Patent ID: 6918062

Claim:
A system comprising: a requesting device operatively coupled to a network to send a status query through a serial port in the requesting device; and a responding device operatively coupled to the network to receive the status query from the requesting device, the status query inquiring about operational status of the responding device, the responding device receiving the status query through a serial port in the responding device, processing the status query, and reporting the operational status through the serial port in the responding device to the requesting device in response to the status query sent by the requesting device, the responding device includes: a central processing unit (CPU), and a controller operatively coupled to the CPU and to the serial port in the responding device to receive the status query, the controller raising a first interrupt to the CPU to determine whether the responding device is functioning properly, the controller ascertains that the responding device is functioning properly if the CPU started servicing the first interrupt within a first response time.