REMOTE MONITORING FOR AUTOMATED FLOW METER

• US 20160033315A1
• Filed: 10/15/2015
• Published: 02/04/2016
• 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
• Granted Patent: US 10,113,895 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 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 in real-time, 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 in real-time from a plurality of sensors at the identified remote assets at different locations, each sensor measuring a flow volume of liquid at each remote asset;

receiving at least one packet sent from the control board over the wireless communications network, the at least one packet including sensor data concerning a real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid;

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

identify a sensor associated with the packet,

extract data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated flow volume of liquid, and

generate a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the plurality of sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid; and

storing the sensor data in memory according to the identification of the associated sensor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining one or more alarm levels based on user input of a pre-selected flow volume of liquid.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining whether the sensor data includes real-time measurements of flow volumes of liquid that meet any of the defined alarm levels.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the defined alarm levels is met, and further comprising generating an alarm notification.

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

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated display further comprises historical data regarding flow volume of liquid associated with one of the different locations over a period of time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated display comprises graphical data regarding flow volume of liquid associated with one of the different locations.

8. A system for monitoring remote assets in real-time, 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 in real-time from a plurality of sensors at the identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a flow volume of liquid handled by each remote asset, and

receives at least one packet sent from the control board over the wireless communications network, the at least one packet including sensor data concerning at least one real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid; and

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

identify a sensor associated with the packet,

extract data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated flow volume of liquid, and

generate a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid; and

memory for storing sensor data according to the identification of the associated sensor.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor executes further instructions to define one or more alarm levels based on user input of a pre-selected flow volume of liquid.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor executes further instructions to determine whether the sensor data includes real-time measurements of flow volumes of liquid that meet any of the defined alarm levels.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one of the defined alarm levels is met, and wherein the processor executes further instructions to generate an alarm notification.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the generated display further comprises location information for each of the identified sensors.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the generated display further comprises historical data regarding flow volume of liquid associated with one of the different locations over a period of time.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the generated display comprises graphical data regarding flow volume of liquid associated with one of the different locations.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for monitoring remote assets in real-time, 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 in real-time from a plurality of sensors at the identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a flow volume of liquid handled by each remote asset;

receiving at least one packet sent from the control board over the wireless communications network, the at least one packet including sensor data concerning at least one real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid;

identifying a sensor associated with the packet;

extracting data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated flow volume of liquid for each identified sensor;

generating a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid; and

storing the sensor data in memory according to the identification of the associated sensor.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising defining one or more alarm levels based on user input of a pre-selected flow volume of liquid.

17. A method for monitoring a flow volume of liquid in real-time, 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 flow volume of liquid data in real-time from a plurality of sensors at one or more identified remote locations, each sensor measuring the flow volume of liquid;

compiling at least one packet, wherein the at least one packet concerns at least one real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid;

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

identifies a sensor associated with the packet,

extracts data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated flow volume of liquid for each identified sensor, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid; and

storing the sensor data in memory according to the identification of the associated sensor.

18. A system for monitoring a flow volume of liquid in real-time, the system comprising:

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

a sensor interface communicatively coupled to a plurality of sensors at one or more identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a different flow volume of liquid, the sensor interface configured to receive sensor data from each sensor concerning a real-time measurement of an associated flow volume of liquid at the location;

a processor that executes the received command, wherein execution of the received command;

begins collection of data in real-time from the plurality of sensors at the one or more identified remote locations, and

compiles at least one packet, wherein the at least one packet concerns at least one real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid;

wherein the communication interface sends the compiled packet over the wireless communication network to the server,

wherein the server;

identifies a sensor associated with the packet,

extracts data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated flow volume of liquid for each identified sensor, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid; and

memory for storing sensor data according to the identification of the associated sensor.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for monitoring a flow volume of liquid in real-time, 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 in real-time from a plurality of sensors at one or more identified remote locations, each sensor measuring the flow volume of liquid;

compiling at least one packet, wherein the at least one packet concerns at least one real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid;

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

identifies a sensor associated with the packet,

extracts data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated flow volume of liquid for each identified sensor, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid; and

storing the sensor data in memory according to the identification of the associated sensor.

20. A system for monitoring remote flow volumes of liquid, the system comprising:

a server that;

receives an access request from a user regarding real-time measurement of flow volumes of liquid at one or more remote locations, and

sends a command over a wireless communication network, wherein execution of the command begins collection of flow volume of liquid data in real-time;

a plurality of sensors at the identified remote locations, each sensor measuring a flow volume of liquid; and

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

receives the command from the server,

executes the command via a processor to begin collecting flow volume of liquid data in real-time from the plurality of sensors,

compiles the collected data into at least one packet, the at least one packet including sensor data concerning at least one real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid, and

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

identifies a sensor associated with the packet,

extracts data indicating a real-time measurement of an associated flow volume of liquid for each identified sensor, and

generates a display of a sensor listing, wherein each of the identified sensors is listed with its associated real-time measurement of the flow volume of liquid; and

memory for storing sensor data according to the identification of the associated sensor.