Abstract: The system and method of the present invention enable the user to build and/or use an interactive visual instrument panel for monitoring and/or managing one or more target systems locally or remotely in real-time, with the instrument panel being configured based on the user-defined requirements and based on the attributes of the target system(s) being monitored and/or managed. In one embodiment of the present invention a novel data handling system is provided for ensuring that the target system is able to continuously transmit real-time data without any data loss and without interrupting its operation.

Abstract: The system and method of the present invention enable a task performance system made up from two or more components to be readily modified, in response to one or more predetermined criteria, to adapt to new functional and/or operational requirements. This modification may be automatic manual, or a combination thereof. Likewise, the predetermined criteria may range from failure of one or more task performance system components, to an instruction received from an authorized operator. The inventive system and method accomplish these objectives by causing one or more of the components of the task performance system to change functionality (e.g., to change the functions being performed by one or more components, to add one or more functions to one or more components, etc.) to implement the desired modification of the entire task performance system.