System, method and apparatus for system status identification in a wireless sensor network

• US 9,538,578 B1
• Filed: 05/13/2015
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Senseware, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Senseware, Inc.
• Inventors: Al-Momen, Serene, Stamatakis, Julien G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Leon-Viet
• Application Number:
  US14/710,711
• Time in Patent Office: 601 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00842 the system comprising a plurality of damper doors; Air distribution between several outlets
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/0001 for ventilation F24F11/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/00 Control inputs relating to air properties
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/002 Remote reading of utility meters
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/006 Remote reading of utility meters to a non-fixed location, i.e. mobile location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 19/00 Alarms responsive to two or more different undesired or abnormal conditions, e.g. burglary and fire, abnormal temperature and abnormal rate of flow
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/00 Electric signal transmission systems G08C17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/38 Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40 Bus networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40228 Modbus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/04 Network management architectures or arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0809 Plug-and-play configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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: H04L 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/10 : using a centralized architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/40 : using a wireless architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 : using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/60 : for transmitting utility meters data, i.e. transmission of data from the reader of the utility meter
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/80 : Arrangements in the sub-station, i.e. sensing device
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/82 : where the sensing device takes the initiative of sending data
• 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 24/02 : Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 : Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 : for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 : Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 : Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/06 : between gateways and public network devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 : Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 : Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

A configured mode of operation of a wireless sensor network can be established through a dynamic remote configuration process. The plug-and-play universal sensor interface enables the monitoring capabilities of the wireless sensor network to scale seamlessly with the dynamic nature of changing sensor application objectives. A system status module enables a user to view the sensor service to confirm the current configuration of the wireless sensor network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a host system that is remote from a monitored location, a configuration command for one or more of a plurality of sensor channels of data, the plurality of sensor channels of data associated with a respective plurality of sensors included together as a suite of sensors in a first of a plurality of sensor node units installed at the monitored location;

transmitting, by the host system in response to the configuration command, configuration setup information to a gateway device at the monitored location for delivery to the first of the plurality of sensor node units, the configuration setup information enabling the first of the plurality of sensor node units to activate a first subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data;

transmitting, by the host system in response to a request that identifies the first of the plurality of sensor node units, system status information that enables a display of a plurality of user interface elements corresponding to the plurality of sensors supported by the first of the plurality of sensor node units, the plurality of user interface elements grouped together in the display to represent the suite of sensors in the first of the plurality of sensor node units, wherein a first subset of the plurality of user interface elements corresponding to the first subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data provide an indication of a first activation activity, the first activation activity determined from a first user instruction for the first subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data, and a second subset of the plurality of user interface elements corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data provide an indication of a second activation activity, the second activation activity determined from a second user instruction different from the first user instruction for the second subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data; and

transmitting, by the host system, detailed sensor data upon receipt of a user initiated action associated with one of the first subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitored location is a building.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitored location is a property area.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the plurality of user interface elements include a description of a type of sensor channel of data that has been activated.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the first activation activity includes monitored data during an activation state.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the first activation activity includes activation state event data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the first activation activity includes cost data associated with an activation state.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a host system, activation information for a sensor channel of data associated with a sensor installed at a monitored location, the activation information triggering an activation state for the sensor channel of data applicable to a first time period;

transmitting, by the host system during the activation state, sensor information based on the sensor channel of data to a destination during the first time period;

receiving, at the host system, deactivation information for the sensor channel of data, the deactivation information triggering a deactivation state for the sensor channel of data applicable to a second time period different from the first time period;

restricting, by the host system during the deactivation state, a transmission of sensor information based on the sensor channel of data to the destination during the second time period; and

transmitting, by the host system, status information to a client device, the status information including a measure of an activity of the transmission of sensor information during the activation state relative to an activity of the restriction of transmission of sensor information during the deactivation state.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the monitored location is a building.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the monitored location is a property area.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the status information includes monitored data during the activation state.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the status information includes activation state event data and deactivation state event data.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the status information includes cost data associated with the activation state.

14. A system, comprising:

a configuration server device configured to receive activation information for one or more of a plurality of sensor channels of data associated with a respective plurality of sensors included together as a suite of sensors in a first of a plurality of sensor node units installed at a monitored location, the activation information enabling the configuration server device to activate a first subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data; and

a web server device configured to transmit, in response to a request that identifies the first of the plurality of sensor node units, system status information that enables a display of a plurality of user interface elements corresponding to the plurality of sensors supported by the first of the plurality of sensor node units installed at the monitored location, the plurality of user interface elements grouped together in the display to represent the suite of sensors in the first of the plurality of sensor node units, wherein a first subset of the plurality of user interface elements corresponding to the first subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data provide an indication of a first activation activity, the first activation activity determined from a first user instruction for the first subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data, and a second subset of the plurality of user interface elements corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data provide an indication of a second activation activity, the second activation activity determined from a second user instruction different from the first user instruction for the second subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data, the web server device further configured to transmit detailed sensor data upon receipt of a user initiated action associated with one of the first subset of the plurality of sensor channels of data.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the monitored location is a building.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the monitored location is a property area.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the first subset of the plurality of user interface elements include a description of a type of sensor channel of data that has been activated.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the indication of the first activation activity includes monitored data during an activation state.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the indication of the first activation activity includes activation state event data.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the indication of the first activation activity includes cost data associated with an activation state.