Patent attributes
Scientific instruments can be network-enabled by adding a wireless communication capability to the computers associated with those scientific instruments. Through this wireless communication capability, the scientific data acquired by a scientific instrument and metadata about that scientific data can be wirelessly transferred from the instrument-associated computer to a data hub. By way of example, a wireless personal area network (PAN) can be established between the instrument-associated computer and the data hub. From the data hub, the scientific data can be further communicated to remote servers via another network connection. Furthermore, in another example embodiment, the wireless communication capability between the instrument-associated computer and the data hub can be leveraged as a conduit for passing commands from the data hub or other devices in communication with the data hub to the instrument-associated computer for controlling the operation of the scientific instrument.