SCALABLE, CONCURRENT, DISTRIBUTED SENSOR SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20070265796A1
• Filed: 05/09/2006
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Web Sensing, LLC
• Original Assignee: Web Sensing, LLC
• Inventors: Taylor, Stephen, Haaland, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 7,333,921 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/127
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1767 Concurrency control, e.g. optimistic or pessimistic approaches
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records

Abstract

A sensor system and method for collecting and analyzing sensor data transmitted by various distributed sensors in a secure, scalable, and efficient manner. Sensors having sensor data to transmit establish concurrent connections with a central server that is configured to collect the sensor data. For each connection, the server generates a single writer thread dedicated to the connection. Each single writer thread accesses the server'"'"'s underlying file system and writes the sensor data into a sensor file dedicated to the sensor. Each sensor file is written by a single writer thread, but may be concurrently read by multiple reader threads. Analysis threads may also concurrently access the sensor files to perform complex analyses of the stored sensor data. The analysis results are written to dedicated analysis files. The analysis threads act as single writer threads in writing to the analysis files.

Claims

1. A distributed sensor system comprising:

a plurality of sensors capable of concurrently collecting and transmitting sensor data;

a server configured to concurrently connect to each of the plurality of sensors and generate, for each connection, a single-writer thread dedicated to the connection, each single-writer thread retrieving a sensor identifier unique to the sensor, automatically accessing a file system, and concurrently writing corresponding sensor data transmitted by the corresponding sensor into a corresponding sensor file uniquely identified by the corresponding sensor identifier without placing restrictions to prevent any other concurrently connecting sensor from writing any sensor data to the corresponding sensor file.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to:

generate an analysis thread responsive to an analysis trigger, the analysis thread accessing the file system for retrieving sensor data from one or more sensor files, analyzing the retrieved sensor data, and writing analysis results using a single writer thread into an analysis file maintained by the file system.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the analysis file is identified by a unique sensor identifier of the analyzed sensor file.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the analysis file is identified by a unique code associated with a set of analyzed sensor files.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a data store storing private data of individuals associated with the sensor data, the data store being physically separate from the server storing the sensor data.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the private data for a particular individual includes the sensor identifier of the sensor collecting sensor data for the particular individual, the system further comprising:

an analysis terminal coupled to the data store and the server, the analysis terminal transmitting a request for contents in a sensor file identified by the sensor identifier.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the server is configured to generate multiple reader threads for handling concurrent access of the contents of the sensor files identified by the sensor identifiers.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the private data for a particular individual includes an analysis file identifier of an analysis file containing analysis data associated with the particular individual, the system further comprising:

an analysis terminal coupled to the data store and the server, the analysis terminal transmitting a request for contents in the analysis file identified by the analysis file identifier.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the server is configured to generate multiple reader threads for handling concurrent access of the contents of the analysis file identified by the analysis file identifier.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors are medical sensors, and the sensor data is medical sensor data.

2. (canceled)

11. A server coupled to a plurality of sensors in a distributed sensor system, the server comprising:

a data store storing a plurality of sensor files under control of a file system;

a connection manager configured to concurrently establish a connection to each of the plurality of sensors and generate, for each connections a single-writer thread dedicated to the connection, each single-writer thread retrieving a sensor identifier unique to the sensor, automatically accessing the file system, and concurrently writing corresponding sensor data transmitted by the corresponding sensor into a corresponding sensor file uniquely identified by the corresponding sensor identifier without placing restrictions to prevent any other concurrently connecting sensor from writing any sensor data to the corresponding sensor file.

13. The server of claim 11 further comprising an analysis thread generated responsive to an analysis trigger, the analysis thread accessing the file system for retrieving sensor data from one or more sensor files, analyzing the retrieved sensor data, and writing analysis results into an analysis file maintained by the file system.

14. The server of claim 13, wherein the analysis file is identified by a sensor identifier of the analyzed sensor file.

15. The server of claim 13, wherein the analysis file is identified by a code associated with a set of analyzed sensor files.

16. The server of claim 11, wherein a connection is established between the server and one or more analysis terminals, the connection manager being further configured to generate for each connection with one of the analysis terminals a reader thread for reading sensor data in a particular sensor file identified by the corresponding analysis terminal.

17. The server of claim 11, wherein a connection is established between the server and one or more analysis terminals, the connection manager being further configured to generate for each connection with one of the analysis terminals a reader thread for reading analysis data in a particular analysis file identified by the corresponding analysis terminal.

29. The server of claim 11, wherein the plurality of sensors are medical sensors, and the sensor data is medical sensor data.

12. (canceled)

18. A method for collecting and analyzing sensor data in a distributed sensor system, the method comprising:

establishing concurrent connections between a server and a plurality of sensors in the distributed sensor system;

generating, for each connection, a single-writer thread dedicated to the connection;

each single-writer thread retrieving a sensor identifier unique to the sensor; and

each single-writer thread automatically accessing a file system and concurrently writing corresponding sensor data transmitted by the corresponding sensor into a corresponding sensor file uniquely identified by the corresponding sensor identifier without placing restrictions to prevent any other concurrently connecting sensor from writing any sensor data to the corresponding sensor file.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

generating an analysis thread responsive to an analysis trigger;

accessing the file system via the analysis thread and retrieving sensor data from one or more sensor files;

analyzing the retrieved sensor data via the analysis thread; and

writing analysis results into an analysis file maintained by the file system.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the analysis file is identified by a sensor identifier of the analyzed sensor file.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the analysis file is identified by a code associated with a set of analyzed sensor files.

23. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

storing private data of individuals associated with the sensor data in a data store that is physically separate from the server storing the sensor data.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the private data for a particular individual includes the sensor identifier of the sensor collecting sensor data for the particular individual, the method further comprising:

receiving from an analysis terminal a request for contents in a sensor file identified by the sensor identifier.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

generating multiple reader threads for handling concurrent access of the contents of the sensor file identified by the sensor identifier.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the private data for a particular individual includes an analysis file identifier of an analysis file containing analysis data associated with the particular individual, the method further comprising:

receiving from an analysis terminal a request for contents in the analysis file identified by the analysis file identifier.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

generating multiple reader threads for handling concurrent access of the contents of the analysis file identified by the analysis file identifier.

30. The method of claim 18, wherein the plurality of sensors are medical sensors, and the sensor data is medical sensor data.

19. (canceled)