Cloud-Based Instrument Driver System for Remote Software Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of laboratory instruments face a significant burden in identifying, obtaining, installing, and maintaining appropriate drivers and ancillary software to interact with instruments, as existing solutions require local installation and maintenance, often requiring administrator access and involving multiple software components.
Innovation Solution
A cloud-based instrument driver system that allows user devices to interact with instruments through a remote driver cloud, which stores and manages drivers and ancillary software, eliminating the need for local installation by relaying commands and responses through the cloud for translation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If drivers and ancillary software are installed locally on user devices, then instruments can be controlled and data acquired, but users face significant burden in identifying, obtaining, installing, and maintaining appropriate drivers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cloud-based service as an intermediary between user devices and instruments. This service hosts drivers and ancillary software remotely, translating user device commands into instrument-specific protocols without requiring local installation. The cloud service acts as a mediator that handles driver management, updating, and maintenance centrally, eliminating the burden on users while ensuring reliable instrument connectivity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple drivers and ancillary software components are installed locally, then compatibility with various instruments is achieved, but system complexity increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts drivers and ancillary software components from the user device and relocates them to a cloud-based service. This separation removes the complexity of managing multiple software components locally while maintaining instrument compatibility. The cloud service consolidates all necessary drivers and translation layers, allowing user devices to interact with diverse instruments without hosting multiple software components locally.
3Reliability
If drivers are updated locally, then instrument interaction remains current, but administrator access and manual updates are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a self-service update mechanism where the cloud-based service automatically manages driver updates. The service monitors, downloads, and installs updated drivers and ancillary software components without requiring user intervention or administrator access. This automated approach ensures drivers remain current for reliable instrument interaction while eliminating the time-consuming manual update process.
Data Source
AI summary
A cloud-based instrument driver system enables a user device to interact with one or more instruments through a remotely located driver cloud. The driver cloud may store drivers and ancillary software. The user device may be connected to each instrument either directly or indirectly, for example, over one or more computer networks, and may be connected to and communicate directly with the driver cloud over the computer network. However, the driver cloud and the instrument may not be in direct communication. The user device relays commands and responses to and from the instrument to the driver cloud for translation into a format suitable for processing by the user device. Utilization of the driver cloud obviates the need to obtain, install and maintain any drivers and/or ancillary software on the user device in order to enable the device to interact with the instrument.