Event Manager Filtering Composite Safety Events

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional event managers react independently to individual events, leading to suboptimal responses in safety and security systems, as they fail to recognize inter-related events that may form cascaded sets, resulting in unnecessary or inappropriate reactions.

Innovation Solution

An event manager that filters and classifies events by clustering them into composite events, using a system and method that identifies cascaded effects and prepares for optimal responses by considering patterns, both chronological and non-chronological, with a time-out mechanism to manage Fault Reaction Time Interval constraints.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional event managers react independently to each individual event, then each event receives a response, but multiple unnecessary or suboptimal reactions are triggered on a single source

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveresponse accuracyVSAvoidresponse efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple related events into a single composite event by identifying patterns and relationships between events. Instead of treating each event independently, the system combines correlated events (such as multiple errors from the same source or cascaded failures) into one unified event structure, which then triggers a single coordinated response. This eliminates redundant reactions while maintaining comprehensive monitoring coverage.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The composite event structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as an aggregation mechanism for related events, a classification category for event types, and a trigger for coordinated responses. This multi-functional approach allows the system to handle diverse event scenarios (single events, cascaded events, recurring events) through a unified framework, improving both response accuracy and efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Device complexity

If event managers treat all events as independent, then simple processing is maintained, but inter-related cascaded events are not recognized

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveevent processing complexityVSAvoidevent relationship information
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary classification and pattern matching on events as they are received, before full processing occurs. By pre-identifying potential composite events based on event sources, types, and temporal relationships, the system prepares event groups in advance. This preliminary action allows the complex relationship analysis to be done efficiently, capturing event inter-relationships without significantly increasing overall processing complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If multiple independent reactions are triggered on a single source, then each event is addressed, but optimal response is not achieved

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesafety and securityVSAvoidresponse coordination
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements feedback mechanisms where the response to a composite event incorporates information from all constituent events. The coordination logic uses feedback from event patterns, sources, and relationships to determine the appropriate unified response. This ensures that safety and security requirements are met through comprehensive analysis while maintaining operational simplicity through coordinated rather than scattered responses.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP4310681A1Event filtering and classification using composite events
Publication Date: 2024.01.24 NXP BV
  • EP4310681A1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4310681A1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP4310681A1 patent drawingFigure 5

AI summary

An event manager for filtering safety and security events of a system including an event sequence list including predetermined event sequences in which each sequence includes at least one event identifier identifying a corresponding one of multiple monitored events, an event sequence array that stores a received event sequence in response to received event notifications, and a controller that stores an event identifier into the event sequence array and that determines whether the received event sequence matches at least one of the predetermined event sequences for determining a composite event and a response for each received event notification. The matching determination may be made with or without consideration of chronological order. A suspected composite event may be identified when multiple possible matches may exist, and a final composite event is ratified when only one match is found. An exception may be generated upon timeout of a timer.