Asset tag tracking system and network architecture

• US 10,210,353 B1
• Filed: 03/09/2018
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Inventors: Li, Xiangrong, Grant, Jesse, George, Sajin, Malandrakis, Emanuel Paul, Abou-Rizk, Mitri J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Vernal U
• Application Number:
  US15/916,861
• Time in Patent Office: 347 Days
• Field of Search: 340 101
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10099 the directional field being used for pinpointing the location of the record carrier, e.g. for finding or locating an RFID tag amongst a plurality of RFID tags, each RFID tag being associated with an object, e.g. for physically locating the RFID tagged object in a warehouse
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10475 arrangements to facilitate interaction with further interrogation devices, e.g. such that at least two interrogation devices may function and cooperate in a network of such devices

Abstract

Examples of a system and a method for asset tracking are provided. The system includes wireless communication nodes in a space that receive a basic message including an asset tracking tag identifier and a basic message sequence number transmitted by an asset tracking tag. The wireless communication nodes measure a received basic message signal attribute, and transmit a node asset message including the asset tracking tag identifier, the basic message sequence number, a node identifier, and the measured signal attribute of the received basic message to an edge gateway. The edge gateway may receive the transmitted node asset message transmitted by each of some number of the wireless communication nodes and rank respective node identifiers extracted from the received node asset messages based the measured signal attribute. The edge gateway forwards an aggregated message to a fog gateway for obtaining an estimate of the location of the asset tracking tag.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at three or more wireless communication nodes distributed about a space, a basic message transmitted by an asset tracking tag, the basic message including an identifier of the asset tracking tag and a basic message sequence number;

at each of the three or more wireless communication nodes, measuring a signal attribute of the received basic message and associating the measured signal attribute with a node identifier of the respective wireless communication node making the signal attribute measurement;

transmitting, by each of the three or more wireless communication nodes, a node asset message to an edge gateway, the node asset message including the asset tracking tag identifier, the basic message sequence number, the node identifier of the respective one of the three or more wireless communication nodes transmitting the respective node asset message, and the measured signal attribute of the basic message measured by the respective one of the three or more wireless communication nodes transmitting the respective node asset message;

receiving, at the edge gateway, the respective transmitted node asset message transmitted by each of the three or more wireless communication nodes;

determining, by the edge gateway, a number of the respective node identifiers nearest to the asset tracking tag based on the measured signal attribute of the basic message; and

forwarding, by the edge gateway to a fog gateway of the space, an aggregated message including the asset tracking tag identifier, the basic message sequence number, a list of the number of node identifiers in association with a respective one of the highest measured signal attribute values, and an identifier of the edge gateway, the aggregated message for obtaining an estimate of the location of the asset tracking tag.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

estimating via the fog gateway a location of the asset tracking tag within the space by using the list of the number of node identifiers in the forwarded aggregated message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring the signal attribute of the received basic message comprises:

measuring a received signal strength of the received basic message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a predetermined number of the node identifiers are in the ranked list as identified by the edge gateway, and the predetermined number of node identifiers is at least three.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using, by the fog gateway, the ranking of the respective node identifiers in the list of ranked node identifiers to estimate a location of the asset tracking tag within the space.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

parsing, by the edge gateway, the received node asset messages according to the measured signal attribute; and

discarding respective node asset messages from the received node asset messages having a node identifier, a basic message sequence number and a measured signal attribute value that is a duplicate of another measured signal attribute.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving subsequent aggregated messages at the fog gateway, wherein each of the received subsequent aggregated messages includes the asset tracking tag identifier, a different basic message sequence number, and a subsequent list of node identifiers ranked based on a value of the measured signal attribute of the basic message included in each respective node asset message.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

estimating, by the fog gateway, a subsequent location of the asset tracking tag using the node identifiers and the ranking of the respective node identifiers in the aggregated message to estimate the subsequent location of the asset tracking tag within the space.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting, by the asset tracking tag located with a space, the basic message into the space in response to an event or a stimulus detected by the asset tracking tag, wherein an event is a change of a counter value to a predetermined value, a timing event, or receipt of an input signal from an external source, and a detected stimulus may be a temperature, a movement, a noise, or an ambient light.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting motion, by a motion sensor of the asset tracking tag, the detected motion indicating that the asset tracking tag is being moved from a present location within the space, and wherein the transmitting of the basic message by the asset tracking tag is in response to the detected motion.

11. A system, comprising:

a plurality of wireless communication nodes distributed about a space, wherein;

each of the plurality of wireless communication nodes comprises;

a processor,

a memory,

a node radio frequency transceiver configured to receive and transmit radio frequency signals and

a number of edge gateways, wherein each of the edge gateways comprises a processor, an edge gateway radio frequency transceiver, and a memory, wherein;

the edge gateway radio frequency transceiver is configured to communicate with the node radio frequency transceivers of the wireless communication nodes;

a fog gateway communicatively coupled to each of the edge gateways, the fog gateway comprising a fog gateway radio frequency transceiver, a processor and a memory, the fog gateway radio frequency transceiver configured to communicate with the edge gateway transceiver;

wherein each of the plurality of wireless communication nodes is configured to;

receive a basic message transmitted by an asset tracking tag located in the space, wherein the basic message includes an identifier of the asset tracking tag and a basic message sequence number;

measure a signal attribute of the received basic message;

associate in the node memory the measured signal attribute with a node identifier of the wireless communication node that made the signal attribute measurement; and

transmit, a node asset message to an edge gateway of the number of edge gateways, the node asset message including the asset tracking tag identifier, the basic message sequence number, the node identifier of the respective wireless communication node transmitting the respective node asset message, and the measured signal attribute of the basic message measured by the respective wireless communication node transmitting the respective node asset message; and

wherein each edge gateway is configured to;

receive the respective transmitted node asset message transmitted by each of the three or more wireless communication nodes;

identify a number of the respective node identifiers associated with highest values of the measured signal attribute of the basic message; and

forward to the fog gateway, an aggregated message including the asset tracking tag identifier, the basic message sequence number, a list of the node identifiers associated with a respective one of the highest measured signal attribute values, and an identifier of the respective edge gateway forwarding the aggregated message;

wherein the fog gateway is configured to;

receive a respective aggregated message from each of the edge gateways; and

obtain an estimate of the location of the asset tracking tag within the space based on the list of the node identifiers, and the measured signal values associated with each respective node identifier in the list of node identifiers in the aggregated message forwarded by each respective edge gateway.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the edge gateways, further comprises:

a system control radio frequency transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals in a second frequency band different from the first frequency band; and

each of the edge gateways are configured to;

transmit the aggregated message via the system control radio frequency transceiver for receipt by the fog gateway.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the system control radio frequency transceiver is configured to operate within the second frequency band operates in a frequency band different from the first frequency band, and is one of a sub-GHz transceiver, a Zigbee transceiver, a radio frequency identifier (RFID) transceiver, a Wi-Fi transceiver, or an Ethernet connection.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a plurality of lighting fixtures distributed throughout the space, wherein a number of individual wireless communication nodes of the plurality of wireless communication nodes are each collocated with a respective lighting fixture of the plurality of lighting fixtures distributed throughout the space.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the wireless communication nodes are further configured when measuring the signal attribute of the received basic message to:

measure a received signal strength of the received basic message,

determine an angle of arrival of the received basic message, or

both.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the node radio frequency transceiver is one of a Bluetooth transceiver, a Zigbee transceiver, a radio frequency identifier (RFID) transceiver, a sub-GHz transceiver, or a Wi-Fi transceiver, and the first frequency band corresponds to the respective one of the transceivers.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the number of edge gateways is less than a number of wireless communication nodes in the plurality of wireless communication nodes.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the asset tracking tag comprises:

an asset tracking tag radio frequency transmitter configured to communicate with the plurality of wireless communication nodes.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the asset tracking tag further comprises:

a memory, and

logic circuitry configured to process signals received during communication with the plurality of wireless communication nodes,

wherein;

the asset tracking tag transmitter is configured to transmit signals having a frequency within the first frequency band, and

the transmitted signals containing a basic message, the basic message including an identifier of the asset tracking tag and a basic message sequence number as the asset tracking tag moves about a space.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the asset tracking tag is affixed to an item that is movable within the space.

21. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the number of edge gateways and the fog gateway are each further configured to

exchange software updates, firmware updates, identifier updates, commissioning information, edge gateway location messages, edge gateway status messages, asset tracking tag status updates, or lighting commands.