System and method for remotely monitoring, controlling, and managing devices at one or more premises

• US 7,792,256 B1
• Filed: 03/25/2005
• Issued: 09/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Varatec LLC
• Original Assignee: Varatec LLC
• Inventors: Arledge, Charles E., Saxena, Avinash C., Krishnan, Sriram M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Stella L
• Application Number:
  US11/089,744
• Time in Patent Office: 1,992 Days
• Field of Search: 379/102.01, 379/102.02, 379/106.01, 348/150
• US Class Current: 379/102.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007

Abstract

In certain embodiments, a system for remotely monitoring, controlling, and managing one or more remote premises includes a server system operable to communicate with one or more remote client systems, the client systems being remote from the one or more premises. The system further includes a database system associated with the server system and operable to store configuration information for a number of devices located at a premises, the devices including one or more camera devices and one or more facility management devices. The server system is operable to: (1) receive from the one or more premises device data for the one or more facility management devices located at the premises; (2) initiate storage of at least a portion of the received device data in the database system; and (3) communicate, in response to a request received from a particular client system, stored device data responsive to the request to the particular client system.

Claims

1. A system for remotely monitoring, controlling, and managing one or more remote premises, comprising:

a server system operable to communicate with one or more remote client systems, the client systems being remote from the one or more premises;

a database system associated with the server system and operable to store configuration information for a plurality of devices located at a remote premises, the plurality of devices comprising one or more camera devices and one or more facility management devices;

the server system operable to;

receive from the one or more premises device data for the one or more facility management devices located at the remote premises;

initiate storage of at least a portion of the received device data in the database system; and

communicate, in response to a request received from a particular one of the one or more remote client systems for device data for at least one facility management device, stored device data for the at least one facility management device responsive to the request to the particular client system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server system is further operable to:

receive, from the particular client system, a request to issue a command to a particular device at a particular premises, the command specifying an activity to perform with respect to one or more of the devices located at the particular premises; and

communicate the command to a computer system at the particular premises, the computer system operable to execute the command by performing the activity with respect to the one or more devices.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the database system is further operable to store a schedule specifying one or more times when a command should be communicated to a computer system at the particular premises, the command specifying an activity to perform with respect to one or more devices located at the particular premises and having been configured by a user of the particular client system; and

the server system is further operable to communicate the command at the one or more times specified in the schedule to the computer system at the particular premises, the computer system operable to execute the command by performing the activity with respect to the one or more devices.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the database system is further operable to store;

one or more media files associated with a particular premises; and

a schedule specifying one or more times when a particular one of the media files should be played at the particular premises, the schedule having been configured by a user of the particular client system; and

the server system is further operable to;

communicate the one or more media files to a computer system at the particular premises; and

communicate to the computer system at the particular premises a command to play the particular media file at the one or more times.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the database system is further operable to store configuration information for each of a plurality of alerts, each alert being associated with one or more of the devices located at the particular premises, the configuration information for each alert specifying an action to be performed by the server system in response to receiving a notification from a computer system at the particular premises that the alert has been triggered; and

the server system is further operable to, in response to receiving a notification from the computer system at the particular premises that a particular alert has been triggered;

access the database system to determine the action to be performed in response to receiving the notification; and

execute the action to be performed in response to receiving the notification.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the action to be performed comprises one or more of:

communicating a notification that the particular alert has been triggered, the configuration information for the particular alert specifying a recipient for the notification; and

communicating a command to a computer system at the particular premises, the command specifying an activity to perform with respect to one or more devices located at the particular premises, the computer system operable to execute the command by performing the activity with respect to the one or more devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

a particular one of the plurality of devices located at the particular premises comprises a point-of-sale (POS) device; and

the server system is further operable to;

receive from a computer system at the particular premises POS data generated by the POS device; and

store the received POS data in the database system.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the server system is further operable to:

receive a request from the particular client system for POS data matching one or more parameters;

access the database system to retrieve POS data matching the one or more parameters; and

communicate the POS data matching the one or more parameters to the particular client system.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more facility management devices each comprise one or more of:

a temperature sensor;

a chemical sensor;

a motion sensor;

a pressure sensor;

an input switch; and

an output switch.

10. A method for remotely monitoring, controlling, and managing one or more remote premises, comprising:

storing configuration information for a plurality of devices located at a remote premises, the plurality of devices comprising one or more camera devices and one or more facility management devices;

receiving from the one or more premises device data for the one or more facility management devices located at the remote premises;

initiating storage of at least a portion of the received device data in the database system;

communicating, in response to a request received from a remote client system for device data for at least one facility management device, stored device data for the at least one facility management device responsive to the request to the client system, the client systems being remote from the one or more premises.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, from the client system, a request to issue a command to a particular device at a particular premises, the command specifying an activity to perform with respect to one or more of the devices located at the particular premises; and

communicating the command to a computer system at the particular premises, the computer system operable to execute the command by performing the activity with respect to the one or more devices.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing a schedule specifying one or more times when a command should be communicated to a computer system at the particular premises, the command specifying an activity to perform with respect to one or more devices located at the particular premises and having been configured by a user of the client system; and

communicating the command at the one or more times specified in the schedule to the computer system at the particular premises, the computer system operable to execute the command by performing the activity with respect to the one or more devices.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing one or more media files associated with a particular premises; and

storing a schedule specifying one or more times when a particular one of the media files should be played at the particular premises, the schedule having been configured by a user of the client system;

communicating the one or more media files to a computer system at the particular premises; and

communicating to the computer system at the particular premises a command to play the particular media file at the one or more times.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing configuration information for each of a plurality of alerts, each alert being associated with one or more of the devices located at the particular premises, the configuration information for each alert specifying an action to be performed in response to receiving a notification from a computer system at the particular premises that the alert has been triggered; and

in response to receiving a notification from the computer system at the particular premises that a particular alert has been triggered;

determining the action to be performed in response to receiving the notification by accessing the stored configuration information; and

executing the action to be performed in response to receiving the notification.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the action to be performed comprises one or more of:

communicating a notification that the particular alert has been triggered, the configuration information for the particular alert specifying a recipient for the notification; and

communicating a command to a computer system at the particular premises, the command specifying an activity to perform with respect to one or more devices located at the particular premises, the computer system operable to execute the command by performing the activity with respect to the one or more devices.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein:

a particular one of the plurality of devices located at the particular premises comprises a point-of-sale (POS) device; and

the method further comprises;

receiving from a computer system at the particular premises POS data generated by the POS device; and

storing the received POS data.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a request from the client system for POS data matching one or more parameters;

retrieving POS data matching the one or more parameters; and

communicating the POS data matching the one or more parameters to the client system.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more facility management devices each comprise one or more of:

a temperature sensor;

a chemical sensor;

a motion sensor;

a pressure sensor;

an input switch; and

an output switch.

19. A system for monitoring, controlling, and managing a premises, comprising:

a computer system located at the premises and operable to communicate with a remote client computer and a remote server system;

a plurality of devices located at the premises and comprising one or more camera devices and a plurality of facility management devices;

the computer system operable to;

poll one or more of the facility management devices at predetermined times to obtain device data associated with the facility management devices;

communicate at least a portion of the obtained device data to the remote server system;

collect video data corresponding to video images captured by the one or more camera devices;

store at least a portion of the collected video data in a memory associated with the computer system; and

in response to a request from the remote client system, communicate video data responsive to the request to the remote client system.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein:

at least one of the facility management devices comprises a sensor;

the device data obtained from the sensor comprises sensor data; and

the computer system is operable to communicate the sensor data obtained from the sensor to the remote server system for storage at the remote server system at one or more predetermined times.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein:

at least one of the facility management devices comprises an input switch having a state;

the device data obtained from the input switch comprises the state of the input switch; and

the computer system is operable to communicate the state of the input switch to the remote server system at one or more predetermined times.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein:

at least one facility management device comprises an output switch operable to receive a command to affect a state of the output switch and to change its state in response to the command; and

the computer system is operable to, in response to receiving a command from the remote server system, the command indicating that the state of the output switch should be changed, change the state of the output switch.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein:

a particular one of the plurality of devices located at the premises comprises a point-of-sale (POS) device, the POS device operable to generate POS data associated with the premises, the POS data comprising one or more transactions; and

the computer system is further operable to;

receive the POS data from the POS device;

parse the POS data to determine the one or more transactions; and

communicate at least a portion of the POS data to the remote server system.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the computer system is operable to:

receive from the remote client system a request to receive POS data associated with the POS device in substantially real time; and

communicate the portion of the POS data to the remote client system in substantially real time.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the computer system located at the premises is operable to:

collect the video data from a particular one of the one or more video cameras, the video data comprising one or more images captured by the particular video camera;

associate each collected video image with a time stamp;

determine whether to store each video image in a memory associated with the computer system located at the premises;

if the computer system determines that a collected video image should be stored, store the video image and its associated time stamp in the memory; and

if the computer system determines that a collected video image should not be stored, store the time stamp associated with the video image in the memory.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the computer system located at the premises is operable to:

receive a request from the remote client computer, the request being a request to receive video data from the particular camera device in substantially real time; and

after receiving the request;

if the computer system determines that a video image should be stored, communicate the video image and its associated time stamp to the client computer; and

if the computer system determines that a video image should not be stored, communicate time stamp associated with the video image to the client computer.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the computer system located at the premises is operable to:

receive a request from the remote client computer to download video data collected by the computer system from the particular video camera, the request specifying a start time and an end time;

determine which of the stored video images and stored time stamps should be communicated to the client computer based at least on the start time and the end time specified in the request;

communicate the determined video images and their associated time stamp and the stored time stamps to the client system.

28. The system of claim 19, wherein the computer system located at the premises is further operable to:

store in a memory associated with the computer system one or more alerts;

determine whether any of the one or more alerts have been triggered;

if it is determined that an alert has been triggered, communicate an alert notification to the remote server system, the notification comprising an identification of the triggered alert.

29. The system of claim 19, wherein the computer system located at the premises is further operable to:

receive from the remote server system a command to play a media file; and

initiate playback of the media file.

30. Software for monitoring, controlling, and managing one or more remote premises, each remote premises comprising a plurality of devices, the software embodied in a computer-readable storage medium and when executed operable to:

communicate to a remote server system requests for device data associated with one or more facility management devices located at a first one of the one or more remote premises, the remote server system being remote from the one or more premises;

receive from the remote server system device data responsive to the request;

display the device data in a first window associated with a client system that is remote from the one or more premises and from the server system;

communicate to a computer system located at a second one of the one or more remote premises requests for device data associated with one or more video devices located at the second remote premises, the device data comprising video data;

receive from the computer system located at the second one of the one or more remote premises video data responsive to the request; and

display one or more video images of the video data in a second window associated with the client system.

31. The software of claim 30, wherein:

the device data displayed in the first window is associated with a first time stamp;

the video data displayed in the second window is associated with a second time stamp; and

the software is further operable to correlate in time the display of the device data displayed in the first window and the display of the video data displayed in the second window such that the time stamp associated with the device data displayed in the first window is substantially the same as the time stamp associated with the video data displayed in the second window.

32. The software of claim 31, wherein the first and second remote premises are remote from one another.

33. The software of claim 30, wherein the first and second premises comprise the same premises.

34. The software of claim 30, further operable to communicate to the remote server system a request for point-of-sale (POS) data associated with a POS device located at the second remote premises.

35. The software of claim 34, wherein:

the request for POS data comprises a request to view POS data in substantially real time; and

the software is further operable to receive POS data responsive to the request for POS data in substantially real time from the second remote premises.

36. The software of claim 34, wherein:

the request for POS data comprises a request to view POS data stored at the remote server system, the POS data stored at the remote server system comprising historical POS data associated with one or more of the remote premises; and

the software is further operable to receive POS data responsive to the request for POS data from the remote server system.

37. The software of claim 30, further operable to display a plurality of windows on a display of the client system, each window displaying one or more of:

facility management device data associated with the first remote premises;

POS data associated with the second remote premises; and

video data associated with the third remote premises.

38. The software of claim 30, further operable to communicate configuration information to the remote server system, the configuration information specifying one or more configurations for a device associated with one of the remote premises.

39. The software of claim 30, further operable to:

communicate a media file to the remote server system, the media file associated with at least one of the remote premises;

communicate to the remote server system scheduling information specifying when the media file should be played at the at least one remote premises.

40. The software of claim 30, wherein:

a device located at a particular remote premises comprises an output switch; and

the software is further operable to communicate a command to the particular remote server system, the command specifying an operation to be performed with respect to the output device located at the particular remote premises.

41. The software of claim 30, further operable to:

communicate a request to a the first premises to download video data collected by the computer system from a video camera at the first premises, the request specifying a start time and an end time;

receive from the first premises a plurality of video images responsive to the request, the plurality of video images having been collected and stored by the premises, each video image having an associated time stamp.