Peer To Patent

1

An apparatus for providing a summary for at least one process of a system, the apparatus comprising: a block object for accepting input data descriptive of the at least one process and for grouping as a block at least one variable of the input data with at least one attribute for the variable; and a display client for reading the block and producing output to display the summary for the at least one process.

Relevance

Nagios monitors remote processes, allows storage of the monitored process data then display that data and MTRG provides graphical displays. See http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/about.html and http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/

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2

The apparatus as in Claim 1, wherein the input data comprises at least one of historic data, predictive data, improved data, calculated data, derived data, reference data, real-time data, approximately real-time data, data collected by system sensors, operational data, manual input data and projected data.

Relevance

See http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/mrtggraphs.html and http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/

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3

The apparatus as in Claim 1, wherein the at least one attribute comprises at least one of a member name, a display name, a type, a display changeable status and a visibility option.

Relevance

http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/mrtggraphs.html, http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/ and/or http://www.stat.ee.ethz.ch/mrtg/ would seem to meet this

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4

The apparatus as in Claim 3, wherein the type comprises a type for indicating one of an actual value, a set-point, an estimated value, an upper bounds and a lower bounds.

Relevance

See http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/mrtggraphs.html and http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/

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6

The apparatus as in Claim 1, wherein the block further comprises information of at least one of a rule result, a predictor result, and an estimation result.

Relevance

Rule result, predictor result or estimation result sounds like a mathematical calculation to me

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7

The apparatus as in Claim 6, wherein the information comprises information descriptive of at least one of engineering principles, probability assessments, weighting factors, physical properties, system dynamics and prior system performance.

Relevance

http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/mrtggraphs.html, http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/ and/or http://www.stat.ee.ethz.ch/mrtg/ would seem to meet this

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8

The apparatus as in Claim 1, wherein the system comprises one of an industrial system, a power plant and a medical setting.

Relevance

Computers can be an industrial system. See http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/about.html

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9

The apparatus as in Claim 1, wherein the block object comprises a user interface for selecting the at least one variable and the at least one attribute.

Relevance

http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/mrtggraphs.html, http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/ and/or http://www.stat.ee.ethz.ch/mrtg/ would seem to meet this

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10

The apparatus as in Claim 9, wherein the user interface comprises at least one of a graphical user interface (GUI), a control tree structure and a tag listing.

Relevance

Using a GUI is non-obvious given Windows and X. Again a tree structure is obvious structuring of information. See Windows Explorer for an example of a visual tree structure to control information overload. Picasa, http://picasa.google.com, and Digikam, http://www.digikam.og, allow use of tags in an image-categorisation context.

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11

The apparatus as in Claim 1, wherein the display client comprises a context menu for customizing the appearance of the output.

Relevance

In Windows XP, open "My Documents". Right-click (context menu) in the file listing. You can order files by different attributes and vary the style of the file listings

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12

The apparatus as in Claim 1, comprising at least one of a computer system, a network, at least one sensor, a server, a display system and a remote access.

Relevance

Describes any number of general systems but Nagios and many other network-monitoring tools would fit these requirements. See http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/about.html

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13

The apparatus as in Claim 1, wherein the apparatus is an enhancement to an existing system.

Relevance

Describes any number of general systems but Nagios and many other network-monitoring tools would fit these requirements. It describes the situation where you didn't have network-monitoring before and now you do

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14

A method for providing a summary for at least one process of a system, the method comprising: selecting a block comprising at least one variable descriptive of the process with at least one attribute for the variable;

using a display client, reading the block to produce output; and,

displaying the output as the summary for the at least one process.

Relevance

http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/nagiostats.html and http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/ would seem to fit the description. Also see http://www.stat.ee.ethz.ch/mrtg/

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15

The method as in Claim 14, further comprising creating the block by using a block object to select the at least one variable and the at least one attribute.

Relevance

Grammar confusing. What is "select the at least one variable"? Does it mean "select at least one variable" or "select the 'at least one' variable"?

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16

The method as in Claim 14, wherein providing comprises at least one of a continuous basis, about a real-time basis, a periodic basis and a frequent basis.

Relevance

http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/mrtggraphs.html, http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/ and/or http://www.stat.ee.ethz.ch/mrtg/ would seem to meet this

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17

The method as in Claim 14, wherein displaying comprises using at least one of a bar graph, a trend plot, a histogram, a pie chart, a line graph, a scatter graph, a performance plot and a pareto plot.

Relevance

http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/mrtggraphs.html, http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/ and/or http://www.stat.ee.ethz.ch/mrtg/ would seem to meet this

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18

The method as in Claim 17, wherein the bar graph comprises at least one of a bar graph drawing area, a numeric display, an attribute information area, a status information area, a bar graph title, and at least one sidebar arrow indicator.

Relevance

http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/mrtggraphs.html, http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/ and/or http://www.stat.ee.ethz.ch/mrtg/ would seem to meet this

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19

The method as in Claim 18, wherein the displaying further comprises accepting a user input for modifying properties of the display.

Relevance

How could a GUI operate otherwise?

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20

An apparatus for providing a summary for at least one process of a system, the apparatus comprising: means for accepting input data descriptive of the at least one process and for grouping as a block at least one variable of the input data with at least one attribute for the variable; and display means for reading the block and producing output to display the summary for the at least one process.

Relevance

http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/mrtggraphs.html, http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/ and/or http://www.stat.ee.ethz.ch/mrtg/ would seem to meet this

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Type of Prior Art	Source Code

Name/Title	Nagios

Publication Date	January 1, 1999

Author

URL	http://www.nagios.org/

System Type	Application Program

Printed Materials (Documentation, Manual, Training Guide, Literature, et cetera)	No

Online Source Code Repository	Yes

Online project documentation	Yes

Storage Media (Floppy disk, CD-ROM, Tape, et cetera)	No

Other	No

How to Locate the Evidence (e.g. Location of the System Documentation -- Product Manual, User Guide, or Training Guide)	http://www.nagios.org/

URL for Software Repository	http://www.nagios.org/download/

URL for Product Description	http://www.nagios.org/docs/

Licensing Model	Open Source

Programming Language	C, Perl

Summary / Description	Nagios is an Open Source host, service and network monitoring program. Where can you get it? Right here. Can you get support for it? Yes! Get more answers to some of your basic questions about Nagios here

Notes