Systems for detecting, collecting, communicating, and using information about environmental conditions and occurrences
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- an environmental sensor, at a facility, generating data about an environmental condition at the facility;
a transmission component, at the facility, sending an environmental condition message to a node of a mesh network, the environmental condition message relating to the data about the environmental condition at the facility, wherein the transmission component sends the environment condition message responsive to a determination that the generated data about the environmental condition is appropriate to send based at least in part on an environmental occurrence profile; and
wherein the mesh network comprises one or more nodes that receive and route utility measurement messages from facilities, wherein the measurement messages comprise information about measurements from utility sensors at the facilities.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed for identifying and providing warnings of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other environmental occurrences. Temperature, pressure, seismic activities and other environmental conditions are measured with improved granularity using sensors at multiple locations. More extensive distribution of sensors is enabled using existing networks, such as utility (e.g., gas and electricity) meter networks. Network traffic is improved by screening information locally so that only limited information is sent for central processing. A given location, for example, may compare its own and its neighbors measurements against a profile to identify the probable existence of a tornado before sending a message to a central processing device. Upon receiving such a message and possibly other information (e.g., other messages or weather service information), a central device may send notifications to specific facilities that an environmental occurrence may be occurring, for example, notifying specific residences in the expected path of a tornado.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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an environmental sensor, at a facility, generating data about an environmental condition at the facility; a transmission component, at the facility, sending an environmental condition message to a node of a mesh network, the environmental condition message relating to the data about the environmental condition at the facility, wherein the transmission component sends the environment condition message responsive to a determination that the generated data about the environmental condition is appropriate to send based at least in part on an environmental occurrence profile; and wherein the mesh network comprises one or more nodes that receive and route utility measurement messages from facilities, wherein the measurement messages comprise information about measurements from utility sensors at the facilities. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system comprising:
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environmental sensors at multiple facilities, each of the environmental sensors generating data about an environmental condition at different ones of the multiple facilities; and a network allowing communication amongst the environmental sensors at the multiple facilities; wherein a subset of the environmental sensors share data about the environmental condition at their respective facilities; wherein an environmental condition message relating to shared data about the environmental condition at the subset of environmental sensors is sent through the network to a central location responsive to a determination that the generated data about the environmental condition is appropriate to send based at least in part on an environmental occurrence profile. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method comprising:
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receiving an environmental condition message over a network, the environmental condition message comprising information relating to an environmental condition at a facility, wherein the information relating to the environmental condition was collected from an environmental sensor at a facility, wherein the environmental condition message is received responsive to a determination, at the facility, that the information relating to the environmental condition is appropriate to be received based at least in part on an environmental occurrence profile; receiving a utility message over the network, the utility message comprising information relating to measurements from a utility sensor at the facility; and identifying a probable environmental occurrence using the information relating to the environmental condition. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification