System and method for dynamically grouping devices based on present device conditions

• US 8,370,479 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2006
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PTC Inc.
• Original Assignee: Axeda Acquisition Corp.
• Inventors: Hart, David P., Taylor, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Chea, Philip
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shepperd, Eric W
• Application Number:
  US11/538,402
• Publication Number:
  US 20080082657A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,317 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-224, 340/3.1, 340/6.1, 370/254
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A method to dynamically group devices based on device information, which is associated with a system for monitoring the device information that communicates information between a device and an enterprise. Information is collected from a device information source to obtain an actual status of a device. The actual status of the device is compared to a stored status of the device. The stored status is stored on a server of the enterprise. The enterprise determines if the actual status has been changed from the stored status. When a change is detected, the method performs at least one of the acts of automatically disassociating the device from a group that reflects the stored status and automatically associating the device with a new group to reflect the actual status.

Claims

1. A method that is performed by an enterprise system, the method comprising:

obtaining information from a device to obtain an actual status of the device;

comparing the actual status of the device to a prior status of the device, the device initially being associated with a first group that corresponds to the prior status;

determining that the actual status is different from the prior status based on the comparing, wherein, initially, no group exists that corresponds to the actual status;

consulting a rule to determine to create a second group that corresponds to the actual status of the device, the rule for triggering group creation when no group exists that corresponds to the actual status;

creating the second group in accordance with the rule, the second group being part of a group hierarchy comprised of multiple groups at different levels in the group hierarchy;

automatically disassociating the device from the first group and automatically associating the device with the second group;

sending a notification to the second group; and

sending the notification to one or more groups that are above the second group in the group hierarchy based on failure to receive acknowledgement from the second group.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing one or more group rules based on a condition of the device, the rule for triggering group creation being among the one or more group rules.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, in response to an additional change in a status of the device, associating the device with one or more other groups and/or disassociating the device from the second group.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the notification when the actual status of the device corresponds to a predefined condition.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first group is empty after the device is disassociated from the first group; and

automatically deleting the first group.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

disassociating first group-based business logic from the device when the device is automatically disassociated from the first group; and

associating second group-based business logic with the device when the device is automatically associated with the second group.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the group hierarchy comprises a static root group and one or more sub-groups, the second group being among the one or more sub-groups.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the static root group is defined manually, and the one or more sub-groups is defined dynamically.

9. A system comprising a server, the system being configured to perform operations comprising:

obtaining information from a device to obtain an actual status of the device;

comparing the actual status of the device to prior status of the device, the device initially being associated with a first group that corresponds to the prior status;

determining that the actual status is different from the prior status based on the comparing wherein, initially, no group exists that corresponds to the actual status;

consulting a rule to determine to create a second group that corresponds to the actual status of the device, the rule for triggering group creation when no group exists that corresponds to the actual status;

creating the second group in accordance with the rule, the second group being part of a group hierarchy comprised of multiple groups at different levels in the group hierarchy; and

automatically disassociating the device from the first group and automatically associating the device with the second group;

sending a notification to the second group; and

sending the notification to one or more groups that are above the second group in the group hierarchy based on failure to receive acknowledgement from the second group.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise establishing one or more group rules based on a condition of the device, the rule for triggering group creation being among the one or more group rules.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise, in response to an additional change in a status of the device, associating the device with one or more other groups and/or disassociating the device from the second group.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise sending the notification when the actual status of the device corresponds to a predefined condition.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the first group is empty after the device is disassociated from the first group; and

automatically deleting the first group.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

disassociating first group-based business logic from the device when the device is automatically disassociated from the first group; and

associating second group-based business logic with the device when the device is automatically associated with the second group.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the group hierarchy comprises a static root group and one or more sub-groups, the second group being among the one or more sub-groups.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the static root group is defined manually, and the one or more sub-groups is defined dynamically.

17. A non-transitory medium bearing instructions to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

obtaining information from a device to obtain an actual status of the device;

comparing the actual status of the device to a prior status of the device, the device initially being associated with a first group that corresponds to the prior status;

determining that the actual status is different from the prior status based on the comparing, wherein, initially, no group exists that corresponds to the actual status;

consulting a rule to determine to create a second group that corresponds to the actual status of the device, the rule for triggering group creation when no group exists that corresponds to the actual status;

creating the second group in accordance with the rule, the second group being part of a group hierarchy comprised of multiple groups at different levels in the group hierarchy;

automatically disassociating the device from the first group and automatically associating the device with the second group;

sending a notification to the second group; and

sending the notification to one or more groups that are above the second group in the group hierarchy based on failure to receive acknowledgement from the second group.

18. The non-transitory medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise establishing one or more group rules based on a condition of the device, the rule for triggering group creation being among the one or more group rules.

19. The non-transitory medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise sending notification if when the actual status of the device corresponds to a predefined condition.

20. The non-transitory medium of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise, in response to an additional change in a status of the device, associating the device with one or more other groups and/or disassociating the device from the second group.

21. The non-transitory medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the first group is empty after the device is disassociated from the first group; and

automatically deleting the first group.

22. The non-transitory medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

disassociating first group-based business logic from the device when the device is automatically disassociated from the first group; and

associating second group-based business logic with the device when the device is automatically associated with the second group.

23. The non-transitory medium of claim 17, wherein the group hierarchy comprises a static root group and one or more sub-groups, the second group being among the one or more sub-groups.

24. The non-transitory medium of claim 23, wherein the static root group is defined manually, and the one or more sub-groups is defined dynamically.