Method and apparatus for managing intelligent assets in a distributed environment
AssigneeQuestra Corporation
InventorsEric Henry Baller, John Thomas Canosa, John Maitland Cook III, David Patrick Hart, Christopher James Kuntz, John Louis Taylor, Dimitrios Psarros, Rajeev Raman, Thomas Chiarella
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method is described which provides for managing intelligent equipment that is deployed remotely. The capabilities of managing such distributed assets include both infrastructural capabilities to establish and maintain connection through a variety of wired and wireless mechanisms and application modules that provide distributed asset management capabilities.
Claims31
Apparatus for connecting a remote machine to a central system by way of a network comprising:
- a message generator for creating a message for transmission over the network, the message comprising information identifying the type of machine;
- a receiver for receiving and storing a unique identifier from a central system, the message generator subsequently creating messages using the unique identifier
Apparatus for connecting a remote machine to a central system comprising:
- a message generator for sending a registration message to a central system, the registration message including a unique identifier;
- memory for storing a schedule;
- a scheduler for periodically activating the message generator according to the stored schedule;
- a receiver, activated for a predetermined time after the message generator is activated for receiving messages from the central system
Apparatus for connecting a remote machine to a central system through a firewall that prevents incoming connections to the machine comprising:
- a message generator for sending a registration message to a central system;
- memory for storing a schedule;
- a scheduler for periodically activating the message generator according to the stored schedule for creating a temporary two way connection to a central system.
Apparatus for connecting a remote machine to a central system through a system that establishes solely transient connections to the machine and the central system comprising:
- a message generator for sending a registration message to a central system;
- memory for storing a schedule;
- a scheduler for periodically activating the message generator according to the stored schedule for sending messages to the central system, each message including a message identifier;
- a listener receiving messages from the central system, each received message including a message identifier corresponding to the message identifier of one sent message
Apparatus for connecting a remote machine to a central system through a system that establishes solely transient connections to the machine and the central system comprising:
- a message generator for sending a registration message to a central system;
- a listener receiving messages from the central system, each received message including a message identifier
- the message generator sending responsive messages to the central system, each responsive message including a message identifier corresponding to the message identifier of one received message;
A method of communicating between a server and an asset comprising the steps of:
- queueing one or more request messages on the server;
- logging the one or more request messages on the server;
- sending a polling message from the asset to the server;
- sending one of the one or more request messages to the asset in response to the polling message;
- sending a responsive message from the asset to the server;
- receiving the responsive message at the server and reconciling the responsive message with the logged request;
- continuing to send request messages to the asset until the queue is empty.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.