Patent Number: 059638869
Section: summary

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates to the monitoring of a system. More particularly, it relates to a method of and an arragement for monitoring a system. The system may be any type and may, for example, be an electric utility, a ship or craft, a chemical plant, or an amusement park. SUMMARY OF INVENTION Such systems have supervisory control and data acquisition arrangements which monitor the amplitude, state or condition of various parameters of equipment and components thereof and display alarm conditions on a display, to be acted on by control staff. In this specification, the amplitude, condition or state of a parameter will be referred to as the "value" of the parameter. A parameter is regarded as "abnormal" if its value attains an amplitude greater than or less than a predetermined amount or if its condition or state changes in an undesired way. Correspondingly, a parameter is regarded as "normal" if it has an amplitude less than or greater than the said predetermined amount (as the case may be) or if its condition or state is acceptable. According to the invention there is provided a method of monitoring a system, which includes choosing a part of the system; PA1 determining the values of a number of parameters of components forming part of equipment included in the chosen part of the system; PA1 deciding from the values if the selected parameters are abnormal; PA1 grouping the parameters in a plurality of different categories; PA1 selecting certain types of the components and certain of the categories; and PA1 displaying all of the components of the chosen part of the system and all of the categories having abnormal parameters in a graphical manner, with the selected types of components and categories being displayed in a differentiated manner to those that have not been selected. PA1 a choosing means for choosing a part of the system; PA1 a value determining means for determining the values of a number of parameters of components forming part of equipment included in the chosen part of the system; PA1 an abnormal value deciding means, for deciding from the values if the selected parameters are abnormal; PA1 a grouping means for grouping the parameters in a plurality of different categories; PA1 a selecting means for selecting certain types of the components and certain of the categories, and PA1 a display means for displaying all of the components of the chosen part of the system and all of the categories having abnormal parameters in a graphical manner, with the selected types of components and categories being displayed in a differentiated manner to those that have not been selected. The selected types of components and categories may be displayed in a normal way, with the non-selected component types and categories being "greyed-out". The method may also include summarising the number of abnormal parameters in each category for a predetermined time interval and also diplaying this number in a graphical manner with the appropriate category of abnormal parameters being displayed. The method may also include selecting certain operating characteristics which are associated with the selected types of components. The method may also include identifying in a display, which types of components and which operating characteristics are present in the part of the system that has been chosen. The types of components, the categories and the operating characteristics may be selected by means of a pointing device by picking and acting on appropriate symbols from the display. The component types, the operating characteristics and the parameter categories may be selected and implemented in terms of a desired paradigm. Further according to the invention there is provided an arrangement for monitoring a system, which includes Conveniently, the selected types of components and categories may be displayed in a normal way, with the non-selected component types and categories being "greyed-out". The categories of parameters may be represented by icons. The arrangement may also include a summarising means for summarising the number of abnormal parameters in each category for a predetermined time interval, and displaying this number in the appropriate icon. The various categories may be represented by icons of different colours. The system may have operating characteristics which are associated with certain types of components, with the selecting means also including the option to select certain operating characteristics. The system may form part of an electric utility and the operating characteristics may be the different voltage levels of the system. The arrangement may include an identifying means for identifying which types of components and which operating characteristics are present in the part of the system that has been chosen, with the component types and operating characteristics that are present in the chosen part being indicated in a predetermined manner, thereby assisting a user to make a selection. The component types and operating characteristics that are present in the part of the system that has been chosen may be displayed in a normal way and other types of components and operating characteristics which are not present in the chosen part of the system being "greyed-out". Thus, a particular voltage level may be selected and the components which operate at that voltage level will be displayed in a normal way and the components that operate at a different level are "greyed-out". The arrangement may include one or more central processing units for implementing the choosing means, the abnormal value deciding means, the grouping means and the selecting means in a software manner. The arrangement may be interactive. Th selecting means may include a pointing device which is used for picking and acting on appropriate symbols representing the component types, the operating characteristics and the categories. The selecting means may include a selection procedure whereby the component types, the operating characteristics and the categories are selected and implemented in terms of a desired paradigm. Thus, the selection procedure may include a "select to include" paradigm or a "select to exclude" paradigm. In terms of the "select to include" paradigm, initially nothing is selected and when an appropriate control button is activated everything is "greyed-out" and the component types, the operating characteristics and the categories are only displayed after being selected. In terms of the "select to exclude" paradigm, initially all of the components types, operating characteristics and categories are displayed in a normal way and only when an appropriate control button is activated and the desired component types, the operating characteristics and the categories are selected, are the unwanted portions of the display "greyed-out". The arrangement may also operate in a progressive or triggered mode. In the progressive mode, the selected component types, the operating characteristics and the categories may be selected and varied at any time. In the triggered mode, the component types, the operating characteristics and the categories may only be selected and varied together by means of the control button. It will be appreciated that, if a particular component type is selected, only that component type will be displayed in a normal way, with all other component types being displayed "greyed-out". If an operating characteristic is selected, all the components which operate with that characteristic will be displayed in a normal way with all those components that operate with a different characteristic being "greyed-out". If both a component type and an operating characteristic are selected, an AND operation is performed and only those components of the selected type and with the selected operating characteristic will be displayed in a normal way. If multiple component types and operating characteristics are selected, each component type will be ANDed with each operating characteristic and all combinations will be ORed together to form a complete inclusive set. Further, if certain parameter categories are selected, then only the icons for the selected categories for those components in the set will be displayed in a normal manner. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that data values of the abnormal parameters may also be displayed. The invention is now described, by way of an example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: