System and method for virtual control of laboratory equipment
First Claim
1. A system for virtual control of electronic laboratory equipment, comprising:
- a local computer system;
one or more items of electronic laboratory equipment connected to the local computer system, each item of electronic laboratory equipment having a physical control panel including one or more displays or controls;
a virtual control panel generation unit generating a virtual control panel accessible from a remote computer system, the virtual control panel being substantially similar to the physical control panel in appearance; and
a command interpretation unit monitoring interaction between the remote user and the virtual control panel and generating electronic laboratory equipment commands for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment,wherein each of the one or more items of electronic laboratory equipment has a corresponding driver for controlling functions and interpreting output of the corresponding item of electronic laboratory equipment, andwherein the command interpretation unit characterizes instructions of the remote user for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment according to a level of risk and generates a dialog message of caution when the instructions are characterized as meeting or exceeding a predetermined level of risk.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for virtual control of electronic laboratory equipment includes a local computer system. One or more items of electronic laboratory equipment are connected to the local computer system. Each item of electronic laboratory equipment has a physical control panel including one or more displays or controls. A virtual control panel generation unit generates a virtual control panel accessible from a remote computer system. The virtual control panel is substantially similar to the physical control panel in appearance. A command interpretation unit monitors interaction between the remote user and the virtual control panel and generates electronic laboratory equipment commands for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment.
20 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A system for virtual control of electronic laboratory equipment, comprising:
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a local computer system; one or more items of electronic laboratory equipment connected to the local computer system, each item of electronic laboratory equipment having a physical control panel including one or more displays or controls; a virtual control panel generation unit generating a virtual control panel accessible from a remote computer system, the virtual control panel being substantially similar to the physical control panel in appearance; and a command interpretation unit monitoring interaction between the remote user and the virtual control panel and generating electronic laboratory equipment commands for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment, wherein each of the one or more items of electronic laboratory equipment has a corresponding driver for controlling functions and interpreting output of the corresponding item of electronic laboratory equipment, and wherein the command interpretation unit characterizes instructions of the remote user for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment according to a level of risk and generates a dialog message of caution when the instructions are characterized as meeting or exceeding a predetermined level of risk. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for virtual control of electronic laboratory equipment in a virtual environment, comprising:
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a local computer system executing a local client for interfacing with a virtual environment server; one or more items of electronic laboratory equipment connected to the local computer system, each item of electronic laboratory equipment having a physical control panel including one or more displays or controls; a server managing a virtual environment including a virtual space including virtual representations of the electronic laboratory equipment, each item of electronic laboratory equipment including a virtual control panel being substantially similar in appearance to the corresponding physical control panel; and a remote computer executing a remote client for interacting with the virtual environment server, wherein a remote user interacts with the virtual representations of the electronic laboratory equipment in the virtual space of the virtual environment by controlling an avatar representing the remote user, and wherein the interactions between the avatar and the virtual representations of the electronic laboratory equipment are monitored and used to generate electronic laboratory equipment commands for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment, wherein either the local computer system or the server is configured to record status of the one or more items of electronic laboratory equipment to a configuration file within a storage device each time a unit of the one or more items of electronic laboratory equipment is turned on or a setting thereof is changed, and wherein either the local computer system or the server is configured to characterizes interactions of the user in the virtual environment with the virtual representations of the electrical laboratory equipment for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment according to a level of risk and generates a dialog message of caution when the interactions are characterized as meeting or exceeding a predetermined level of risk. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for virtual control of electronic laboratory equipment, comprising:
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displaying a virtual control panel on a remote computer system, the virtual control panel being substantially similar in appearance to a physical control panel of an item of electronic laboratory equipment; monitoring interaction between a user of the remote computer system and the virtual control panel; converting monitored interaction between a user of the remote computer system and the virtual control panel into instructions for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment; characterizing the instructions for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment as either no risk, risk, or not permitted; generating a dialog message of caution when the instructions for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment are characterized as risk; and sending the instructions for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment to a local computer system connected to the electronic laboratory equipment over a computer network and issuing commands to the electronic laboratory equipment from the local computer system based on the received instructions for exploiting functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment when the instructions for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment are not characterized as not permitted. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. A method for virtual control of electronic laboratory equipment in a virtual environment, comprising:
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controlling an avatar representing a remote user to interact with a plurality of virtual control panels of virtual representations of a plurality of items of electronic laboratory equipment in a virtual space of a virtual environment, each of the virtual control panels being substantially similar in appearance to a corresponding physical control panel of an actual item of electronic laboratory equipment; monitoring interaction between the avatar and the virtual control panels; converting monitored interaction between the avatar and the virtual control panels into instructions for exploiting functionality of the actual item of electronic laboratory equipment; sending the instructions for exploiting the functionality of the actual items of electronic laboratory equipment to a local computer system connected to the actual items of electronic laboratory equipment over a computer network; characterizing the instructions for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment according to a level of risk; generating a dialog message of caution when the instructions for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment are characterized as meeting or exceeding a predetermined level of risk; and issuing commands to the electronic laboratory equipment from the local computer system based on the received instructions for exploiting the functionality of the electronic laboratory equipment, wherein each of the plurality of items of electronic laboratory equipment has a corresponding driver for controlling functions and interpreting output of the corresponding item of electronic laboratory equipment. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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Specification