Abstract:
The problem the present invention sets out to resolve is to detect events regardless of the condition of the system operation, and notify one or a plurality of users at remote locations of the detected events using a message. To solve the above problem, apparatus relating to the present invention comprise a measurement module with a heating furnace installed, a measurement station with a measurement user interface for controlling the measurement module, a personal computer or a workstation connected to the measurement station via communication media, a pager connected to the measurement station via a public telephone line, and a software operating on a central processing units installed in the measurement module, the measurement station, and the personal computer or the workstation.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to apparatus for thermal analysis.  
           [0002]    Thermal analysis is a way of measuring physical changes of samples while changing the temperature, for temperatures in a range of from below-freezing temperature to 1500°C. Temperatures are measured by scanning a temperature range to be measured by raising temperature at an appropriate rate (in units of ° C./min). The length of time a measurement is made for is decided according to the rate of rising and the temperature range. The measuring time is usually somewhere around ten minutes to an hour, although a couple of hours to several days may be required for long measurements. As it is not necessary to operate the apparatus during measurements, in most cases, users merely keep on monitoring the apparatus while measurements are being taken. Therefore, cases where users carry out other work at a different location remote from the laboratory where the apparatus is installed are common.  
           [0003]    In the situation described above, when some kind of trouble occurs that causes the measurements to be suspended, users are required to solve the problem and perform the measurements again.  
           [0004]    However, as users are often located in a place far from the apparatus, they sometimes may not be aware that a problem has occurred. As the user may therefore neglect the apparatus without noticing that measurements have been interrupted, this may mean that an unnecessary amount of time may pass before measurements are restarted. The occurrence of problems rendering the apparatus uncontrollable also causes time to be wasted while carrying out measurements. Moreover, when a sample to be measured exhibits a fusion reaction, cases where proceeding with measurements beyond a certain preset value may ruin the sensor as the melted sample adheres onto it are common.  
           [0005]    To enable more effective measurement, in the case of the occurrence of certain events such as, for example, the arrival of a signal notifying that a certain preset value is reached, the completion of a measurement, or an event where trouble has occurred within the apparatus, etc., it is preferable for the user to be notified of this situation in real time, wherever the apparatus may be.  
           [0006]    Related technology for monitoring apparatus located at a remote location exist, such as, (1) monitoring measuring conditions via a network (Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hei. 9-325024), (2) suspend the operation of apparatus upon the occurrence of errors posing risks (Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hei. 5-19880), (3) manage the apparatus by utilizing E-mail (Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hen. 9-32950),  
           [0007]    However, the following problems exist with this related technology.  
           [0008]    The means for monitoring the measuring conditions via a network as disclosed in (1) above requires a user to keep observing the conditions at the place the monitor is installed while operating the monitor periodically. However, this means is not effective when a user is not on location, or forgets to observe the conditions.  
           [0009]    The means for suspending the operation of apparatus upon the occurrence of an error posing risk as disclosed in (2) above can avoid risk for the time being, but the user will not be notified of the suspension at real time.  
           [0010]    When the system itself halts as the result of the trouble occurring at the system control unit, neither (1) nor (2) disclosed above can detect the trouble.  
           [0011]    With (1) or (2), the apparatus is monitored only by the user executing the measurements, and a number of people therefore cannot be aware of the emergency.  
           [0012]    The means to monitor the apparatus using e-mail as disclosed in (3) above includes a similar problem to (1) above. Moreover, a time lag exists in order to retrieve e-mail from a mail server and users therefore cannot be notified in real time.  
           [0013]    In order to resolve the aforementioned problems, the present invention sets out to provide an apparatus for thermal analysis with a monitoring unit installed separately from the system control unit so that an event occurring within the apparatus can be detected regardless of system operation conditions in real time and regardless of the location of the users, and the detected content can be notified to one or a plurality of users by transmitting a message.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0014]    The present invention was developed to resolve the aforementioned problems, and the main element of the configuration comprises a heating furnace, a temperature sensor, a physical quantity sensor, control measurement means, system control means, a storage device, an input output (I/O) unit, event monitoring means, event control means, information setting transmission means, message transmission means, message receiving means, user interface means, and a communication medium.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1 is a drawing showing a hardware configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2 is an algorithm of a task for event monitoring of an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 3 is an algorithm for a transmission information setting task of an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 4 is an algorithm of a message control task of an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 5 is an algorithm for message receiving of an embodiment of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0020]    The following description is now given of an embodiment of the present invention based on the appended drawings.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 1 is a view showing a hardware configuration of the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0022]    The measurement module  1  detects the heating, temperature and physical quantity of the sample  2  according to a designation from the measurement station  10 , and transmits the data to the measurement station  10 . The measurement module  1  functions with the measurement control software processed at the central processing unit  7  and the storage device  8  installed in the measurement module  1  (the measurement control software operates as a task at the central processing unit  7  and the storage device  8  installed in the measurement module  1  and is hereinafter referred to as a measurement control task).  
         [0023]    The measurement station  10  controls a plurality of measurement modules  1 , receives data from the measurement module  1 , and executes thermal analysis. The measurement station  10  functions with the measurement control software processed at the central processing unit  15  and the storage device  16  installed in the measurement station  10  (the system control software activates as a task at the central processing unit  15  and the storage device  16  installed in the measurement station  10 , hereinafter referred to as a system control task).  
         [0024]    Users of the apparatus for the thermal analysis place the sample  2  into the heating furnace  3  of the measurement module  1 . The change of temperature of the sample  2  is then detected with the temperature sensor  4 , and the change of physical quantity of the sample  2  is detected with the physical quantity sensor  5 . The temperature sensor  4  evaluates the temperature of or in the vicinity of sample  2 . The physical quantity sensor  5  detects, for example, the heat flow to the sample  2  with DSC, the change of the weight of the sample  2  with TG, or the change of shape of the sample  2  with TMA. The heating furnace  3 , the temperature sensor  4 , and the physical quantity sensor  5  are connected to the I/O interface  6  installed in the measurement module  1 , and the central processing unit  7  is installed in the measurement module  1 . Temperature control of the heating furnace  3  is executed by the central processing unit  7  installed in the measurement module  1 , which is connected to the heating furnace  3  via the I/O interface  6  installed in the measurement module  1 . The central processing unit  7  installed in the measurement module  1  is connected to the measurement station  10  via the communication interface  9  installed in the measurement module unit  1 .  
         [0025]    The measurement station  10  monitors user interfaces relating to measurements, control designations to a plurality of measuring modules, and events for data accumulation and measurement control tasks and system control tasks using a so-called personal computer or workstation. The measurement station  10  performs the functions of a general operating system, such as Windows, Windows-NT, UNIX, etc., system control software and event monitoring software. The event monitoring software has the functions of event monitoring, message control, and setting transmission information. (The function of the event monitoring software operates as a task at the central processing unit  15  and the storage device  16  installed in the measurement station  10 . This is referred to hereinafter as an event monitoring task, message control task, and transmission information setting task).  
         [0026]    The central processing unit  15  installed in the measurement station  10  is connected to the plurality of measurement module units  1  via the communication interface  19  and the transmission line  20  installed in measurement station  10 . Any general communication line such as RS-232C, GP-IB, or SCSI can be adopted as the transmission line  20 .  
         [0027]    Control information related to the operation, error information of the software/hardware, and measured signals, etc. are exchanged between the measurement control task and the system control task via the transmission line  20 . The event monitoring task monitors the information being exchanged via the transmission line  20  periodically with the timer according to the algorithm described in FIG. 2, and detects arbitrary information pre-selected by the user as events, such as a signal notifying that measurement has reached a certain preset value, the completion of the measurement, the occurrence of an error, or the suspension of a task, etc. The measurement control task and the system control task activate independently from each other, so that monitoring can be executed regardless of the influence of a failure occurring for either one of the tasks. When an event is detected, the event will be transmitted to the message control task (Any means such as DDE, IPC, and COM, etc. can be adopted as the means for communication between tasks).  
         [0028]    The transmission information setting task has functions to set the destination to transmit the message to and the event to monitor. A GUI is provided, and a user can arbitrarily select the destination to transmit the message to and an event to monitor with the mouse  11 , CRT  12 , and keyboard  13  installed in the monitoring station  10  (an algorithm for a transmission information setting task is shown in FIG. 3).  
         [0029]    The personal computer or the workstation  22  connected to the communication media  21 , or a pager  29  connected via the public telephone line  28  can be selected as a message destination.  
         [0030]    When transmitting a message to the personal computer or the workstation  22  connected to the communication media  21  such as the local area network, the user can select whether to transmit only to a specific computer or to broadcast to every computer connected to the network. The IP address of the destination computer is designated when transmitting to a specific computer and an IP address decided in advance for broadcast communication is designated for broadcast communication.  
         [0031]    When a message is transmitted to the pager  29  via the pubic telephone line  28 , the telephone number of the pager  29  is designated. When a message is transmitted to the pager  29 , the message can be transmitted to a plurality of telephone numbers at the same time.  
         [0032]    The options of the event to monitor are;  
         [0033]    1 step of the temperature program completed.  
         [0034]    Measurement completed.  
         [0035]    A software error occurred at a measurement module.  
         [0036]    A hardware error occurred at a measurement module.  
         [0037]    A measurement control task has been suspended.  
         [0038]    A software error occurred at a measurement station.  
         [0039]    A system control task has been suspended.  
         [0040]    etc. related to the completion of the process and trouble report. In addition to those,  
         [0041]    The signal has reached the preset value.  
         [0042]    The temperature of the heating furnace has reached the preset value.  
         [0043]    and signals during measurements and the condition of the temperature of the heating furnace are available as events. Those options are provided to meet the frequent needs in the thermal analysis to understand the condition of a measurement at any time demanded.  
         [0044]    The message transmission information as set above is stored in the storage device  16  installed in the measurement station  10 .  
         [0045]    The message control task creates a message packet consisting of the message and the destination to transmit the message to, that correspond to the event transmitted from the event monitoring task according to the message transmission information stored in the storage device  16  installed in the measurement station  10 , according to TCP/IP protocol (FIG. 4 shows the algorithm of the message control task).  
         [0046]    To transmit a message to the personal computer or workstation  22  connected to the communication media  21  such as local area network, the created message packet will be transmitted to the communication media  21  via the network interface card (hereafter referred to as NIC)  25 . Any dedicated network such as Ethernet, FDDI, or Token Ring can be adopted as the communication media  21 .  
         [0047]    When transmitting a message to the pager  29 , the message is transmitted to the serial port  18  to which the modem  27  is connected. The modem  27  is connected to the public telephone line  28 , and transmits the message packet to the pager  29  via the public telephone line  28 . The technology for transmitting a message to the pager  29  via the public telephone line  28  and displaying the message is a well known technology.  
         [0048]    The so-called personal computer or workstation  22  is employed as the means for receiving message packets flowing in the communication media  21  such as local area network. The personal computer functions as a general operating system, such as Windows, Windows-NT, UNIX, etc., and as message receiving software (the message receiving software which operates on the personal computer or the workstation  22  will be referred as the message receiving task hereafter). The message receiving task has a function for receiving message packets flowing among the communication media  21  and the function of GUI to display the message on CRT  25 . The message receiving task always resides in the memory installed in the personal computer or the workstation  22 , and monitors the message packets flowing in the communication media  21  via the NIC  25  installed on the personal computer or the workstation  22  according to the algorithm shown in FIG. 5. When the destination of the transmitted message is itself, it receives the message packet and notifies users of events that have occurred within the apparatus by retrieving the message from the message packet for displaying on the CRT  26  utilizing the GUI.  
         [0049]    As described above, in the present invention, events are monitored independently from the system control, and messages are transmitted to a computer or a pager at a remote location via the communication media, so that users are notified of the condition of the apparatus without paying special attention to it, in real time at any location,  
         [0050]    so that users can operate the apparatus more effectively and more safely.