Patent ID: 7421474

Claim:
A method of monitoring over a network a monitored device by a monitoring device using Internet electronic mail, the method comprising: receiving an electronic mail message by the monitoring device; extracting, from a field of a header of the received electronic mail message, validation information; determining, by the monitoring device based on a content of the validation information, whether or not a body of the electronic mail message includes at least one of status and configuration information of the monitored device; extracting, from the body of the electronic mail message, the at least one of status and configuration information, when the determining step determines that the body of the electronic mail message includes the at least one of status and configuration information, and when the determining step determines that the body of the electronic mail message does not include the at least one of status and configuration information, parsing the body of the electronic mail message without extracting the at least one of status and configuration information; and storing the extracted at least one of status and configuration information in a memory.