Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-13
2004-06-01
Maung, Nay (Department: 2684)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S449000, C455S517000, C455S500000, C455S435100, C455S466000, C455S456100, C342S457000, C342S463000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06745027
ABSTRACT:
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2001 Intransit Networks, Inc. A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR 1.71 (e).
INTRODUCTION
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to methods of forming ad hoc data communication networks and distributed databases and, in particular, to methods of dynamic self-organization of wireless transceivers based on classes of articles associated with the wireless transceivers to form hierarchical ad hoc wireless data communication networks and distributed databases.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wireless ad hoc networks allow node-to-node communication without central control or wired infrastructure. Such networks may have dynamic, randomly-changing, multihop topologies composed of wireless data communication links between the nodes. Ad hoc networks are advantageous because they are inexpensive, fault-tolerant, and flexible. Various known methods relate to data transmission within an ad hoc wireless data communication network. However, most known methods do not address self-configuration of wireless nodes for the formation and maintenance of efficient network topology.
Short range wireless technology such as the Bluetooth™ radio standard promises to remove price barriers to mobile network use. By doing so, wireless devices are becoming available for applications where wired networks have been impracticable and in which prior wireless communication networks have been too expensive or inflexible. While Bluetooth radio technology is an ad hoc networking solution for personal data applications, it provides for only a limited number of communication channels, thereby restricting the number of Bluetooth devices that will communicate over an ad hoc network at any given time. Thus a need exists for an improved low cost networking technology that has the benefits of the Bluetooth price and flexibility, while overcoming the limited networking capacity of typical Bluetooth technology.
Known ad hoc networking methods typically organize the network on the basis of geographic proximity of the nodes or the strength of signals received by the various nodes. While geographical organization or signal strength organization may work well for some applications, many others are limited. Known methods of ad hoc network organization also require nodes to regularly transmit network information to all other nodes in the network, which results in increased radio traffic and interference. Increased radio interference inhibits the formation and maintenance of ad hoc networks having a large number of nodes and requires nodes to transmit at a greater power, which reduces their battery life. Thus a need exists for more efficient methods of forming, organizing, and maintaining ad hoc wireless networks.
Wireless data networks are known for use in warehouse management and other asset tracking applications. However, existing wireless data network technologies are not well suited to asset tracking, which involves a large number of network nodes (e.g., hundreds and thousands). Furthermore, existing wireless technologies are cost prohibitive, are prone to RF interference, and consume a large amount of electrical power. Thus a need exists for a wireless data network technology that accommodates a large number of nodes, creates less RF interference, and consumes less power.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a method of forming an ad hoc hierarchical wireless data communication network involves associating a plurality of wireless transceivers with articles to be tracked, and assigning to each of the transceivers a “class designation” representative of a characteristic or behavior of the article with which the transceiver is associated. Each of the wireless transceivers includes a network organization routine that operates in coordination with the network organization routines of other transceivers to establish the hierarchical network based on the transceivers' class designations. The hierarchical network provides an efficient topology for selective communication among wireless transceivers of the same class. The ad hoc network organization routines are preferably implemented in software operable on a digital processor of the wireless transceivers. Alternatively, the ad hoc network organization routines may be implemented in other ways, such as hardwired logic circuitry.
Each wireless transceiver's class designation assignment is included in a profile that is stored in a memory readable by the digital processor of the wireless transceiver. Alternatively, the class designation may be set in hardwired or programmable logic circuitry. Depending on user needs and preferences, the class designation may represent an abstract class of article, such as a ball; a subclass of the class, such as a soccer ball; or a subclass of the subclass (a sub-subclass), such as a size 5 soccer ball, etc. When the class designation represents a subclass, it may also include information about the class or classes abstracted from the subclass, e.g., /ball/soccer_ball/size
—
5_soccer_ball. Alternatively, the wireless transceiver's class designation may be intentionally limited to subclass (/size
—
5_soccer_ball), while information about the subclass' abstract class is represented in memory on the transceiver or remotely from the transceiver in class dictionaries or rule sets. In addition to the current class designation, the profile may include auxiliary information such as, for example, a characteristic of the associated article (e.g., serial number, status, process step, physical location, color, size, density, etc.), a behavior of the associated article (e.g., temperature sensitivity, light sensitivity, shelf life, etc.), sensor derived information (e.g., temperature, humidity, altitude, pressure, etc.), a rank of the wireless transceiver in the hierarchical network (e.g., primary (“master”), secondary (“slave”), sub-primary, tertiary, etc.), a priority designation to provide improved response to selected transceivers, a privilege level (e.g., visitor, employee, manager, administrator, super user, etc.), and time-sensitive information (e.g., synchronization timing, real-time sensor data, GPS data, etc.).
The profile and, in particular, the class designation are used by the wireless transceiver to selectively receive packets intended for receipt by transceivers of the same class designation (including/class/subclass). Typically, messages or commands are transmitted to a class (or subclass) of nodes by broadcasting or multicasting the commands in packets that begin with a preamble including the class designation information and possibly other profile information. Transceivers within range of the transmitting transceiver will wake up from a standby mode to receive and process an entire packet only when the packet's preamble matches the receiving transceiver's class designation.
In a preferred embodiment, each of the wireless transceivers includes a low-power radio frequency device (“LPRF”), which operates in accordance with the Bluetooth™ system specification. It should be understood that the invention is not limited to use with Bluetooth™ technology, but can be used with any wireless transceiver having the capability to communicate directly with multiple other wireless transceivers, such as wireless ethernet transceivers, 802.11, Home RF, and others. The term “LPRF” as used herein refers generally to a two-way wireless radio-frequency data communication device that transmits data in packets, and is not limited to a particular signal strength or power consumption.
The self-configuration routines used to form ad hoc class-based networks in accordance with the present invention may also be used to perform autonomous modification and reconfig
Maung Nay
Morris Manning & Martin LLP
Seekernet Incorporated
Sharma Sujatha
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