Power status notification

• US 7,395,444 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2003
• Issued: 07/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: American Power Conversion Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Ives, Edward M.
• Primary Examiner(s): ELAMIN, ABDELMONIEM I
• Application Number:
  US10/668,621
• Publication Number:
  US 20060168191A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,743 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-203, 709217-219, 709223-224, 709/250, 709/207, 713/310, 713/330, 713/340, 713320-324
• US Class Current: 713/340
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3079 the data filtering being achieved by reporting only the changes of the monitored data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software

Abstract

A computer program product is for use with a computer that includes a communication interface for sending and receiving information over a communication network and that is connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that monitors and supplies information regarding power status associated with the UPS. The computer program product resides on a computer-readable medium and includes computer-executable instructions for causing the computer to process data received from the UPS to which the computer is coupled to produce indicia of changes in power status associated with the UPS, provide the indicia of changes in power status associated with the UPS to the communication interface destined for a remote device, and provide geographic information associated with the indicia of changes in power status that indicates a geographic location associated with the UPS.

Claims

1. A computer program product for use with a computer that includes a communication interface for sending and receiving information over a communication network and that is connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that monitors and supplies information regarding power status associated with the UPS, the computer program product residing on a computer-readable medium and comprising computer-executable instructions for causing the computer to:

process data received from the UPS to which the computer is coupled to produce indicia of changes in power status associated with the UPS;

provide the indicia of changes in power status associated with the UPS to the communication interface destined for a remote device;

provide geographic information associated with the indicia of changes in power status that indicates a geographic location associated with the UPS; and

process information received via the communication interface to display at least one of (1) a quantity of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic location, (2) a relative quantity of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic location, and (3) a percentage of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic location.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising instructions for causing the computer to process data entered by a user of the computer to produce the geographic information.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising instructions for causing the computer to process external power-status information received via the communication interface and to display indicia of power status and at least one geographic region associated with the indicia of power status in accordance with the processed external power-status information.

4. The computer program product of claim 3 further comprising instructions for causing the computer to display indicia of weather condition associated with each of the at least one geographic region.

5. The computer program product of claim 3 further comprising instructions for causing the computer to store data regarding changes in power status for historical display associated with at least one period of time.

23. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the geographic information is a physical location, global positioning satellite coordinates, a street address, a ZIP CODE, a city, a county, a state, a country, or a power grid used by the UPS.

6. An apparatus for communicating via a communication network with multiple remote devices connected to uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) that monitor and supply information regarding power status associated with the UPSs, the apparatus comprising:

a communication interface configured to transfer data with the communication network; and

a processor coupled to the communication interface and configured to;

collect power-status data and associated geographic data received from the remote devices via the communication interface, the power-status data indicating power status of the UPSs associated with the remote devices providing the power-status data, the geographic data indicating geographic locations associated with the UPSs;

analyze the power-status data and associated geographic data to determine power status of geographic regions indicated by the geographic data in accordance with the corresponding power-status data;

send indicia of the determined power status of at least one geographic region toward at least one of the remote devices via the communication network; and

determine and send toward at least one of the remote devices indicia of at least one of (1) a quantity of UPSs experiencing power failures in the at least one geographic location, (2) a relative quantity of UPSs experiencing power failures in the at least one geographic location, and (3) a Percentage of UPSs experiencing power failures in the at least one geographic location.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the processor is configured to collect weather data for each region and to provide indicia of the weather for the at least one geographic region to the at least one of the remote devices.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the processor is further configured to store the determined power status and to provide historical power status for the at least one geographical region.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the processor is configured to send the determined power status data at least one of periodically and in response to a received indication of a power status change from at least one of the remote devices.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the processor is further configured to monitor heartbeat signals from the remote devices and provide indicia of failures if the processor fails to detect at least one heartbeat signal in a threshold amount of time.

24. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the geographic data is a physical location, global positioning satellite coordinates, a street address, a ZIP CODE, a city, a county, a state, a country, or a power grid used by the UPS.

11. A method of indicating power status in multiple geographic regions, the method comprising:

receiving, at a plurality of devices, indicia of power status from multiple uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) coupled to the devices, the indicia of power status including geographic information indicating multiple geographic regions associated with the respective UPSs;

determining power-status data from the received indicia;

receiving power-status data from the plurality of devices coupled to the UPSs via a communication network;

analyzing the power-status data according to the multiple geographic regions associated with the power-status data;

sending indicia of power status associated with the multiple geographic regions toward at least one of the plurality of devices via the communication network, the indicia of power status including indicia of at least one of (1) quantities of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic regions, (2) relative quantities of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic regions, and (3) percentages of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic regions.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising determining weather for the multiple geographic regions and sending indicia of the weather in the respective regions toward at least one of the plurality of devices via the communication network.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the sending occurs at least one of periodically, in response to receiving an indication of a power-status change from at least one of the plurality of devices, and on demand by a user-initiated action.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising displaying the indicia of power status at the at least one of the plurality of devices to indicate power status of the multiple geographic regions.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the displaying comprises displaying a map of the multiple geographic regions and associated indicia of power status.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising displaying the indicia of power status at the at least one of the plurality of devices to indicate power status of at least one of the multiple geographic regions in any of a variety of resolutions of geography.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the displaying comprises displaying at least one of a number and a percentage of UPSs of the at least one of the multiple geographic regions whose powers are anomalous.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising displaying the indicia of power status at the at least one of the plurality of devices to show power status over any of a selected variety of historical time periods.

19. The method of claim 11 further comprising sending an indication to a selected one of the plurality of devices indicating a local power anomaly in response to determining that relatively few power anomalies are associated with a geographic region associated with the selected device.

25. The method of claim 11 wherein receiving, at the plurality of device, indicia of power status from the multiple UPSs includes receiving information indicative of a physical location, global positioning satellite coordinates, a street address, a ZIP CODE, a city, a county, a state, a country, or a power grid used by the UPS.

20. In combination:

an uninterruptible power supply (UPS); and

a device for use with a communication interface for sending and receiving information over a communication network, the device being configured to;

determine, from information received from the UPS, indicia of power status at the UPS;

provide indicia of changes in power status at the UPS to the communication interface destined for a remote server;

provide geographic information associated with the indicia of changes in power status that indicates a geographic location of the UPS; and

process information received via the communication interface to display at least one of (1) a quantity of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic location, (2) a relative quantity of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic location, and (3) a percentage of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic location.

21. The combination of claim 20 wherein the device comprises a computer program product residing on a computer-readable medium and comprising computer-readable readable and computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to provide the indicia and to provide the geographic information.

22. The combination of claim 20 wherein the device comprises a card configured to be physically and electrically coupled to the UPS and includes the communication interface.

26. The combination of claim 20 wherein the geographic information includes information indicative of a physical location, global positioning satellite coordinates, a street address, a ZIP CODE, a city, a county, a state, a country, or a power grid used by the UPS.

27. An apparatus comprising:

an uninterruptible power supply (UPS); and

a device for use with a communication interface for sending and receiving information over a communication network, the device being configured to;

determine, from information received from the UPS, indicia of power status at the UPS;

provide indicia of changes in power status at the UPS to the communication interface destined for a remote server;

prompt a user to provide geographic information to the device that indicates a geographic location of the UPS;

associate the geographic information with the indicia of changes in power status at the UPS;

provide the geographic information, that indicates the geographic location of the UPS, associated with the indicia of changes in power status; and

process information received via the communication interface to display at least one of (1) a quantity of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic location, (2) a relative quantity of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic location, and (3) a percentage of UPSs experiencing power failures in the geographic location.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the geographic information is a physical location, global positioning satellite coordinates, a street address, a ZIP CODE, a city, a county, a state, a country, or a power grid used by the UPS.