Senseweb

• US 7,971,143 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2006
• Issued: 06/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Santanche, Andre, Priyantha, Nissanka B., Zhao, Feng, Liu, Jie, Nath, Suman K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh; Ba
• Application Number:
  US11/555,177
• Publication Number:
  US 20080104530A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,701 Days
• Field of Search: 715/764, 715/734, 715736-739, 715/863, 701/117, 701200-225
• US Class Current: 715/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 90/00 Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing

Abstract

Senseweb is described. In an embodiment, a first selection identifying a region of interest is recognized. Additionally, a second selection indicating at least one selected condition potentially monitored within the region of interest is recognized. Then, at least one sensor in the region of interest monitoring the selected condition is identified, and data communicating the selected condition from the sensor is automatically associated with a representation of the region of interest.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

recognizing a first selection identifying a region of interest;

recognizing a second selection indicating at least one selected condition potentially monitored within the region of interest;

providing an indication to identify at least one sensor in the region of interest monitoring the selected condition;

displaying a representation of the region of interest on a display;

based on number of the at least one sensor and a relative size of the representation of the region of interest, grouping the at least one sensors into one or more groups by employing a hierarchical triangular mesh technique;

presenting a grouped sensor reading for each of the one or more groups within the representation of the region of interest; and

upon moving a cursor over the presentation of the at least one sensor or clicking the presentation of the at least one sensor with the cursor, effectuating a retrieval of data that is associated with the at least one selected condition from the at least one sensor.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving data communicating the at least one selected condition from the at least one sensor; and

automatically associating data communicating the at least one selected condition with a client electronic device simultaneously with a visual representation of the region of interest.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising continuously updating an indication of the at least one selected condition while simultaneously providing the visual representation on a display of the client electronic device.

4. A method of claim 1, wherein an entry of the first selection of the region of interest includes receiving one of a plurality of entries comprising:

a polygonal definition circumscribing the region of interest from a representation of an area including the region of interest;

a path definition defining the region of interest as coinciding with at least one of along or adjacent to at least one line segment across the area;

a range definition representing the region of interest as including a subset of the area within a distance of a point within the area;

a perspective definition representing the region of interest as including a subset of the area defined by a point of origin and at least one boundary limit; and

a textual reference indicating the region of interest.

5. A method of claim 1, wherein the selected condition potentially monitored includes one of:

a visual observation presented by a camera, the visual observation including data captured at least one of within a human visual spectrum or beyond the human visual spectrum;

an audio condition, including at least one of;

a sound;

or

a sound level;

a weather condition, including at least one of;

an air temperature;

a humidity;

a barometric pressure;

a wind speed;

or

an accumulated precipitation;

a light density condition;

a geological condition, including at least one of;

a seismographic condition;

or

a ground temperature;

a chemical condition including at least one of;

a presence of the chemical;

an absence of the chemical;

or

a relative measurement of a density of the chemical; and

a traffic condition;

or

a density condition counting a presence of a selected entity.

6. A method of claim 1, wherein providing an indication to identify at least one sensor includes indicating a directory of sensors, the directory including for each of the sensors a location and at least one condition monitored.

7. A method of claim 6, further comprising compiling the directory of sensors by registering for each of a plurality of available sensors the location of and the at least one condition monitored by each of the available sensors.

8. A method of claim 7, further comprising registering each of the plurality of available sensors using an ontological language specifying metadata describing each of the available sensors.

9. A method of claim 8, wherein the metadata describing each of the available sensors includes at least one of:

a name;

a physical location defined by at least one coordinate designation;

a property address where the available sensor is located;

a sensor type;

a data type describing a parameter of data monitored by the available sensor;

or

a description of the sensor.

10. A method of claim 8, wherein the directory of sensors is configured to maintain a network address for each of the plurality of sensors from which the data reported by each of the plurality of sensors is available, including one of:

a sensor address from which the data presented by the sensor can be retrieved;

or

a hub address of a computer system in which the data represented by the sensor is stored and from which the data can be retrieved.

11. A method of claim 1, wherein associating the data with the representation includes at least one of:

representing the at least one sensor as an icon, wherein a position of the icon within the representation of the region of interest indicates a relative position of the at least one sensor within the region of interest;

or

representing the selected condition reported by the at least one sensor on the representation of the region of interest at the relative position of the at least one sensor within the region of interest.

12. A method of claim 1, wherein the data communicating the selected condition includes at least one of:

a measurement of the selected condition;

or

a time at which the measurement was made.

13. A system, comprising:

a database including a directory of a plurality of sensors, each of the sensors being configured to monitor at least one condition;

a query manager configured to receive a query including an identification of a region of interest and at least one selected condition, identify within the region of interest available sensors of the plurality of sensors operable to monitor the selected condition, and group the available sensors within the region of interest into one or more groups by employing a hierarchical triangular mesh technique based on number of the available sensors and a relative size of a representation of the region of interest;

an integrator that generates the representation of the region of interest that represents each of the one or more groups reporting the selected condition within the region of interest;

an associator that automatically links the representation with a data address from which the condition reported by each of the sensors is available; and

a client interface including;

an output interface configured to;

receive the representation and graphically present the representation;

display a data window including data associated with the selected condition reported by the senor when placing a cursor over a representation of the sensor or clicking the representation of the sensor with the cursor; and

collapse the data window when moving the cursor away from the representation of the sensor or clicking the representation of the sensor or the data window with the cursor.

14. A system of claim 13, further comprising a client interface including:

a query input allowing a user to specify the region of interest and the at least one condition.

15. A system of claim 14, wherein the query input includes a user input operable to allow the user to identify the region of interest, including one of:

graphically specifying a polygonal boundary of the region of interest within an area including the region of interest;

graphically specifying a path for which the region of interest lies at least one of along the path or adjacent to the path;

graphically specifying a range for which the region of interest includes a zone within a distance of a specified point;

graphically specifying a perspective relative to a selected point of origin and limited by at least one boundary;

or

textually describing the region of interest.

16. A system of claim 15, wherein the database includes queriable metadata describing each of the sensors, wherein for each of the sensors the metadata includes at least one of:

a name;

a physical location defined by at least one coordinate designation;

a property address where the available sensor is located;

a sensor type;

a data type describing a parameter of data monitored by the available sensor;

or

a description of the sensor.

17. A system of claim 13, wherein the data reported by each of the sensors includes at least one of:

a measurement of the selected condition; and

a time at which the measurement was made, and wherein the data reported by each of the sensors is retrievable from a data address including one of;

a sensor address from which the data presented by the sensor can be retrieved;

or

a hub address of a computer system in which the data represented by the sensor is stored and from which the data can be retrieved.

18. A computer-readable medium storing a plurality of computer executable instructions that when executed on a processor perform acts comprising:

receiving a query identifying a region of interest and at least one condition to be reported within the region of interest;

identifying one or more available sensors that report the at least one condition within the region of interest;

generating a representation of the region of interest;

based on number of the available sensors and a relative size of the representation of the region of interest, grouping the available sensors into one or more groups by employing a hierarchical triangular mesh technique;

obtaining a grouped sensor reading for each of the one or more groups; and

presenting the grouped sensor reading for each of the one or more groups within the representation of the region of interest.

19. A computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the acts further comprise:

allowing a user to specify the region of interest and the at least one condition; and

graphically presenting the representation of the region of the interest to the user.

20. A computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the acts further comprise:

maintaining queriable metadata describing a plurality of sensors;

recognizing an ontological language specifying the queriable metadata for the plurality of sensors; and

specifying for each of the plurality of sensors at least one of;

a name;

a physical location defined by at least one coordinate designation;

a property address where the sensor is located;

a sensor type;

a data type describing a parameter of data monitored by the sensor; and

a description of the sensor.