Method and apparatus for system monitoring and maintenance
First Claim
1. A method of intelligent monitoring and maintenance of a system by means of a plurality of software tools operating on a separate computer processor having a memory and an output device for interaction with an operator, the system comprised of functional components having an online built-in-test functions, said method comprising:
- providing an archived system database residing in the memory of the separate computer processor, the archived system database containing prior data associated with expected and previous results of built-in-tests;
accessing test data relating to functional components of said system;
extracting parameter information for said functional components of said system, said step of extracting parameter information includingmonitoring the results of the built-in-tests;
determining the presence of non-ambiguous faults and ambiguous faults based upon test data associated with the results of the built-in-tests;
providing an indication on the output device to the operator to replace said functional components associated with non-ambiguous faults as determined by the results of the built-in-tests;
while an ambiguous fault has not been examined, then performing the following steps;
selecting an ambiguous fault for examination;
extracting ambiguous data from test data associated with the results of built-in-tests from which an ambiguous fault is determined;
reducing ambiguity in said ambiguous data;
performing inferential processing and trend recognition of said ambiguous data using prior data, andsimulating performance of said system using models of said system and previous said prior data about said system; and
identifying new data present in said extracted parameter information;
updating the archived system database with the new data wherein the new data becomes prior data.
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Abstract
A method and an apparatus provide intelligent monitoring and maintenance of a system. The method according to one embodiment accesses data relating to functional components of the system; extracts parameter information for functional components of the system, the step of extracting parameter information including performing inferential processing and trend recognition of the data using previous knowledge about the system, and simulating performance of the system using models of the system and previous knowledge about the system; identifies new information about the system present in extracted parameter information; and provides the new information to the step of extracting parameter information, to be used as previous knowledge.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of intelligent monitoring and maintenance of a system by means of a plurality of software tools operating on a separate computer processor having a memory and an output device for interaction with an operator, the system comprised of functional components having an online built-in-test functions, said method comprising:
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providing an archived system database residing in the memory of the separate computer processor, the archived system database containing prior data associated with expected and previous results of built-in-tests; accessing test data relating to functional components of said system; extracting parameter information for said functional components of said system, said step of extracting parameter information including monitoring the results of the built-in-tests; determining the presence of non-ambiguous faults and ambiguous faults based upon test data associated with the results of the built-in-tests; providing an indication on the output device to the operator to replace said functional components associated with non-ambiguous faults as determined by the results of the built-in-tests; while an ambiguous fault has not been examined, then performing the following steps; selecting an ambiguous fault for examination; extracting ambiguous data from test data associated with the results of built-in-tests from which an ambiguous fault is determined; reducing ambiguity in said ambiguous data; performing inferential processing and trend recognition of said ambiguous data using prior data, and simulating performance of said system using models of said system and previous said prior data about said system; and identifying new data present in said extracted parameter information; updating the archived system database with the new data wherein the new data becomes prior data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An apparatus for intelligent monitoring and maintenance of a system, said apparatus comprising:
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a computer processor separate from the system being monitored, the computer processor having memory and an output device; an archived system database containing prior data about said system, the archived system database residing in the memory of the computer processor; a plurality of software components stored in the memory of the computer processor, the components comprising the following; a smart interface engine for accessing data relating to functional components of said system; a logic engine for extracting parameter information for said functional components of said system, said logic engine extracting parameter information for said functional components by monitoring an outcome of built-in-tests associated with said functional components; determining the presence of non-ambiguous faults and ambiguous faults; providing an indication on the output device to replace said functional components associated with non-ambiguous faults; while ambiguous faults are present, performing the following steps; selecting an unresolved ambiguous fault for processing; extracting ambiguous data relating to said system from said data containing the selected ambiguous fault; reducing ambiguity in the ambiguous data; performing inferential processing and trend recognition of said data using the prior data about said system that is retrieved from said archived system database, and utilizing a performance simulator to simulate performance of said system using models of said system and the prior data about said system from said archived system database; and presenting on the output device the results of the inferential processing, the trend recognition, and the simulation; and a confirmatory engine for updating said archived system database with new data present in said extracted parameter information. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification