WO2008040259A1

WO2008040259A1 - Methods for remotely monitoring and/or controlling an experiment

Info

Publication number: WO2008040259A1
Application number: PCT/CN2007/070839
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xinlei Hua
Original assignee: Accelergy Shanghai R & D Center Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-09-29
Filing date: 2007-09-29
Publication date: 2008-04-10
Also published as: CN101227293A

Abstract

Methods for remotely monitoring and/or controlling an experiment enable experimental research participants to remotely monitor and/or control an experiment, thus improving global collaboration on experimental research, and reducing laboratory cost. In a particular implementation, a method for remotely monitoring an experiment comprises collecting experimental data of an on-going experiment from an experimental device and displaying the experimental data in a first interface, transmitting information to a computer system, wherein the information can be used by the computer system to construct a second interface similar to the first interface and to display the experimental data in the second interface. The method further comprises updating the experimental data displayed in the first interface in response to receiving further experimental data from the experimental device, and transmitting further information to the remote client computer system, wherein the further information can be used by the computer system to update the experimental data of the on-going experiment displayed in the second interface correspondingly with the updating of the experimental data displayed in the first interface.

Description

METHODS FOR REMOTELY MONITORING AND/OR CONTROLLING AN

EXPERIMENT

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of material research, and particularly to methods for remotely monitoring and/or controlling an experiment.

BACKGROUND

As businesses globalize, collaboration among people in different places is becoming more and more important. In the field of material research, opinions and suggestions from scientists and specialists at different locations on an on-going experiment conducted at one of the locations may be needed to modify or optimize the experiment. In order for them to provide valuable opinions and suggestions, the scientists and the specialists may need information about the on-going experiment that can only be obtained through first-hand monitoring of the on-going experiment.

In addition, a project manager or researcher may want to remotely monitor and/or control an experiment when he or she is on travel, or when he or she is not near the laboratory in which the experiment is running.

Also, as more and more companies nowadays hire outside research entities to conduct experiments for them, the possibility of being able to remotely monitoring an on-going experiment becomes more appealing. Furthermore, advanced experiment systems are usually very costly. Therefore, it is costly to provide and maintain the same set of advanced experimental devices in multiple labs. If an experiment system can be controlled and/or monitored remotely, multiple labs will be able to share one experiment system. As a result, the cost of running multiple labs will be reduced and the experimental devices can be used more efficiently. Therefore, it is desired to provide a method of remotely monitoring and/or controlling an on-going experiment.

SUMMARY

A method for conducting an experiment, comprises collecting experimental data of an on-going experiment from an experimental device, displaying the experimental data in a first interface, transmitting information to a remote client computer system, wherein the information is such as can be used by the remote client computer system to construct a second interface similar to the first interface and to display experimental data of the on-going experiment in the second interface. The method further comprises in response to receiving further experimental data from the experimental device, updating the experimental data displayed in the first interface and transmitting further information to the remote client computer system, wherein the further information is such as can be used by the remote client computer system to update the experimental data of the on-going experiment displayed in the second interface correspondingly with the updating of the experimental data displayed in the first interface.

The method further comprises receiving a request from the remote client computer system, wherein the step of transmitting the information is performed in response to the request.

In one embodiment, the information includes data structures representing the first interface.

In one embodiment, the information and the further information are sent to the remote client computer system via a wide-area network.

In one embodiment, the experimental data includes at least one of a group consisting of a temperature reading from the on-going experiment, a pressure reading of the on-going experiment, a mass flow reading of the on-going experiment, data from a mass spectrometer utilized in the on-going experiment.

The method further comprises receiving instructions from the remote client computer system after transmitting the information to the remote client computer system, and controlling the experimental device to carry out experiment operations based on the instructions.

A method for remotely monitoring an on-going experiment comprises collecting experimental data of an on-going experiment from an experimental device, displaying the experimental data in a first interface and updating the experimental data in the first interface in response to receiving further experimental data from the experimental device, and sharing the first interface with a remote client computer system such that the remote client computer system displays a second interface similar to the first interface and that the second interface displays experimental data of the on-going experiment that is updated in correspondence with the updating of the experimental data displayed in the first interface.

A method for conducting an experiment comprises displaying a first interface for controlling the experiment, receiving a request from a remote client computer system via a wide area network, transmitting information to the remote client computer system via the wide area network, wherein the information is to be used by the remote client computer system to construct a second interface similar to the first interface. The method further comprises receiving instructions to control the experiment from the remote client computer system via the wide area network, and executing the instructions to control the experiment.

A method for participating in the conducting of an experiment comprises sending a request to an experiment computer system coupled to one or more experimental devices for carrying out the experiment, receiving information from the experiment computer system, and while the experiment is on-going: (1) constructing an interface and displaying experimental data generated by the one or more experimental devices in the interface based on the information, (2) receiving further information from the experiment computer system, and (3) updating the experimental data displayed in the interface based on the further information.

A method for participating in the conducting of an experiment comprises sending a request to an experiment computer system coupled to one or more experimental devices for conducting the experiment, receiving information from the experiment computer system, and while the experiment is on-going: (1) constructing an interface for controlling the one or more experimental devices based on the information, and (2) sending instructions to the experiment computer system to control the one or more experimental devices.

A method for participating in the conducting of an experiment comprises observing an interface displaying experimental data of the experiment while the experiment is on-going, wherein the interface is constructed based on information received from an experiment computer system via a wide area network, the experiment computer system is coupled to one or more experimental devices for conducting the experiment, and the experimental data displayed in the interface is updated periodically based on further information received from the experiment computer system. The method further comprises sending instructions based on experimental data displayed on the interface to the experiment computer system, the instructions for controlling the conducting of the experiment.

A method for first and second users to collaborate on an experiment using respectively a first computer system and a second computer system coupled with each other via a wide area network, comprises collecting experimental data using the first computer system from one or more experimental devices coupled to the first computer system, wherein the experimental devices are for carrying out the experiment. The method further comprises displaying the experimental data in a first interface on the first computer system and in a second interface on the second computer system, wherein the second interface is similar to the first interface, and experimental data displayed in the second interface is updated in correspondence with the experimental data displayed in the first interface. The method further comprises exchanging information between the first user and the second user, wherein the information includes control instructions formed based on observation of the experiment via the second interface. The method further comprises controlling the experiment using the first computer system based on the control instructions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system that can be used to remotely monitor and/or control an on-going experiment.

Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram of an experiment computer system.

Figure 3 illustrates a block diagram of a remote client computer system. Figure 4A illustrates a block diagram of a system that can be used to remotely monitor and/or control an on-going experiment.

Figure 4B illustrates a block diagram of a system that can be used to remotely monitor and/or control multiple on-going experiments.

Figure 5 illustrates a flow scheme of a method for remotely monitoring an on-going experiment.

Figure 6 illustrates a flow scheme of a method for remotely controlling an experiment.

Figure 7 illustrates a flow scheme of a method for first and second users to collaborate on an on-going experiment using respectively a first computer system and a second computer system. Figure 8 illustrates a log-in interface of a PORTAL® system.

Figure 9 illustrates a general interface of the PORTAL® system.

Figure 10 illustrates an experiment view interface of the PORTAL® system.

Figure 11 illustrates an experiment view interface with a sub-window in which a desktop of an experiment computer system that controls a micro reactor system is provided. Figure 12 illustrates a new window with a remote user interface in which a desktop of an experiment computer system that controls a micro reactor system is provided.

Figure 13 illustrates a new window with a remote user interface in which a desktop of an experiment computer system that controls a parallel reactor system is provided.

Figure 14 illustrates a new window with a remote user interface in which a desktop of the experiment computer system that controls the parallel reactor system is provided.

Figure 15 illustrates a network that can be used to improve global collaboration.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to figure 1 , a system 10 that can be used to remotely monitor and/or control experiment comprises an experiment computer system 100, an experimental device 130, a remote client computer system 140 and a server 170. The experimental device 130 is connected to and controlled by the experiment computer system 100 via a data exchange interface 119. The remote client computer system 140 is connected with the experiment computer system 100 and the server 170 via for example, a computer network.

In one embodiment, the computer network can be a wide area network or a local area network. The term "wide area network" means a computer network that covers a broad area (i.e., any network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries e.g. internet).

The term "experiment computer system" used herein means a computer system which is connected with an experimental device either directly or via a local area network (LAN), and can be used to monitor and/or control the experimental device.

The experimental device 130 can be a device used to carry out one or more experiment operations (e.g. heating, feeding, mixing, vacuumizing, vibrating, centrifugal settling etc.), a device used to measure one or more experiment parameters (e.g. temperature, pressure, flow rate etc.) of one or more experiments, a device used to analyze substance(s) in one or more experiments, or combinations thereof. Thus, the experimental device 130 can be a reactor, a mixer, a temperature controller, a pressure controller, a mass flow controller, a pressure flow controller, a valve, a fluid distributor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a chromatographic device, a mass spectrometer (MS), an X ray diffraction (XRD) system, a temperature rising elution fractionation (TREF) system, a crystallization analysis fractionation (CRYSTAF) system, a nuclear magnetic resonance device (NMR) etc., or combinations thereof. The term "experiment" used herein means any material research experiment e.g. any experiment for preparing and/or testing material(s), wherein "testing" means testing of physical and/or chemical characteristics (e.g. catalytic performance) of material samples. In one embodiment, the term "experiment" means any experiment of preparing and/or testing material samples, in which chemical reaction may take place. In a further embodiment, the term "experiment" means any experiment of testing catalyst samples.

Referring to figure 2, the experiment computer system 100 may include a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) 101, a memory 103, input and/or output devices 111, 113, 115, and 117, a data exchange interface 119, and a network device 109 interconnected via a system bus 110.

The memory 103 may include a random access memory (RAM) 103a, and a computer readable medium 103b storing therein an experiment program product 105, a server-side program product 107 of a remote tool, and an experiment user database 108. The computer readable medium 103b can be part or all of a hard disk, portable hard disk, CDROM, memory stick, etc., or combinations thereof.

The term "experiment program product" means a program product when executed by a computer system, causes the computer system to generate an interface for monitoring and/or controlling an experimental device connected to the computer system.

The term "remote tool" means a tool that can be used to monitor and/or control one computer system at another computer system in real time, and the remote tool may comprise a server-side program product and a client-side program product. The remote tool can be WinVNC, WebMyPC, Specrem, PCanywhere, or part or all of PORTAL® System developed by Accelergy Corporation of Palo Alto, California, etc.

In one embodiment, the term "server-side program product" means a program product when executed by a first computer system, may cause the first computer system to share an interface generated by executing an experiment program product with a second computer system via a computer network. In another embodiment, the term "server-side program product" means a program product when executed by a first computer system, may cause the first computer system to share an interface generated by executing an experiment program product with a second computer system and to receive instructions from the second computer system via a computer network, which instructions when executed by the first computer system, causes the first computer system to control one or more experimental devices connected thereto to carry out experiment operations. The experiment operations can be operations of carrying out an experiment, operations of modifying parameters of an experiment, operations of starting, stopping, or pausing an experiment etc. A network device is for connecting a computer system to a computer network, it can be a network adapter, modem, or the like.

The input devices 111 and 113 can be a keyboard, a mouse, or a touch screen etc., for a user to input user instructions for controlling the experimental device 130 to carry out experiment operations, and/or user instructions for monitoring an experiment. The output devices 115 and 117 can be a display device, a speaker, or a headphone etc., for providing an interface for guiding the user to input the instructions, and/or for providing an interface for monitoring an experiment or the experimental device 130.

The data exchange interface 119 is for connecting with the experimental device 130 and exchanging data with the experimental device 130. The data exchange interface 119 can be RS232, USB, IEEE1394, TCP/IP and 3GIO, or the like.

In some embodiments, the experiment computer system 100 may include multiple processors to accelerate the execution of the computer program products.

The experiment user database 108 stores therein an experiment user account for accessing the computer system 100 using the remote tool at another computer system. The term "user account" means information used to access a computer system or a database stored in the computer system. A user account may include an identification code and a password.

Referring to figure 3, the remote client computer system 140 may include a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) 141, a memory 143, input and/or output devices 149, 151, 153 and 155, and network device 147 interconnected via a system bus 150.

The memory 143 may include a random access memory (RAM) 143a, and a computer readable medium 143b storing therein a client-side computer program product 145 of the remote tool.

In one embodiment, the term "client-side program product" means a program product when executed by a first computer system, may cause the first computer system to construct an interface and to display experimental data in the interface based on relevant information received from a second computer system via a computer network. In another embodiment, the term "client-side program product" means a program product when executed by a first computer system, may cause the first computer system to construct an interface based on information received from a second computer system and to send instructions based on user input to the second computer system via a computer network, which instructions when executed by the second computer system, causes the second computer system to control one or more experimental devices coupled thereto to carry out experiment operations.

In one embodiment, when the program product 145 is executed by the computer system 140, may cause the computer system 140 to construct a second interface similar to a first interface generated on the experiment computer system 100 and to display experimental data in the interface based on relevant information received from the experiment computer system 100 via a computer network, wherein the first interface is generated by executing the experiment program product 105 on the experiment computer system 100, and the experiment data is collected by the experiment computer system 100 from the experimental device 130. So a user can monitor an on-going experiment being monitored and/or carried out by the experimental device 130 at the computer system 140.

The server 170 stores therein a server user database 171. The server user database 171 stores therein a plurality of server user accounts, the experiment user account, the IP address, and access assignment information about whether each of the plurality of server user accounts has right to access the experiment user account and the IP address. When a user logs in the server 170 using a server user account and sends a request for accessing the experiment user account and the IP address to the server at the remote client computer system 140, the server 170 transmits the experiment user account and the IP address to the client computer system 140 if the server user account is assigned the access. Such that a user can obtain the interface shared by the experiment computer system 100 at the client computer system 140 using the experiment user account and the IP address via the remote tool, therefore, the user can monitor and/or control the experimental device 130.

In one embodiment, the server user database 171 stores therein more than one experiment user accounts for accessing corresponding experiment computer systems and corresponding IP addresses, a plurality of server user accounts and their respective rights to access respective ones of the experiment user accounts and the corresponding IP addresses. For example, a first server user account is assigned access to a first experiment user account, a second server user account is assigned access to a second experiment user account, and a third server user account is assigned access to the first and the second experiment user accounts, wherein the first experiment user account is used for accessing a first experiment computer system, and the second experiment user account is used for accessing a second experiment computer system.

Access to an experiment user account and a corresponding IP address assigned to a server user account can be set with a time-limit. Within the time-limit, the server user account has access to the experiment user account, but out of the time-limit, the serve user account has no access to the experiment user account.

In one embodiment, the experiment computer system 100 and the server 170 belong to a first business entity, and the remote client computer system 140 belongs to a second business entity, such that the first entity and the second entity can collaborate on an experiment using the system illustrated in figure 1.

In one embodiment, the experiment computer system 100 and the remote client computer system 140 are respectively in two different places that are distanced from each other, such that researchers in the two different places cannot conveniently get together but can collaborate on an experiment using the system illustrated in figure 1. For example, the two places can be in two different cities, countries, or even continents.

In one embodiment, a user logs in the server 170 via the remote client computer system 140 using a server user account which has access to the experiment user account, and then sends a request for accessing the experiment user account and the IP address. The server 170 then forwards the experiment user account and the IP address to the remote client computer system 140. When the computer system 140 receives the experiment user account and the IP address from the server, the computer system 140 sends a request to the computer system 100 for monitoring an experiment using the experiment user account, which experiment is being monitored by the computer system 100, and then receives information for constructing a second interface similar to an interface, which is generated by executing the program product 105 on the experiment computer system, for monitoring an on-going experiment, such that the user can monitor the experiment at the computer system 140.

Referring to figure 4A, a system 20 for remotely monitoring and/or controlling an experiment is illustrated. The system may include an experiment computer system 10Od, an experimental device 13Od, a remote client computer system 14Od, and a server 17Od. The experimental device 130d is connected to the computer system 10Od, such that it can be monitored and/or controlled by the computer system 10Od. The computer system 14Od is connected to the computer system lOOd via computer networks. The server 17Od is connected to the computer system lOOd and 14Od via computer networks.

The experiment computer system lOOd may include a processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) 101d, and a memory 103d with an experiment program product 105d, a server-side program product 107d of a remote tool, and an experiment user database 108d stored therein. The experiment user database 108d stores therein an experiment user account for receiving the information.

The server 17Od has a server user database 171d stored therein. The server user database 171d stores therein a plurality of server user accounts for logging in the server, the experiment user account, IP address of the experiment computer system 100d, and access assignment information of whether each of the plurality of server user accounts has access to the experiment user account and the IP address.

In one embodiment, the computer system 14Od sends a request for monitoring an experiment, which is being monitored by the computer system 10Od, to the server 17Od using a server user account having access to the experiment user account and the IP address. When the server 17Od receives the request, the server 17Od sends a request to the experiment computer system lOOd for obtaining an interface for monitoring the experiment, which interface is generated on the experiment computer system 10Od by executing the experiment program product 105d, using the experiment user account and the IP address. Then the server 17Od receives information for constructing desktop of the experiment computer system lOOd in real time, wherein the desktop has the interface therein. Then the server 17Od passes the information to the computer system 14Od in real time, such that the experiment can be monitored at the computer system 14Od. As people skilled in the field will know, many modifications can be made without creativity under the guidance of the patent application, but all these modifications are still in the scope of this patent application.

Figure 4B is a block diagram of a system 30 for remotely monitoring and/or controlling multiple experiments. As shown in figure 4B, the system may include remote client computer systems 140a and 140b, experiment computer systems 100a, 100b and 100c, experimental devices 130a, 130b and 130c monitored and/or controlled by the experiment computer systems 100a, 100b and 100c respectively, and a server 170a with a server user database 171a stored therein. The first remote client computer system 140a, the second remote client computer system 140b, the experiment computer systems 100a, 100b and 100c, and the server 170a are connected to the internet 160a. The server user database 171a stores therein at least two server user accounts for logging in the server, three experiment user accounts for accessing the experiment computer systems 100a, 100b and 100c correspondingly, IP addresses of the experiment computer systems 100a, 100b and 100c, and the at least two server user accounts' respective rights to access to the respective experiment user accounts and corresponding IP addresses.

In one embodiment, the remote client computer system 140b logs in the server 170a using a server user account having access to an experiment user account and IP address which are used for monitoring the experiment computer system 100c. When the remote client computer system 140b sends a request for monitoring the experiment computer system 100c to the server 170a, the server 170a sends a client-side program product of a remote tool, the experiment user account, and the IP address to the remote client computer system 140b. Then the computer system 140b sends a request for monitoring the computer system 100c to the computer system 100c using the experiment user account and IP address. Then the computer system 140b receives information for constructing desktop of the computer system 100c from the computer system 100c, such that a user can monitor any experiment being monitored by the computer system 100c at the computer system 140b. Wherein, the actions of downloading the client-side program from the server 170a, receiving the experiment user account and IP address, and sending request for monitoring the computer system 100c are carried out automatically, therefore, the experiment user account and IP address can be hidden from the user, such that security of the whole system is guaranteed, and also it is convenient for user account management.

The client-side program product of the remote tool can also be stored in the remote client computer systems. The client-side program product can be a stand along program, or a client application e.g. a web browser.

In one embodiment, IP addresses of the experiment computer systems and corresponding experiment user accounts are provided to a user in advance. Access assignment of a server user account can be managed based on experiments. In one embodiment, it is arranged that the experiment computer system 100a will control and monitor a first experiment in a first time period, and will control and monitor a second experiment in a second time period. A first experiment ID is assigned to the first experiment, a second experiment ID is assigned to the second experiment. A first server user account is assigned access of monitoring the first experiment, but is not assigned access of monitoring the second experiment. The server user database 171a stores therein a plurality of server user accounts, access to the experiments assigned to the server user accounts, the experiment user accounts, the IP addresses, and experiment IDs of experiments each of the experiment computer system is controlling and/or monitoring. When the remote client computer system 140a logs in the server 170a using the first server user account and sends a request for monitoring the experiment computer system 100a, based on access assignment information stored in the server user database 171a, the remote client computer system 140a will receive an interface for monitoring the experiment computer system 100a if the experiment computer system 100a is controlling or monitoring the first experiment; but the request will be refused if the experiment computer system 100a is controlling and/or monitoring the second experiment.

A flow scheme of a method 200 for remotely monitoring an experiment is illustrated in figure 5. In the method, the experiment computer system 100 establishes an experiment user account which is then stored in the experiment user database 108 (step 201). Then the server 170 establishes one or more server user accounts and assigns rights of accessing the experiment user account and the IP address of the experiment computer system 100 stored in the server user database 171 to the server user accounts (step 203).

The experiment computer system 100 collects experimental data of an on-going experiment from the experimental device 130 (step 205), and displays the experimental data in a first interface, and further updates the experimental data in the first interface in response to receiving further experimental data from the experimental device 130 (step 207). The remote client computer system 140 sends a request for accessing the experiment user account and the IP address to the server 170 using the server user account (step 209). When the server 170 receives the request (step 211), the server 170 transmits the experiment user account and the IP address to the remote client computer system 140 (step 213). After the remote client computer system 140 receives the experiment user account and the IP address (step 215), the remote client computer system 140 sends a request for monitoring the on-going experiment to the experiment computer system 100 using the experiment user account and the IP address (step 217).

When the experiment computer system 100 receives the request for monitoring the on-going experiment (step 219), the experiment computer system 100 transmits information for constructing a second interface, which is similar to the first interface, and for displaying the experimental data in the second interface to the remote client computer system 140 (step 221). When the remote client computer system 140 receives the information, the remote client computer system 140 constructs the second interface and displays the experimental data in the second interface using the information (step 223).

When the experiment computer system 100 receives further experimental data from the experimental device 130, the experiment computer system 100 updates the experiment data in the first interface, and sends further information for updating the experiment data in the second interface to the remote client computer system 140 (step 225). When the remote client computer system 140 receives the further information, the remote client computer system 140 updates the experiment data in the second interface (step 227).

In one embodiment, the information includes data structures representing the first interface, in another word, the second interface has the same appearance as the first interface.

In one embodiment, the information is for constructing a second interface having a similar appearance to the desktop interface of the experiment computer system 100, which desktop interface has the first interface included therein.

The experimental data can be any data collected by the experiment computer system from an experimental device, includes experiment result(s) and/or experiment parameter(s). The term "experiment result" means any result caused by an experiment, e.g. increasing or decreasing of temperature or pressure caused by the experiment, increasing or decreasing of concentration of a substance etc. The term "experiment parameter" means any condition that may affect the experiment, e.g. temperature, pressure, mass flow, rotate speed, vibration frequency etc. The experimental data can be displayed in the interface directly, or displayed in the interface after being processed. The experimental data can be displayed in the interface in any known format, e.g. number, curve, histogram etc.

The experiment computer system and the remote client computer system may belong to two different entities. The experiment computer system and the remote client computer system can be located in two different locations e.g. two different locations in a city, two different cities, two different countries. The experiment computer system and the remote client computer system can communicate with each other directly or indirectly, e.g. via a server, as described above and below. A flow scheme of a method 230 for remotely controlling an experimental device to carry out an experiment is illustrated in figure 6. In the method, the experiment computer system 100 establishes an experiment user account which is then stored in the experiment user database 108 (step 231). Then a server establishes a server user account and assigns right of accessing the experiment user account , which are stored in the server user database 171, to the server user account (step 233).

Then the remote client computer system 140 sends a request for accessing the experiment user account to the server 170 using the server user account (step 235). When the server 170 receives the request for accessing the experiment user account (step 237), the server 170 sends account information about the experiment user account and the IP address to the remote client computer system 140 (step 239).

When the remote client computer system 140 receives the account information from the server 170 (step 241), the remote client computer system 140 sends a request for controlling the experiment computer system 100 to the experiment computer system 100 using the account information(step 243). When the experiment computer system 100 receives the request, the experiment computer system 100 sends information for constructing a second desktop interface similar to a first desktop interface of the computer system 100 to the remote client computer system 140 (step 245).

When the remote client computer system 140 receives the information, the remote client computer system 140 constructs the second desktop interface using the information, and sends a first group of instructions to the computer system 100 (step 247). The first group of instructions are based on user input (for example, double click on an shortcut of the experiment program product 105 using a mouse) under the guidance of the second desktop interface.

When the experiment computer system 100 receives the first group of instructions, the experiment computer system 100 executes the first group of instructions, and then executes the experiment program product 105, such that generates a first control interface in the first desktop interface (step 249). The first control interface is for guiding a user to input instructions to control the experimental device 130 to carry out experiment operations. The experiment computer system 100 sends further information for updating the second desktop interface to the remote client computer system 140 (step 251). When the remote client computer system 140 receives the further information, the remote client computer system 140 generates a second control interface in the second desktop interface using the further information, wherein the second control interface is similar to the first control interface (step 253). Then, the remote client computer system 140 sends a second group of instructions for controlling the experimental device 130 to carry out experiment operations to the experiment computer system 100 (step 255). The second group of instructions are based on user input by a user at the remote client computer system 140 under the guidance of the second control interface. When the experiment computer system 100 receives the second group of instructions, the experiment computer system 100 controls the experimental device 130 to carry out experiment operations based on the second group of instructions (step 257). In an alternative embodiment, the first control interface is generated before the experiment computer system 100 receives the request for controlling the experiment computer system 100. In another embodiment, the experiment computer system 100 transmits information to the remote client computer system 140, wherein the information includes data for constructing the first control interface, but does not include data for constructing the second desktop interface. A method 260 for a first user and a second user to collaborate on an experiment using respectively a first computer system and a second computer system coupled to each other via a wide area network is illustrated in figure 7. In one embodiment, the first user operates the experiment computer system 100, and the second user operates the remote client computer system 140. The first user controls the experiment computer system 100 to collect experimental data of an on-going experiment from the experimental device 130 (step 261), to display the experimental data in a first interface, and to transmit information for constructing a second interface similar to the first interface and for displaying the experimental data in the second interface to the remote client computer system 140. The second user controls the remote client computer system 140 to receive the information, then to construct the second interface, and then to display the experimental data in the second interface. The first user controls the experiment computer system 100 to collect further experimental data of the on-going experiment, then update the experimental data in the first interface in response to receiving the further experimental data, and then transmit further information for updating experimental data in the second interface to the remote client computer system 140. The second user controls the remote client computer system 140 to receive the further information, and then update the experimental data in the second interface (step 263). The first and the second user monitor the on-going experiment via monitoring the experimental data in the first and the second interface, respectively. The second and the first users then exchange opinions about the on-going experiment (for example, how to optimize the experiment etc.) via a communication tool (for example telephone, wide area network, video conference etc.) (step 265). Based on the exchanges opinions, the first user controls the experiment computer system 100 to control the experimental device 130 to carry out experiment operations.

A log-in interface of PORTAL® system is illustrated in figure 8. When a user logs in the PORTAL® system with a server user account at the remote client computer system 140a, a general interface which is illustrated in figure 9 is provided, wherein the general interface comprises a latest data list 301 which lists out hyperlinks of the latest data uploaded on the server 170a, an available project list 303 which lists out available projects, a data button 305, a file button 307, a tools button 309 and an admin button 311. When moves a mouse on the data button 305, a list of data operations is provided for a user to select corresponding data operation. When clicks an experiment view button 313 in the list of data operations, an experiment view interface which is illustrated in figure 10 is provided. The experiment view interface comprises an apparatus list 315, a current window button 317 and a new window button 319. The apparatus list 315 is a list of buttons for accessing experiment computer systems the current user can access, wherein each experiment computer system controls at least one experimental device. The accessing buttons can be named according to corresponding experimental devices. The button 321 corresponds to the experiment computer system 100a that controls the experimental device 130a which is a micro reactor system, wherein a matrix of materials disposed on a substrate are tested in a closed react chamber. When click the button 321 using the mouse, the remote client computer system 140a may be programmed to: download a client-side program from the server 170a and execute it, after that, receive the IP address of the experiment computer system and a corresponding experiment user account for accessing the experiment computer system 100a from the server 170a, and then submit a request for accessing the experiment computer system 100a using the experiment user account. Referring to figure 11, when the request is permitted, a remote user interface 323 for monitoring the experiment computer system 100a is provided as a sub window in the experiment view interface. If the computer system 100a is running a controlling program or a monitoring program of the micro reactor system 130a, and an interface of the controlling program or the monitoring program is not minimized in the experiment computer system 100a, then the user can monitor the interface in the remote user interface 323. It is preferred to maximize the interface of the controlling program or the monitoring program. Monitoring program means program product when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to provide a visual interface for monitoring an experimental device.

An experimental device can be monitored in a new window. Click the new window button 319 to select a view mode in which the experimental device 130a can be monitored in a new window, and then click the button 321 to select the experimental device 130a, a new web browser window will pop up and a remote user interface which displays in real time the desktop of the computer system 100a will be provided in the web browser window as shown in figure 12. New window mode is more convenient for monitoring than current window mode, because a larger interface can be provided. An interface of the controlling program comprises a dot matrix 325, a react condition table 327, a graph 329, a control bar 331, an experiment status table 333, and a video window 335. Each dot of the dot matrix 325 represents a corresponding area on the substrate, wherein each area is for supporting a material sample. The reaction condition table 327 indicates raw materials used in the experiment, pressure readings in corresponding parts of the micro reactor system, temperature readings in corresponding parts of the micro reactor system etc. The graph 329 shows mass-time curves and temperature-time curves etc. The control bar 331 comprises control buttons including prepare button, start button, pause button, resume button, resume next button, stop step button and stop button etc. for controlling the experiment. The experiment status table 333 indicates experiment name, library ID, flow name, step name, and member (the ID of the material sample being tested).

If access of an experiment user account to an experiment is limited to monitoring, a user can only monitor the experiment at a remote client computer system via a remote tool using the experiment user account. If controlling access is assigned to the experiment user account, the user can control an experimental device such as controlling" the experiment at the remote client computer system via the remote tool using the experiment user account.

In one embodiment, only interface(s) of selected controlling program(s) and/or monitoring program(s) is provided in the remote user interface. Referring back to figure 10, a button 322 corresponds to the experiment computer system 100b which controls the experimental device 130b, wherein the experimental device 130b is a parallel reactor system. Click the new window button 319 and click the button 322 in the apparatus list 315, then a new window illustrated in figure 13 pops up. A desktop of the computer system 100b is provided in the new window. The computer system 100b executes a controlling program for controlling and monitoring the parallel reactor system 130b, and an interface 340 is the current selected interface. The interface 340 comprises a mass flow controller control block 341 for controlling mass flow controllers, a pressure flow controller control block 343 for controlling pressure flow controllers, a chromatographic device (GC) control block 345 for controlling chromatographic devices, a reactor temperature control block 347 for controlling temperature of reactors in the parallel reactor system, an oven temperature control block 349 for controlling temperature of a oven containing the reactors, an oven cover temperature control block 351 for controlling temperature of covers of the oven, and a gas source temperature control block 353 for controlling temperature of material gases used in experiment.

When switch to a graph style interface, an interface 350 illustrated in figure 14 is provided. Selected temperature-time curve(s), pressure-time curve(s), and flow-time curve(s) can be provided in the graph.

If necessary, interface(s) for monitoring analyzer(s) can be provided. Any experimental device that can be controlled or monitored by a computer system can be monitored remotely by the method of this invention. Figure 15, illustrates a computer network, wherein a server 401 and computer systems 411, 421, 431, 441 and 451 are connected via internet 400. The server 401 and the computer systems can be located in different locations, for example, located in different cities or even in different countries. The server 401 comprises a server user database 403 storing therein user information, a material database 405 storing therein material information, and an experimental database 407 storing therein experimental data (e.g. experiment results, project report, project analysis etc.). A material manager can manage material database 405 at the computer system 411. An experiment flow designer can design experiment flow at the computer system 421, and upload experiment flow into the experimental database 407. A lab assistant can make the computer system 431 execute an controlling program and then execute an experiment flow downloaded from the server 401, such that controls experimental devices connected to the computer system 431 to carry out experiment operations corresponding to the experiment flow. A remote user (e.g. scientist, project manager, sales etc.) can monitor or control the computer system 431, which installed with a server-side program of a remote tool, at the computer system 441 which installed with a client-side program of the remote tool. A scientist can analyze experimental data (e.g. data from analyzers (e.g. MS, GC, NMR, TREF, CRYSTAF, XRD etc.)) on the computer system 451, and upload the analysis results to the server 401. In this framework, parts of a project can be done in different locations, especially, an experiment can be monitored or controlled remotely, such that scientists can exchange opinions in time during the processing of the experiment, therefore experiment parameters can be adjusted in time. The controlling program and monitoring program can be called experiment program in general.

Claims

We claim:

1. A method for conducting an experiment, comprising: collecting experimental data of an on-going experiment from an experimental device; displaying the experimental data in a first interface; transmitting information to a remote client computer system, the information being such as can be used by the remote client computer system to construct a second interface similar to the first interface and to display experimental data of the on-going experiment in the second interface; and in response to receiving further experimental data from the experimental device, updating the experimental data displayed in the first interface and transmitting further information to the remote client computer system, the further information being such as can be used by the remote client computer system to update the experimental data of the on-going experiment displayed in the second interface correspondingly with the updating of the experimental data displayed in the first interface.

2. A method according to claim 1 further comprising: receiving a request from the remote client computer system, wherein the step of transmitting the information is performed in response to the request.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the information includes data structures representing the first interface.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the information and the further information are sent to the remote client computer system via a wide-area network.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the experimental data includes at least one of a group consisting of a temperature reading from the on-going experiment, a pressure reading of the on-going experiment, a mass flow reading of the on-going experiment, data from a mass spectrometer utilized in the on-going experiment.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving instructions from the remote client computer system after transmitting the information to the remote client computer system; and controlling the experimental device to carry out experiment operations based on the instructions.

7. A method for remotely monitoring an on-going experiment comprising: collecting experimental data of an on-going experiment from an experimental device; displaying the experimental data in a first interface and updating the experimental data in the first interface in response to receiving further experimental data from the experimental device; and sharing the first interface with a remote client computer system such that the remote client computer system displays a second interface similar to the first interface and that the second interface displays experimental data of the on-going experiment that is updated in correspondence with the updating of the experimental data displayed in the first interface.

8. A method according to claim 7, further comprising: receiving a request from the remote client computer system before sharing the first interface with the remote client computer system in response to the request.

9. A method according to claim 7, wherein the second interface is same with the first interface.

10. A method according to claim 7, wherein the first interface is shared with the remote client computer system via a wide-area network.

11. A method according to claim 7, wherein the experimental data includes at least one of a group consisting of a temperature reading from the on-going experiment, a pressure reading of the on-going experiment, a mass flow reading of the on-going experiment, data from a mass spectrometer utilized in the on-going experiment.

12. A method according to claim 7, further comprising: receiving instructions from the remote client computer system; and controlling the on-going experiment based on the instructions.

13. A method for conducting an experiment comprising: displaying a first interface for controlling the experiment; receiving a request from a remote client computer system via a wide area network; transmitting information to the remote client computer system via the wide area network, the information to be used by the remote client computer system to construct a second interface similar to the first interface; receiving instructions to control the experiment from the remote client computer system via the wide area network; and executing the instructions to control the experiment.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the experiment is a material research experiment.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the experiment is a catalyst research experiment.

16. A method for participating in the conducting of an experiment, comprising: sending a request to an experiment computer system coupled to one or more experimental devices for carrying out the experiment; receiving information from the experiment computer system; and while the experiment is on-going: (1) constructing an interface and displaying experimental data generated by the one or more experimental devices in the interface based on the information, (2) receiving further information from the experiment computer system, and (3) updating the experimental data displayed in the interface based on the further information.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the request is sent to the experiment computer system via a wide area network.

18. A method according to claim 16, wherein the experiment is a material research experiment.

19. A method according to claim 16, further comprising: sending a second request to a server before sending the request to the experiment computer system.

20. A method according to claim 19, further comprising receiving access information associated with the experiment computer system from the server, wherein the request to the experiment computer system includes the access information.

21. A method for participating in the conducting of an experiment, comprising: sending a request to an experiment computer system coupled to one or more experimental devices for conducting the experiment; receiving information from the experiment computer system; and while the experiment is on-going: (1) constructing an interface for controlling the one or more experimental devices based on the information, and (2) sending instructions to the experiment computer system to control the one or more experimental devices.

22. A method for participating in the conducting of an experiment, comprising: observing an interface displaying experimental data of the experiment while the experiment is on-going, the interface being constructed based on information received from an experiment computer system via a wide area network, the experiment computer system being coupled to one or more experimental devices for conducting the experiment, the experimental data displayed in the interface being updated periodically based on further information received from the experiment computer system; and sending instructions based on experimental data displayed on the interface, the instructions for controlling the conducting of the experiment.

23. A method for first and second users to collaborate on an experiment using respectively a first computer system and a second computer system coupled with each other via a wide area network, comprising: collecting experimental data using the first computer system from one or more experimental devices coupled to the first computer system, the experimental devices for carrying out the experiment; displaying the experimental data in a first interface on the first computer system and in a second interface on the second computer system, the second interface being similar to the first interface, and experimental data displayed in the second interface being updated in correspondence with the experimental data displayed in the first interface; exchanging information between the first user and the second user, the information including control instructions formed based on observation of the experiment via the second interface; and controlling the experiment using the first computer system based on the control instructions.