Patent ID: 6223214
Filing Date: 2001-04-24
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
An object-oriented computer architecture for a stand-alone Virtual Sensor Object for expressing the substantive meaning of a collection of observation readings of a Virtual Sensor which is represented as digitized information, the Virtual Sensor Object being an instance of a class of Virtual Sensors, said computer architecture comprising:Virtual Sensor Object generation means including a substantially autonomous definition of at least one of generation characteristics and functions for the instantiation, interaction, and management of Virtual Sensor Objects;Virtual Sensor Object observations means including a substantially autonomous definition of at least one of observation characteristics and functions for physical control and acquisition, by way of a local host computer or by way of a Universal Resource Locator (URL) in either a static access mode or a dynamic access mode, said Virtual Sensor Object observations means operating in either an asynchronous or a synchronous manner, and for a subsequent reduction, conversion, normalization, transformation, storage, retrieval, and administrative management of collections of the digitized information which represent readings of a phenomena by at least one of the Virtual Sensor Objects generated by said Virtual Sensor Object generation means;Virtual Sensor Object expression means including a substantially autonomous definition of at least one of expression characteristics and functions for expression or physical manifestation of a substantive meaning of said digitized information received from said Virtual Sensor Object observation means by evaluating, transforming, and rendering said digitized information into a form which clarifies the substantive meaning of said digitized information, and requires relatively no cognitive interpretation beyond recognition of the expression expressed by said Virtual Sensor Object expression means; andVirtual Sensor Object animation means including a substantially autonomous definition of at least one of animation characteristics and functions for presentation of, or for driving the presentation of, the substantive meaning of said digitized information received from said Virtual Sensor Object observation means and expressed by said Virtual Sensor Object expression means for a set of Virtual Sensor Objects over time wherein the Virtual Sensor Object is hardware independent with respect to platform, signal generation, storage capability, and communication capability.