Spatially aware wireless network

• US 10,164,685 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2015
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Freelinc Holdings, LLC
• Original Assignee: Freelinc Technologies Inc.
• Inventors: Dobyns, Douglas Howard, Abrams, Michael Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Talukder, Md
• Application Number:
  US14/985,147
• Publication Number:
  US 20160191120A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Technology for a spatially aware wireless network is disclosed. One embodiment comprises a plurality of near field magnetic induction nodes. One or more nodes is configured to communicate a polarized spatial position signal using near field magnetic induction (NFMI) to determine one or more of a position and an orientation of one or more nodes in the spatially aware wireless network. A detection module is operable to configure the spatially aware wireless network based one or more of a position and an orientation of one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes.

Claims

1. A spatially aware wireless network comprising:

a plurality of nodes, wherein one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes is configured to receive, via a physical layer, a polarized spatial position signal from a transmitting node in the plurality of nodes using near field magnetic induction (NFMI);

a spatial position module configured to determine a relative spatial orientation and a position of the transmitting node in the spatially aware wireless network, based on the received polarized spatial positioning signal, to determine a position and a radial velocity of the transmitting node relative to the one or more nodes; and

a network configuration module configured to define a network configuration using one or more of the plurality of nodes, wherein the network configuration is defined based on the position and the radial velocity of the one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes identified using the spatial position module.

2. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, further comprising a function module configured to perform a selected function using the defined network configuration.

3. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein the one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes is configured to:

receive the polarized spatial position signal, that is transmitted on a single antenna from the transmitting node, at two or more substantially orthogonal antennas of each of the one or more nodes;

or

receive the polarized spatial position signal, that is transmitted on two or more substantially orthogonal antennas from the transmitting node, at a single antenna on the one or more nodes;

or

receive the polarized spatial position signal, that is transmitted on two or more substantially orthogonal antennas from the transmitting node, at two or more substantially orthogonal antennas of each of the one or more nodes.

4. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 2, wherein each of the one or more nodes includes:

the spatial positioning module;

the spatial positioning module and the network configuration module;

or

the spatial positioning module, the network configuration module, and the function module.

5. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 2, further comprising a server in communication with the spatially aware wireless network that is configured to include:

the spatial positioning module;

the spatial positioning module and the network configuration module;

or

the spatial positioning module, the network configuration module, and the function module.

6. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein each node in the one or more nodes is configured to receive the polarized spatial position signal using NFMI with at least two substantially orthogonal antennas.

7. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein the spatial position module is further configured to determine a velocity of the one or more nodes based on a change of the determined position or a change of the radial velocity of the one or more nodes based on a change of the determined orientation.

8. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein the network configuration module is configured to define a network configuration based on the change of the determined position or the change of the determined relative spatial orientation of the one or more nodes.

9. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein the network configuration module is further configured to configure the network as one or more of:

a data storage configuration to store data at one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes;

a data access configuration to access stored data at one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes;

or

a data collection configuration to collect data from one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes.

10. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 2, wherein the function module is further configured to perform a decision based on:

data from one or more of the plurality of nodes;

or

one or more of the position and the relative spatial orientation of the one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes;

or

trigger an action based on one or more of the position and the relative spatial orientation of the one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes, the action comprising;

an action communicated to an electric device;

an action communicated to a physical device;

a communication of information within the spatially aware wireless network;

a communication of information external to the spatially aware wireless network;

a communication of a control signal within the spatially aware wireless network;

a communication of a permission within the spatially aware wireless network;

or

a permission granted within the spatially aware wireless network.

11. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein the network configuration module is configured to configure the network, using one or more of the plurality of nodes, wherein the network configuration is activated based on at least one of a relative position, and a relative spatial orientation of one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes relative to another node in the plurality of nodes identified using the polarized spatial positioning signal.

12. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes are configured to communicate the polarized spatial position signal using one or more of a near field magnetic induction (NFMI) physical layer or a near field magnetic induction data layer.

13. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein the one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes are further configured to communicate using one or more additional radio access technologies (RATs) comprising:

a near field communication (NFC) RAT, a Bluetooth RAT, an Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 RAT, and a third generation partnership project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) Release 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 RAT.

14. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein plurality of nodes are configured to form a body area network.

15. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein plurality of nodes are configured to form a personal area network.

16. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes are configured to form a cognitive network or a context aware network.

17. The spatially aware wireless network of claim 1, wherein the spatially aware wireless network is one of a personal area network and a body area network.

18. A method for forming a spatially defined communication network, comprising

communicating a spatial position signal from a first spatially aware node to a second spatially aware node, wherein each of the first and second spatially aware nodes are configured to communicate using near field magnetic induction (NFMI) to transmit or receive the spatial position signal;

determining a position and a radial velocity of the first spatially aware node relative to the second spatially aware node using the spatial position signal; and

configuring a spatially aware wireless network based on one or more of the position and the radial velocity of the first spatially aware node relative to the second spatially aware node.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein each of the first and second spatially aware nodes include at least two substantially orthogonal antennas to communicate the spatial position signal.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising communicating the spatial position signal from the first spatially aware node to the second spatially aware node, wherein at least one of the first spatially aware node and the second spatially aware node are configured to be coupled to a mobile computing device.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising identifying a location of the first spatially aware node to determine a location of the second spatially aware node using the position of the second spatially aware node relative to the first spatially aware node.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising triggering a function at one of the first spatially aware node and the second spatially aware node based on the location, the position, and the relative spatial orientation of one of the first spatially aware node and the second spatially aware node.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein triggering the function includes one or more of:

storing data at one of the first spatially aware node and the second spatially aware node;

accessing data at one of the first spatially aware node and the second spatially aware node;

collecting data from a selected node in a network at one of the first spatially aware node and the second spatially aware node;

performing a decision; and

triggering an action on one of an electric device and a physical device.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the spatial location signal is communicated between the first spatially aware node and the second spatially aware node at a physical layer.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the spatial location signal is communicated between the first spatially aware node and the second spatially aware node at a physical layer in near real time to enable the first spatially aware node to know a relative position and a relative spatial orientation of the second spatially aware node in near real time.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein the spatial location signal is communicated between the first spatially aware node and the second spatially aware node at a data link layer.

27. The method of claim 18, further comprising a plurality of spatially aware nodes configured to communicate the spatial position signal to form a spatially aware cognitive wireless network.

28. A spatially aware wireless node:

a wireless node configured to receive, via a physical layer, a polarized spatial position signal from a transmitting node in the spatially aware wireless node, using near field magnetic induction (NFMI);

a spatial position module configured to determine an orientation and a position of the transmitting node in the spatially aware wireless network, based on the received polarized spatial positioning signal, to determine a position and a radial velocity of the transmitting node relative to the wireless node; and

a network configuration module configured to define a network configuration based on the position and the radial velocity of the wireless node identified using the spatial position module.

29. The spatially aware wireless node of claim 28, further comprising a function module configured perform a selected function using the defined network configuration.