Local Data Appliance for Collecting and Storing Remote Sensor Data

• US 20120254974A1
• Filed: 03/30/2012
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sierra Wireless America Incorporated (Sierra Wireless Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Numerex Corporation (Sierra Wireless Incorporated)
• Inventors: Emmons, Stephen P., Smith, Jeffrey O., Burtner, Richard, Rosen, Henry S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,990,915 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/11
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• 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 system for providing local access by means of a local data appliance to data collected from remote monitors and sensors is described. The system includes a plurality of remote monitors and sensors, the remote monitors and sensors reporting data over a wide area communications network, and a data collection center receiving the data from the remote monitors and sensors, the data collection center operable to process the data and generate customer defined reports based on the data. A local data appliance placed in the customer'"'"'s network operates to receive the data from the data collection center, and to process the customer data, generate reports based on the data and send instructions to the remote monitors and sensors. The appliance resides behind the customer'"'"'s firewall but is separate from the customers network and data center equipment.

Claims

1. An appliance for receiving and storing customer data collected from remote monitors and sensors, the appliance comprising:

one or more network interfaces, the network interfaces operable to allow the appliance to receive data from and send data to the remote monitors and sensors;

at least one processor connected to the one or more network interfaces, the processor operable to process the customer data and to control operation of the appliance; and

a data storage medium connected to the processor, the data storage medium storing the customer data;

wherein the appliance receives the customer data collected from the remote monitors and sensors, the customer data being sent from a data collection center outside of the customer'"'"'s network, the appliance operable to process the customer data, generate reports based on the data and send instructions to the remote monitors and sensors, and wherein the appliance resides behind the customer'"'"'s firewall but is separate from the customers network and data center equipment.

2. The appliance of claim 1 further comprising tamper sensors to prevent tampering with the appliance.

3. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the appliance is connected to the data collection center using a virtual private network.

4. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the remote monitors and sensors report the customer data using a cellular network.

5. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the remote monitors and sensors report the customer data using a satellite network.

6. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the remote monitors and sensors report the customer data using a wireless networking network.

7. The appliance of claim 1 further comprising an analytical scoring engine application run by the appliance.

8. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the appliance is further operable to execute customized integration scripts to pull data from and push data to the remote monitors and sensors.

9. The appliance of claim 1 further comprising a display.

10. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the appliance can receive periodic software updates from the data collection center using remote configuration management services.

11. A system for providing local access to data collected from remote monitors and sensors, the system comprising:

a plurality of remote monitors and sensors, the remote monitors and sensors reporting data over a wide area communications network;

a data collection center receiving the data from the remote monitors and sensors, the data collection center operable to process the data and generate customer defined reports based on the data; and

a local data appliance in a customer network, the local data appliance receiving the data from the data collection center, and operable to process the customer data, generate reports based on the data and send instructions to the remote monitors and sensors, wherein the appliance resides behind the customer'"'"'s firewall but is separate from the customers network and data center equipment.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising tamper sensors to prevent tampering with the appliance.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the appliance is connected to the data collection center using a virtual private network.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the remote monitors and sensors report the customer data using a cellular network.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the remote monitors and sensors report the customer data using a satellite network.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the remote monitors and sensors report the customer data using a wireless networking network.

17. The system of claim 11 further comprising an analytical scoring engine application run by the appliance.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein the appliance is further operable to execute customized integration scripts to pull data from and push data to the remote monitors and sensors.

19. The system of claim 11 further comprising a display.

20. The system of claim 11 wherein the appliance can receive periodic software updates from the data collection center using remote configuration management services.