Patent ID: 7937373

Claim:
A method for automatically archiving data collected by a machine monitoring system before such data is deleted or overwritten, wherein the archived data is associated with a detected event of interest, the method comprising the steps of: (a) storing machine performance data temporarily on a first-in-first-out basis in a short-term data storage device; (b) defining a primary event of interest; (c) detecting an occurrence of the primary event of interest based on the machine performance data; (d) sending event data associated with the occurrence of the primary event of interest to a long-term data storage device, wherein the event data includes machine performance data that was stored in the short-term data storage device prior to and substantially during the occurrence of the primary event of interest; (e) defining a first hierarchy to distinguish the primary event of interest from a secondary event of interest, wherein the primary event of interest is considered of higher importance than the secondary event of interest; and (f) replacing event data associated with the secondary event of interest in the long-term data storage device with event data associated with the primary event of interest, wherein the replacing occurs in response to a signal indicating that the long-term data storage device is unable to store the event data associated with the secondary event of interest and the event data associated with the primary event of interest.