HOLISTIC ALARM MONITORING

• US 20100102982A1
• Filed: 10/28/2008
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Open Systems International, Inc. (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Open Systems International, Inc. (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Hoveida, Bahman
• Granted Patent: US 7,961,087 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/691.300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/187 Machine fault alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 23/00 Alarms responsive to unspecified undesired or abnormal conditions

Abstract

Holistic alarm monitoring may be provided. An alarm display interface may receive alarm messages relating to assorted priorities and/or categories. Users may configure rules for displaying and processing the alarm messages as they are received. Historical alarm messages may be correlated and analyzed to determine trends, as by displaying the alarm messages on a calendar. Users may also configure and share alarm display views, search through received alarm messages, annotate and/or attach files to alarm messages, and categorize alarm messages.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method for providing alarm monitoring, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

providing an alarm display interface;

receiving at least one alarm message;

creating at least one rule for the alarm display interface;

determining whether the at least one alarm message satisfies the at least one rule; and

in response to determining that the at least one alarm message satisfies the at least one rule, processing the at least one alarm message according to the at least one rule.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein processing the at least one alarm message comprises displaying the at least one alarm message in the alarm display interface.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein receiving the at least one alarm message comprises receiving an e-mail message comprising a plurality of attributes associated with the at least one alarm message.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a displayed list of folders, wherein the displayed list of folders is customizable on a per user basis;

displaying a plurality of attribute columns, wherein the plurality of attribute columns comprises a set of columns associated with a plurality of attributes associated with the alarm message;

providing at least one pre-defined view configured to display the at least one alarm message.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4, further comprising receiving at least one change associated with at least one user to the at least one pre-defined view.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the at least one user change to the at least one pre-defined view comprises at least one of:

displaying a plurality of received alarm messages sorted by at least one of the plurality of attribute columns, selecting of a subset of the plurality of attribute columns to display, filtering a display of a plurality of received alarm messages according to at least one search criteria, and displaying a plurality of received alarm messages according to at least one category of each of the plurality of received alarm messages.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 4, further comprising:

providing at least one second pre-defined view, wherein the at least one second pre-defined view comprises an emergency situation view;

determining whether the emergency situation is in effect; and

in response to determining that the emergency situation is in effect, changing the alarm display interface to the at least one second pre-defined view.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising categorizing the received alarm message.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising moving the received alarm message to a folder according to the at least one rule, wherein the at least one rule comprises a category-based rule and the received alarm message satisfies the category-based rule.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface element in the alarm display interface configured to receive at least one search criteria; and

receiving the at least one search criteria.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising:

searching a plurality of received alarm messages; and

displaying at least a subset of the plurality of received alarm messages matching the search criteria.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, for the at least one alarm message, a user comment comprising at least one of;

an annotation and a file attachment; and

associating the at least one user comment with the at least one alarm message.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving at least one second alarm message, wherein the at least one second alarm comprises at least one attribute in common with the at least one alarm message associated with the at least one user comment;

displaying the at least one second alarm message and the at least one alarm message associated with the at least one user comment; and

indicating that the at least one user comment is available for review.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of alarm messages;

correlating the plurality of alarm messages according to at least one of;

a time of each of the plurality of alarm messages, a category of each of the plurality of alarm messages, a priority of each of the plurality of alarm messages, and at least one attribute of each of the plurality of alarm messages; and

analyzing the correlated plurality of alarm messages to search for at least one pattern.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein analyzing the correlated plurality of alarm messages comprises displaying at least one of a calendar and a time-line view of the correlated plurality of alarm messages.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein being operative to process the at least one of the plurality of received alarm messages according to the at least one rule comprises being operative to process the at least one of the plurality of received alarm messages according to at least one of:

display the at least one of the plurality of received alarm messages, move the at least one of the plurality of received alarm messages to a folder, provide an audible signal, provide a visual signal within the alarm display interface, and provide an alert window separate from the alarm display interface.

16. A system for providing alarm monitoring, the system comprising:

a memory storage; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to;

provide an alarm display interface;

receive a plurality of alarm messages;

create at least one rule for the alarm display interface, wherein the at least one rule comprises a rule operative to filter the plurality of alarm messages for display;

determine whether at least one of the plurality of received alarm messages satisfies the at least one rule; and

in response to determining that the at least one of the plurality of received alarm messages satisfies the at least one rule, process the at least one of the plurality of received alarm messages according to the at least one rule.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the system comprises one of a plurality of client systems configured to receive alarm messages from an alarm dispatch server.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the alarm dispatch server is operative to:

determine whether a number of alarms to be dispatched exceeds a flood threshold; and

in response to determining that the number of alarms to be dispatched exceeds the flood threshold, throttle a dispatch rate of the alarms to be dispatched, wherein being operative to throttle the dispatch rate comprises being operative to prioritize the alarms to be dispatched according to at least one of;

a category of each of the alarms to be dispatched and a type of each of the plurality of client systems.

20. A method for providing alarm monitoring, the method comprising:

providing an alarm database for storing a plurality of previously received alarm messages;

receiving at least one alarm message;

determining whether the at least one received alarm message is associated with at least one of the previously received alarm messages;

in response to determining that the at least one received alarm message is associated with the at least one of the previously received alarm messages, updating the at least one of the previously received alarm messages; and

in response to determining that the at least one received alarm message is not associated with the at least one of the previously received alarm messages;

adding the at least one received alarm message to the alarm database,

determining whether the at least one received alarm message satisfies at least one rule, and

in response to determining that the at least one received alarm message satisfies the at least one rule, process the at least one received alarm message according to the at least one rule.

processing the at least one received alarm message according to at least one rule.