Method and apparatus for managing intelligent assets in a distributed environment

• US 7,254,601 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2001
• Issued: 08/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: PTC Inc.
• Original Assignee: Questra Corporation (PTC Inc.)
• Inventors: Raman, Rajeev, Baller, Eric Henry, Cook, John Maitland III, Chiarella, Thomas, Canosa, John Thomas, Hart, David Patrick, Psarros, Dimitrios, Taylor, John Louis, Kuntz, Christopher James
• Primary Examiner(s): MEKY, MOUSTAFA M
• Application Number:
  US10/028,126
• Publication Number:
  US 20030118353A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,056 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/228, 709200-202, 709217-222, 709225-227, 709/206, 709/207, 715/513, 358/1.15, 399/8, 399/9, 399/10, 399/11, 399/12, 714/44, 714/46, 714/47, 714/48, 714/25
• US Class Current: 709/200
• 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 is described which provides for managing intelligent equipment that is deployed remotely. The capabilities of managing such distributed assets include both infrastructural capabilities to establish and maintain connection through a variety of wired and wireless mechanisms and application modules that provide distributed asset management capabilities.

Claims

1. A method of communicating between a server and an asset comprising the steps of:

queuing one or more request messages in a queue on the server;

logging the one or more request messages on the server;

detecting a fault at the asset requiring interactivity;

in response to the fault, sending one or more polling messages from the asset to the server;

sending one of the one or more request messages to the asset in response to the one or more polling messages;

sending a responsive message from the asset to the server, the responsive message corresponding to said one of the request messages that has been sent to the asset;

receiving the responsive message at the server and reconciling the responsive message with the corresponding one of the request messages; and

continuing to send request messages to the asset until the queue is empty.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the step of sending one or more polling messages comprises sending the one or more polling messages at an interval shorter than a predetermined interval at which the asset sends periodic polling messages to the server.

3. The method of claim 2 in which the predetermined interval is set by the server.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the server is configured to send one or more of the request messages to the asset in response to any message from the asset received by the server.

5. The method of claim 1 in which said one of the one or more request messages includes a request for establishing an interactive session and the responsive message from the asset establishes an open connection through which subsequent messages are sent.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the asset comprises a gateway device that provides protocol or address translation to other assets.

7. The method of claim 6 in which the gateway device maintains a schedule and interacts with the other assets as required to satisfy the schedule.

8. In a server that operates in a network that includes remote assets, a method of communicating between the server and a remote asset, comprising:

queuing one or more request messages in a queue on the server;

logging the one or more request messages on the server;

receiving a polling message from the remote asset, the polling message having been sent by the remote asset in response to detection of a fault at the remote asset that requires interactivity with the server;

sending one of the one or more request messages to the remote asset in response to the polling message;

receiving a responsive message from the remote asset and reconciling the responsive message with said one of the one or more request messages that has been sent to the remote asset; and

continuing to send request messages to the remote asset until the queue is empty.

9. The method of claim 8 in which the server is configured to send one or more of the request messages to the remote asset in response to any message received by the server from the remote asset.

10. The method of claim 8 in which said one of the one or more request messages includes a request for establishing an interactive session with the remote asset and the responsive message establishes an open connection through which subsequent messages are sent.

11. The method of claim 8 in which the remote asset comprises a gateway device that provides protocol or address translation to other remote assets of the network.

12. The method of claim 11 in which the gateway device maintains a schedule and interacts with the other remote assets as required to satisfy the schedule.

13. In an asset that operates in a network that includes other assets and a remote server, a method of communicating between the asset and the remote server, comprising:

sending a polling message to the remote server, the polling message having been sent by the asset in response to detection of a fault at the asset that requires interactivity with the remote server;

receiving a request message from the remote server in response to the remote server having received the polling message, the request message being one of one or more request messages that have been;

queued in a queue on the remote server; and

logged on the remote server;

sending a responsive message to the remote server, such that the remote server can reconcile the responsive message with the request message that has been received by the asset; and

continuing to receive request messages from the remote server until the queue is empty.

14. The method of claim 13 in which the remote server is configured to send one or more of the request messages to the asset in response to any message received by the remote server from the asset.

15. The method of claim 13 in which the request message received from the remote server in response to the remote server having received the polling message includes a request for establishing an interactive session with the asset and the responsive message establishes an open connection through which subsequent messages are sent.

16. The method of claim 13 in which the asset comprises a gateway device that provides protocol or address translation to other assets of the network.

17. The method of claim 16 in which the gateway device maintains a schedule and interacts with the other assets as required to satisfy the schedule.

18. In a server that operates in a network that includes remote assets, a method of communicating between the server and a remote asset, comprising:

queuing one or more request messages in a queue on the server;

logging the one or more request messages on the server;

receiving a polling message from the remote asset,

sending one of the one or more request messages to the remote asset in response to the polling message, said one of the one or more request messages including a request for establishing an interactive session with the remote asset;

receiving a responsive message from the remote asset, the responsive message establishing an open connection through which subsequent messages are sent;

reconciling the responsive message with said one of the one or more request messages that has been sent to the remote asset; and

continuing to send request messages to the remote asset until the queue is empty.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the received polling message is one of a plurality of polling messages that are sent to the server from the remote asset at a predetermined interval.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein polling message has been sent by the remote asset in response to detection of a fault at the remote asset that requires interactivity with the server.

21. The method of claim 18 in which the remote asset comprises a gateway device that provides protocol or address translation to other remote assets of the network.

22. The method of claim 21 in which the gateway device maintains a schedule and interacts with the other remote assets as required to satisfy the schedule.

23. In an asset that operates in a network that includes other assets and a remote server, a method of communicating between the asset and the remote server, comprising:

sending a polling message to the remote server;

receiving a request message from the remote server in response to the remote server having received the polling message, the request message including a request for establishing an interactive session with the asset, the request message being one of one or more request messages that have been;

queued in a queue on the remote server; and

logged on the remote server;

sending a responsive message to the remote server, such that the remote server can reconcile the responsive message with the request message that has been received by the asset, the responsive message establishing an open connection through which subsequent messages are sent; and

continuing to receive request messages from the remote server until the queue is empty.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein sending the polling message is performed by sending the polling message as one of a plurality of polling messages that are sent to the remote server at a predetermined interval.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein sending the polling message is performed in response to detecting a fault at the asset that requires interactivity with the remote server.

26. The method of claim 23 in which the asset comprises a gateway device that provides protocol or address translation to other assets of the network.

27. The method of claim 26 in which the gateway device maintains a schedule and interacts with the other assets as required to satisfy the schedule.