Remote monitoring and transparency regarding liquid volume

• US 10,156,466 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2015
• Issued: 12/18/2018
• 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): DIALLO, MAMADOU L
• Application Number:
  US14/874,194
• Publication Number:
  US 20160027286A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 Days
• 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 assets, the method comprising:

sending a command over a wireless communication network interface to a control board, wherein the command instructs the control board to begin collecting data from a plurality of sensors at a plurality of remote assets at one or more locations, each sensor measuring data associated with at least one remote asset of the plurality of remote assets, wherein the control board receives sensor data from a set of sensors of the plurality of sensors and compiles the sensor data received from each of the set of sensors into a packet;

receiving the packet sent from the control board over the wireless communications network;

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

identify the set of sensors from the sensor data compiled into the packet,

extract the sensor data from the packet,

associate portions of the extracted sensor data with each one of the set of sensors, and

generate a display of a sensor listing, the sensor listing cross-referencing the portions of the extracted sensor data associated with each one of the set of sensors;

storing the extracted sensor data and the association of the portions of the extracted sensor data with each of the set of sensors in the memory; and

initiating an alarm action based on at least one portion of the extracted sensor data corresponding to an alarm condition by sending one or more codes to the control board instructing the control board to remedy the alarm condition or to shut down equipment associated with the alarm condition.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining one or more alarm conditions based on user input of a minimum liquid volume, and identifying that the extracted sensor data includes a liquid volume measurement that meets at least one of the defined alarm conditions, wherein initiating the alarm action includes sending an alarm notification via the wireless network interface when the liquid volume measurement meets the at least one defined alarm condition.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising generating the alarm notification in real-time.

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

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated display further comprises historical data regarding a plurality of liquid volumes associated with the one or more locations over a period of time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated display comprises graphical data regarding liquid volumes associated with the one or more locations.

7. A system for monitoring remote assets, the system comprising:

a communication interface that;

sends a command over a wireless communication network to a control board, wherein the command instructs the control board to begin collecting data from a plurality of sensors at one or more remote locations, each sensor measuring data associated with at least one remote asset of a plurality of remote assets, wherein the control board receives sensor data from a set of sensors of the plurality of sensors and compiles the sensor data received from each of the set of sensors into a packet, and

receives the packet sent from the control board over the wireless communications network;

a memory; and

a processor that executes instructions out of the memory, wherein the execution of the instructions by the processor examines the packet to;

identify the set of sensors from the sensor data compiled into the packet,

extract the sensor data from the packet,

generate a display of a sensor listing, the sensor listing cross-referencing portions of the extracted sensor data associated with each one of the set of sensors, wherein the memory stores the extracted sensor data and the association of the portions of the extracted sensor data with each of the set of sensors, and

initiate an alarm action based on at least one portion of the extracted sensor data corresponding to an alarm condition by sending one or more codes to the control board instructing the control board to remedy the alarm condition or to shut down equipment associated with the alarm condition.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor executes further instructions to define one or more alarm conditions based on user input of a minimum liquid volume.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor executes further instructions to identify whether the extracted sensor data includes a liquid volume measurement that meets any of the defined alarm conditions.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the defined alarm conditions is met, and wherein the processor executes further instructions to generate an alarm notification in real-time.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the generated display further comprises location information for each of the set of sensors.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the generated display further comprises historical data regarding a plurality of liquid volumes associated with one of the one or more locations over a period of time.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the generated display comprises graphical data regarding liquid volumes associated with the one or more locations.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for monitoring remote assets, the method comprising:

sending a command over a wireless communication network to a control board, wherein the command instructs the control board to begin collecting data from a plurality of sensors at one or more remote locations, each sensor measuring data associated with at least one remote asset of a plurality of remote assets, wherein the control board receives sensor data from a set of sensors of the plurality of sensors and compiles the sensor data received from each of the set of sensors into a packet;

receiving the packet sent from the control board over the wireless communications network;

identifying the set of sensors from the sensor data compiled into the packet;

extracting the sensor data from the packet;

generating a display of a sensor listing, the sensor listing cross-referencing portions of the extracted sensor data associated with each one of the set of sensors;

storing the extracted sensor data and the association of the portions of the extracted sensor data with each of the set of sensors in a memory; and

initiating an alarm action based on at least one portion of the extracted sensor data corresponding to an alarm condition by sending one or more codes to the control board instructing the control board to remedy the alarm condition or to shut down equipment associated with the alarm condition.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising defining one or more alarm conditions based on user input of a minimum liquid volume.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising identifying whether the extracted sensor data includes a liquid volume measurement that meets any of the defined alarm conditions.

17. A method for monitoring a plurality of liquid volumes, 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 from a plurality of sensors at one or more remote locations;

receiving sensor data from a set of the plurality of sensors;

compiling the sensor data received from each of the set of sensors into a packet; and

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

identifies the set of sensors by examining the sensor data compiled into the packet,

extracts the compiled sensor data from the packet,

generates a display of a sensor listing, the sensor listing cross-referencing portions of the extracted sensor data associated with each one of the set of sensors,

stores the extracted sensor data in memory, and

initiates an alarm action based on at least one portion of the extracted sensor data corresponding to an alarm condition by sending one or more codes to the control board instructing the control board to remedy the alarm condition or to shut down equipment associated with the alarm condition.

18. A system for monitoring a plurality of liquid volumes, the system comprising:

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

a sensor interface communicatively coupled to a plurality of sensors at one or more remote locations, each sensor measuring data associated with at least one asset of a plurality of assets, the sensor interface configured to receive sensor data from the plurality of assets at the one or more remote locations;

a memory;

a processor that executes instructions out of the memory based on the received command, wherein execution of the received command by the processor;

begins collection of data from the plurality of sensors at the one or more remote locations, and

compiles the sensor data received from a set of sensors of the plurality of sensors into a packet, wherein the communication interface sends the compiled packet over the wireless communication network to the server, and wherein the server;

identifies the set of sensors by examining the sensor data compiled into the packet,

extracts the compiled sensor data from the packet,

generates a display of a sensor listing, the sensor listing cross-referencing portions of the extracted sensor data associated with each one of the set of sensors, wherein the memory stores the extracted sensor data, and

initiates an alarm action based on at least one portion of the extracted sensor data corresponding to an alarm condition by sending one or more codes to the control board instructing the control board to remedy the alarm condition or to shut down equipment associated with the alarm condition.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the computing hardware includes at least one of a processor executing instructions out of a memory, programmable logic, or a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for monitoring remote assets, 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 from a plurality of sensors at one or more remote locations;

receiving sensor data from a set of the plurality of sensors;

compiling the received sensor data received from each of the set of sensors into a packet; and

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

identifies the set of sensors by examining the sensor data compiled into the packet,

extracts the compiled sensor data from the packet, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, the sensor listing cross-referencing portions of the extracted sensor data associated with each one of the set of sensors,

stores the extracted sensor data in memory; and

initiates an alarm action based on at least one portion of the extracted sensor data corresponding to an alarm condition by sending one or more codes to the control board instructing the control board to remedy the alarm condition or to shut down equipment associated with the alarm condition.

21. A system for monitoring a plurality of remote liquid volumes, the system comprising:

a server that;

receives an access request from a user regarding measurements of sensor data at one or more remote locations, and

sends a command over a wireless communication network, wherein execution of the command begins collection of data associated with remote assets;

a plurality of sensors at the one or more remote locations that sense the data associated with the remote assets; and

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

receives the command from the server via the wireless communication network,

executes the command to begin collecting data from the plurality of sensors, wherein the data from the plurality of sensor is collected by computing hardware at the control board,

compiles sensor data associated with a set of sensors of the plurality of sensors into a packet, and

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

identifies the set of sensors by examining the sensor data compiled into the packet,

extracts the compiled sensor data from the packet,

generates a display of a sensor listing, the sensor listing cross-referencing portions of the extracted sensor data associated with each one of the set of sensors,

stores the extracted sensor data in memory, and

initiates an alarm action based on at least one portion of the extracted sensor data corresponding to an alarm condition by sending one or more codes to the control board instructing the control board to remedy the alarm condition or to shut down equipment associated with the alarm condition.