Patent ID: 8533315

Claim:
A method for monitoring the performance of a field asset comprising: capturing, by a extended function adapter, packets transmitted on a hared bus located in the field asset during normal operation of the field asset; analyzing the captured packets to determine both an operating state of the field asset and one or more operational parameters associated with one or more peripheral devices coupled to the shared bus, the operating state including at least one whether all inventory items of the field asset are in stock, the one or more operational parameters including at least whether each of the peripheral devices is operational and, for each peripheral device capable of dispensing change, whether the peripheral device is depleted of currency of a particular denomination; and analyzing the one or more operational parameters to determine an overall operational efficiency of the field asset, the overall operational efficiency equal to a ratio of a total amount of time that all items are in stock and every one of the one or more peripheral devices is concurrently operational to an overall period of time.