Out of band diagnostics and maintenance

• US 10,057,931 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2016
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roquemore, III, John Peter, Fultz, Tyler B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wei, Siren
• Application Number:
  US15/215,846
• Publication Number:
  US 20180027598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/344 Out-of-band transfers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission

Abstract

A method for performing out of band diagnostics and maintenance of lighting system elements. An out of band connection is established via a wireless out of band channel with one of the lighting system elements and the mobile device. The wireless out of band channel is separate and distinct from a wireless lighting operations channel of a wireless lighting control network connecting the lighting system elements.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile device and from one of a plurality of lighting system elements, an advertisement packet via a wireless out of band channel, the wireless out of band channel;

being used for ancillary system functions for diagnostics or maintenance of the lighting system; and

being separate and distinct from a band of a wireless lighting control network for lighting operations connecting the plurality of lighting system elements;

wherein the wireless out of band channel is a 2 gigahertz or higher radio band and the wireless lighting operations band is a sub-gigahertz radio band;

establishing, while lighting operations of the lighting system continue to be performed via the wireless lighting control network, an out of band connection with the one lighting system element via the wireless out of band channel;

selecting, at the mobile device, an ancillary function to be performed by the one lighting system element, the ancillary function to be performed relating to the one lighting system element, another lighting system element or the wireless lighting control network; and

upon performance of the selected ancillary function, terminating the established out of band connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the ancillary function to be performed is a diagnostic function; and

the method further comprises;

sending, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band channel, a query to the one lighting system element; and

receiving, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band channel, a response to the query from the one lighting system element containing diagnostic information sent from the one lighting system element.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the response to the query includes one or more of:

statistics related to performance of the one lighting system element;

statistics related to performance of the wireless lighting control network accumulated by the one lighting system element; and

statistics related to performance of another lighting system element of the plurality of lighting system elements.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the ancillary function to be performed is a maintenance function; and

the method further comprises;

sending, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band channel, a command to the one lighting system element; and

receiving, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band channel, a result of the command from the one lighting system element.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the command is one of;

update;

restart; and

reset; and

the response is one of an indication of success or an indication of failure.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

prior to sending the command, requesting, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band channel, a current configuration of the one lighting system element; and

receiving, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band channel, the current configuration of the one lighting system element.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising packet received at the mobile device via the wireless out of band channel includes a preamble, an access address, a protocol data unit (PDU), and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC).

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the protocol data unit (PDU) includes a header and a payload, the payload including an advertising address.

9. A lighting system element comprising:

a dual-band wireless radio communication interface system configured for two way wireless communication for;

any-to-many communication, over a wireless lighting control network communication band, of control and systems operations information, during illumination operation and during control network operation over the wireless lighting control network communication band; and

point-to-point communication, over a wireless out of band communication channel different from the wireless lighting control network communication band, of information other than the control and systems operations information, concurrently with at least some communications over the wireless lighting control network communication band;

wherein the wireless out of band communication channel is a 2 gigahertz or higher radio band and the wireless lighting control network communication band is a sub-gigahertz radio band;

a processor;

a memory accessible to the processor; and

programming in the memory which configures the processor to;

transmit an advertisement packet via the wireless out of band communication channel to a mobile device;

establish an out of band connection with the mobile device via the wireless out of band communication channel;

receive, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band communication channel, an indication of an ancillary function to be performed, the ancillary function to be performed relating to the lighting system element, another lighting system element, or a lighting control network via the wireless lighting control network communication band;

perform the indicated ancillary function; and

after performing the indicated ancillary function, terminate the out of band connection between the lighting system element and the mobile device.

10. The lighting system element of claim 9, wherein:

the ancillary function to be performed is a diagnostic function; and

the programming further configures the processor to;

receive, as part of the indication, a query from the mobile device; and

send, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band communication channel, a query response to the mobile device.

11. The lighting system element of claim 10, wherein the programming further configures the processor to prepare the query response by including one or more of:

statistics related to performance of the one lighting system element;

statistics related to performance of the lighting control network accumulated by the lighting system element; and

statistics related to performance of the another lighting system element of the lighting control network.

12. The lighting system element of claim 9, wherein:

the ancillary function to be performed is a maintenance function; and

the programming further configures the processor to;

receive, as part of the indication of the function to be performed, a command from the mobile device; and

send, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band communication channel, a result of the command to the mobile device.

13. The lighting system element of claim 12, wherein the programming in the memory further configures the processor to:

upon determining the command is an update command, perform an update of the lighting system element based on configuration information included as part of the indication of the ancillary function to be performed; and

upon a successful update, send an indication of success as the result.

14. The lighting system element of claim 12, wherein the programming in the memory further configures the processor to:

upon determining the command is a reset command, perform a reset of the lighting system element, the reset resetting the lighting system element to a pre-commissioned state; and

upon a successful reset, send an indication of success as the result.

15. The lighting system element of claim 12, wherein the programming in the memory further configures the processor to:

upon determining the command is a restart command, perform a restart of the lighting system element cycling power provided to the lighting system element; and

upon a successful restart, send an indication of success as the result.

16. The lighting system element of claim 9, wherein the programming configures the processor to:

receive, prior to receipt of the indication of the ancillary function to be performed and over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band communication channel, a request for a current configuration of the lighting system element; and

send, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band communication channel, a response including the current configuration of the lighting system element.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a memory embodying programming instructions, wherein execution of the programming instructions by a processor configures the processor to perform functions, including functions to:

receive, from one of a plurality of lighting system elements, an advertisement packet via a wireless out of band channel, the wireless out of band channel;

being used for ancillary functions for diagnostics or maintenance of the lighting system; and

being separate and distinct from a band of a wireless lighting control network for lighting operations connecting the plurality of lighting system elements;

wherein the wireless out of band channel is a 2 gigahertz or higher radio band and the wireless lighting operations band is a sub-gigahertz radio band;

establish, while lighting operations of the lighting system continue to be performed via the wireless lighting control network, an out of band connection with the one lighting system element via the wireless out of band channel;

select an ancillary function to be performed by the one lighting system element, the ancillary function to be performed relating to the one lighting system element, another lighting system element or the wireless lighting control network;

send, to the one lighting system element and over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band channel, an indication of the ancillary function to be performed, the ancillary function being one of a diagnostic function and a maintenance function;

receive, from the one lighting system element and over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band channel, a result of performance of the ancillary function; and

upon receipt of the result, terminate the established out of band connection.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a memory embodying programming instructions, wherein execution of the programming instructions by a processor configures the processor to perform functions, including functions to:

transmit an advertisement packet via a wireless out of band communication channel of a dual-band wireless radio communication interface system configured for two way wireless communication for;

any-to-many communication, over a wireless lighting control network communication band of the dual-band wireless radio communication interface system, of control and systems operations information, during illumination operation and during control network operation over the lighting control network communication band; and

point-to-point communication, over the wireless out of band communication channel, of information other than the control and systems operations information, concurrently with at least some communications over the lighting control network communication band;

wherein the wireless out of band communication channel is a 2 gigahertz or higher radio band and the wireless lighting control network communication band is a sub-gigahertz radio band;

establish an out of band connection via the wireless out of band communication channel between a lighting system element and a mobile device;

receive, over the established out of band connection via the wireless out of band communication channel, an indication of an ancillary function to be performed, the ancillary function to be performed;

relating to the lighting system element, another lighting system element, or a wireless lighting control network connecting a plurality of lighting system elements via the wireless lighting control network communication channel; and

being one of a diagnostic function and a maintenance function;

perform the indicated ancillary function; and

after performing the indicated ancillary function, terminate the out of band connection between the lighting system element and the mobile device.