Methods for displaying physical network topology and environmental status by location, organization, or responsible party

• US 8,966,044 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2012
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Childers, Sloan K., Elderton, John, Primm, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Winder, Patrice
• Application Number:
  US13/607,573
• Publication Number:
  US 20130097227A1
• Time in Patent Office: 900 Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• 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 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• 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

Abstract

The invention is directed to a system for remote monitoring of a space and equipment. The space and equipment may, for example, be a server room and associated network equipment. The system has network appliances, a server, and a client machine. The server receives data from a network appliance. The server may then deliver an application and data to the client machine for viewing and manipulating the data. The client machine may display the data as a mapping, displaying icons associated with the network appliances. The client machine may also graph the data. Further, the client machine may manipulate the organization of the data, the configuration settings of the network appliances, and store map and graph configurations.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a server communicatively coupled to an interconnected network, the server comprising;

a memory configured to store sensor data gathered from plurality of network appliances; and

a processor configured to receive, manipulate, and output sensor data; and

a plurality of network-enabled devices, each of the plurality of network-enabled devices communicatively coupled to at least one other of the plurality of network-enabled devices and at least one of the plurality of network-enabled devices communicatively coupled to the interconnected network, each of the plurality of network-enabled devices comprising;

a sensor configured to detect a physical environmental parameter associated with a space and different from a physical environmental parameter detected by another of the plurality of network-enabled devices, the sensor configured to generate a sensor signal associated with the physical environmental parameter; and

a processor configured to;

receive the sensor signal;

process the sensor signal;

provide the sensor signal to the at least one other of the plurality of network-enabled devices; and

transmit a request directly to the at least one other of the plurality of network-enabled devices, the request including instructions for the at least one other of the plurality of network-enabled devices to execute an action.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of network-enabled devices comprises a first and a second network-enabled device, and the sensor of the first network-enabled device comprises at least one of:

a humidity sensor, a temperature sensor, and an air flow sensor.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first network-enabled device further comprises a binary input to activate the sensor to detect the physical environmental parameter of the space.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the sensor signal of the second network-enabled device provides the binary input to activate the sensor of the first network-enabled device.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the server provides the binary input to activate the sensor of the first network-enabled device.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the second network-enabled device comprises a video camera.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the second network-enabled device further comprises a binary input to activate the video camera to capture an image of the space.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the sensor signal of the first network-enabled device provides the binary input to activate the video camera of the second network-enabled device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the server includes a web server application configured to generate a webpage including the sensor data.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to generate and send an email status report.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to generate an alarm if a detected physical environmental parameter meets a threshold value.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one other plurality of network-enabled devices and the another of the other plurality of network-enabled devices is the same network-enabled device.

13. A method of monitoring a plurality of network-enabled appliances located in a space, the plurality of network-enabled appliances being connected to an interconnected network, the method comprising:

detecting, with a sensor on each of the plurality of network-enabled devices, a physical parameter associated with the space, the physical parameter being different from at least one other physical parameter detected by at least one other of the plurality of network-enabled devices;

generating a sensor signal associated with the physical environmental parameter;

receiving, on a processor of the network-enabled device, the sensor signal;

processing the sensor signal;

providing the sensor signal to at least another of the plurality of network-enabled devices; and

transmitting a request, by the one of the plurality of network-enabled devices, to the at least, another of the plurality of network-enabled devices, the request including instructions for the at least another of the plurality of network-enabled devices to execute an action.

14. The method claim 13, wherein the plurality of network-enabled devices comprises a first and a second network-enabled device, and detecting the physical parameter comprises detecting at least one of a humidity, a temperature, and an air flow of the physical space.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving, on the network-enabled device, a binary input to activate the sensor to detect the physical environmental parameter of the space.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing, by the sensor signal of the second network-enabled device, the binary input to activate the sensor of the first network-enabled device.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing, by a server, the binary input to activate the sensor of the first network-enabled device.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising capturing, by a video camera on the second network-enabled device, images of the physical space.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising receiving, on the second network-enabled device, a binary input to activate the video camera to capture an image of the space.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising providing, by the sensor signal of the first network-enabled device, the binary input to activate the video camera of the second network-enabled device.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating, by a web server application on the server, a webpage including the sensor data.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating and sending, by the server, an email status report.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating, the server, an alarm if a detected physical environmental parameter meets a threshold value.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one other of the plurality of network-enabled devices and the another of the plurality of network-enabled devices is the same network-enabled device.