CENTRAL SITE ARCHITECTURE FOR REMOTE SERVICE DELIVERY

• US 20040122921A1
• Filed: 12/20/2002
• Published: 06/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Dausch, Mark E., Osborn, Mark D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,184,844 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

There is provided a central site system for communicating with at least one remote site equipment monitor, the at least one remote site equipment monitor collecting operational data concerning remote site equipment. The central site system includes a data transfer system adapted for receiving the operational data from the at least one remote site equipment monitor. The central site system also includes an operational data access system which receives the operational data from the data transfer system and stores the operational data in a data storage unit of the operational data access system. The central site system also includes a notification distribution system which receives data based on the operational data and distributes the data based on the operational data to a destination according to a predefined schedule.

Claims

1. A central site system for communicating with at least one remote site equipment monitor, the at least one remote site equipment monitor collecting operational data concerning remote site equipment, the central site system comprising:

a data transfer system adapted for receiving the operational data from the at least one remote site equipment monitor;

an operational data access system which receives the operational data from the data transfer system and stores the operational data in a data storage unit of the operational data access system; and

a notification distribution system which receives data based on the operational data and distributes the data based on the operational data to a destination according to a predefined schedule.

2. The central site system of claim 1, wherein the data transfer system further comprises:

a data transfer unit adapted for initiating a connection with one of the at least one remote site equipment monitors.

3. The central site system of claim 2, wherein the data transfer system further comprises:

a data transfer manager which provides for the transfer of the operational data from the at least one remote site equipment monitor according to a data transfer schedule.

4. The central site system of claim 3, wherein the data transfer schedule includes at least one of a list of operational data elements, a sample transfer rate, a time interval between data transfers, and a time for a next data transfer.

5. The central site system of claim 3, wherein the data transfer system communicates with the notification distribution system, and provides a notification to the notification distribution system that new operational data has been received from the at least one remote site equipment monitor.

6. The central site system of claim 1, further comprising:

an operational data distribution system which requests and receives operational data from the operational data access system and customizes the data into at least one customized data set.

7. The central site system of claim 6, wherein the operational data distribution system transfers the at least one customized data set to the notification distribution system according to an operational data distribution schedule, and wherein the notification distribution system transfers the at least one customized data set to an appropriate destination according to the operational data distribution schedule.

8. The central site system of claim 1, further comprising:

an operational data reporting system which requests and receives operational data from the operational data access system and converts the operational data into at least one predefined informational report.

9. The central site system of claim 8, wherein the operational data reporting system transfers the at least one predefined informational report to the notification distribution system according to an informational report distribution schedule, and wherein the notification distribution system transfers the at least one predefined informational report to an appropriate destination according to the predefined informational report distribution schedule.

10. The central site system of claim 1, further comprising:

an operational data transformation system which requests and receives operational data from the operational data access system and transforms the operational data into transformed data according to a predefined transformation definition.

11. The central site system of claim 10, wherein the operational data transformation system transfers the transformed data to the notification distribution system according to a transformed data distribution schedule, and wherein the notification distribution system transfers the transformed data to an appropriate destination according to the transformed data distribution schedule.

12. The central site system of claim 1, wherein the notification distribution system comprises at least one mode of communication for distributing the data based on the operational data to the predefined destination.

13. The central site system of claim 12, wherein the at least one mode of communication includes at least one of a message queue, e-mail, facsimile, paging, data storage file, and a printer communication mode.

14. The central site system of claim 1, wherein the notification distribution system comprises a user interface which allows a user to modify the predefined schedule.

15. The central site system of claim 1, wherein the predefined schedule includes at least one of a message destination, notification requestor, data creation date, and message priority.

16. The central site system of claim 1, further comprising:

a diagnostic engine communicating with and receiving operational data from the operational data access system, and providing an indication of the operation of equipment monitored by the at least one equipment monitor based upon an analysis of the received operational data.

17. The central site system of claim 16, wherein the diagnostic engine provides the indication of the operation of the equipment based an algorithm stored in the diagnostic engine.

18. The central site system of claim 16, wherein the diagnostic engine provides the indication of the operation of the equipment based on information from initialization files stored in the diagnostic engine, wherein the initialization files provide information regarding the initial condition of the equipment.

19. The central site system of claim 16, wherein the diagnostic engine communicates with the notification distribution system and provides the indication of the operation of the equipment to the notification distribution system.

20. The central site system of claim 1, wherein the data storage unit of the operational data access system stores in addition to operational data, other data concerning equipment monitored by the least one remote site monitor.

21. The central site system of claim 1, further comprising:

a work center communicating with the operational data access system, the work center allowing user interaction with the operational data access system through any one of a plurality of user applications.

22. The central site system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of user applications include at least one of equipment status monitoring, electronic notebook, diagnostics, problem escalation, prognostics, and record and journal keeping.

23. The central site system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of user applications include at least one management application of equipment scheduling, personnel scheduling, work load balancing, and contract compliance.

24. The central site system of claim 21, further comprising:

a work center viewer that displays textual or graphic data concerning the operational data.

25. A central site system for communicating with at least one remote site equipment monitor, the at least one remote site equipment monitor collecting operational data concerning remote site equipment, the central site system comprising:

a data transfer system adapted for receiving the operational data from the at least one remote site equipment monitor;

an operational data access system which receives the operational data from the data transfer system and stores the operational data in a data storage unit of the operational data access system; and

a diagnostic engine communicating with and receiving operational data from the operational data access system, and providing an indication of the operation of equipment monitored by the at least one equipment monitor based upon an analysis of the received operational data.