# US 7,613,804 B2 · Systems and methods for state management of networked systems > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 7,613,804 B2 - Document ID: US7613804B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 10/721,726 - Filed: 2003-11-25 - Published: 2005-05-26 - Granted: 2009-11-03 - Earliest claimed: 2003-11-25 - Assignees: Microsoft Corporation - Inventors: Gary P. Raden; Eduardo da Fonseca Melo; Tolga Bayram Ekmekci; Thomas M. Soemo; Lisa M. Butler; Richard J. Moerloos, Jr. - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7613804B2 ## CPC - H04L 43/14: {using software, i.e. software packages (network security related monitoring H04L63/1408)} - H04L 41/22: comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] - H04L 43/02: Capturing of monitoring data - H04L 43/0805: by checking availability - H04L 43/0876: Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level - H04L 43/16: Threshold monitoring - H04L 67/306: User profiles - Y10S 707/99935: Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS ## Abstract The present invention leverages a data gathering service to provide information regarding a network system's health, performance and/or utilization via a computing entity, local and/or remote. This provides an optimized means to aggregate a single network's data and/or multiple networks' data, decreasing the amount of effort required by system administrators to keep a network operational and/or to provide control of its utilization and/or update a system's state. In one instance of the present invention, a data gathering service aggregates data from systems and provides access to this information via a communication means. In another instance of the present invention, aggregated data is utilized to provide manual and/or automatic control of one or more aspects of a system's utilization and/or state by an entity and/or a person. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system embodied on a computer-readable storage medium that facilitates determining a state of a networked system, comprising: a component that obtains system data corresponding to a system component that resides on a first networked system and to a system component that resides on a second network system, the second networked system is external to the first networked system; and an aggregator that aggregates the system data corresponding to the first networked system and the second networked system in accordance with predetermined rules, analyzes at least a subset of the system data and generates an output comprising hidden information obtained via data mining that identifies trends occurring across the first and second networked systems and corresponding to respective states of a subset of components of the first and second networked systems, the output utilized to automatically limit utilization of at least one aspect of the first or second networked system according to a defined limit on aggregate utilization of resources of at least one such system. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, additionally comprising a remote access component that enables manual control over the system component or the second system component and provides a user with remote access to the output. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the component comprising a polling component that polls the system components to obtain the system data. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the aggregator comprising a distributed database engine. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the predetermined rules employ a user control parameter to filter and aggregate system data specified by a user of the system. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, at least one of the system components comprising a system component that sends data to the component unprompted. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, the unprompted system component utilizes at least one of unicasting, multicasting, or broadcasting techniques to send data to the component. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the system components comprising a plurality of components on a server of the first networked system or the second networked system. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the system components comprising at least one of a running process, a data source, or a data log. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the hidden information comprising at least one of system diagnosis information or system prognosis information of the respective networked systems. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the output comprising a user customizable output. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the output comprising a status report. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, the status report relating to at least one of system performance data, system health data, or system utilization data of the first and second networked systems. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the output comprising at least one schema table to provide optimal access of data relating to the output. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the output utilized to detect faulty errors in at least one of the networked systems. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the output utilized to provide automatic software updates to at least one of the system components in response to the state of the subset of components of the first and second networked systems. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the output comprising at least one system control parameter. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, the system control parameter comprising at least one of a load shed command or a load balancing command. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, the system control parameter comprising a security preservation action to maintain security of at least one networked system. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, the system control parameter comprising a remedial action to maintain operation of at least one system component on the first or second networked systems. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the state comprising at least one of a previous state, a current state, or a future state. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the state comprising a health status state of the first or second networked systems. ### Claim 23 (depends on 22) The system of claim 22, the health status state comprising at least one of a previous health status state, a current health status state, or a future health status state. ### Claim 24 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, at least a portion of the system data corresponding to the system components is generated by at least one of a health monitor, a performance monitor, or a utilization monitor. ### Claim 25 A computer-implemented method for facilitating state determination of a networked system, comprising: obtaining system data corresponding to a system component that resides on a first networked system and a system component that resides on a second networked system, the first and second networked systems do not share a direct communication link, the system data contains at least information regarding utilization of system resources pertaining to the first and second networked systems; aggregating, according to predetermined rules, at least a portion of the system data corresponding to at least a subset of the system components; analyzing at least a portion of the aggregated system data based on a user control parameter to extract information specified by a system user from the aggregated data; employing the extracted information to generate an output corresponding to respective states of the subset of the system components, the output comprising data trends obtained by data mining information pertaining to the respective states of the system components; utilizing the output to provide an automatic software update to at least one system component to mitigate a detected error state; and masking alerts associated with the error state when a software update is not available. ### Claim 26 (depends on 25) The method of claim 25, further comprising: sending the output to a selectable recipient at a selectable rate in a selectable manner. ### Claim 27 (depends on 25) The method of claim 25, further comprising: customizing the output according to a set of rules determined by a user. ### Claim 28 (depends on 25) The method of claim 25, further comprising: controlling an aspect of the networked system in response to the output corresponding to the state of the subset of the system components. ### Claim 29 (depends on 28) The method of claim 28, the aspect comprising an operational system parameter responsible for maintaining operation of the networked system. ### Claim 30 A system embodied on a computer-readable storage medium that facilitates determining a state of a networked system, comprising: means for obtaining system data corresponding to at least a subset of a plurality of system components that reside on a first networked system and a second networked system, the system data contains at least information regarding utilization of system resources; means for aggregating at least a portion of the obtained data, the aggregated data filtered with a user control parameter specified by a system user; means for analyzing at least a subset of the filtered data to generate an output corresponding to respective states of the subset of system components of the first networked system and the second networked system; means for prioritizing utilization of at least one resource on the first or second networked system; and means for automatically curtailing utilization of a resource by a first user of the networked system when a second user with a higher utilization priority requires the same resource. ### Claim 31 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, employed to provide a remotely accessible state determination service. ### Claim 32 (depends on 31) The system of claim 31, the state determination service comprising an aggregation, analysis, and control service for at least one networked system pertaining to at least one system administrator, wherein a security action is implemented by the state determination service for the first networked system or the second networked system based on an input from the at least one system administrator. ### Claim 33 (depends on 25) The method of claim 25 employed in a multiple networked system service environment to determine and predict common errors across at least a subset of the networked systems. ### Claim 34 (depends on 1) A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable components of the system of claim 1. ### Claim 35 (depends on 25) A device employing the method of claim 25 comprising at least one of a computer, a server, or a handheld electronic device. ### Claim 36 (depends on 1) A device employing the system of claim 1 comprising at least one of a computer, a server, or a handheld electronic device.