XML sensor system

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG.
1 shows an illustrative example of the prior art 10 wherein a heterogeneous array of sensor data formats 20a-20d are received by an input means 30.
The data is then subject to conversion 40 before processing 50.
The converter 40 is analogous to the microcontroller-multiplexer system (48a) of the Cephus patent and the converter (314) of the Nunes patent described previously.
The prior art advances did not go so far as to describe or suggest a system to provide a conduit for sensor data that insures proper transmission of the binary data, as well as providing a means to add context to the data values that are received.
In FIG.
2, a plurality of XML sensor data streams 25a-25d are received by an input means 30 communicatively coupled to a data server 60.
The input means 30 may be a connection in the form of a parallel power, serial port, USB, 1394, Ethernet or the like.
A data server 60 receives the data through the input means 30.
A sensor array configuration file 80 may be accessed by the data server 60 or the MTU 170 of FIG.
3 to initiate a sensor polling means 70 to verify the presence of each sensor specified in the sensor array configuration file 80.
The sensor polling means 70 is particularly useful when the sensors are affixed to valuable assets such as vehicles or machinery.
The absence of a response to the polling function could suggest the asset has been improperly removed from the area or is no longer functioning.
As the data server 60 receives the XML data, it may be aggregated into packets of information which are subject to an encryption process 90.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, RSA public key cryptography such as secure socket shell (SSH) is employed for both the connection and authentication.
The data may travel through a WAN 100 such as the Internet wherein it undergoes a decryption process 110 prior to residing in a data store 120.
As the data is received by the data store 120, it may undergo addition integrity tests such as validating the document for well-formedness or against the document type definitions for the sensor 130