Monitoring remote environmental conditions

• US 8,228,183 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2011
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arthroscopic Surgery Associates Corporation
• Original Assignee: Arthroscopic Surgery Associates Corporation
• Inventors: Glenn, Gregory M., Silva, Damon, Henry, Timothy
• Primary Examiner(s): POPE, DARYL C
• Application Number:
  US13/019,975
• Publication Number:
  US 20110134917A1
• Time in Patent Office: 538 Days
• Field of Search: 340/506, 340/531, 340/539.1, 340/3.1, 340/539.26, 340/539.22
• US Class Current: 340/531
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/80 Arrangements for signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/40 using a wireless architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A server system for remote monitoring includes a wireless communication interface, a processor, and a storage device. The wireless communication interface receives at least one data packet over wireless communications from a remote monitoring system. The processor processes the data packet including sensor information from a sensor coupled to the remote monitoring system. The storage device stores the sensor information.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring remote environmental conditions in real-time, the system comprising:

a communication interface for communication over a wireless communications network with a microprocessor-controlled control board at a remote location, the communication interface configured to receive packets of sensor data concerning a plurality of detected environmental conditions at the remote location at a date and time, the packets compiled in real-time;

a processor configured to examine each packet of the sensor data to;

identify a sensor associated with the packet,

extract data indicating a type of the detected environmental condition, a measurement of the detected environmental condition, the remote location, and the date and time,

determine that the measurement of the detected environmental condition meets an alarm level preset by a customer associated with the identified sensor, and

generate a notification to the customer indicating that the detected environmental condition meets the preset alarm level; and

a storage device configured to store received sensor data according to the identification of the associated sensor and information regarding the customer, wherein the stored sensor data is retrievable in response to the alarm.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether an alarm level is triggered based on a combination of sensor data from two or more sensors.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a web interface that allows a user to:

configure control board report settings, and access historical data of a selected sensor, wherein the historical data includes the sensor data stored in the storage device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control board settings further concern minimization of air time usage or power usage.

5. A method for monitoring remote environmental conditions in real-time, the method comprising:

receiving at least one packet sent from a control board at a remote location through a communication interface over a wireless communications network, the at least one packet including sensor data concerning a plurality of detected environmental conditions at a remote location at a date and time, the at least one packet compiled in real-time;

executing instructions stored in a memory of the server system, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor examines each packet of the sensor data to;

identify a sensor associated with the packet,

extract data indicating a type of the detected environmental condition, a measurement of the detected environmental condition, the remote location, and the date and time,

determine that the measurement of the detected environmental condition meets an alarm level preset by a customer associated with the identified sensor, and

generate a notification to the customer indicating that the detected environmental condition meets the preset alarm level; and

storing the sensor data in memory according to the identification of the associated sensor and information regarding the customer, wherein the stored sensor data is retrievable in response to the alarm.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein further execution of the instructions by the processor determines that an alarm level is triggered based on the sensor data of the sensor.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving user input regarding sensor calibration, the input received through a web interface.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the control board settings further concern minimization of air time usage.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program being executable by a computer processor to perform a method for monitoring remote environmental conditions in real-time, the method comprising:

receiving at least one packet sent from a control board at a remote location through a communication interface over a wireless communications network, the at least one packet including sensor data concerning a plurality of detected environmental conditions at the remote location at a date and time, the at least one packet compiled in real-time;

examining each packet of the sensor data to;

identify a sensor associated with the packet,

extract data indicating a type of the detected environmental condition, a measurement of the detected environmental condition, the remote location, and the date and time,

determine that the measurement of the detected environmental condition meets an alarm level preset by a customer associated with the identified sensor, and

generate a notification to the customer indicating that the detected environmental condition meets the preset alarm level; and

storing the sensor data in memory according to the identification of the associated sensor and information regarding the customer, wherein the stored sensor data is retrievable in response to the alarm.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions for determining whether an alarm level is triggered based on a combination of sensor data from two or more sensors.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions for receiving user input regarding sensor, the user input received through a web interface.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the control board settings further concern minimization of air time usage.

13. A system for monitoring remote environmental conditions, the system comprising:

a sensor interface communicatively coupled to a sensor at a location, the sensor interface configured to receive sensor data concerning a plurality of detected environmental conditions at the location at a date and time;

a microprocessor controlled control board configured to process the sensor data received at the sensor interface to form at least one packet in real-time, and

a communication interface for communication with a designated server over a wireless communications network, the communication interface configured to transmit the at least one data packet to the designated server configured to;

identify a sensor associated with the packet,

extract data indicating a type of the detected environmental condition, a measurement of the detected environmental condition, the remote location, and the date and time,

determine that the measurement of the detected environmental condition meets an alarm level preset by a customer associated with the identified sensor, and

generate a notification to the customer indicating that the detected environmental condition meets the preset alarm level.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the control board settings further concern minimization of air time usage.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the sensor interface is further configured to calibrate the sensor by downloading executable code into the sensors.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising an analog to digital converter configured to convert the sensor information from analog format to digital format.

17. A method for monitoring remote environmental conditions in real-time, the method comprising:

receiving sensor data concerning a plurality of detected environmental conditions at a location at a date and time, the sensor data received from a sensor through a sensor interface;

executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor processes the sensor data to form at least one data packet in real-time; and

transmitting the at least one data packet through the communication interface to a designated recipient, wherein the data packet is examined by the recipient to;

identify the sensor associated with the packet,

extract data indicating a type of the detected environmental condition, a measurement of the detected environmental condition, the remote location, and the date and time,

determine that the measurement of the detected environmental condition meets an alarm level preset by a customer associated with the identified sensor, and

generate a notification to the customer indicating that the detected environmental condition meets the preset alarm level.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the control board settings further concern minimization of air time usage.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising calibrating the sensor by downloading executable code into the sensors.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising converting the sensor information from analog format to digital format.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising assigning an identifier to the sensor, wherein the packet transmitted to the server further includes the assigned sensor identifier.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a computer processor to perform a method for monitoring remote environmental conditions in real-time, the method comprising:

receiving sensor data concerning a plurality of detected environmental conditions at a location at a date and time;

processing the sensor data to form at least one data packet in real-time; and

transmitting the at least one data packet to a designated recipient, wherein the data packet is examined by the recipient to;

identify the sensor associated with the packet,

extract data indicating a type of the detected environmental condition, a measurement of the detected environmental condition, the remote location, and the date and time,

determine that the measurement of the detected environmental condition meets an alarm level preset by a customer associated with the identified sensor, and

generate a notification to the customer indicating that the detected environmental condition meets the preset alarm level.