

instructions for accessing said device to attempt to obtain first device information indicating that the device was provided by a system-supported vendor using information stored in a second digital repository, if the instructions for determining determine that the monitoring computer is able to communicate with said device;

instructions for accessing said device to attempt to obtain second device information indicating that the model of the device is a system-supported model using the information stored in the second digital repository, if the monitoring computer obtained the first device information indicating that the device was provided by a system-supported vendor;

instructions for obtaining, from the second digital repository, first information necessary to obtain status information for all devices having addresses stored in the first digital repository;

instructions for obtaining, from the second digital repository, second information necessary to obtain status information for all devices provided by the system-supported vendor of the device, if the first device information was obtained from the device;

instructions for obtaining, from the second digital repository, third information necessary to obtain status information for devices of the system-supported model of the device, if the second device information was obtained from the device;

instructions for obtaining status information from the device using the first information;

instructions for obtaining status information from the device using the second information, if the first device information was obtained from the device; and

instructions for obtaining status information from the device using the third information, if the second device information was obtained from the device.

7. In a network-based system having a monitoring computer and a device communicatively coupled via a network, the monitoring computer comprising:

means for determining, by the monitoring computer, if the monitoring computer is able to communicate with said device by attempting to access the device using an address obtained from a first digital repository;

means for accessing said device to attempt to obtain first device information indicating that the device was provided by a system-supported vendor using information stored in a second digital repository, if the means for determining determines that the monitoring computer is able to communicate with said device;

means for accessing said device to attempt to obtain second device information indicating that the model of the device is a system-supported model using the information stored in the second digital repository, if the monitoring computer obtained the first device information indicating that the device was provided by a system-supported vendor;

means for obtaining, from the second digital repository, first information necessary to obtain status information for all devices having addresses stored in the first digital repository;

means for obtaining, from the second digital repository, second information necessary to obtain status information for all devices provided by the system- supported vendor of the device, if the first device information was obtained from the device;

means for obtaining, from the second digital repository, third information necessary to obtain status information for devices of the system-supported model of the device, if the second device information was obtained from the device;

means for obtaining status information from the device using the first information;

means for obtaining status information from the device using the second information, if the first device information was obtained from the device; and

means for obtaining status information from the device using the third information, if the second device information was obtained from the device.