Granted Patent B2

US 9,293,029 · App. 14/285,147 · Granted Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

Claims (82)

1. A method for monitoring a plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations; the method comprising:

(a) processing a sensor registration request for each of said sensors, wherein the sensor registration request comprises an organization identifier, a sensor identifier and an authorization level;

(b) associating a geographic location with the sensor;

(c) processing sensor output information from said sensors to detect an emergency condition;

(d) identifying whether each requesting recipient having a recipient authorization level is either authorized or unauthorized for the detected emergency condition with steps comprising:

(i) comparing a recipient authorization level to a sensor authorization level;

(ii) determining that the recipient is authorized if the recipient authorization level is not below the sensor authorization level; and

(iii) determining that the recipient is unauthorized if the recipient authorization level is below the sensor authorization level;

(e) creating and then sending to at least one requesting recipient a list of authorized sensors and unauthorized sensors of said plurality of sensors that are within a proximate distance to the detected emergency condition, wherein a sensor of said plurality of sensors is determined as an authorized sensor if the recipient authorization level of the requesting recipient is at least the same as a sensor authorization level of said sensor, and a sensor of said plurality of sensors is determined as an unauthorized sensor if the recipient authorization level of the requesting recipient is below a sensor authorization level of said sensor; and

(f) if at least one authorized recipient is determined, creating and then sending an emergency condition report comprising sensor output information from an authorized sensor that is within the proximate distance to the detected emergency condition to the authorized recipient.

2. The method for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 1 , wherein the method for processing the sensor registration request comprises:

(a) receiving the sensor registration request;

(b) logging the sensor registration request into a memory;

(c) validating the sensor registration request; and

(d) determining if the organization identifier, the sensor identifier and the authorization level from the sensor registration request should be stored in a memory, with steps comprising:

(iii) searching the memory for an existing sensor with the same organization identifier and the sensor identifier; and

(iv) storing in the memory the organization identifier, the sensor identifier and the authorization level from the sensor registration request if no existing sensors are found.

3. The method for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 1 , wherein the method for associating the geographic location to the sensor comprises:

(a) receiving the organization identifier, the sensor identifier, a latitude and a longitude in a message selected from the group of messages consisting of:

(i) a sensor registration request message, and

(ii) a sensor location update request message; and

(b) determining if the latitude and the longitude from the group of messages should be stored in a memory, with steps comprising:

(i) searching the memory for an existing sensor with the same organization identifier and sensor identifier; and

(ii) storing in the memory the latitude and longitude from the group of messages if the existing sensor is found.

4. The method for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 1 , wherein the method for processing the sensor output information to detect the emergency condition comprises:

(a) receiving sensor output information;

(b) caching into a memory the sensor output information;

(c) detecting the emergency condition by monitoring the sensor output information for a set of conditions comprising:

(i) failing to receive a positive heartbeat message within a configured heartbeat interval;

(ii) failing to receive a data stream, wherein the data stream IP transport-layer protocol is selected from a set of protocols consisting of UDP, TCP and SCTP;

(iii) the sensor output information comprises a measurement data value and the measurement data value is not within a normal range as configured for that sensor; and

(iv) the sensor output information comprises an alarm indication.

5. The method for processing the sensor output information to detect the emergency condition as recited in claim 4 , wherein the measurement data value is averaged over a configured period of time.

6. The method for processing the sensor output information to detect the emergency condition as recited in claim 4 , wherein detecting the emergency condition correlates multiple sensor output information.

7. The method for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 1 , wherein the emergency condition report for the authorized recipient is suppressed based on a correlation logic of multiple sensor output information.

8. The method for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 1 , wherein the sensor is at least one member of the group consisting of: air pressure, temperature, humidity, moisture, mechanical pressure, optical, acoustic waves, motion, presence of chemicals or gasses, presence of biological matter, presence of metal, electromagnetic radiation, biometric parameters, visual pattern recognition, nuclear radiation and visual streams.

9. The method for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 1 , wherein a protocol for sending the emergency condition report to the authorized recipient is selected from a set of protocols consisting of IP, TCP, UDP, SCTP, HTTP, HTTPS, SIP, XML, CAP, RTP, RTSP, SMTP, SMPP, MM4 and MM7.

10. A system for monitoring a plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations; the system comprising:

(a) a memory comprising instructions; and

(b) a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor, when executing the instructions, performs operations comprising:

(i) processing a sensor registration request for each of said sensors, wherein the sensor registration request comprises an organization identifier, a sensor identifier and an authorization level;

(ii) associating a geographic location with the sensor;

(iii) processing sensor output information from said sensors to detect an emergency condition;

(iv) identifying whether each requesting recipient having a recipient authorization level is either authorized or unauthorized for the detected emergency condition with steps comprising:

(1) comparing a recipient authorization level to a sensor authorization level;

(2) determining that the recipient is authorized if the recipient authorization level is not below the sensor authorization level; and

(3) determining that the recipient is unauthorized if the recipient authorization level is below the sensor authorization level;

(v) creating and then sending to at least one requesting recipient a list of authorized sensors and unauthorized sensors of said plurality of sensors that are within a proximate distance to the detected emergency condition, wherein a sensor of said plurality of sensors is determined as an authorized sensor if the recipient authorization level of the requesting recipient is at least the same as a sensor authorization level of said sensor, and a sensor of said plurality of sensors is determined as an unauthorized sensor if the recipient authorization level of the requesting recipient is below a sensor authorization level of said sensor; and

(vi) if at least one authorized recipient is determined, creating and then sending an emergency condition report comprising sensor output information from an authorized sensor that is within the proximate distance to the detected emergency condition to the authorized recipient.

11. The system for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 10 , wherein the system for processing the sensor registration request comprises:

(a) the memory comprising the instructions; and

(b) the processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor, when executing the instructions, performs operations comprising:

(i) receiving the sensor registration request;

(ii) logging the sensor registration request into the memory;

(iii) validating the sensor registration request; and

(iv) determining if the organization identifier, the sensor identifier and the authorization level from the sensor registration request should be stored in the memory, with steps comprising:

(1) searching the memory for an existing sensor with the same organization identifier and the sensor identifier; and

(2) storing in the memory the organization identifier, the sensor identifier and the authorization level from the sensor registration request if no existing sensors are found.

12. The system for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 10 , wherein the system for associating the geographic location to the sensor comprises:

(a) the memory comprising the instructions; and

(b) the processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor, when executing the instructions, performs operations comprising:

(i) receiving the organization identifier, the sensor identifier, a latitude and a longitude in a message selected from the group of messages consisting of:

(1) a sensor registration request message, and

(2) a sensor location update request message; and

(ii) determining if the latitude and the longitude from the group of messages should be stored in the memory, with steps comprising:

(1) searching the memory for an existing sensor with the same organization identifier and sensor identifier; and

(2) storing in the memory the latitude and longitude from the group of messages if the existing sensor is found.

13. The system for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 10 , wherein the system for processing the sensor output information to detect the emergency condition comprises:

(a) the memory comprising the instructions; and

(b) the processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor, when executing the instructions, performs operations comprising:

(i) receiving sensor output information;

(ii) caching into the memory the sensor output information;

(iii) detecting the emergency condition by monitoring the sensor output information for a set of conditions comprising:

(1) failing to receive a positive heartbeat message within a configured heartbeat interval;

(2) failing to receive a data stream, wherein the data stream IP transport-layer protocol is selected from a set of protocols consisting of UDP, TCP and SCTP;

(3) the sensor output information comprises a measurement data value and the measurement data value is not within a normal range as configured for that sensor; and

(4) the sensor output information comprises an alarm indication.

14. The system for processing the sensor output information to detect the emergency condition as recited in claim 13 , wherein the processor, when executing the instructions, performs operations to average measurement data values over a configured period of time.

15. The system for processing the sensor output information to detect the emergency condition as recited in claim 13 , wherein the processor, when executing the instructions, performs operations to correlate multiple sensor output information.

16. The system for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 10 , wherein the processor, when executing the instructions, performs operations to suppress sending the emergency condition report to the authorized recipient based on a correlation logic of multiple sensor output information.

17. The system for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 10 , wherein the sensor is at least one member of the group consisting of: air pressure, temperature, humidity, moisture, mechanical pressure, optical, acoustic waves, motion, presence of chemicals or gasses, presence of biological matter, presence of metal, electromagnetic radiation, biometric parameters, visual pattern recognition, nuclear radiation and visual streams.

18. The system for monitoring the plurality of sensors of specific monitoring systems belonging to respective multiple organizations as recited in claim 10 , wherein a protocol for sending the emergency condition report to the authorized recipient is selected from a set of protocols consisting of IP, TCP, UDP, SCTP, HTTP, HTTPS, SIP, XML, CAP, RTP, RTSP, SMTP, SMPP, MM4 and MM7.

Assignments (8)