Patent ID: 8180888

Claim:
A method for managing edge processors, the method comprising: receiving, at one or more computer systems, information defining a management hierarchy for the edge processors, the management hierarchy specifying a first device as a root node and at least one of the edge processors as a virtual node aggregating sensor data from a collection of physical sensor devices such that sensor data obtained from each physical sensor device in the collection of physical sensor devices is modified to appear to the first device as an upstream parent node of the virtual node in the management hierarchy to be originating from the virtual node; generating, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, information configured to display a graphical user interface enabling users of the graphical user interface to define network operations associated with at least one node in the management hierarchy; generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a network operation file based on input received via the graphical user interface, the network operation file being a text-based file specifying at least the virtual node in the management hierarchy and one or more actions to be performed with respect to the virtual node; communicating the network operation file from a third device configured as a direct upstream parent node of the virtual node in the management hierarchy to the at least one of the edge processors specified as the virtual node; receiving sensor data at the at least one of the edge processors specified as the virtual node from one or more physical sensor devices in the collection of physical sensor devices; and communicating the sensor data from the second device specified as the virtual node in the management hierarchy to the third device configured as a direct upstream parent node of the virtual node in the management hierarchy such that the sensor data is modified to appear to the third device to be originating from the virtual node.