IMPLEMENTING POLICIES IN RESPONSE TO PHYSICAL SITUATIONS

• US 20100132010A1
• Filed: 11/25/2008
• Published: 05/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chatterton, Deon J., Shaffer, Shmuel
• Application Number:
  US12/323,278
• Publication Number:
  US 20100132010A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A method and apparatus is described to implement policies associated with physical situations (e.g., supply of power, occurrence of a fire, etc.). The method may comprise accessing sensor data captured by a sensor monitoring a physical situation to identify at least one activity occurring during the physical situation. A policy database including a plurality of policies may be accessed to identify at least two lower-level policies associated with the physical situation. Further, the policy database may be accessed to identify at least one higher-level policy associated with the physical situation. The higher-level policy may control implementation of the at least two lower-level policies.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

accessing sensor data, captured by a sensor monitoring a physical situation;

accessing a policy database including a plurality of policies to identify at least two lower-level policies associated with the physical situation;

accessing the policy database to identify at least one higher-level policy associated with the physical situation; and

controlling implementation of the at least two lower-level policies based on the higher-level policy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one higher-level policy includes at least one rule identifying one or more persons authorized to access the sensor data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a graphical user interface to display the at least two lower-level policies and the at least one higher-level policy;

monitoring a single user action utilizing a pointing device for selecting the higher-level policy; and

implementing the at least two lower-level policies based on the at least one higher-level policy.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a graphical user interface to display the at least two lower-level policies and the at least one higher-level policy;

providing an override option to allow a user to override implementation of the at least two lower-level policies; and

overriding implementation of the at least two lower-level policies based on the at least one higher-level policy upon selection of the override option.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of policies are arranged in a hierarchical configuration wherein higher-level policies control implementation of lower-level policies.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving sensor data in the form of media data from a plurality of video capture devices;

storing the media data in a persistent data store; and

associating a higher-level policy with each of the plurality of video capture devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the lower-level policies include a plurality of rules, each rule when implemented causing a command to be sent to an electronic device associated with the rule.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical situation is a real-time event, the sensor sensing at least one activity occurring during the real-time event, the method further comprising:

accessing the policy database to identify the at least two lower-level policies which are associated with the at least one activity; and

accessing the policy database to identify the at least one higher-level policy which is associated with the at least one activity.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical situation is power provided by a power source to a plurality of electronic devices in a computer network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least two lower-level policies include rules specifying allocation of power to the electronic devices.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two lower-level policies relate to prioritizing the allocation of electrical power in a computer network, prioritizing the allocation of bandwidth in the computer network, or prioritizing access of users to the computer network.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the higher-level policy prioritizes the at least two lower-level policies based on rules associated with the higher-level policy.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a data access module to access sensor data, captured by a sensor monitoring a physical situation;

a policy access module to;

access a policy database including a plurality of policies to identify at least two lower-level policies associated with the physical situation; and

access the policy database to identify at least one higher-level policy associated with the physical situation; and

a policy engine to control implementation of the at least two lower-level policies based on the higher-level policy.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one higher-level policy includes at least one rule identifying one or more persons authorized to access the sensor data.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a user interface module configured to:

generate a graphical user interface to display the at least two lower-level policies and the at least one higher-level policy;

monitor a single user action by utilizing a pointing device for selecting the higher-level policy; and

implement the at least two lower-level policies based on the at least one higher-level policy.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a user interface module configured to:

generate a graphical user interface to display the at least two lower-level policies and the at least one higher-level policy;

provide an override option to allow a user to override implementation of the at least two lower-level policies; and

override implementation of the at least two lower-level policies based on the at least one higher-level policy upon selection of the override option.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the plurality of policies are arranged in a hierarchical configuration wherein higher-level policies control implementation of lower-level policies.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a receiver module to receive sensor data in the form of media data from a plurality of video capture devices;

a persistent data store to store the media data; and

an association module to associate the higher-level policy with each of the plurality of video capture devices.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the lower-level policies include a plurality of rules, each rule when implemented causing a command to be sent to an electronic device associated with the rule.

20. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the physical situation is power provided by a power source to a plurality of electronic devices in a computer network.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a data access module for accessing sensor data, captured by a sensor monitoring a real-time event, to identify at least one activity occurring during the real-time event;

a policy access module for;

accessing a policy database including a plurality of policies to identify at least two lower-level policies associated with the at least one activity; and

accessing the policy database to identify at least one higher-level policy associated with the at least one activity; and

means for controlling implementation of the at least two lower-level policies based on the higher-level policy.