Patent ID: 8442515

Claim:
A monitoring unit for a remote site comprising, in combination: a processor and memory configured to receive definitions of measurements and alarms to be collected at the remote site and to store the definitions of the measurements and alarms; a plurality of port connectors for communicating the processor with downstream collection devices that collect the measurements and alarms at the remote site; a communication system for reporting the collected measurements and alarms to upstream systems; wherein the definitions for the alarms and measurements can be provided from the port connections, stored script processes, and SNMP proxy; wherein the memory is configured to automatically store a history of the measurements and alarms collected which can be exported to the upstream systems; and wherein the processor is configured to collect derived measurements not directly collected from the downstream collection devices; and wherein the definitions each include: i. name; ii. value; iii. minimum over an interval; iv. maximum over an interval; v. average over an interval; vi. current state of the measurement; vii. originator of the value; viii. unit of the measurement; ix. description of the measurement; x. network element for the measurement; xi. category of the measurement; xii. update interval; and xiii. band threshold.