Adaptive communication channel redundancy in a hub-based intermediate-range system

• US 10,142,165 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2017
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hall Labs, LLC
• Original Assignee: Hall Labs, LLC
• Inventors: Hall, David R., Boswell, Craig, Robinson, Everett D., Fox, Joe
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Jae Y
• Application Number:
  US15/495,025
• Publication Number:
  US 20180309619A1
• Time in Patent Office: 582 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/69 Spread spectrum techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/28 characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks] wireless communication networks H04W ; arrangements for dividing the transmission path H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0668 by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/55 Testing of service level quality, e.g. simulating service usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0238 where the received signal is an unwanted signal, e.g. interference or idle signal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Disclosed herein are hub-based wireless networks employing end-devices at intermediate wireless at ranges of thousands of meters. End-devices may be such things as keypads, door latches, occupancy monitors, sprinkler controllers and other devices controlled or monitored in a campus or a collection of buildings. A device-initiated asynchronous mode may be used to communicate information related to spontaneous events to a hub. The hub receives packet retrial information from the end-devices, determines whether packet retrials are due to interference or some other cause such as collisions, and applies varying levels of redundancy based upon a recent history of success and failure of packet exchanges, which measurement may be a value of badness increased as errors are encountered and decreased as packet communication is successful. Detailed information on various example embodiments of the inventions are provided in the Detailed Description below, and the inventions are defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A system of devices in communication at intermediate ranges, the devices utilizing a set of discrete radio-frequency channels, the channels optionally including a set of digital spread-spectrum frequencies, said system comprising:

a hub comprising a set of radio-frequency receivers functional for wireless communication over the set of discrete radio-frequency channels, said hub containing an electronic circuit implementing a state machine immutable to power-transient events, said hub further containing a memory wherein may be stored an end-device registry; and

a plurality of end-devices each comprising a radio-frequency transceiver functional for wireless communication over the set of discrete radio-frequency channels, each of said end-devices further containing an electronic circuit implementing a state machine immutable to power-transient events, each of said end-devices having stored thereon a unique identifier, each of said end-devices further implementing a control or a sensing function, each of the plurality of said end-devices being physically located within communicative locality of said hub;

wherein the state machine of said hub is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement the functions of;

(a) initializing said hub electronic circuit and said radio-frequency receivers into a power-on state,

(b) accessing a list of registered end-devices,

(c) maintaining a memory record for each of said receivers of said hub, that record having contents that include a set of communications parameters,

(d) maintaining a memory record for each registered end-device configured to communicate with said hub in an asynchronous mode,

(e) maintaining a memory record of the assignment between one of said receivers and one of said registered end-devices,

(f) receiving on each of said receivers incoming packets from said end-devices,

(g) in the course of said receiving, identifying the presence and absence of communication failure events,

(h) in the course of said receiving and following reception of a packet from an end-device without an identified communication failure event, adjusting a metric for that end-device in a predetermined decay to indicate better communication quality,

(i) in the course of said receiving and following reception of a packet from an end-device with an identified communication failure event, adjusting a metric for that end-device in a predetermined accumulation to indicate worse communication quality,

(j) following an adjustment to a communication quality metric for an end-device to indicate better communication quality, testing that metric for having subsided below a predetermined R−

threshold,

(k) following the testing of a communication quality metric for an end-device against a predetermined R−

value, considering for that end-device a move to a channel having a reduction in communication redundancy,

(l) following the consideration for a move to a channel having a reduction in communication redundancy for an end-device and upon that consideration yielding a positive result, identifying a receiver open to receive an assignment of that end-device using a channel having a reduction in communication redundancy,

(m) following an adjustment to a communication quality metric for an end-device to indicate worse communication quality, testing that metric for having exceeded a predetermined R value,

(n) following the testing of a communication quality metric for an end-device against a predetermined R value, considering for that end-device a move to a channel having an increase in communication redundancy,

(o) following the consideration for a move to a channel having an increase in communication redundancy for an end-device and upon that consideration yielding a positive result, identifying a receiver open to receive an assignment of that end-device using a channel having an increase in communication redundancy, and

(p) following the identification of a receiver to receive an assignment of an end-device, enqueuing a packet commanding that end-device to reconfigure communications parameters for the identified receiver, and updating the memory records of both that end-device and the identified receiver; and

wherein the state machine of each of said end-devices is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement the functions of;

(q) sending packets to the hub on one of the channels in asynchronous mode,

(r) receiving response packets from said hub containing a command to change the channel for the sending of future packets, and

(s) upon receipt of a command to change channel, reconfiguring said transceiver to transmit using the parameters of that channel.

2. The system recited in claim 1, wherein said hub is configured to sequence through a series of states from the reception of an asynchronous-mode packet on one of said receivers to the enqueueing of a packet commanding an end-device to reconfigure communications parameters occurs within a predetermined timeout period under normal operating conditions.

3. The system recited in claim 1, wherein said hub is configured to block further interrupt events while sequencing through possible series of states from the reception of an asynchronous-mode packet on one of said receivers to the enqueueing of a packet commanding an end-device to reconfigure communications parameters.

4. The system recited in claim 1, wherein said hub is configured to initially communicate with said end-devices in a synchronous mode.

5. The system recited in claim 1, wherein each of said end-devices is configured to initially operate on a default initialization channel.

6. The system recited in claim 1, wherein said hub further comprises a transceiver separate from said receivers, and further wherein said hub is configured to issue acknowledgment packets using said transceiver.

7. The system recited in claim 6, wherein said hub is further configured to communicate with registered end-devices in synchronous mode using said transceiver.

8. The system recited in claim 6, wherein said hub is further configured to communicate acknowledgment to received packets from registered end-devices operating in asynchronous mode using said transceiver.

9. The system recited in claim 1, wherein both of said hub and said plurality of end-devices utilize a channel scheme where increases in redundancy are through increases in spreading factors.

10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said hub and each of said end-devices includes a table relating a channel identifier to a set of communication parameters, and further wherein a command to change a channel includes a channel identifier without communications parameters.

11. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein a command to change a channel includes communication parameters without a channel identifier.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the hub and or the plurality of end-devices comprise one or more antennas each comprising a printed circuit board having a planar side comprising a plurality of electrically conductive planar v-shaped antenna trace segments, each v-shaped antenna trace segment comprising an open end formed by non-equidistant, non-parallel sides and a closed end formed by an intersection of the non-equidistant, non-parallel sides.

12. A hub for communicating with end-devices at intermediate ranges, said hub and the end-devices utilizing a set of discrete radio-frequency channels, the channels optionally including a set of digital spread-spectrum frequencies, the end-devices implementing a control or a sensing function, said hub comprising:

a set of radio-frequency receivers functional for wireless communication over the set of discrete radio-frequency channels;

a memory wherein may be stored an end-device registry; and

an electronic circuit implementing a state machine immutable to power-transient events, said state machine being configured to sequence through a set of states to implement the functions of;

(a) initializing said hub electronic circuit and said radio-frequency receivers into a power-on state,

(b) accessing a list of registered end-devices,

(c) maintaining a memory record for each of said receivers of said hub, that record having contents that include a set of communications parameters,

(d) maintaining a memory record for each registered end-device configured to communicate with said hub in an asynchronous mode,

(e) maintaining a memory record of assignments between one of said receivers and one registered end-device,

(f) receiving on each of said receivers incoming packets from end-devices,

(g) in the course of said receiving, identifying the presence and absence of communication failure events,

(h) in the course of said receiving and following reception of a packet from an end-device without an identified communication failure event, adjusting a metric for that end-device in a predetermined decay to indicate better communication quality,

(i) in the course of said receiving and following reception of a packet from an end-device with an identified communication failure event, adjusting a metric for that end-device in a predetermined accumulation to indicate worse communication quality,

(j) following an adjustment to a communication quality metric for an end-device to indicate better communication quality, testing that metric for having subsided below a predetermined R−

threshold,

(k) following the testing of a communication quality metric for an end-device against a predetermined R−

value, considering for that end-device a move to a channel having a reduction in communication redundancy,

(l) following the consideration for a move to a channel having a reduction in communication redundancy for an end-device and upon that consideration yielding a positive result, identifying a receiver open to receive an assignment of that end-device using a channel having a reduction in communication redundancy,

(m) following an adjustment to a communication quality metric for an end-device to indicate worse communication quality, testing that metric for having exceeded a predetermined R value,

(n) following the testing of a communication quality metric for an end-device against a predetermined R value, considering for that end-device a move to a channel having an increase in communication redundancy,

(o) following the consideration for a move to a channel having an increase in communication redundancy for an end-device and upon that consideration yielding a positive result, identifying a receiver open to receive an assignment of that end-device using a channel having an increase in communication redundancy, and

(p) following the identification of a receiver to receive an assignment of an end-device, enqueuing a packet commanding that end-device to reconfigure communications parameters for the identified receiver, and updating the memory records of both that end-device and the identified receiver.

13. The hub recited in claim 12, wherein said hub is configured to sequence through a series of states from the reception of an asynchronous-mode packet on one of said receivers to the enqueueing of a packet commanding an end-device to reconfigure communications parameters occurs within a predetermined timeout period under normal operating conditions.

14. The hub recited in claim 12, wherein said hub is configured to block further interrupt events while sequencing through possible series of states from the reception of an asynchronous-mode packet on one of said receivers to the enqueueing of a packet commanding an end-device to reconfigure communications parameters.

15. The hub recited in claim 12, wherein said hub is configured to initially communicate with said end-devices in a synchronous mode.

16. The hub recited in claim 12, wherein said hub further comprises a transceiver separate from said receivers, and further wherein said hub is configured to issue acknowledgment packets using said transceiver.

17. The hub recited in claim 16, wherein said hub is further configured to communicate with registered end-devices in synchronous mode using said transceiver.

18. The hub recited in claim 16, wherein said hub is further configured to communicate acknowledgment to received packets from registered end-devices operating in asynchronous mode using said transceiver.

19. The hub recited in claim 12, wherein both of said hub and said plurality of end-devices utilize a channel scheme where increases in redundancy are through increases in spreading factors.