Patent ID: 8280657

Claim:
A method of storing data in a utility monitoring system, comprising: monitoring a characteristic of a utility system in an intelligent electronic device (IED) to produce monitored characteristic values that are buffered in the IED, the IED being communicatively coupled to a server via a network, the monitored characteristic values being indicative of the characteristic; storing a first set of monitored characteristic values of the buffered monitored characteristic values at a first logging interval in a memory of the IED such that each of the stored values of the first set of monitored characteristic values is stored according to a first storing frequency; determining that a criterion associated with the monitored characteristic is satisfied; in response to the determining that the criterion is satisfied, varying the first logging interval to a second logging interval; and storing a second set of monitored characteristic values of the buffered monitored characteristic values at the second logging interval in the memory of the IED in response to the varying such that each of the stored values of the second set of monitored characteristic values is stored according to a second storing frequency that is distinct from the first storing frequency.