Environmental sensor certification system

• US 10,401,237 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2017
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digi International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Digi International Inc.
• Inventors: Schechter, Harry J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, John H
• Application Number:
  US15/590,635
• Publication Number:
  US 20170328791A1
• Time in Patent Office: 847 Days
• Field of Search: 702182, 34053926, 340870, 340 90, 34087009
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 15/007 Testing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance

Abstract

Embodiments of a certification system for use with an environmental monitoring system that may monitor environmental parameters of multiple different environments. The certification system, which includes one or more computing devices, monitors the certification of environmental sensors of the system. When the certification system detects that the certification of a sensor in a first environment satisfies a condition, such as that the certification is to expire within a threshold period of time, the system triggers the distribution of a certified sensor to an operator of the first environment to replace the sensor for which the certification is to expire. For example, the system may trigger the environmental monitoring system to send a newly-certified sensor to the first operator of the first environment.

Claims

1. A method of operating at least one computing device of an environmental monitoring system, the environmental monitoring system monitoring at least one environmental parameter of one or more environments, each environment of the one or more environments being owned and/or managed by an operator of one or more operators and being remote from the at least one computing device, the method comprising:

storing, in at least one data store of the environmental monitoring system, first information regarding certification of proper operating performance of a first environmental sensor, the first information regarding certification comprising an expiration date of the certification;

storing, in the at least one data store and in association with an account of a first operator with the environmental monitoring system, first data generated by the first environmental sensor, the first data generated by the first environmental sensor comprising a first value of a first environmental parameter sensed by the first environmental sensor in a first environment of the one or more environments, the first operator owning and/or managing the first environment;

in response to determining that the expiration date of the first environmental sensor satisfies a condition, triggering distribution to the first operator of a second environmental sensor;

storing, in the at least one data store and in association with the account of the first operator with the environmental monitoring system, second data generated by the second environmental sensor, the second data generated by the second environmental sensor comprising a second value of the first environmental parameter sensed by the second environmental sensor in the first environment,

wherein storing the first data generated by the first environmental sensor and storing the second data generated by the second environmental sensor comprises receiving the first and second data transmitted over at least one wireless wide area network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving at least one message from the second environmental sensor following distribution of the second environmental sensor to the first operator,

registering the second environmental sensor with the account of the first operator with the environmental monitoring system, and

associating the second environmental sensor with the first data previously received from the first environmental sensor.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

outputting for display a user interface that comprises at least a set of values of the first environmental parameter and an identification of the second environmental sensor, the set of values included in the user interface comprising the first value received from the first environmental sensor and the second value received from the second environmental sensor.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein outputting the user interface for display comprises transmitting at least one web page including the set of values.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein associating the second environmental sensor with the first data previously received from the first environmental sensor comprises associating the second environmental sensor with a task with which the first environmental sensor is associated.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein associating the second environmental sensor with the task with which the first environmental sensor is associated comprises associating the second environmental sensor with locating a particular environmental condition in the first environment and/or monitoring the particular environmental condition in a particular location within the first environment.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to determining that the expiration date of the first environmental sensor satisfies the condition:

triggering certification of the second environmental sensor; and

storing, in the at least one data store of the environmental monitoring system, second information regarding certification of operating performance of the second environmental sensor, the second information regarding certification comprising an expiration date of the certification of the second environmental sensor.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein storing the second information regarding certification of the second environmental sensor comprises:

generating an electronic certificate including at least some of the second information regarding certification of the second environmental sensor, the electronic certificate being stored in an electronic format that identifies at least one textual formatting option and/or one or more graphical elements to be included in a display of the electronic certificate;

storing the electronic certificate in the at least one data store; and

making the electronic certificate available via the world-wide web to the first operator of the first environment.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

triggering generation of an identifying tag to be applied to the second environmental sensor, the identifying tag comprising an unique identifier for the second environmental sensor and a web address for accessing the electronic certificate.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein triggering the certification of the second environmental sensor comprises triggering certification of a sensor of a same sensor type as the first environmental sensor.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein triggering the distribution of the second environmental sensor in response to determining that the expiration date of the first environmental sensor satisfies a condition comprises triggering the distribution of the second environmental sensor in response to determining that the expiration date is within a threshold period of time of a current time.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein

receiving the first data generated by the first environmental sensor comprises receiving the data from a first environmental sensor unit comprising the first environmental sensor;

and

receiving the second data generated by the second environmental sensor comprises receiving the second data from the first environmental sensor unit comprising the second environmental sensor.

13. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method of operating at least one computing device of a certification system for use with an environmental monitoring system, the environmental monitoring system monitoring at least one environmental parameter of each of a plurality of environments, each environment of the plurality of environments being owned and/or managed by an operator of a plurality of operators, the environmental monitoring system maintaining information on an account of each of the plurality of operators, the method comprising:

storing, in at least one data store of the certification system, information regarding certification of operating performance of a first environmental sensor that is associated with a first operator of a first environment, the information regarding the certification comprising an expiration date of the certification;

in response to determining that the certification of the first environmental sensor satisfies a condition, triggering distribution of a second environmental sensor to the first operator; and

associating the second environmental sensor with data generated by the first environmental sensor.

14. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

outputting for display a user interface that identifies a set of data received from the second environmental sensor, the set of data identified in the user interface comprising both data received from the first environmental sensor and data received from the second environmental sensor.

15. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises storing data indicating that the second environmental sensor is to replace the first environmental sensor.

16. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein associating the second environmental sensor with data generated by the first environmental sensor comprises associating the second environmental sensor with a task with which the first environmental sensor is associated.

17. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises, in response to determining that the certification of the first environmental sensor satisfies the condition, triggering certification of the second environmental sensor.

18. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein triggering the certification and distribution of the second environmental sensor in response to determining that the certification of the first environmental sensor satisfies a condition comprises triggering the certification and distribution in response to determining that the expiration date of the certification of the first environmental sensor is within a threshold amount of time of a current time.

19. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a web address at which an electronic certificate demonstrating the certification of the second environmental address can be accessed; and

triggering generation of an identification tag for the second environmental sensor, the identification tag comprising an identifier for the second environmental sensor and the web address.

20. An apparatus for use with an environmental monitoring system, the environmental monitoring system monitoring at least one environmental parameter of each of a plurality of environments, each environment of the plurality of environments being owned and/or managed by an operator of a plurality of operators, the environmental monitoring system maintaining information on an account of each of the plurality of operators, the apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method of operating a certification system, the method comprising;

evaluating information regarding certification of operating performance of a first environmental sensor that is associated with a first operator of a first environment, the information regarding the certification comprising an expiration date of the certification;

in response to determining that the certification of the first environmental sensor satisfies a condition, triggering distribution to the first operator of a second environmental sensor for which proper operating performance has been certified; and

associating the second environmental sensor with data generated by the first environmental sensor.