Intelligent electronic devices, systems and methods for communicating messages over a network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016285872-A1
Application number	US-201615173955-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 6, 2016
Priority date	Oct 4, 2011
Publication date	Sep 29, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), systems and methods for communicating messages over a network is provided. The IED of the present disclosure implements an alarm and notification message feature to send messages to a client or server when selected events occur regarding power usage and power quality for any metered point within a power distribution system. The IED of the present disclosure may be configured to monitor user-selected events according to user-selected settings stored in the IED. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the messages sent by the IED are emails. The IED of the present disclosure may be configured to encrypt the messages sent. The IED of the present disclosure may also be configured to send messages to a logging server via secure messaging.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An intelligent electronic device (IED) comprising:
an event handler that determines an event has occurred and stores the event in a buffer; an event poller that polls the buffer for new events; an event classifier that classifies the polled event and stores the classified event in at least one classification buffer; an email formatter that formats the classified event in accordance with at least one programmable setting based on the classification; and an email client that emails the formatted event at a predetermined interval based on the classification.

2 . The IED of claim 1 , wherein the event classifier is further configured to extract parameters from the polled event and compare the extracted parameters to at least one user programmable setting to classify the polled event.

3 . The IED of claim 1 , wherein the email formatter formats the classified event in at least one of plain text and HTML.

4 . The IED of claim 1 , wherein the email formatter formats the classified event as at least one of a CSV attachment and XML attachment.

5 . The IED of claim 4 , wherein the attachment is encoded in accordance with at least one of MIME and UU encoding.

6 . The IED of claim 1 , further comprising a cryptographic module that encrypts the formatted event before being emailed by the email client.

7 . The TED of claim 6 , wherein the cryptographic module employs transport level encryption.

8 . The TED of claim 6 , wherein the cryptographic module employs end-to-end encryption.

9 . The TED of claim 1 , wherein the email client forwards the formatted event to a syslog server via secure messaging.

10 . The TED of claim 9 , wherein the formatted event includes a facility code and a severity label, wherein the facility code identifies a source of the event on the IED and the severity label indicates a level of importance of the event.

11 . The TED of claim 1 , further comprising at least one processing device configured as a server to transfer data to a client device via at least one of FTP and secure FTP.

12 . The TED of claim 11 , wherein the formatted event includes an indication that data has been transferred to the client device.

13 . The TED of claim 12 , wherein the indication is a link to the transferred data on the client device.

14 . The TED of claim 11 , wherein the formatted event includes an indication that data is to be transferred to the client device.

15 . The TED of claim 14 , wherein the indication is a link to a file location on the TED, and wherein upon activation of the link, a secure FTP session is initiated with the client device to transfer the data.

16 . The IED of claim 11 , wherein the formatted event includes instructions for the client device to automatically initiate a secure FTP session to retrieve the data without user input.

17 . The IED of claim 1 , wherein the formatted event includes instructions for a server to automatically initiate a secure FTP session to retrieve data from the IED.

18 . The IED of claim 1 , wherein the classification includes at least one of an alarm and notification.

19 . The IED of claim 18 , wherein the predetermined interval associated to the notification is longer than the predetermined interval associated to the alarm.

20 . A system comprising:
at least one intelligent electronic device (TED) that transmits event messages over a network based on a type of an event and a predetermined interval of time associated to the type of event; and a logging server coupled to the network, the logging server receives the transmitted event messages and stores the received event messages in a database for retrieval by at least one client device.

21 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the transmitted event messages include a facility code and a severity label, wherein the facility code identifies a source of the event on the at least one IED and the severity label indicates a level of importance of the event.

22 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the transmitted event messages include at least one of a IP address, timestamp and a log message.

23 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the logging server further comprises a listener that receive transmitted event messages via User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

24 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the logging server further comprises a filter that filters the transmitted messages and generates an action based on content of the transmitted event messages.

25 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the logging server includes at least one security token to prevent unauthorized access by a client device.

26 . The system of claim 25 , wherein the at least one security token is compliant with FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) 140-2.

Assignees

• Electro Industries/Gauge Tech

Inventors

• Polar Jorge
• Kagan Erran

Classifications

• G01R21/133

  by using digital technique · CPC title

• H04L63/0428

  wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload · CPC title

• G01D4/004

  Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location · CPC title

• G01R22/068

  Arrangements for indicating or signaling faults · CPC title

• H04L67/06 Primary

  specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP] · CPC title