Monitoring usage and adjusting operational characteristics of physical assets

• US 10,476,696 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2017
• Issued: 11/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FMR LLC
• Original Assignee: FMR LLC
• Inventors: Madhani, Sunil, Foti, Valentine, Metzler, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau, Tung S
• Application Number:
  US15/815,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20190149354A1
• Time in Patent Office: 726 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2825 Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are described for monitoring usage and adjusting operational characteristics of physical assets. Asset sensors capture temperature data and x-y-z coordinate displacement data associated with a physical asset. A reference sensor captures temperature data of a defined physical area. For each asset sensor, a server computing device monitors the temperature data and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data. The server applies triggers to the temperature data and the displacement data to determine whether a change event occurred. The server records the temperature data and the displacement data when a change event occurred for the physical asset. The server generates instructions comprising a change to: an operational state or an availability of the physical asset. The server transmits the instructions to a remote device associated with the physical asset. The remote device executes the instructions to change: the operational state or the availability of the physical asset.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring usage of a physical asset to automatically lock the physical asset, the system comprising:

a plurality of asset sensor devices, each asset sensor device attached to a physical asset in a defined physical area and continuously capturing temperature data and x-y-z coordinate displacement data associated with the physical asset;

at least one reference sensor device, the reference sensor device continuously capturing temperature data of the defined physical area;

a server computing device coupled to the plurality of asset sensor devices and the at least one reference sensor device, the server computing device comprising a memory for storing computer-executable instructions and a processor that executes the computer-executable instructions to;

continuously monitor, for each asset sensor device during one or more time intervals, the captured temperature data and the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data of the asset sensor device;

continuously apply, for each asset sensor device during the one or more time intervals, a set of triggers to the captured temperature data and the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data of the asset sensor device to determine whether a change event occurred for the physical asset, the change event associated with one trigger in the set of triggers;

record, for each asset sensor device during the one or more time intervals, the temperature data and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data of the asset sensor device when a change event occurred for the physical asset, the recording continuing until the temperature data associated with the physical asset matches the temperature data associated with the defined physical area and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data associated with the physical asset returns to zero;

determine that the physical asset should be locked based upon the recorded temperature data and the recorded x-y-z coordinate displacement data for each of the asset sensor devices during the one or more time intervals;

generate instructions comprising a lock event of the physical asset; and

transmit the instructions to a remote computing device associated with the physical asset,

the remote computing device executing the instructions to automatically activate a locking mechanism for one or more control devices on the physical asset to render the physical asset inoperable until a maintenance of the physical asset is complete.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of asset sensor devices each comprises a wireless beacon with a motion sensor and a temperature sensor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each asset sensor device is programmed with base x-y-z coordinates and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data corresponds to a change in x-y-z coordinates of the asset sensor device from the base x-y-z coordinates.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the server computing device captures temperature data associated with the defined physical area from the reference sensor device at the same time as capturing temperature data associated with the physical asset from the asset sensor device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the server computing device stores the set of triggers in a database, each trigger comprising a plurality of binary values, each binary value corresponding to one of:

a change in temperature of the physical asset, a change in x-coordinate displacement of the physical asset, a change in y-coordinate displacement of the physical asset, or a change in z-coordinate displacement of the physical asset.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein recording the temperature data and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data of the asset sensor device when a change event occurred for the physical asset comprises:

storing a current temperature and current x-y-z coordinates of the asset sensor device in a database at each of a plurality of predetermined time intervals.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the server computing device generates an alert associated with the generated instructions and transmits the alert to a mobile computing device of a user to notify the user of the lock event.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the base x-y-z coordinates are zero and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data is x-y-z coordinates with at least one non-zero value representing the change in x-y-z coordinates of the asset sensor device from the base x-y-z coordinates.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein applying the set of triggers to the captured temperature data and the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data of the asset sensor device comprises:

determining whether a change in temperature exists for the physical asset based upon the captured temperature data;

determining whether a change in x-coordinate displacement exists for the physical asset based upon the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data;

determining whether a change in y-coordinate displacement exists for the physical asset based upon the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data;

determining whether a change in z-coordinate displacement exists for the physical asset based upon the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data;

generating a binary value for each of the change in temperature determination, the change in x-coordinate displacement determination, the change in y-coordinate displacement determination, and the change in z-coordinate displacement determination;

comparing the generated binary values to the plurality of binary values for each trigger in the set of triggers to determine whether the binary values of one trigger matches the generated binary values; and

determining that a change event occurred for the physical asset when the generated binary values matches the binary values of one trigger.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein plurality of predetermined time intervals comprises real-time storing of the current temperature and current x-y-z coordinates of the asset sensor device.

11. A computerized method of monitoring usage of a physical asset to automatically lock the physical asset, the method comprising:

continuously capturing, by a plurality of asset sensor devices each attached to a physical asset in a defined physical area, temperature data and x-y-z coordinate displacement data associated with the physical asset;

continuously capturing, by at least one reference sensor device, temperature data of the defined physical area;

for each asset sensor device;

continuously monitoring, by a server computing device coupled to the plurality of asset sensor devices and the at least one reference sensor device, during each of one or more time intervals, the captured temperature data and the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data of the asset sensor device;

continuously applying, by the server computing device, during each of the one or more time intervals, a set of triggers to the captured temperature data and the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data of the asset sensor device to determine whether a change event occurred for the physical asset, the change event associated with one trigger in the set of triggers; and

recording, by the server computing device, during each of the one or more time intervals, the temperature data and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data of the asset sensor device when a change event occurred for the physical asset, the recording continuing until the temperature data associated with the physical asset matches the temperature data associated with the defined physical area and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data associated with the physical asset returns to zero;

determining, by the server computing device, that the physical asset should be locked based upon the recorded temperature data and the recorded x-y-z coordinate displacement data for each of the asset sensor devices during the one or more time intervals;

generating, by the server computing device, instructions comprising a lock event of the physical asset;

transmitting, by the server computing device, the instructions to a remote computing device associated with the physical asset; and

executing, by the remote computing device, the instructions to automatically activate a locking mechanism for one or more control devices on the physical asset to render the physical asset manually inoperable until a maintenance of the physical asset is complete.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of asset sensor devices each comprises a wireless beacon with a motion sensor and a temperature sensor.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein each asset sensor device is programmed with base x-y-z coordinates and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data corresponds to a change in x-y-z coordinates of the asset sensor device from the base x-y-z coordinates.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the server computing device captures temperature data associated with the defined physical area from the reference sensor device at the same time as capturing temperature data associated with the physical asset from the asset sensor device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the server computing device stores the set of triggers in a database, each trigger comprising a plurality of binary values, each binary value corresponding to one of:

a change in temperature of the physical asset, a change in x-coordinate displacement of the physical asset, a change in y-coordinate displacement of the physical asset, or a change in z-coordinate displacement of the physical asset.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein recording the temperature data and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data of the asset sensor device when a change event occurred for the physical asset comprises:

storing, by the server computing device, a current temperature and current x-y-z coordinates of the asset sensor device in a database at each of a plurality of predetermined time intervals.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the server computing device generates an alert associated with the generated instructions and transmits the alert to a mobile computing device of a user to notify the user of the lock event.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the base x-y-z coordinates are zero and the x-y-z coordinate displacement data is x-y-z coordinates with at least one non-zero value representing the change in x-y-z coordinates of the asset sensor device from the base x-y-z coordinates.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein applying the set of triggers to the captured temperature data and the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data of the asset sensor device comprises:

determining, by the server computing device, whether a change in temperature exists for the physical asset based upon the captured temperature data;

determining, by the server computing device, whether a change in x-coordinate displacement exists for the physical asset based upon the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data;

determining, by the server computing device, whether a change in y-coordinate displacement exists for the physical asset based upon the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data;

determining, by the server computing device, whether a change in z-coordinate displacement exists for the physical asset based upon the captured x-y-z coordinate displacement data;

generating, by the server computing device, a binary value for each of the change in temperature determination, the change in x-coordinate displacement determination, and the change in y-coordinate displacement determination;

comparing, by the server computing device, the generated binary values to the plurality of binary values for each trigger in the set of triggers to determine whether the binary values of one trigger matches the generated binary values; and

determining, by the server computing device, that a change event occurred for the physical asset when the generated binary values matches the binary values of one trigger.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein plurality of predetermined time intervals comprises real-time storing of the current temperature and current x-y-z coordinates of the asset sensor device.