Method and apparatus to retrieve data from power distribution units

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10466767-B2
Application number	US-201615209157-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2016
Priority date	Jul 13, 2015
Publication date	Nov 5, 2019
Grant date	Nov 5, 2019

Abstract

The present disclosure is a method and apparatus to retrieve data from a power distribution unit. Apparatus to retrieve data from a power distribution unit may include a processor, memory and display which may be coupled to tracking circuitry of a power distribution unit in order to allow viewing of current operating conditions of the power distribution unit. In an embodiment of the disclosure, the processor may be configured to convert data from the tracking circuitry of the power distribution unit into a stream of character sets presented on the display which may be interpreted by a mobile device and translated by the mobile device into human readable information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for retrieving data from a power distribution unit, comprising:
a power distribution unit, the power distribution unit including a housing and at least one power receptacle configured to supply power, the at least one power receptacle contained within the housing, the power distribution unit further comprising a tracking circuitry, the tracking circuitry including a sensor to measure operating information; and
a monitoring device, the monitoring device configured to be contained within the power distribution unit, the monitoring device including a processor, a memory and a display, wherein the monitoring device is configured to be coupled with the tracking circuitry of the power distribution unit to obtain the operating information for the power distribution unit and convert the operating information into a stream of character sets, wherein each character set includes a plurality of characters in a form of hexadecimal digits, the stream of character sets is presented on the display as individual character sets flashing at a frequency of 9 Hz 15 Hz and not readable to a human eye, the operating information including device identification information, time stamp information, voltage, current, and power available at various circuits of the power distribution unit,
wherein a camera device of a mobile device is configured to read the stream of character sets on the display,
wherein the mobile device is configured to verify a cyclic redundancy check data and convert the stream of character sets on the display of the monitoring device into human readable information presented on a display of the mobile device, the human readable information is only presented when the cyclic redundancy check data has been verified.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mobile device is configured to execute an application, the application includes an interface, the interface including a plurality of icons and a camera display portion.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the camera display portion includes a guide for capturing the character sets of the display of the apparatus.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the plurality of icons includes at least one of a scan icon, a database icon, a capture icon, a scan again icon, an update database icon, a send via email icon, or a cancel icon.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the guide includes at least one or more lines, wherein the at least one or more lines are configured to align with the character sets to improve accuracy of a scan.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the operating information presented on the display of the mobile device is transferred to a remote server device via a cloud-based network.

7. An apparatus for retrieving data from a power distribution unit, comprising:
a monitoring device, the monitoring device configured to be contained within the power distribution unit, the monitoring device including a processor, a memory and a display, wherein the monitoring device is configured to be coupled with a tracking circuitry of the power distribution unit, the tracking circuitry including a sensor to measure operating information and convert the operating information into a stream of character sets, wherein each character set includes a plurality of characters in a form of hexadecimal digits, the stream of character sets is presented on the display as individual character sets flashing at a frequency of 9 Hz 15 Hz and not readable to a human eye, the operating information including device identification information, time stamp information, power available at various circuits of the power distribution unit, voltage, and current,
wherein a camera device of a mobile device is configured to read the stream of character sets on the display,
wherein the mobile device is configured to verify a cyclic redundancy check data and convert the stream of character sets on the display of the monitoring device into human readable information presented on a display of the mobile device, the human readable information is only presented when the cyclic redundancy check data has been verified.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 , wherein said monitoring device further includes at least one interface button configured to control at least one operation of the monitoring device.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the operating information presented on a display of a mobile device is transferred to a remote server device via a cloud-based network.

10. A method, executable by a monitoring device coupled to a tracking circuitry of a power distribution unit, for retrieving data from the power distribution unit, comprising:
receiving data from the tracking circuitry of the power distribution unit, the tracking circuitry including a sensor to measure data, the data including operating information of the power distribution unit, the operating information including device identification information, time stamp information, voltage, current, and power available at various circuits of the power distribution unit;
converting the data from the tracking circuitry into a stream of character sets, wherein each character set includes a plurality of characters in a form of hexadecimal digits; and
presenting the stream of character sets on a display of the monitoring device, wherein the stream of character sets is presented as individual character sets on the display of the monitoring device flashing at a frequency of 9 Hz-15 Hz and not readable to a human eye,
wherein a camera device of a mobile device is configured to read the stream of character sets on the display,
wherein the mobile device is configured to verify a cyclic redundancy check data and convert the stream of character sets on the display of the monitoring device into human readable information presented on a display of the mobile device, the human readable information is only presented when the cyclic redundancy check data has been verified.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the operating information presented on the display of the mobile device is transferred to a remote server device via a cloud-based network.

Assignees

• Pce Inc
• Vertiv Corp

Inventors

• Hutchison Gordon
• Sadecki Zachary
• Nyiry Elemer
• Riley Sam

Classifications

• H02J13/10

  characterised by displaying of information or by user interaction, e.g. supervisory control and data acquisition [SCADA] systems · CPC title

• H01R24/78

  with additional earth or shield contacts · CPC title

• H01R25/006

  the coupling part being secured to apparatus or structure, e.g. duplex wall receptacle · CPC title

• G06F3/1454

  involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay · CPC title

• H01R13/7175

  Light emitting diodes (LEDs) · CPC title