Remote monitoring system
First Claim
1. A method of operating an environmental monitoring system to monitor one or more environmental parameters of an environment, wherein the environmental monitoring system comprises at least one remote unit disposed in the environment and at least one computing device disposed remote from the environment, wherein each remote unit of the at least one remote unit comprises a sensor to sense an environmental parameter and a transceiver, wherein the method comprises:
- adaptively calculating, from analysis of data collected by one or more of the at least one remote unit disposed in the environment, a normal pattern of variation over time in the environment of a first environmental parameter of the environment;
determining whether a state of the first environmental parameter indicates a deviation of the first environmental parameter from the normal pattern of variation over time; and
in response to determining that the state indicates a deviation, triggering an alert.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A temperature monitoring service in which remote monitoring units are distributed to customers who then set up monitoring as desired at their facilities. The devices may be registered through a web site using the Internet. Monitoring information may be communicated using a publicly available, wireless network, such as a cellular telephone network. The service may be provided with a system, including a server, which can deliver high levels of monitoring functionality. The server may support streaming monitoring information to a customer for analysis or sending a command activating a device connected to a remote unit. Remote units associated with the same location may be in a pool, comprising one active unit and one or more spare units, in which the server automatically identifies the active unit. The server may support analyzing monitoring information according to an expected cycle pattern of a ventilation system at the monitored facility.
23 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of operating an environmental monitoring system to monitor one or more environmental parameters of an environment, wherein the environmental monitoring system comprises at least one remote unit disposed in the environment and at least one computing device disposed remote from the environment, wherein each remote unit of the at least one remote unit comprises a sensor to sense an environmental parameter and a transceiver, wherein the method comprises:
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adaptively calculating, from analysis of data collected by one or more of the at least one remote unit disposed in the environment, a normal pattern of variation over time in the environment of a first environmental parameter of the environment; determining whether a state of the first environmental parameter indicates a deviation of the first environmental parameter from the normal pattern of variation over time; and in response to determining that the state indicates a deviation, triggering an alert.
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2. A method of operating an environmental monitoring system to monitor one or more environmental parameters of an environment, wherein the environmental monitoring system comprises at least one remote unit disposed in the environment and at least one computing device disposed remote from the environment, wherein each remote unit of the at least one remote unit comprises a sensor to sense an environmental parameter and a transceiver, wherein the method comprises:
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adaptively calculating, from analysis of data collected by one or more of the at least one remote unit disposed in the environment, a normal change over time in the environment of a first environmental parameter of the environment; determining whether a state of the first environmental parameter indicates a deviation of the first environmental parameter from the normal change over time; and in response to determining that the state indicates a deviation, triggering an alert, wherein; the adaptively calculating, the determining, and the triggering are performed by the at least one computing device disposed remote from the environment; and the method further comprises receiving, at the at least one computing device over time, a plurality of environmental parameter reports from the at least one remote unit in the environment, each report of the plurality of environmental parameter reports comprising an environmental parameter value detected in the environment at a time; the adaptively calculating from the analysis of the data comprises adaptively calculating from an analysis of environmental parameter values of the plurality of environmental parameter reports over time; and the determining whether the state indicates a deviation comprises determining based on an environmental parameter report of the plurality of environmental parameter report. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of operating an environmental monitoring system to monitor one or more environmental parameters of an environment, wherein the environmental monitoring system comprises at least one remote unit disposed in the environment and at least one computing device disposed remote from the environment, wherein each remote unit of the at least one remote unit comprises a sensor to sense an environmental parameter and a transceiver, wherein the method comprises:
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adaptively calculating, from analysis of data collected by one or more of the at least one remote unit disposed in the environment, a normal change over time in the environment of a first environmental parameter of the environment; determining whether a state of the first environmental parameter indicates a deviation of the first environmental parameter from the normal change over time; and in response to determining that the state indicates a deviation, triggering an alert, wherein; a first device is disposed in the environment; the method further comprises, in response to determining that the state indicates a deviation, transmitting at least one message to the first device to place the first device into a first state; a second device is disposed in the environment, the first device and the second device being arranged such that the first device controls operation of the second device; transmitting the at least one message to the first device to place the first device into the first state comprises transmitting at least one message to which the first device is configured to respond by performing a first control to place the second device into a second state; the first device controls an actuator coupled between the second device and a power source; transmitting the at least one message to the first device comprises transmitting at least one message to which the first device is configured to respond by changing a state of the actuator; the second device is HVAC equipment; the first environmental parameter is temperature; the at least one remote unit comprises a temperature sensor; determining whether a state of the first environmental parameter indicates a deviation of the first environmental parameter from the normal change over time comprises determining whether a temperature in the environment indicates a deviation from a normal change over time of temperature in the environment; receiving, at the at least one computing device over time, the plurality of environmental parameter reports from the at least one remote unit comprises receiving the plurality of environmental parameter reports via at least one network, the at least one network comprising a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), wherein each environmental parameter report of the plurality is formatted according to a best effort communication protocol; and the method further comprises responding to a first environmental parameter report of the plurality by transmitting, from the at least one computing device and to a first remote unit of the at least one remote unit that transmitted the first environmental report, an acknowledgement of receipt of the first environmental parameter report, the acknowledge of receipt being included in a message formatted according to the best effort communication protocol.
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17. At least one computer-readable storage medium having encoded thereon executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method of operating an environmental monitoring system to monitor one or more environmental parameters of an environment, wherein the environmental monitoring system comprises at least one remote unit disposed in the environment and at least one computing device disposed remote from the environment, wherein each remote unit of the at least one remote unit comprises a sensor to sense an environmental parameter and a transceiver, wherein the method comprises:
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adaptively calculating, from analysis of data collected by one or more of the at least one remote unit disposed in the environment, a normal pattern of variation over time in the environment of a first environmental parameter of the environment; determining whether a state of the first environmental parameter indicates a deviation of the first environmental parameter from the normal pattern of variation over time; and in response to determining that the state indicates a deviation, triggering an alert. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. An apparatus comprising:
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at least one processor; and at least one storage medium having encoded thereon executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method of operating an environmental monitoring system to monitor one or more environmental parameters of an environment, wherein the environmental monitoring system comprises at least one remote unit disposed in the environment and at least one computing device disposed remote from the environment, wherein each remote unit of the at least one remote unit comprises a sensor to sense an environmental parameter and a transceiver, wherein the method comprises; adaptively calculating, from analysis of data collected by one or more of the at least one remote unit disposed in the environment, a normal pattern of variation over time in the environment of a first environmental parameter of the environment; determining whether a state of the first environmental parameter indicates a deviation of the first environmental parameter from the normal pattern of variation over time; and in response to determining that the state indicates a deviation, triggering an alert.
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Specification