Network device detection, identification, and management

• US 10,594,563 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2015
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Joseph Robert Marchese
• Original Assignee: Joseph Robert Marchese
• Inventors: Marchese, Joseph Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hampton, Tarell A
• Application Number:
  US14/876,181
• Publication Number:
  US 20160028590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,624 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

A method for identifying devices on a network using a two-step process of first scanning a range network addresses for devices and then acquiring device information from each of the accessible devices. The method involves scanning the network for devices by sending a request to each of a plurality of network addresses, receiving a response from one or more of the devices, obtaining a hardware address for at least some of the responding devices, and identifying the device based on the hardware address. A user interface is provided to display the results of the scan along with the more specific identifying information for some or all of the responding devices.

Claims

1. A computer system for identifying one or more cameras on a network, comprising a computer having non-transitory memory for storing machine instructions that are to be executed by the computer, the machine instructions when executed by the computer implement the following functions:

performing a network scan by scanning a plurality of network addresses to obtain an initial response from one or more camera devices, each camera device being accessible at a specific network address from the plurality of network addresses;

beginning a fail timer for each of two or more connections to each of the network addresses of the one or more camera devices;

establishing two or more connections to each of the network addresses of the one or more camera devices;

simultaneously transmitting two or more camera device queries over the two or more connections to each of the specific network addresses of the one or more camera devices to attempt to obtain a query response to at least one of the two or more camera device queries, each of the camera device queries being sent according to a query protocol and a query format, the query protocol and/or query format differs for each of the camera device queries, and the query response including information relating to the camera device; and

looping the beginning, establishing and simultaneously transmitting steps until each fail timer expires or the query response to at least one of the two or more camera device queries is obtained.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the query protocol includes HTTP, FTP, or UDP.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the two or more camera device queries are sent according to two or more query protocols.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the two or more query protocols include at least one of HTTP, FTP, or UDP.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the two or more camera device queries are sent according to two or more query formats.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the two or more query formats include a first manufacturer-specific format and a second manufacturer-specific format.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the two or more query formats include a model-specific format, firmware-specific format, or a device-specific format.

16. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the machine instructions when executed by the computer implement the following further function:

assigning each of the plurality of network addresses to one of the threads of the plurality of threads.

17. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the machine instructions when executed by the computer implement the following further function:

adding each of the plurality of network addresses to an array IP(X).

18. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the establishing and simultaneously transmitting functions are only performed in connection with the accessible specific network address for each camera device.

8. A method of identifying one or more cameras on a network, comprising:

performing a network scan by scanning a plurality of network addresses to obtain an initial response from one or more camera devices, each camera device being accessible at a specific network address from the plurality of network addresses;

beginning a fail timer for each of two or more connections to each of the network addresses of the one or more camera devices;

establishing two or more connections to each of the network addresses of the one or more camera devices;

simultaneously transmitting two or more camera device queries over the two or more connections to each of the specific network addresses of the one or more camera devices to attempt to obtain a query response to at least one of the two or more camera device queries, each of the camera device queries being sent according to a query protocol and a query format, the query protocol and/or query format differs for each of the camera device queries, and the query response including information relating to the camera device; and

looping the beginning, establishing and simultaneously transmitting steps until each fail timer expires or the query response to at least one of the two or more camera device queries is obtained.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the query protocol includes HTTP, FTP, or UDP.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the two or more camera device queries are sent according to two or more query protocols.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the two or more query protocols include at least one of HTTP, FTP, or UDP.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the two or more camera device queries are sent according to two or more query formats.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the two or more query formats include a first manufacturer-specific format and a second manufacturer-specific format.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the two or more query formats include a model-specific format, firmware-specific format, or a device-specific format.

19. The method of claim 8, further comprising assigning each of the plurality of network addresses to one of the threads of the plurality of threads.

15. A computer system for identifying one or more cameras on a network, comprising a computer having non-transitory memory for storing machine instructions that are to be executed by the computer, the machine instructions when executed by the computer implement the following functions:

performing a network scan by scanning a plurality of network addresses to obtain an initial response from one or more camera devices, each camera device being accessible at a specific network address from the plurality of network addresses;

beginning a fail timer for each of two or more connections to each of the network addresses of the one or more camera devices;

establishing two or more connections to each of the network addresses of the one or more camera devices; and

simultaneously transmitting two or more camera device queries over the two or more connections to each of the specific network addresses of the one or more camera devices to attempt to obtain a query response to at least one of the two or more camera device queries, each of the camera device queries being sent according to a query protocol and a query format, the query format differs for each of the two or more camera device queries, and the query response including information relating to the camera device, the two or more device queries include a device query sent according to a UDP protocol; and

looping the beginning, establishing and simultaneously transmitting steps until each fail timer expires or the query response to at least one of the two or more camera device queries is obtained.

20. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the machine instructions when executed by the computer implement the following further function:

assigning each of the plurality of network addresses to one of the threads of the plurality of threads.