Metrics and status presentation system and method using persistent template-driven web objects

Abstract

A Web-based management system operating method automates collection and analysis of information from a plurality of networked devices, as well as creation of metrics, and independently assembles and displays data related to the networked device information on a distributed network. The networked devices may include one or more copiers, printers, facsimile machines and multifunction devices. Internal and external data is gathered from the networked devices. At least one of graphical, textual, statistical, metrics and status data is generated using a network database concurrently. This data is assembled and presented to a user on demand as one or more Web pages. The method uses template-driven mechanisms, or Web objects, that significantly simplify the creation, dynamic modification and persistence, as well as enforcement of concurrency, contention, and atomicity rules between, individual Web objects that compose the Web pages through the use of objects, concurrent state machines, events and actions within states. A Portion of the Web page can be separately created, e.g., manually or with a web page authoring tool The Web objects are combined and populated dynamically from the appropriate Web object states for the final display as a Web page by a Web browser.