Adaptive device-initiated polling

• US 9,674,067 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2015
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: PTC Inc.
• Original Assignee: PTC Inc.
• Inventors: Taylor, John Louis, Canosa, John Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, STEVEN H D
• Application Number:
  US14/921,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20160212035A1
• Time in Patent Office: 592 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5075 Remote control machines, e.g. by a host
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2221 to test input/output devices or peripheral units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/26 Functional testing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/103 with adaptive polling, i.e. dynamically adapting the polling rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00344 with a management, maintenance, service or repair apparatus monitoring H04N1/00002
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0015 Control of image communication with the connected apparatus, e.g. signalling capability

Abstract

A method includes periodically sending a polling call to an enterprise system outside the firewall at a first polling rate during normal operating conditions, monitoring for a fault condition, periodically sending polling calls to the device outside the firewall at a second polling rate when a fault condition is detected, the second polling rate being higher than the first polling rate. The second polling rate is used as result of a fault condition. The method also includes sending a problem report with the polling calls when the fault condition is detected.

Claims

1. A method performed by a processor associated with a device, the method comprising:

sending first polling calls from the processor to an enterprise system over a computer network, the enterprise system being on a different side of a security system on the computer network than the processor and the device;

detecting a fault condition at the device, the fault condition being triggered by a deviation from a predefined operation of the device or by an input to the device from an external source;

in response to detecting the fault condition, sending second polling calls to the enterprise system, the second polling calls utilizing more bandwidth on the computer network than the first polling calls, the second polling calls including information about the fault condition;

the second polling calls opening a portal through the security system, through which portal data is passable by the enterprise system to the processor;

following at least some of the second polling calls, determining that the fault condition has been addressed; and

in response to determining that the fault condition has been addressed, resuming the first polling calls from the processor to the enterprise system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first polling calls are sent at a first rate, the second polling calls are sent at a second rate, and the second rate is greater than the first rate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the fault condition comprises a problem report that is part of the second polling calls, the problem report comprising a visual image of a screen of the device at a time that the fault condition is detected.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data represents instructions to correct the fault condition.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, based on the instructions, the processor corrects the fault condition.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the instructions are usable by a technician to correct the fault condition.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data represents instructions to diagnose the fault condition.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, based on the instructions, the processor diagnoses the fault condition.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the instructions are used by a technician to diagnose the fault condition.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the fault condition is triggered by the deviation from the predefined operation of the device and not by the input to the device from an external source.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the fault condition is triggered by the input to the device from an external source and not by the deviation from the predefined operation of the device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the security system comprises a network firewall.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the security system comprises a network proxy.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the security system comprises a device configured to perform network address translation.

15. Non-transitory machine-readable storage storing instructions that are executable by a processor associated with a device to perform operations comprising:

sending first polling calls from the processor to an enterprise system over a computer network, the enterprise system being on a different side of a security system on the computer network than the processor and the device;

detecting a fault condition at the device, the fault condition being triggered by a deviation from a predefined operation of the device or by an input to the device from an external source;

in response to detecting the fault condition, sending second polling calls to the enterprise system, the second polling calls utilizing more bandwidth on the computer network than the first polling calls, the second polling calls including information about the fault condition;

the second polling calls opening a portal through the security system, through which portal data is passable by the enterprise system to the processor;

following at least some of the second polling calls, determining that the fault condition has been addressed; and

in response to determining that the fault condition has been addressed, resuming the first polling calls from the processor to the enterprise system.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the first polling calls are sent at a first rate, the second polling calls are sent at a second rate, and the second rate is greater than the first rate.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the information about the fault condition comprises a problem report that is part of the second polling calls, the problem report comprising a visual image of a screen of the device at a time that the fault condition is detected.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the data represents instructions to correct the fault condition.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 18, wherein, based on the instructions to correct the fault condition, the processor executes instructions to correct the fault condition.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 18, wherein the instructions to correct the fault condition are usable by a technician to correct the fault condition.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the data represents instructions to diagnose the fault condition.

22. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 21, wherein, based on the instructions to diagnose the fault condition, the processor executes instructions to diagnose the fault condition.

23. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 21, wherein the instructions to diagnose the fault condition are usable by a technician to diagnose the fault condition.

24. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the fault condition is triggered by the deviation from the predefined operation of the device and not by the input to the device from an external source.

25. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the fault condition is triggered by the input to the device from an external source and not by the deviation from the predefined operation of the device.

26. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the security system comprises a network firewall.

27. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the security system comprises a network proxy.

28. The non-transitory machine-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the security system comprises a device configured to perform network address translation.

29. A system comprising:

a processor associated with a device; and

non-transitory machine-readable storage storing instructions that are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising;

sending first polling calls from the processor to an enterprise system over a computer network, the enterprise system being on a different side of a security system on the computer network than the processor and the device;

detecting a fault condition at the device, the fault condition being triggered by a deviation from a predefined operation of the device or by an input to the device from an external source;

in response to detecting the fault condition, sending second polling calls to the enterprise system, the second polling calls utilizing more bandwidth on the computer network than the first polling calls, the second polling calls including information about the fault condition;

the second polling calls opening a portal through the security system, through which portal data is passable by the enterprise system to the processor;

following at least some of the second polling calls, determining that the fault condition has been addressed; and

in response to determining that the fault condition has been addressed, resuming the first polling calls from the processor to the enterprise system.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the first polling calls are sent at a first rate, the second polling calls are sent at a second rate, and the second rate is greater than the first rate.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the information about the fault condition comprises a problem report that is part of the second polling calls, the problem report comprising a visual image of a screen of the device at a time that the fault condition is detected.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the data represents instructions to correct the fault condition.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein, based on the instructions to correct the fault condition, the processor executes instructions to correct the fault condition.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the instructions to correct the fault condition are usable by a technician to correct the fault condition.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein the data represents instructions to diagnose the fault condition.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein, based on the instructions to diagnose the fault condition, the processor executes instructions to diagnose the fault condition.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein the instructions to diagnose the fault condition are usable by a technician to diagnose the fault condition.

38. The system of claim 29, wherein the fault condition is triggered by the deviation from the predefined operation of the device and not by the input to the device from an external source.

39. The system of claim 29, wherein the fault condition is triggered by the input to the device from an external source and not by the deviation from the predefined operation of the device.

40. The system of claim 29, wherein the security system comprises a network firewall.

41. The system of claim 29, wherein the security system comprises a network proxy.

42. The system of claim 29, wherein the security system comprises a device configured to perform network address translation.