Patent ID: 7546631
Filing Date: 2009-06-09
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A physical device apparatus in a network, comprising: a plurality of virtual elements configured on said physical device, each said virtual element associated with a collection of management information for said virtual element, said collection of management information including an access scope indicating a required user access level needed to access said information, wherein said collection of management information is associated with a virtual element identifier and said virtual elements direct communication between clients and resource groups; at least one environment object associated with a user interfaced with said device, said environment object including a collection of user profile information; and a management facility, said management facility controlling the access of a user to a collection of management information associated with at least one of said virtual elements, wherein the management facility provides a view of a first virtual element from the plurality of virtual elements to a user, the view of the first virtual element containing an embedded view of a second virtual element, the second virtual element associated with the first virtual element, and wherein the collection of management information for the first virtual element is tagged with a virtual element identifier to associate that collection of management information with the first virtual element, and wherein the collection of management information for the second virtual element is tagged with a first virtual element identifier and a second virtual element identifier to associate that collection of management information with the first virtual element and the second virtual element, such that the collection of management information for the second virtual element is able to be viewed from the view of the first virtual element and the embedded view of the second virtual element.