Monitoring remote environmental conditions

• US 9,013,302 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2014
• Issued: 04/21/2015
• 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:
  US14/302,316
• Publication Number:
  US 20140292514A1
• Time in Patent Office: 314 Days
• Field of Search: 340/506, 340/531, 340/539.1, 340/3.1, 340/539.26, 340/539.22
• US Class Current: 340/539.22
• 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 method for monitoring remote environmental conditions in real-time, the method comprising:

receiving an access request from a user regarding real-time environmental conditions at one or more remote locations;

sending a command over a wireless communication network to a control board, wherein the command instructs the control board to begin collecting data in real-time from a plurality of sensors at the identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a different environmental condition;

receiving at least one packet sent from the control board over the wireless communications network, the at least one packet including sensor data concerning at least one real-time measurement of the environmental conditions; and

executing instructions stored in a memory of the server system, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor;

identifies one or more sensors associated with the packet,

extracts data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated environmental condition for each identified sensor, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the environmental conditions.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining one or more alarm levels based on user input.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining whether the sensor data includes real-time measurements that meet any of the defined alarm levels.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the defined alarm levels is met, and further comprising generating an alarm notification.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated display further comprises location information for each of the identified sensors.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated display further comprises historical data over a period of time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated display comprises graphical data.

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

a communication interface that;

receives an access request from a user regarding real-time environmental conditions at one or more remote locations,

sends a command over a wireless communication network to a control board, wherein the command instructs the control board to begin collecting data in real-time from a plurality of sensors at the identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a different environmental condition, and

receives at least one packet sent from the control board over the wireless communications network, the at least one packet including sensor data concerning at least one real-time measurement of the environmental conditions; and

a processor for executing instructions stored in a memory of the server system, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor;

identifies one or more sensors associated with the packet,

extracts data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated environmental condition for each identified sensor, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the environmental conditions.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein further execution of instructions by the processor defines one or more alarm levels based on user input.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein further execution of instructions by the processor determines whether the sensor data includes real-time measurements that meet any of the defined alarm levels.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one of the defined alarm levels is met, and wherein further execution of instructions by the processor generates an alarm notification.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the generated display further comprises location information for each of the identified sensors.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the generated display further comprises historical data over a period of time.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the generated display comprises graphical data.

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

receiving an access request from a user regarding real-time environmental conditions at one or more remote locations;

sending a command over a wireless communication network to a control board, wherein the command instructs the control board to begin collecting data in real-time from a plurality of sensors at the identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a different environmental condition;

receiving at least one packet sent from the control board over the wireless communications network, the at least one packet including sensor data concerning at least one real-time measurement of the environmental conditions;

identifying one or more sensors associated with the packet;

extracting data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated environmental condition for each identified sensor; and

generating a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the environmental conditions.

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

receiving a command sent from a server over a wireless communication network to a control board;

executing the command via a processor of the control board, wherein the command instructs the control board to begin collecting data in real-time from a plurality of sensors at one or more identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a different environmental condition; and

compiling at least one packet, wherein the at least one packet concerns at least one real-time measurement of the environmental conditions;

sending the compiled packet over the wireless communication network to the server, wherein the server;

identifies one or more sensors associated with the packet,

extracts data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated environmental condition for each identified sensor, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the environmental conditions.

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

a communication interface that receives a command sent from a server over a wireless communication network to a control board;

a sensor interface communicatively coupled to a plurality of sensors at one or more identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a different environmental condition, the sensor interface configured to receive sensor data from each sensor concerning a real-time measurement of an associated environmental conditions at the location;

a processor that executes the received command, wherein execution of the received command;

begins collection of data in real-time from the plurality of sensors at the one or more identified remote locations, and

compiles at least one packet, wherein the at least one packet concerns at least one real-time measurement of the environmental conditions;

wherein the communication interface sends the compiled packet over the wireless communication network to the server, wherein the server;

identifies one or more sensors associated with the packet,

extracts data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated environmental condition for each identified sensor, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the environmental conditions.

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

receiving a command sent from a server over a wireless communication network to a control board;

executing the command to begin collecting data in real-time from a plurality of sensors at one or more identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a different environmental condition; and

compiling at least one packet, wherein the at least one packet concerns at least one real-time measurement of the environmental conditions;

sending the compiled packet over the wireless communication network to the server, wherein the server;

identifies one or more sensors associated with the packet,

extracts data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated environmental condition for each identified sensor, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the environmental conditions.

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

a server that;

receives an access request from a user regarding real-time environmental conditions at one or more remote locations, and

sends a command over a wireless communication network, wherein execution of the command begins collection of data in real-time;

a plurality of sensors at the identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a different environmental condition; and

a control board associated with the plurality of sensors, wherein the control board;

receives the command from the server,

executes the command via a processor to begin collecting data in real-time from the plurality of sensors,

compiles the collected data into at least one packet, the at least one packet including sensor data concerning at least one real-time measurement of the environmental conditions, and

sends the at least one packet over the wireless communication network to the server,

wherein the server;

identifies one or more sensors associated with the packet,

extracts data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated environmental condition for each identified sensor, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the environmental conditions.