Automatic monitoring and remote reporting device
First Claim
1. A device for direct monitoring of one or more operating conditions of a system and, upon a reporting condition, for remote reporting thereof, the device comprising means for interfacing the device with external sensing means, which sensing means collects and transmits data regarding operating conditions of the system, said data being transmitted from the sensing means as electrical signals, to said interfacing means, said device further comprising memory storage means and data processing means, with said memory storage means receiving, storing, and cumulating data from the interfacing means and further having programmed processing instructions for the data processing means with which the data processing means analyzes data for a reporting condition, with said data processing means, upon sensing a reporting condition, retrieving data from the memory storage means, and arranging said data in a pre-programmed reporting format, said memory storage means having a pre-programmed data reporting format and Huffman encoding instructions contained therein, with which said data processing means thereafter converts the data and the reporting format itself into facsimile machine readable form, said device further comprising a modem and an interface connection with an external telephone line for transmission, by the data processing means, of the formatted report to one or more remote facsimile machines with said data processing means initiating communication with said one or more remote facsimile machines with telephone numbers thereof contained in said memory storage means.
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Abstract
A device for direct monitoring of a system with pre-scheduled, request or alarm reports being generated and sent to remote locations via facsimile transmission, with the reports being pre-formatted, as desired, such as in tabular or graphical form. The device interfaces with sensors which continuously directly monitor analog data such as temperature, pH, pressure values, or digital data such as limit switches, etc. of an operating system. Multiple process variable input channels or interfaces permit monitoring of different parameters. Each parameter can be reported in different page format. A conversion element within the device converts analog data from the operating system to digital form for immediate analysis and/or storage and later retrieval and/or analysis of operating conditions and parameters. Upon a pre-determined condition, a report condition is sensed and stored data is retrieved, by the device, into suitable combination with a pre-programmed page format such as tabular or graphical form. The data, integrated with appropriate page format, is then converted by the device to facsimile machine readable form. The device is directly connected with a telephone line for transmission, with proper handshaking controlled by the device, via direct telephone transmission to one or more remote facsimile devices which print out reports in original readily readable, not optically scanned, form.
154 Citations
24 Claims
- 1. A device for direct monitoring of one or more operating conditions of a system and, upon a reporting condition, for remote reporting thereof, the device comprising means for interfacing the device with external sensing means, which sensing means collects and transmits data regarding operating conditions of the system, said data being transmitted from the sensing means as electrical signals, to said interfacing means, said device further comprising memory storage means and data processing means, with said memory storage means receiving, storing, and cumulating data from the interfacing means and further having programmed processing instructions for the data processing means with which the data processing means analyzes data for a reporting condition, with said data processing means, upon sensing a reporting condition, retrieving data from the memory storage means, and arranging said data in a pre-programmed reporting format, said memory storage means having a pre-programmed data reporting format and Huffman encoding instructions contained therein, with which said data processing means thereafter converts the data and the reporting format itself into facsimile machine readable form, said device further comprising a modem and an interface connection with an external telephone line for transmission, by the data processing means, of the formatted report to one or more remote facsimile machines with said data processing means initiating communication with said one or more remote facsimile machines with telephone numbers thereof contained in said memory storage means.
Specification