1. In an integrated information system in communication with a number of monitoring devices, a method for configuring the monitoring devices through a central interface, the method comprising:
obtaining a selection of at least one client associated with the integrated information system;
obtaining a selection of at least one premises associated with the selected client, within the integrated information system;
obtaining a selection of at least one location wherein the selected location is associated with an identifiable attribute of a premises;
obtaining a selection of one or more monitoring devices associated with the selected location;
obtaining a selection of one or more processing rules associated with one or more selected monitoring device; and
configuring the integrated information system according to the selected client, premises, location, monitoring device and processing rule data;
wherein the client, premises, location, monitoring device and processing rule data selections are obtained from a common user interface.
2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein obtaining a selection of the client, premises, location, monitoring device, or processing rule data includes obtaining data modifying a previous selection.
3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection of monitoring devices includes the selection of monitoring device setting information related to the operation of a selected monitoring device.
4. The method as recited in claim 3 further comprising displaying a current monitoring device setting information prior to obtaining a selection of monitoring device setting information.
5. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising obtaining a selection of at least one user associated with the integrated information system.
6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the user is authorized to provide configuration information to the integrated information system.
7. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the user is associated with the selected client or premises and is authorized to accept a notification of a processing rule violation.
8. The method as recited in claim 6, where the selection of users authorized to obtain information regarding the selected premises is dynamically generated in response to the processing of a rule in accordance with the integrated information system.
9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selected client is associated with multiple premises, and wherein the selection of at least one premises associated with the selected client includes a selection of all the premises associated with the selected client.
10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection of at least one premises includes obtaining a selection of users authorized to obtain information regarding the selected premises.
11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selected location corresponds to a zone or area within a premises.
12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selected location corresponds to multiple monitoring devices, and wherein the selection of at least one monitoring device includes a selection of all monitoring devices associated with the selected location.
13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection of a monitoring device includes a selection of at least one primary or auxiliary location associated with the monitoring device.
14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the selection of the primary or auxiliary locations are based on default settings for the monitoring device.
15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection of a monitoring device includes the selection of one or more monitoring device attributes, wherein the monitoring device attributes can include default values.
16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection of one or more processing rules includes the selection of a threshold indicating a violation of the selected processing rule.
17. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection of one or more processing rules includes the specification of a comparison of collected data to information stored in a database.
18. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection of one or more processing rules includes the specification of Boolean operators for creating associations between rules for one or more monitoring devices.
19. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection of one or more processing rules includes the specification of two or more processing rules that are considered as a single processing event.
20. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection of one or more processing rules includes a selection of one or more notification acceptors corresponding to the evaluation of the selection processing rule.
21. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein configuring the integrated information system includes inserting default values for the client, premises, location, monitoring device and processing rule data.
22. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the common user interface is a graphical user interface displayed on a computing device.
23. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the common user interface is a graphical user interface accessible through the World Wide Web.
24. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the common user interface includes hyperlinks for any of the client, premises, location, monitoring device, or processing rule data selections.
25. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in any one of claims 1-24.
26. A computer system having a processor, a memory and an operating environment, the computer system operable to perform the method recited in any one of claims 1-24.
27. In an integrated information system in communication with a number of monitoring devices and including a computer system having a display and user input device, a method for configuring the monitoring devices through a central interface, the method comprising:
displaying on the computer system display a set of available integrated information system clients;
obtaining a selection from the user input device of at least one client associated with the integrated information system;
displaying on the computer system display a set of available premises corresponding to the selected client;
obtaining a selection from the user input device of at least premises associated with the selected client;
displaying on the computer system display a set of available locations corresponding to the selected premises, wherein the selected location defines an identifiable attribute of the selected premises;
obtaining a selection from the user input device of at least one location corresponding to the selected premises;
displaying on the computer system display a set of available monitoring devices corresponding to the selected locations;
obtaining a selection from the user input device of one or more monitoring devices corresponding to the selected location;
displaying on the computer system display a set of processing rules associated with each selected monitoring device;
obtaining a selection from the user input device of one or more processing rules associated with each selected monitoring device, wherein the selected processing rule can include a default processing rule; and
transmitting the selected client, premises, location, monitoring device and processing rule data for configuration of the integrated information system;
wherein the selection client, premises, location, monitoring device and processing rule data is obtained from a common user interface.
28. The method as recited in claim 27 further comprising obtaining a selection of at least one user associated with the integrated information system.
29. The method as recited in claim 28, wherein the user is authorized to provide configuration information to the integrated information system.
30. The method as recited in claim 28, wherein the user is associated with the selected client and is authorized to accept a notification of a processing rule violation.
31. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein the selected client is associated with multiple premises, and wherein the selection of at least one premises associated with the selected client includes a selection of all the premises associated with the selected client.
32. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein the selection of at least one premises includes obtaining a selection of users authorized to obtain information regarding the selected premises.
33. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein the selected location corresponds to a geographic location.
34. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein the selected location corresponds to multiple monitoring devices, and wherein the selection of at least one monitoring device includes a selection of all monitoring devices associated with the selected location.
35. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein the selection of a monitoring device includes a selection of a primary and auxiliary location associated with the monitoring device.
36. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein the selection of a monitoring device includes the selection of one or more monitoring device attributes, wherein the monitoring device attributes can include default values.
37. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein the selection of one or more processing rules includes the selection of a threshold indicating a violation of the selected processing rule.
38. The method as recited in claim 37, wherein the selection of one or more processing rules includes a selection of one or more notification acceptors.
39. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein configuring the integrated information system includes inserting default values for the client, premises, location, monitoring device and processing rule data.
40. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein the common user interface is a graphical user interface displayed on a computing device.
41. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein each computer system display is a graphical window.
42. The method as recited in claim 41, wherein the graphical window is a graphical user interface accessible through the World Wide Web.
43. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein the user input device is a computer system mouse.
44. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein each computer system display is included in a single screen display having multiple attributes.
45. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein displaying on the computer system display a set of available monitoring devices corresponding to the selected locations includes displaying a tree-structure of available monitoring devices.
46. The method as recited in claim 45, wherein the tree-structure is formed in accordance with the previous usage of a particular user.
47. The method as recited in claim 45, wherein the tree-structure is formed in accordance with the authorization rights of a particular user.
48. The method as recited in claim 45, wherein the tree-structure is formed according to a hierarchical or functional relationship between two or more devices.
49. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in any one of claims 27-48.
50. A computer system having a processor, a memory and an operating environment, the computer system operable to perform the method recited in any one of claims 27-48.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A throttle control apparatus for a direct-fuel-injection-type internal combustion engine in which fuel is injected directly into a cylinder, the throttle control apparatus comprising:
a throttle valve for adjusting an amount of intake air drawn into the cylinder; and
a controller that when the engine is initially started, sets a degree of opening of the throttle valve to a degree of opening that is on a closed valve side of a post-engine start target degree of opening.
2. A throttle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller when the engine is initially started, sets the throttle valve to a closed valve state, and
when it is determined that a start of the engine has been accomplished, opens the throttle valve by gradually increasing the degree of opening of the throttle valve from the degree of opening of the closed valve state to the post-engine start target degree of opening.
3. A throttle control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the controller determines that the start of the engine has been accomplished, on a condition that an engine revolution speed has exceeded a predetermined revolution speed.
4. A throttle control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined revolution speed is variably set in accordance with an engine temperature of the internal combustion engine.
5. A throttle control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein after a predetermined delay time and after it is determined that the start of the engine has been accomplished, the controller gradually increases the degree of opening of the throttle valve from the degree of opening of the closed valve state to the post-engine start target degree of opening.
6. A throttle control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the controller, after the start of the engine has been accomplished, gradually increases the degree of opening of the throttle valve to open the throttle valve, by setting the target degree of opening of the throttle valve in accordance with a transition state of at least one of an intake pipe negative pressure, an amount of intake air, and an engine revolution speed.
7. A throttle control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the direct-fuel-injection-type internal combustion engine is an internal combustion engine in which fuel to be injected is pressurized by a mechanical high-pressure fuel pump driven by the engine.
8. A throttle control method for a direct-fuel-injection-type internal combustion engine in which fuel is injected directly into a cylinder, the method controlling a degree of opening of a throttle valve for adjusting an amount of intake air drawn into the cylinder, the method comprising:
setting the degree of opening of the throttle valve, when starting of the endine is initiated, to a degree of opening that is on a closed valve side of a post-engine start target degree of opening.
9. A throttle control method according to claim 8, further comprising:
setting the throttle valve, when starting of the engine is initiated, to a closed valve state; and
opening the throttle valve when it is determined that a start of the engine has been accomplished, by gradually increasing the degree of opening of the throttle valve from the degree of opening of the closed valve state to the post-engine start target degree of opening.
10. A throttle control method according to claim 9, wherein it is determined that the start of the engine has been accomplished, on a condition that an engine revolution speed has exceeded a predetermined revolution speed.
11. A throttle control method according to claim 10, wherein the predetermined revolution speed is variably set in accordance with an engine temperature of the internal combustion engine.
12. A throttle control method according to claim 10, wherein after a predetermined delay time and after it is determined that the start of the engine has been accomplished, the degree of opening of the throttle valve is gradually increased from the degree of opening of the closed valve state to the post-engine start target degree of opening.
13. A throttle control method according to claim 9, wherein the degree of opening of the throttle valve, after a start of the engine has been accomplished, is gradually increased to open the throttle valve, by setting the target degree of opening of the throttle valve in accordance with a transition state of at least one of an intake pipe negative pressure, an amount of intake air, and an engine revolution speed.