System and method for customizing the storage and management of device data in a networked environment

• US 20030167273A1
• Filed: 02/28/2003
• Published: 09/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Autumn Cloud LLC (IP Edge LLC)
• Original Assignee: Vigilos, Inc.
• Inventors: Alexander, Bruce, Antal, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,606,843 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/735 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A system and method for customizing the storage of data according to data attributes are provided. A user is provided with a graphical user interface for generating data archive profiles. The data archive profiles can include information regarding the attributes of the device data, specifications regarding the storage of the data, specifications regarding the retrieval of the archived data, and management of the archived data during storage. The execution of the data archive profiles facilitates the individual processing of specific data types or individual pieces of identifiable data.

Claims

1. In a system including monitoring devices generating monitoring device data, an archive server processing the archival of monitoring device data and a client computer configuring the archival of monitoring device data, a method for processing monitoring device data, the method comprising:

obtaining incoming monitoring device data, wherein the monitoring device data is characterized by one or more archival attributes;

obtaining an archival profile associated with the one or more archival attributes of the incoming monitoring device data;

processing the incoming monitoring device according to the archival profile; and

generating an archival activity corresponding to the processing of the archival profile.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the archival profile corresponds to a type of incoming monitoring device data archival attribute.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the archival profile corresponds to a monitoring device archival attribute.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the archival profile corresponds to an identifiable monitoring device archival attribute.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the archival profile corresponds to a type of monitoring device archival attribute.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the archival profile corresponds to a user archival attribute.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the archival profile corresponds to an event archival attribute.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the monitoring device data includes device state information and device information and wherein processing the incoming monitoring device data according to the archival profile includes processing the device state information according to a device state portion of the archival profile and processing the device information according to a device information portion of the archival profile.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the device state information can include data selected from a group consisting of a status of a monitoring device, a time of day, value for one or more sensors associated with the monitoring device, a premises identifier, and a user identifier.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the device information can include videodata.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the device information can include audiodata.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein processing the incoming monitoring device according to the archival profile includes filtering the incoming monitoring device data.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein processing the incoming monitoring device according to the archival profile includes normalizing the incoming monitoring device data.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein processing the incoming monitoring device according to the archival profile includes compressing the incoming monitoring device data.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein processing the incoming monitoring device according to the archival profile includes transforming the incoming monitoring device data.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the archival activity includes no archival.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the system includes multiple data repositories and wherein the archival activity includes archiving the incoming monitoring device data in a number of data repositories.

18. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the archival activity includes selectively replicating at least a portion of the incoming monitoring device data.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the system includes multiple data repositories and wherein the archival activity includes selectively replicating at least a portion of the incoming monitoring device data in at least two data repositories.

20. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising updating an archival profile log corresponding to the archival activity.

21. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining a request for retrieval of archived data;

obtaining an archival profile corresponding to the archived data;

processing the archival profile to retrieve archived data from a repository; and

returning the archived data according to the data request.

22. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein processing the archival profile to retrieve that archived data from a repository includes obtaining archival retrieval parameters and determining whether the archival request satisfies the archival retrieval parameters.

23. The method as recited in claim 21 further comprising processing the retrieved archived data prior to returning the data according to the request.

24. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein processing the retrieved archived data includes uncompressing the archived data.

25. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein processing the retrieved archived data includes transforming the archived data.

26. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein returning the archived data includes generating viewable display screens including the retrieved archived data.

27. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the viewable display screens include one or more static display screens.

28. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the viewable display screens includes a stream of display screens.

29. The method as recited in claim 21 further comprising deleting the archived data once it has been returned.

30. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising obtaining an archival component for each data repository;

and managing archived data within each repository according the archival profile.

31. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein managing archived data within each repository includes deleting a portion of the archived data on a per time basis.

32. The method as recited in claim 31, wherein the archived data is video frame data and wherein deleting a portion of the data on a per time basis includes deleting a number of frames of the archived data over a period of time.

33. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein managing archived data includes purging archived data from each data repository.

34. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 1.

35. A computer system including a processor, a memory and an operating environment, the computer system operable to perform the method recited in claim 1.

36. A system for processing monitoring device data, the system comprising:

one or more monitoring devices generating monitoring device data characterized by one or more data archival attributes;

a monitoring device data processor for obtaining an archival profile corresponding to the one or more data archival attributes and for processing the monitoring device data according to the archival profile; and

at least one data repository for storing the monitoring device data according to the archival profile.

37. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the archival profile corresponds to a type of incoming monitoring device data archival attribute.

38. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the archival profile corresponds to a monitoring device archival attribute.

39. The system as recited in claim 38, wherein the archival profile corresponds to an identifiable monitoring device archival attribute.

40. The system as recited in claim 38, wherein the archival profile corresponds to a type of monitoring device archival attribute.

41. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the archival profile corresponds to a user archival attribute.

42. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the archival profile corresponds to an event archival attribute.

43. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the monitoring device data includes device state information and device information and wherein the monitoring device data processor processes the device state information according to a device state portion of the archival profile and processes the device information according to a device information portion of the archival profile.

44. The system as recited in claim 43, wherein the device state information can include data selected from a group consisting of a status of a monitoring device, a time of day, value for one or more sensors associated with the monitoring device, a premises identifier, and a user identifier.

45. The system as recited in claim 43, wherein the device information can include videodata.

46. The system as recited in claim 43, wherein the device information can include audiodata.

47. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the monitoring device data processor further filters the incoming monitoring device data.

48. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the monitoring device data processor further normalizes the incoming monitoring device data.

49. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the monitoring device data processor further compresses the incoming monitoring device data.

50. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the monitoring device data processor further transforms the incoming monitoring device data.

51. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the archival activity includes no archival.

52. The system as recited in claim 36 further comprising multiple data repositories, wherein the monitoring device data processor further stores the incoming monitoring device data in a number of data repositories.

53. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the monitoring device data processor selectively replicates at least a portion of the incoming monitoring device data.

54. The system as recited in claim 53, further comprising multiple data repositories and wherein the monitoring device data processor selectively replicates at least a portion of the incoming monitoring device data in at least two data repositories.

55. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the monitoring device data processor further updates an archival profile log corresponding to the archival activity.

56. The system as recited in claim 36 further comprising at least one client machine requesting archived data, wherein the monitoring device data processor further obtains an archival profile corresponding to the archived data, processes, the archival profile to retrieve archived data from a repository, returns the archived data according to the data request.

57. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the monitoring device data processor obtains archival retrieval parameters from the archival profile and determines whether the archival request satisfies the archival retrieval parameters.

58. The system as recited in claim 56, wherein the monitoring device data processor further processes the retrieved archived data prior to returning the data according to the request.

59. The system as recited in claim 58, wherein the monitoring device data processor further uncompresses the archived data.

60. The system as recited in claim 56, wherein the monitoring device data processor further transforms the archived data.

61. The system as recited in claim 56 wherein the monitoring device data processor further generates viewable display screens including the retrieved archived data.

62. The system as recited in claim 61, wherein the viewable display screens include one or more static display screens.

63. The system as recited in claim 61, wherein the viewable display screens includes a stream of display screens.

64. The system as recited in claim 56, wherein the monitoring device data processor further deletes the archived data once it has been returned.

65. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the monitoring device data processor further obtains an archival component for each data repository;

and manages the archived data within each repository according the archival profile.

66. The system as recited in claim 65, wherein the monitoring device data processor further deletes a portion of the archived data on a per time basis.

67. The system as recited in claim 65, wherein the archived data is video frame data and wherein the monitoring device data processor further deletes a number of frames of the archived data over a period of time.

68. The system as recited in claim 65, wherein the monitoring device data processor further purges archived data from each data repository.

69. In a system including monitoring devices generating monitoring device data, an archive server processing the archival of monitoring device data and a client computer configuring the archival of monitoring device data, a method for processing monitoring device data, the method comprising:

generating a display corresponding to the creation of an archival profile;

obtaining a user specification of at least one archival attribute and at least one archival activity to be included in the archival profile;

storing the archival profile;

obtaining incoming monitoring device data, wherein the monitoring device data is characterized by one or more archival attributes;

obtaining an archival profile associated with the one or more archival attributes of the incoming monitoring device data;

processing the incoming monitoring device according to the archival profile; and

generating an archival activity corresponding to the processing of the archival profile.

70. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the display includes a display of available monitoring device archival attributes to be included in the archival profile.

71. The method as recited in claim 69 further comprising obtaining security authorization prior to obtaining a user specification of the at least one archival attribute to be included in the archival profile.

72. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the display includes a display of time relation archival attributes.

73. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the display includes a display of conditional attributes to be included in the archival profile, wherein the conditional attribute must be satisfied to archive data.

74. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the display includes a display of conditional attributes to be included in the archival profile, wherein the conditional attribute must not be satisfied to archive data.

75. The method as recited in claim 69 further comprising verifying repository availability prior to storing the archival profile.

76. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the monitoring device data includes device state information and device information and the display includes a selection of device state information archival attributes to be included in the archival profile.

77. The method as recited in claim 76, wherein the device state information can include data selected from a group consisting of a status of a monitoring device, a time of day, value for one or more sensors associated with the monitoring device, a premises identifier, and a user identifier.

78. The method as recited in claim 76, wherein the monitoring device data includes device information and wherein the display includes a selection of device information to be included in the archival profile.

79. The method as recited in claim 78, wherein the device information can include video images.

80. The method as recited in claim 76, wherein the archival activity selected by the user includes no archival.

81. The method as recited in claim 76, wherein the system includes multiple data repositories and wherein the archival activity selected by the user includes archiving the incoming monitoring device data in a number of data repositories.

82. The method as recited in claim 76, wherein the archival activity selected by the user includes selectively replicating at least a portion of the incoming monitoring device data.

83. The method as recited in claim 82, wherein the system includes multiple data repositories and wherein the archival activity selected by the user includes selectively replicating at least a portion of the incoming monitoring device data in at least two data repositories.

84. The method as recited in claim 69 further comprising displaying a number of archival retrieval parameters and obtaining at least one archival retrieval parameter to be included in the archival profile.

85. The method as recite in claim 69 further comprising displaying a number of archival management parameters and obtaining at least one archival management parameter to be included in the archival profile

86. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 69.

87. A computer system including a processor, a memory and an operating environment, the computer system operable to perform the method recited in claim 69.