Patent ID: 8380903

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of administering polling of a number of devices for device status, the computer comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions that execute steps of the method, the method comprising: maintaining an immediate polling queue and a delayed polling queue; selecting a device for polling; determining whether a task identification for polling the device is in the delayed polling queue; if the task identification for polling the device is not in the delayed polling queue, determining whether the task identification for polling the device is in the immediate polling queue; if the task identification for polling the device is not in the immediate polling queue, inserting the task identification for polling the device in a next position in the immediate polling queue; if the task identification for polling the device is in the immediate polling queue: calculating a next polling time for polling the device; and inserting the task identification in the delayed polling queue in dependence upon the next polling time.