Remote monitoring system

• US 9,153,123 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2005
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• 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:
  US11/245,360
• Publication Number:
  US 20060028336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,653 Days
• Field of Search: 340/531, 340/506, 340/517, 340/521, 340/539.1, 340/539.11, 340/539.26, 340/539.25
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 remote monitoring system includes a sensor interface, a processor, and a wireless communication interface. The sensor interface receives sensor information from a sensor coupled to the sensor interface. The processor processes the sensor information into at least one data packet for transferring to a server. The wireless communication interface transfers the data packet over wireless communications to the server.

Claims

1. A remote monitoring system for monitoring a plurality of volumetric moisture sensors, the remote monitoring system comprising:

a sensor interface communicatively coupled to the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors, the sensor interface configured to receive sensor information concerning environmental moisture conditions from the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors and to calibrate the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors for data measurement concerning the environmental moisture conditions by downloading executable code into the volumetric moisture sensors;

a processor configured to process the sensor information to form at least one data packet, the sensor information including a data measurement concerning an environmental moisture condition and an identifier associated with a sensor from the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors; and

a wireless communication interface in communication with the sensor interface, the wireless communication interface configured to transfer the at least one data packet over a wireless communications network to a server configured to communicate the executable code for calibrating the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors to the sensor interface via the wireless communication interface and to generate a notification to a customer indicating that the data measurement concerning the environmental moisture condition meets a preset alarm level.

2. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the sensor interface is further configured to calibrate the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors for processing data readings by downloading executable code into the volumetric moisture sensors.

3. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising an analog to digital converter configured to convert the sensor information from analog format to digital format.

4. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the sensor interface is configured to handle a serial data interface protocol.

5. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the wireless communications network comprises a telemetry radio communications network.

6. The remote monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the wireless communications network comprises a cellular communications network.

7. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to assign an identifier to each of the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors.

8. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising a solar powered battery configured to power the remote monitoring system.

9. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the sensor interface is further configured to download the executable code into each volumetric moisture sensor.

10. A method for operating a remote monitoring system, the method comprising:

receiving sensor information into a sensor interface from a plurality of volumetric moisture sensors, communicatively coupled to the sensor interface, the sensor information including a data measurement concerning an environmental moisture condition and an identifier associated with a sensor from the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors;

executing a processor to process the sensor information into at least one data packet;

wirelessly transferring over a wireless communications network the at least one data packet to a server configured to communicate executable code to the sensor interface for calibration of the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors for data measurement and to generate a notification to a customer indicating that the data measurement concerning the environmental moisture condition meets a preset alarm level; and

calibrating the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors via the sensor interface, the calibration being based on the executable code.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the sensor information indicates environmental moisture data obtained in real-time.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising converting the sensor information from analog format to digital format.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising handling a serial data interface protocol.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein wirelessly transferring comprises using a telemetry radio communications network.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein wirelessly transferring comprises a cellular communications network.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising assigning an identifier to each of the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising powering the remote monitoring system using a solar powered battery.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising downloading executable code into a sensor from the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors.

19. 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 operating a remote monitoring system, the method comprising:

receiving sensor information from a plurality of volumetric moisture sensors, the sensor information including a data measurement concerning environmental moisture conditions and an identifier associated with a sensor from the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors;

processing the sensor information into at least one data packet;

wirelessly transferring over a wireless communications network the at least one data packet to a server configured to communicate executable code to the sensor interface for calibration of the plurality of volumetric moisture sensors and to generate a notification to a customer indicating that the data measurement concerning the environmental moisture condition meets a preset alarm level; and

calibrating the plurality of sensors for data measurement concerning the environmental moisture conditions by downloading the executable code into the sensors.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the sensor information indicates environmental moisture data obtained in real-time.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the wireless communications network comprises a telemetry radio communications network.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the wireless communications network comprises a cellular communications network.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the program being further executable to assign an identifier of the sensor in the at least one data packet.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the program being further executable to download executable code into each volumetric moisture sensor.