Patent ID: 7792920

Claim:
A remotely accessible computing system having a processor and memory configured to control multiple types of networked devices, the computing system comprising: a management system configured to communicatively couple to the networked devices, the management system including: a core module to centrally generate control requests and data requests related to operation of the networked devices; and multiple gateway modules to facilitate communication between the core module and the networked devices, wherein each of the gateway modules corresponds to a different type of networked device and includes a communication interface that corresponds to that type of networked device, wherein each of the gateway modules is associated with at least one networked device of the type to which gateway module corresponds, and wherein each of the gateway modules is in communication with the core module to: receive the control requests and data requests from the core module, provide via the communication interface the control requests and the data requests to at least one of the associated networked devices, receive via the communication interface responses to the control requests and the data requests from at least one of the associated networked devices, provide the responses to the control requests and the data requests to the core module, suppress on-screen display of messages on the associated network devices, receive via the communication interface messages from at least one of the associated network devices, and provide the received messages to the core module to display the messages on a graphical user interface of the computing system in lieu of the suppressed on-screen display of the messages, wherein the core module and the multiple gateway modules are implemented as computer-executable instructions stored in the memory and executed by the processor.