US2012271461A1PendingUtilityA1

Capturing environmental information

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Individually held — no corporate assignee on recordPriority: Apr 20, 2011Filed: Aug 31, 2011Published: Oct 25, 2012
Est. expiryApr 20, 2031(~4.7 yrs left)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:Gregory P. Spata
B64U 2101/35G01W 1/00G01W 2001/006G01C 23/00G05D 23/19G01W 1/08G05D 1/102G08G 5/57G08G 5/55
33
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Claims

Abstract

In general, a method includes receiving environmental information collected by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the environmental information being associated with one or more conditions of a data center, storing the environmental information on one or more memory devices that are accessible by the one or more computing devices, determining, based on the environmental information, that an event has occurred, and performing, by the one or more computing devices and based on determining that the event has occurred, one or more actions.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
1 . A method performed on one or more computing devices, the method comprising:
 receiving environmental information collected by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the environmental information being associated with one or more conditions of a data center;   storing the environmental information on one or more memory devices that are accessible by the one or more computing devices;   determining, based on the environmental information, that an event has occurred; and   performing, by the one or more computing devices and based on determining that the event has occurred, one or more actions.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the environmental information is associated with one or more of a temperature and a humidity level of at least a portion of the data center. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein determining that the event has occurred comprises determining that the temperature or the humidity level associated with the at least a portion of the data center falls outside a predetermined range. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein performing the one or more actions comprises activating a cooling system associated with the at least a portion of the data center. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein performing the one or more actions comprises adjusting an air vent associated with the at least a portion of the data center. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein adjusting the air vent alters a flow of air through the at least a portion of the data center. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the one or more actions comprise causing the UAV to travel to the at least a portion of the data center to collect additional environmental information. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 determining that the additional environmental information is associated with one or more of a second temperature and a second humidity level that falls outside the predetermined range; and   providing a notification.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein providing the notification comprises providing at least one of either: an on screen pop-up message, or an automated email, or a short message service (SMS) message, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the event has occurred comprises determining that a cooling system has been disabled. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein performing the one or more actions comprises:
 altering an operation of one or more other cooling systems; and   causing the UAV to travel to one or more portions of the data center to collect additional environmental information.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising altering a frequency with which the UAV collects environmental information associated with a portion of the data center that is associated with the disabled cooling system. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the environmental information specifies that the UAV has experienced a navigation deviation. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein determining that the event has occurred comprises determining, based on the navigation deviation, that a mechanical change has occurred in the data center. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein determining that the mechanical change has occurred comprises determining that a door located in the data center is ajar. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the event has occurred comprises determining that a predetermined amount of environmental information has been received. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein performing the action comprises analyzing the environmental information to determine the location of one or more portions of the data center that are associated with environmental information that falls outside of a predetermined range. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the event has occurred comprises determining that environmental information has not been collected for a portion of the data center. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising determining that the portion of the data center is inaccessible by the UAV. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising determining that a size of the portion of the data center exceeds a predetermined size. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising causing the UAV to collect environmental information for the portion of the data center based on determining that the size of the portion of the data center exceeds the predetermined size. 
     
     
         22 . One or more computer storage devices comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:
 receiving environmental information collected by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the environmental information being associated with one or more conditions of a data center;   storing the environmental information on one or more memory devices that are accessible by the one or more computing devices;   determining, based on the environmental information, that an event has occurred; and   performing, by the one or more computing devices and based on determining that the event has occurred, one or more actions.   
     
     
         23 . A system comprising:
 one or more processing devices; and   one or more memory devices comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:
 receiving environmental information collected by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the environmental information being associated with one or more conditions of a data center; 
 storing the environmental information on one or more memory devices that are accessible by the one or more computing devices; 
 determining, based on the environmental information, that an event has occurred; and 
 performing, by the one or more computing devices and based on determining that the event has occurred, one or more actions.

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