Methods and systems for managing a network

• US 7,721,300 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2004
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Fanuc Automation North America Incorporated
• Original Assignee: GE Fanuc Automation North America Incorporated
• Inventors: Pusala, Ramesh, Tipton, Daniel Eugene, Gangaraju, Anantha Lakshmi
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong; Lechi
• Application Number:
  US10/752,853
• Publication Number:
  US 20050149949A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,323 Days
• Field of Search: 719/310, 719/321, 358/1.1, 358/400, 709/225
• US Class Current: 719/321
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

A system and method for managing a plurality of devices is provided. The system includes a user interface for controlling a plurality of devices configured as a network. The plurality of devices have corresponding device drivers to configure each of the plurality of devices to allow queuing operations to be performed in connection with the plurality of devices. The user interface is configured to communicate with the plurality of devices to identify and control jobs in a queue relating to each of the devices. The system also includes a monitoring system for monitoring the plurality of devices. The monitoring system is configured to provide notification to the user interface when a predetermined queue limit for at least one of the plurality of devices is exceeded.

Claims

1. A network-based management system for managing a plurality of network devices, said system comprising:

a database; and

a computer coupled to the database and the plurality of network devices, said computer comprising;

a user interface for controlling operation of the plurality of network devices, the plurality of network devices having corresponding device drivers to configure each of the plurality of network devices to allow queuing operations to be performed in connection with the plurality of network devices, said user interface configured to communicate with the plurality of network devices to identify and control jobs in a queue relating to each of the plurality of network devices, said user interface configured to at least one of pause, reset, resume, cancel, resend, and redirect jobs, said user interface further configured to search for jobs within the plurality of network devices based on user defined search criteria, said user interface further configured to limit access to control operations for controlling the plurality of network devices based upon user login information;

a monitoring system for monitoring the plurality of network devices, said monitoring system configured to access the database to retrieve stored queue limits relating to each of the plurality of network devices, to poll each of the plurality of network devices to determine a number of jobs in each queue, and to provide notification to said user interface when the stored queue limit for at least one of the plurality of network devices is exceeded, wherein the stored queue limit comprises at least one value, defined based on a user input, representing a job limit for the associated network device; and

a device interface for interfacing with the plurality of network devices to allow communication between said user interface and the plurality of network devices, said device interface configured to communicate with the corresponding device drivers for each of the plurality of network devices.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein the queue limit comprises a print queue limit.

3. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said user interface is configured to redirect jobs from one network device to another network device.

4. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said user interface is configured to assign a priority to jobs transmitted to the plurality of network devices.

5. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said user interface is configured for web-based operation.

6. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein the queuing operations are performed using a virtual queue.

7. A system comprising a broadcast manager for controlling a plurality of network devices within a network, each network device comprising a queue, said system comprising:

a computer device;

a user login component on the computer device to allow access to the plurality of network devices and a configuration database, the plurality of network devices having corresponding device drivers to configure each of the plurality of network devices to allow queuing operations to be performed in connection with the plurality of network devices, the configuration database configured to store user defined queue limits relating to the plurality of network devices, the stored queue limits comprising a plurality of values representing job limits for the plurality of network devices;

a network device configuring component to configure each of the plurality of network devices, said network device configuring component having queue limit fields for each of the plurality of network devices;

a queue limit control component to control user access to the configuration database based upon user login information provided to said user login component;

a search component to search for jobs within each of the plurality of network devices based on user defined search criteria;

a job control component to control the operation of each of the plurality of network devices, said job control component configured to at least one of pause, reset, resume, cancel, terminate, resend, and redirect jobs;

a monitoring component to poll each of the plurality of network devices to determine a number of jobs in each queue;

a notification component to provide notification when the queue limit for one of the plurality of network devices is exceeded; and

a privileges component to limit access to the configuration database and said job control component based on user login information provided to said user login component.

8. A system in accordance with claim 7 further comprising a virtual queue for performing queuing operations.

9. A system in accordance with claim 7 further comprising a priority component to set a priority for jobs to control the operation of the plurality of network devices.

10. A system in accordance with claim 9 further comprising a grouping component to group some of the plurality of network devices to which commands are broadcast.

11. A system in accordance with claim 7 further comprising a broadcast component to broadcast at least one of data and commands to at least one of the plurality of network devices.

12. A method for managing a plurality of network devices within a network, said method comprising:

interfacing with the plurality of network devices to allow communication between a user interface and the plurality of network devices;

determining user access to the plurality of network devices based upon user login information;

controlling access to a control operation for controlling the plurality of network devices based on the user login information, wherein the control operation includes at least one of pausing, resetting, resuming, canceling, resending, and redirecting jobs;

configuring each of the plurality of network devices, using corresponding device drivers, to allow queuing operations to be performed in connection with the plurality of network devices;

storing a job queue limit for each of the plurality of network devices in a database, the job queue limit comprising a value representing a job limit for each of the plurality of network devices;

defining a plurality of search criteria to search for jobs within the job queues;

searching for jobs within the job queues based upon the search criteria;

polling each of the plurality of network devices to determine a number of jobs in each job queue;

determining whether the job queue limit associated with the network device is exceeded;

providing notification to the user interface when the job queue limit is exceeded; and

modifying the job queue limit for at least one of the plurality of network devices based upon a user input.

13. A method in accordance with claim 12 further comprising determining user access to the plurality of network devices based upon user login information.

14. A method in accordance with claim 12 further comprising broadcasting commands to the plurality of network devices to control operation of at least one of the plurality of network devices.

15. A method in accordance with claim 14 wherein said broadcasting commands comprise transmitting the commands to the plurality of network devices based upon user defined priority levels.

16. A method in accordance with claim 12 further comprising redirecting jobs from one network device to another network device based upon user inputs.

17. A method in accordance with claim 12 further comprising assigning jobs to each of the plurality of network devices based on the job queue limits.

18. A method in accordance with claim 12 further comprising communicating with the plurality of network devices via an interface.