Patent ID: 7533167

Claim:
A method of extracting status information related to a remotely monitored device communicatively coupled to a monitoring device through a network, the monitoring device monitors and controls the remotely monitored device, the method comprising: determining, at the monitoring device, first status values to be obtained from the remotely monitored device using a first communication protocol among a plurality of communication protocols; determining, at the monitoring device, second status values to be obtained from the remotely monitored device using a second communication protocol among the plurality of communication protocols; transmitting a request by the monitoring device to the remotely monitored device using the first communication protocol for a data string that contains status information of the remotely monitored device; receiving by the monitoring device, in response to the request, the data string transmitted by the monitored device using the first communication protocol, wherein said data string is obtained from a MIB of the remotely monitored device or webpage from a server of the remotely monitored device; extracting, by the monitoring device, the first status values from the data string by using a data structure that includes a string key, a tag based value indicating a position in the data string where the first status values are located, and a delimiter used to extract the first status values; storing, in a storage unit at the monitoring device, each extracted first status value in association with a respective unique identifier; comparing, by the monitoring device, the second status values to the first status values stored in the storage unit to check for redundancies; storing, in a first data structure at the monitoring device, a list of the first status values that identify what status values can be obtained from the remotely monitored device by the monitoring device using the first communication protocol; storing, in a second data structure at the monitoring device, a list of the second status values that identify what status values can be obtained from the remotely monitored device by the monitoring device using the second communication protocol; deleting, from the list of the second status values at the monitoring device, those status values previously extracted from the remotely monitored device by use of the first communication protocol and stored in the storage unit; and transmitting another request by the monitoring device to the remotely monitored device using the second communication protocol to request that the monitored device transmit the second status values not stored in the storage unit and included in the list of the second status values after the deleting to avoid extracting first status values already stored in the storage unit.