Environment monitoring and associated monitoring device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11351682-B2
Application number	US-201916445262-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2019
Priority date	Jun 19, 2019
Publication date	Jun 7, 2022
Grant date	Jun 7, 2022

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to environment monitoring and associated monitoring device, in which region-level environmental conditions are obtained and are detected by a plurality of sensors installed in a plurality of regions of a space enclosing electronic devices. Additionally, respective region priorities of the plurality of regions are determined based at least in part on the region-level environmental conditions, a region priority indicating a probability of occurrence of a risk event within a corresponding region. Furthermore, a movement path of a moveable monitoring device through the plurality of regions is determined based on the region priorities for detecting device-level environmental conditions associated with the electronic devices, and a moveable monitoring device and a system are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
obtaining, by a center controller, region-level environmental conditions detected by a plurality of sensors installed in a plurality of regions of a space enclosing one or more electronic devices;
determining, by the center controller, respective region priorities of the plurality of regions based at least in part on the region-level environmental conditions, a region priority indicating a probability of occurrence of a risk event within a corresponding region;
determining, by the center controller, based on the region priorities, a movement path of a moveable monitoring device through the plurality of regions for detecting device-level environmental conditions associated with the electronic devices, wherein risk events are assigned with corresponding weights to indicate contributions of the risk events to region priorities;
enabling, by the center controller, the moveable monitoring device to move to a region having a higher priority earlier than to a region having a lower priority; and
instructing, by the center controller, the moveable monitoring device to monitor the one or more electronic devices in the plurality of regions based on determined monitoring orders for the plurality of regions, wherein the moveable monitoring device detects device-level environmental conditions of same or different types electronic devices from the region-level environmental conditions detected.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the region priorities further comprises:
determining, by the center controller, the region priorities further based on at least one of the following: a historical movement path of the moveable monitoring device through the plurality of regions, occurrence frequencies of risk events in the plurality of regions, and historical region priorities of the plurality of regions.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: for a given region of the plurality of regions having a plurality of electronic devices located therein,
determining, by the center controller, respective device priorities of the plurality of electronic devices, a device priority indicating a probability of occurrence of a risk event with respect to a corresponding electronic device; and
determining, by the center controller and based on the device priorities, a monitoring order of the plurality of electronic devices for monitoring of the moveable monitoring device,
wherein the determining of the movement path is further based on the device priorities.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the device priorities comprises:
determining, by the center controller, the device priorities based on at least one of the following:
occurrence frequencies of risk events with respect to the plurality of electronic devices,
historical device priorities of the plurality of electronic devices,
a historical monitoring order of the plurality of electronic devices, and
a current device-level environmental condition associated with at least one of the plurality of electronic devices that is detected by the moveable monitoring device.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
instructing, by the center controller, the moveable monitoring device to detect the device-level environmental conditions associated with the plurality of devices according to the monitoring order.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the region-level environmental conditions and the device-level environmental conditions indicates at least one of the following: ambient parameters of a physical environment and operational status of the electronic devices.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the movement path comprises:
determining, by the center controller, the movement path to allow the moveable monitoring device to move to a region having a higher priority earlier than to a region having a lower priority.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
instructing, by the center controller, the moveable monitoring device to move along the movement path.

9. A moveable monitoring device, comprising:
a main body;
a driving assembly coupled to the main body for drive movement of the moveable monitoring device;
at least one sensor coupled to the main body; and
a controller configured to:
obtain a movement path of the moveable monitoring device through a plurality of regions in a space enclosing electronic devices, the movement path being based on region-level environmental conditions detected by a plurality of sensors installed in the plurality of regions, wherein risk events are assigned with corresponding weights to indicate contributions of the risk events to region priorities,
instruct the driving assembly to drive the moveable monitoring device to move along the movement path, and
instruct the at least one sensor to detect device-level environmental conditions associated with the electronic devices; and
instruct the moveable monitoring device to monitor the one or more electronic devices in the plurality of regions based on determined monitoring orders for the plurality of regions, wherein the moveable monitoring device detects device-level environmental conditions of same or different types electronic devices from the region-level environmental conditions detected.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the controller is configured to:
obtain a monitoring order of a plurality of electronic devices located at a certain region of the plurality of regions.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to:
in response to the moveable monitoring device arriving at the region, control the at least one sensor to detect device-level environmental conditions associated with the plurality of electronic devices according to the monitoring order.

12. The device of claim 10 , wherein the electronic devices are disposed at different heights, and the moveable monitoring device further comprising:
at least one retractable part coupled to the main body and having the at least one sensor arranged thereon, and
wherein the controller is further configured to:
in response to the moveable monitoring device arriving at one of the plurality of regions, control the at least one retractable part to extent to a height to enable the at least one sensor to detect the device-level environmental condition associated with an electronic device disposed at the height.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the at least one retractable part comprises a first retractable part arranged at a first side of the main body and a second retractable part arranged at a second opposite side of the main body, and
wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one sensor of a first type arranged on the first retractable part and at least one sensor of a second type arranged on the second retractable part.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the at least one sensor of the first type comprises a first plurality of sensors evenly arranged on the first retractable part for measuring ambient parameters; and
wherein the at least one sensor of the second type comprises a second plurality of sensors arranged on the second retractable part at different heights for capturing image data.

15. The device of claim 12 , wherein the at least one retractable part comprises a third retractable part coupled to a top of the main body, and wherein the at least one sensor comprises a sensor for capturing image data.

16. A system comprising:
a processing unit; and
a memory coupled to the processing unit and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, w

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Wang Qia
• Yuan Quan
• Zhong Guang Qing
• Yin kun yan

Classifications

• B25J9/1664

  characterised by motion, path, trajectory planning · CPC title

• B25J19/023 Primary

  including video camera means · CPC title

• B25J5/007

  mounted on wheels · CPC title

• G06F11/3058 Primary

  Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations (thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206) · CPC title

• B25J9/1661

  characterised by task planning, object-oriented languages · CPC title