Also found a simpler/less complex example of a collector implementation - The NTP plugin.
Java class is here - /src/org/hyperic/hq/plugin/ntp/NTPDCollector.java
You can also find it here - http://git.springsource.org/hq/hq/blobs/master/hq-plugin/ntp-plugin/src/main/java/org/hyperic/hq/plugin/ntp/NTPDCollector.java