Method and apparatus for replay of historical oath

• US 20020174223A1
• Filed: 03/27/2002
• Published: 11/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Power Conversion Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: NetBotz, Inc. (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Moran, Mike, Elderton, John, Medford, Mitch, Childers, Sloan
• Granted Patent: US 7,330,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2825 Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/44 Star or tree networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2845 Telephone line
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• 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 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

The invention is directed to a system and method for displaying data associated with network appliances. Icons may be arranged in a display area in accordance with a characteristic associated with the network appliances. This characteristic may be related to location, alarm state, sensor value, or others. Further, the icons may display visual indication associated with network appliance parameters. Moreover, the icons may be superimposed on a graphical element. This element may be a map, blueprint, image, or plot. Further, a set of historical data may be replayed through the display by altering the visual indications of the icons and the graphical element in accordance with a sequence of values contained in the historical data.

Claims

1. A display, the display comprising:

A display area;

a plurality of icons associated with a plurality of network appliances, the plurality of network appliances associated with a category, the plurality of icons arranged in the display area in accordance with a characteristic associated with the plurality of network appliances; and

a graphical element, the graphical element displayed in the display area, the plurality of icons superimposed on the graphical element.

2. The display of claim 1 wherein the graphical element is an image.

3. The display of claim 1 wherein the graphical element is a video image.

4. The display of claim 1 wherein the graphical element is a contour plot.

5. The display of claim 4 wherein the contour plot is associated with temperature data.

6. The display of claim 4 wherein the contour plot is associated with airflow data.

7. The display of claim 1 wherein the graphical element is a vector plot.

8. The display of claim 7 wherein the vector plot is associated with airflow data.

9. The display of claim 7 wherein the vector plot is associated with sonic energy data.

10. The display of claim 1 wherein the characteristic is a parameter value.

11. The display of claim 1 wherein the characteristic is a physical location.

12. The display of claim 1 wherein the characteristic is an alarm state.

13. The display of claim 1 wherein the category is a responsible party.

14. The display of claim 1 wherein the category is a location.

15. The display of claim 1 wherein the category is an organization.

16. The display of claim 1 wherein at least one icon in the plurality of icons is operable to initiate another display in response to a user action.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the graphical element is an image.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the graphical element is a video image.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the graphical element is a contour plot.

23. The method of claim 17 wherein the graphical element is a vector plot.

26. The method of claim 17 wherein the characteristic is a parameter value.

27. The method of claim 17 wherein the characteristic is a physical location.

28. The method of claim 17 wherein the characteristic is an alarm state.

29. The method of claim 17 wherein the category is a responsible party.

30. The method of claim 17 wherein the category is a location.

31. The method of claim 17 wherein the category is an organization.

32. The method of claim 17, the method further comprising:

initiating another display in response to a user action associated with at least one of the plurality of icons.

17. A method for displaying data associated with network appliances, the method comprising:

arranging a plurality of icons in a display area, the plurality of icons being associated with a plurality of network appliances, the plurality of network appliances being associated with a category, the plurality of icons arranged in the display area in accordance with a characteristic associated with the plurality of network appliances; and

rendering a graphical element in the display area, the plurality of icons superimposed on the graphical element.

22. The method of claim 22 wherein the contour plot is associated with airflow data.

21. The method of claim 22 wherein the contour plot is associated with temperature data.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the vector plot is associated with airflow data.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the vector plot is associated with sonic energy data.

33. A method for displaying data associated with a plurality network appliances, the data comprising a plurality of time sequenced values, each in the plurality of time sequenced values associated with at least one time, the method comprising:

in association with a first time,

arranging a plurality of icons in a display area, the plurality of icons being associated with the plurality of network appliances, the plurality of network appliances being associated with a category, the plurality of icons arranged in the display area in accordance with a characteristic associated with the plurality of network appliances;

rendering a graphical element in the display area, the plurality of icons superimposed on the graphical element, the graphical element having a visual characteristic associated with the first time; and

for a subsequent time,

rendering the graphical element in the display area, the plurality of icons superimposed on the graphical element, the graphical element having a changed characteristic associated with the subsequent time.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the graphical element is an image.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein the graphical element is a video image.

36. The method of claim 33 wherein the graphical element is a contour plot.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the contour plot is associated with temperature data.

38. The method of claim 36 wherein the contour plot is associated with airflow data.

39. The method of claim 33 wherein the graphical element is a vector plot.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein the vector plot is associated with airflow data.

41. The method of claim 39 wherein the vector plot is associated with sonic energy data.

42. The method of claim 33 wherein the characteristic is a parameter value.

43. The method of claim 33 wherein the characteristic is a physical location.

44. The method of claim 33 wherein the characteristic is an alarm state.

45. The method of claim 33 wherein the category is a responsible party.

46. The method of claim 33 wherein the category is a location.

47. The method of claim 33 wherein the category is an organization.

48. The method of claim 33, the method further comprising:

initiating another display in response to a user action associated with at least one of the plurality of icons.

49. The method of claim 33 wherein, for the first time, each icon in the plurality of icons has at least one visual characteristic associated the first time and, for the subsequent time, each icon in the plurality of icons has at least one changed visual characteristic associated with the subsequent time.