System and method for remotely monitoring, diagnosing, intervening with and reporting problems with cinematic equipment

• US 20040249613A1
• Filed: 12/17/2003
• Published: 12/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CineCast LLC
• Original Assignee: CineCast LLC
• Inventors: Zehme, Dan U., Sprogis, David H.
• Granted Patent: US 6,983,225 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/188
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0775 Content or structure details of the error report, e.g. specific table structure, specific error fields
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0784 Routing of error reports, e.g. with a specific transmission path or data flow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3013 where the computing system is an embedded system, i.e. a combination of hardware and software dedicated to perform a certain function in mobile devices, printers, automotive or aircraft systems testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3065 Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in reporting the monitored data error or fault reporting or logging G06F11/0766
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A system is disclosed for communicating with, and receiving data representative of equipment state and status from, movie theatre equipment in theatres. The system includes a central computer storage unit for receiving and storing data representative of equipment state and status, and a plurality of remote computer storage units coupled to the central computer storage unit for transmitting data representative of equipment state and status. Each of the plurality of remote computer storage units includes a first remote computer storage unit coupled to at least one theatre automation unit for detecting and transmitting data representative of automation equipment state and status. The first remote computer storage unit is also coupled to at least one theatre projection unit for detecting and transmitting data representative of projection equipment state and status. The first remote computer storage unit is also coupled to at least one theatre audio processing unit for detecting and transmitting data representative of audio equipment state and status. The first remote computer storage unit is also coupled to at least one theatre power source for detecting and transmitting data representative of power state and status.

Claims

1. A system for communicating with, and receiving data representative of equipment state and status from, movie theatre equipment in theatres, said system comprising:

a central computer storage unit for receiving and storing data representative of equipment state and status;

a plurality of remote computer storage units coupled to said central computer storage unit for transmitting data representative of equipment state and status, each of said plurality of remote computer storage units including;

a first remote computer storage unit coupled to at least one theatre automation unit for detecting and transmitting data representative of automation equipment state and status;

said first remote computer storage unit also being coupled to at least one theatre projection unit for detecting and transmitting data representative of projection equipment state and status;

said first remote computer storage unit also being coupled to at least one theatre audio processing unit for detecting and transmitting data representative of audio equipment state and status; and

said first remote computer storage unit also being coupled to at least one theatre power source for detecting and transmitting data representative of power state and status.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of remote computer storage unit polls at least one theater automation unit to receive automation equipment state and transmit state and time of detection data of said automation equipment state to said central computer storage unit.

3. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of remote computer storage units polls at least one theater projection unit to receive projection equipment state and transmits state and time of detection data of said projection equipment state to said central computer storage unit.

4. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of remote computer storage units polls at least one theater audio processing unit to receive audio processing equipment state and transmits state and time of detection data of said audio processing equipment state to said central computer storage unit.

5. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of remote computer storage units polls at least one theater power source to receive power state and transmits state and time of detection data of said power state to said central computer storage unit.

6. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of remote computer storage units receives an error message from one or more automation units and transmits state and time of said error message data to said central computer storage unit.

7. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of remote computer storage units receives an error message from one or more projection units and transmits state and time data of the error message to said central computer storage unit.

8. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said each of said plurality of remote computer storage units receives an error message from at least one audio processing units and transmits state and time data of the error message to said central computer storage unit.

9. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of remote computer storage units receives an error message from at least one more power source and transmits state and time data of the error message to said central computer storage unit.

10. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said remote computer storage units receives a state change event from at least one automation units and transmits state and time data of the state change event to said central computer storage unit.

11. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said remote computer storage units receives a state change event from one or more projection unit and transmits said state and time of said state change event to said central computer storage unit.

12. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said remote computer storage units receives a state change event from at least one audio processing unit and transmits state and time data of the state change event to said central computer storage unit.

13. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said each of said remote computer storage units receives a state change event from at least one power source and transmits state and time data of the state change event to said central computer storage unit.

14. A system for determining equipment status based upon data representative of movie theatre equipment state changes, said system comprising:

a central computer storage unit for storing and retrieving data representative of theatre equipment state and status;

said central computer storage unit including known status data representative of a plurality of state change patterns representing known status;

comparator means for comparing a first state change pattern representative of equipment state changes to said known status data in said central computer storage unit and for providing comparison data; and

storage means for receiving said comparison data and for storing said comparison data.

15. A system for alerting system operators to alert conditions of movie theatre equipment, said system comprising:

a central computer storage unit for storing and retrieving data representative of movie theatre equipment state and status;

alter means for identifying status conditions representing alert conditions;

presentation means for presenting the known alert conditions to a system operator.

16. A system for recording incidents of intervention, repair or replacement of movie theatre equipment, said system comprising:

a central computer storage unit for storing and retrieving data representative of intervention, repair or replacement of movie theatre equipment;

retrieval means for retrieving and storing data representative of movie theatre equipment state and status; and

operator input means for receiving data representative of said intervention, repair or replacement from a system operator associated with movie theatre.

17. A system for reporting data representative of performance of movie theatre equipment in theatres, said system comprising:

a central computer storage unit for retrieving and storing data representative of intervention, repair or replacement;

retrieval means for retrieving and storing data representative of equipment state and status;

selection means for selecting data representative of equipment state or status that is indicative of an amount of time selected equipment was in a selected state or status.

18. A system for reporting show schedule data correlated to equipment state and status, said system comprising:

a computer storage unit for receiving and storing data representative of advertisement information, movie schedule information, and equipment state and status information; and

selection means for selecting selected data representative of advertisement information from said computer storage unit, said selected data representative of advertisement information associated with associated data representative of movie schedule information and associated with data representative of equipment state and status.