IP Library Granted Patent US 10,402,515
Granted Patent B2
US 10,402,515 · App. 15/675,625 · Granted Sep 3, 2019

Temperature monitoring with simulated thermal buffer computed at a base station

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,402,515
App. No.
15/675,625
Granted
Sep 3, 2019
Kind
B2
Abstract

An environmental monitoring system including a base station. The base station may receive at least two reports from at least one environmental sensor in an environment; compute, based on values of physical properties of a simulated object and the at least two reports, a simulated condition of the simulated object within the environment; and transmit, to a computing device, the at least two reports and/or the computed simulated condition of the simulated object. A method of operating a base station of an environmental monitoring system. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method of operating a base station of an environmental monitoring system.

Claims (74)

1. An environmental monitoring system comprising:

a base station configured to:

receive at least two reports from at least one environmental sensor in an environment at a location other than on or in an object to be simulated within the environment;

compute, based on values of physical properties of a simulated object and the at least two reports, a simulated condition of the simulated object within the environment; and

transmit, to a computing device, at least the computed simulated condition of the simulated object,

wherein the simulated condition of the simulated object comprises at least one condition simulated within a simulated interior of the simulated object.

2. The environmental monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein:

the base station is located in the environment.

3. The environmental monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein:

the computing device is configured to:

receive, from the base station, the computed simulated condition of the simulated object;

compare the simulated condition to a criterion; and

selectively output an indication of an alarm condition based on the comparing.

4. The environmental monitoring system of claim 3 , wherein:

the computing device is further configured to:

receive, from the base station, the at least two reports; and

verify the computed simulated condition of the simulated object based on the at least two reports.

5. The environmental monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein:

the base station is further configured to:

receive, from the computing device, a signal instructing the base station not to compute the simulated condition of the simulated object;

receive, from the computing device, a signal instructing the base station to compute the simulated condition of the simulated object; and/or

receive, from the computing device, at least one value of at least one physical property of the simulated object.

6. The environmental monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein:

the base station is further configured to:

transmit, to a display device, the computed simulated condition of the simulated object.

7. The environmental monitoring system of claim 6 , wherein:

the display device is located in the environment and is configured to receive, from the base station, the computed simulated condition of the simulated object.

8. The environmental monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein:

the environment is a refrigerator or an oven that stores a plurality of objects.

9. The environmental monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein:

the computing device is configured to:

receive, from the base station, the computed simulated condition of the simulated object;

compare a rate of change of the simulated condition to a criterion; and

selectively output an indication of an alarm condition based on the comparing.

10. An environmental monitoring system comprising:

a base station configured to:

receive at least two reports from at least one environmental sensor in an environment;

wherein the base station comprises:

a first memory configured to store a first plurality of reports and/or a condition computed based on the at least two reports in a stack; and

a second memory configured to store a second plurality of reports in a buffer, wherein:

the second memory has a lower data processing rate than the first memory, and

the second memory has a higher data capacity than the first memory; and

a transmission control circuit configured to control transmission from the first memory and/or the second memory to a computing device based on detection of a connection to the computing device.

11. The environmental monitoring system of claim 10 , wherein:

the first plurality of reports is more recent than the second plurality of reports.

12. The environmental monitoring system of claim 10 , wherein:

the base station is configured to:

in response to reaching a first capacity threshold of the first memory, transfer at least one least recent report from the first memory to the second memory; and

in response to reaching a second capacity threshold of the second memory, delete at least one least recent report from the second memory.

13. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method of operating a base station of an environmental monitoring system, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of reports from at least one environmental sensor in an environment at a location other than on or in an object to be simulated within the environment;

computing, based on values of physical properties of a simulated object and the plurality of reports, a simulated condition of the simulated object within the environment; and

transmitting, to a server, at least two of the plurality of reports and the computed simulated condition of the simulated object,

wherein the simulated condition of the simulated object comprises at least one condition simulated within a simulated interior of the simulated object.

14. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , the method further comprising:

receiving, from the server, a signal instructing the base station not to compute a simulated condition of the simulated object; and

based on the signal, transmitting to the server at least a portion of the stream of reports.

15. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , the method further comprising:

transmitting, to a display device, the computed simulated condition of the simulated object.

16. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , the method further comprising:

buffering a stream of computed simulated conditions; and

transmitting, based on conditions of a communication link between the base station and the server, the buffered stream of computed simulated conditions.

17. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein:

transmitting the buffered stream of computed simulated conditions comprises transmitting most recently computed simulated conditions before previously computed, buffered simulated conditions.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein:

a first plurality of the computed simulated conditions are stored in a stack in a first memory; and

a second plurality of the computed simulated conditions are stored in a buffer in a second memory, and

the method further comprises:

in response to reaching a first capacity threshold of the first memory, transferring at least one least recent computed simulated condition from the first memory to the second memory; and

in response to reaching a second capacity threshold of the second memory, deleting at least one least recent computed simulated condition from the second memory.

19. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the environment is a refrigerator or an oven and the plurality of reports are of at least one temperature within the refrigerator or oven.

20. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises:

comparing a rate of change of the simulated condition to a criterion; and

selectively outputting an indication of an alarm condition based on the comparing.

Assignments (7)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 8, 2023
From: BMO BANK N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: DIGI INTERNATIONAL INC.
Reel/Frame 065835/0205 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 8, 2023
From: DIGI INTERNATIONAL INC.
To: BMO BANK N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 065836/0981 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 19, 2019
From: DIGI INTERNATIONAL INC.
To: BMO HARRIS BANK N.A.
Reel/Frame 051370/0023 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 10, 2018
From: DIGI SMARTSENSE, LLC
To: DIGI INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Reel/Frame 046306/0116 →
MERGER Recorded Jul 10, 2018
From: SCHECHTER TECH LLC
To: TEMPALERT, LLC
Reel/Frame 046517/0695 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jul 10, 2018
From: TEMPALERT, LLC
To: DIGI SMARTSENSE, LLC
Reel/Frame 046517/0718 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 15, 2017
From: SCHECHTER, HARRY J.; TRAPASSO, PHILIP
To: SCHECHTER TECH, LLC
Reel/Frame 043293/0779 →