Method and apparatus for dynamic checking and reporting system health

• US 20040088115A1
• Filed: 02/24/2003
• Published: 05/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Varco I/P Incorporated (NOV, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Varco International Inc. (NOV, Inc.)
• Inventors: Koederitz, William L., Guggari, Mallappa I.
• Granted Patent: US 6,907,375 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for remotely analyzing and affirmatively notifying appropriate personnel of problems and events associated with an oil recovery system-comprising hundreds of oil rigs over a vast geographic area. The results of selected Health Checks, which are run on each oilrig, are reported to a central server. The central server populates a data base for the oil recovery system, displays a red/yellow/green color coded electronic notification and status for an entire oil recovery system and affirmatively alerts appropriate personnel of actions required to address events associated with an oilrig in an oil recovery system. The diagnostics run at each oilrig are configurable at the individual rig. The present invention provides a dynamic oilrig status reporting protocol that enables population and display of a tree node structure representing an entire oil recovery system status on a single screen at a top level. Detailed information is available by drilling down in to other screens, enabling rapid visual evaluation of a system Health Check.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring and analyzing a plurality of signals from sensors in a system comprising:

providing a plurality of sensors for monitoring the status of an oil rig;

providing a set of health check rules comprising logical rules, inputs and outputs for defining reporting events associated with the oil rig, each event having a severity code;

reporting the events to a central server; and

displaying the event severity codes on a centrally accessible display.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein event data are reported to the central server in a protocol defining a data structure.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the severity code comprises a color code of red, yellow, and green.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a worst-case severity code as a status for an oilrig.

5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

reporting the event in the protocol wherein the data structure defined is a hierarchical tree wherein the results are the bottommost nodes in the tree.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing a plurality of sensors for monitoring the status of an oil recovery system comprising a plurality of oilrigs;

providing a set of health check rules comprising logical rules, inputs and outputs for defining reporting events associated with the oil recovery system, each event having a severity code;

reporting the events to a central server; and

displaying the severity codes on a centrally accessible display.

7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

dynamically populating a data base with the event data.

8. The method according to claim 2, further comprising;

dynamically displaying the event severity code and data.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending an affirmative notification of the event to a primary contact;

receiving an acknowledgement from the primary contact, else sending the affirmative notification to a secondary contact.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

displaying an oilrig status having the worst-case event severity code in a geographic display for oilrigs.

31. The method according to claim 1, wherein event data are reported to the central server in a protocol defining sufficient information to define a display for the event data.

32. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

an affirmative notification of the event for sending multiple alerts simultaneously to various contacts including cell phones, emails, computers, and pagers.

11. An apparatus for monitoring and analyzing a plurality of signals from sensors in a system comprising:

a plurality of sensors for monitoring the status of an oil rig;

a set of health check rules comprising logical rules, inputs and outputs for defining reporting events associated with the oil rig, each event having a severity code;

a protocol for reporting the events to a central server; and

a display for displaying the event severity codes on a centrally accessible display.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

a protocol defining a data structure wherein event data are reported to the central server from an oilrig.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

a severity code comprising a color code of red, yellow, and green.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

a display function for displaying a worst-case severity code as a status for an oilrig.

15. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

a hierarchical tree for reporting the event in the protocol wherein the data structure defines the hierarchical tree wherein the results are the bottommost nodes in the hierarchical tree.

16. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

a plurality of sensors for monitoring the status of an oil recovery system comprising a plurality of oilrigs;

a set of health check rules comprising logical rules, inputs and outputs for defining reporting events associated with the oil recovery system, each event having a severity code;

a protocol for reporting the events to a central server; and

a display for displaying the severity codes on a centrally accessible display.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

a database for dynamically populating the data base with the event data.

18. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising;

a display for dynamically displaying the event severity code and data.

19. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

a first affirmative notification of the event for sending to a primary contact;

a receiver for receiving an acknowledgement from the primary contact, else a second affirmative notification for sending to a secondary contact.

20. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

a display for displaying an oilrig status having the worst-case event severity code in a geographic display for oilrigs.

33. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein event data are reported to the central server in a protocol defining sufficient information to define a display for the event data.

34. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

sending multiple alerts simultaneously to various contacts including cell phones, emails, computers, and pagers.

21. A computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer implement a method for monitoring and analyzing a plurality of signals from sensors in a system comprising:

providing a plurality of sensors for monitoring the status of an oil rig;

providing a set of health check rules comprising logical rules, inputs and outputs for defining reporting events associated with the oil rig, each event having a severity code;

reporting the events to a central server; and

displaying the event severity codes on a centrally accessible display.

22. The medium according to claim 21, wherein event data are reported to the central server in a protocol defining a data structure.

23. The medium according to claim 21, wherein the severity code comprises a color code of red, yellow, and green.

24. The medium according to claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

displaying a worst-case severity code as a status for an oilrig.

25. The medium according to claim 22, further comprising instructions for:

reporting the event in the protocol wherein the data structure defined is a hierarchical tree wherein the results are the bottommost nodes in the tree.

26. The medium according to claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

providing a plurality of sensors for monitoring the status of an oil recovery system comprising a plurality of oilrigs;

providing a set of health check rules comprising logical rules, inputs and outputs for defining reporting events associated with the oil recovery system, each event having a severity code;

reporting the events to a central server; and

displaying the severity codes on a centrally accessible display.

27. The medium according to claim 22, further comprising instructions for:

dynamically populating a data base with the event data.

28. The medium according to claim 22, further comprising instructions for:

dynamically displaying the event severity code and data.

29. The medium according to claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

sending an affirmative notification of the event to a primary contact;

receiving an acknowledgement from the primary contact, else sending the affirmative notification to a secondary contact.

30. The medium according to claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

displaying an oilrig status having the worst-case event severity code in a geographic display for oilrigs.

35. The method according to claim 21, wherein event data are reported to the central server in a protocol defining sufficient information to define a display for the event data.

36. The method according to claim 21, further comprising:

sending multiple alerts simultaneously to various contacts including cell phones, emails, computers, and pagers.