Ad-hoc wireless communication network including wearable input/output transducers

• US 10,075,835 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2017
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Vembar, Deepak S., Durham, Lenitra M., Anderson, Glen J., Booth, Cory J., Ekandem, Joshua, Yuen, Kathy, Raffa, Giuseppe, Weast, John C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Tuan
• Application Number:
  US15/605,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20170265051A1
• Time in Patent Office: 473 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3855 carried in a belt or harness
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

One or more sensors gather data, one or more processors analyze the data, and one or more indicators notify a user if the data represent an event that requires a response. One or more of the sensors and/or the indicators is a wearable device for wireless communication. Optionally, other components may be vehicle-mounted or deployed on-site. The components form an ad-hoc network enabling users to keep track of each other in challenging environments where traditional communication may be impossible, unreliable, or inadvisable. The sensors, processors, and indicators may be linked and activated manually or they may be linked and activated automatically when they come within a threshold proximity or when a user does a triggering action, such as exiting a vehicle. The processors distinguish extremely urgent events requiring an immediate response from less-urgent events that can wait longer for response, routing and timing the responses accordingly.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable information storage medium containing code that, when executed, causes a machine to perform actions, the actions comprising:

to analyze a received signal;

if the received signal is a sensor reading, to compare the sensor reading to a database of stored sensor readings and corresponding responses and to evaluate an urgency associated with the response;

after comparison of the sensor reading to the stored sensor readings in the database, to transmit an associated response over a local ad-hoc network if the urgency is associated with a first urgency level and to transmit the associated response to a remote processor for retransmission over a remote network if the urgency is associated with a second urgency level.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable information storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first and the second urgency levels include at least one of a low, medium, or high urgency level.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable information storage medium of claim 1, wherein the actions further comprise, prior to perform the action of to transmit the associated response to the local ad-hoc network or to the remote processor, to classify the sensor reading according to a need for external data and wherein the remote network includes a cloud-based network.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable information storage medium of claim 3, wherein if the sensor reading is classified according to a need for external data, the machine is caused to transmit the associated response to the remote processor.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable information storage medium of claim 1, wherein if the machine is caused to transmit the associated response over the local ad-hoc network, the machine transmits the associated response to an ad-hoc network of wearable electronics worn on users'"'"' bodies.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable information storage medium of claim 1, wherein the machine is caused to further perform actions comprising determining whether a visual or audio indicator on a user'"'"'s body is to respond to a sensor input associated with the sensor reading.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable information storage medium of claim 6, further comprising to receive an additional signal and wherein the additional signal indicates that a stage of a procedure has been performed and based on a stored procedural template, to provide a next stage of the procedure to the visual or audio indicator on the user'"'"'s body.

8. A sensor apparatus for routing a response, comprising:

an input transducer;

a processor coupled to the input transducer to;

receive a signal from the input transducer; and

evaluate an urgency associated with the signal; and

a transmitter controlled by the processor to transmit an associated response over a local ad-hoc network if the urgency is associated with a first urgency level and to transmit the associated response to a cloud-based processor for retransmission over a remote network if the urgency is associated with a second urgency level.

9. The sensor apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first urgency level and the second urgency level include at least one of a low, medium, or high urgency level.

10. The sensor apparatus of claim 8, wherein the input transducer includes at least one of a camera, microphone, biometric sensor, and environmental sensor.

11. The sensor apparatus of claim 10, wherein the sensor apparatus is one of a plurality of sensor apparatuses in the local ad-hoc network and includes a network of wearable on-body electronics including at least one of a smartwatch, hatband, glove, collar, shoe, belt, clothing, eyewear, clip, and gun holster interlock sensor.

12. The sensor apparatus of claim 8, wherein the sensor apparatus is mounted in a vehicle.

13. The sensor apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further to receive an additional signal from the input transducer, wherein the additional signal is a cue to indicate whether a first stage of a procedure has been performed.

14. The sensor apparatus of claim 13, wherein the transmitter is further controlled by the processor to transmit an indication to the local ad-hoc network or to a remote processor to indicate that the first stage of the procedure has been performed and the sensor apparatus is ready to receive information related to a next stage of the procedure.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a signal recognition engine, a signal from a sensor;

comparing, by the signal recognition engine, the received signal with stored sensor readings in a database to evaluate an urgency associated with the received signal; and

instructing by the signal recognition engine, a transmitter to transmit an associated response over a local ad-hoc network if the urgency is associated with a first urgency level and to transmit the associated response to a remote processor for retransmission over a remote network if the urgency is associated with a second urgency level.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the local ad-hoc network includes a network including wearable on-body electronic sensors and off-body electronic sensors.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the remote network includes a cellular network, dispatch network, or other cloud-based network.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein retransmission over the remote network includes transmission to a location including a procedural template database for formulation of an additional response to the received signal.