System for exchanging information between wireless peripherals and back-end systems via a peripheral hub

• US 10,331,609 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2017
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Kohtz, Robert Arlan, McMahan, Ryan, Schoon, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Shyu, Jing-Yih
• Application Number:
  US15/848,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20180137078A1
• Time in Patent Office: 552 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4221 being an input/output bus, e.g. ISA bus, EISA bus, PCI bus, SCSI bus
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• 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

Wireless peripherals may be used by workers to facilitate communication, data entry, data visualization, safety, and security. Typically, these peripherals must communicate with a back-end system; however, direct communication is often impossible. Instead, the peripherals must communicate through an intermediary device (i.e., a base station) to reach the back-end system. To be most effective, the back-end system must be able to adapt its communication/response to a worker'"'"'s identity, location, and/or peripherals. To facilitate this, the present invention embraces a peripheral hub, worn by a worker. The peripheral hub uses information regarding the worker and/or his peripherals to generate a peripheral manifest. The peripheral hub can transmit the peripheral manifest to the back-end system via the base station, and using information from the peripheral manifest, the back-end system may communicate/respond appropriately to the worker.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting a wireless signal by a peripheral from amongst a plurality of peripherals each containing a peripheral identifier (peripheral IDs);

receiving the wireless signal from the plurality of peripherals by a peripheral hub, wherein the peripheral hub is identified on a network by a Hub-ID;

decoding the wireless signal at the peripheral hub to obtain the peripheral IDs;

generating at the peripheral hub, a peripheral manifest using the peripheral IDs and the Hub-ID;

transmitting, from the peripheral hub, the peripheral manifest wirelessly;

receiving the peripheral manifest from the peripheral hub at a base station, wherein the base station is operable to communicate wirelessly with the peripheral hub and communicatively coupled to the network;

transmitting information obtained using the peripheral manifest to the network;

receiving the information transmitted by the case station at a back-end system, wherein the back-end system is communicatively coupled to the network; and

establishing a communication link with at least one of the plurality of peripherals via the base station.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising transmitting the peripheral manifestation in response to a query from the base station.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the back-end system is an electronic health record.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular peripheral'"'"'s unique peripheral identifier (peripheral ID) comprises information to facilitate communication with the particular peripheral.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the base station is located in a room and the base station can communicate wirelessly with the peripheral hub only when the peripheral hub is in the same room.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the room is a hospital room.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the base station is operable to communicate wirelessly with a plurality of peripheral hubs simultaneously.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the back-end system is configured to adjust a type of data sent to the peripheral based on the peripheral manifest.

9. A method, comprising:

transmitting a wireless signal by a peripheral from amongst a plurality of peripherals each containing a peripheral identifier (peripheral IDs);

receiving the wireless signal from the plurality of peripherals by a peripheral hub, wherein the peripheral hub is identified on a network by a Hub-ID;

decoding the wireless signal at the peripheral hub to obtain the peripheral IDs;

generating at the peripheral hub, a peripheral manifest using the peripheral IDs and the Hub-ID;

transmitting, from the peripheral hub, the peripheral manifest wirelessly;

receiving the peripheral manifest from the peripheral hub at a base station, wherein the base station is operable to communicate wirelessly with the peripheral hub and communicatively coupled to the network;

transmitting information obtained using the peripheral manifest to the network;

receiving the peripheral manifest transmitted by the base station at a back-end system, wherein the back-end system is communicatively coupled to the network and configured to respond to a particular set of peripheral ID; and

transmitting a response to the base station if the particular set of peripheral IDs is represented in the peripheral manifest.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the base station comprises a door lock and the back-end system'"'"'s transmitted response is a signal to open the door lock.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of peripherals comprises a piece of equipment having an attached wireless module for communication with the peripheral hub.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the base station wirelessly communicates with the peripheral hub only when the peripheral hub is brought within a predetermined distance from the base station.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the base station is in a fixed location and the back-end system is in a remote location with respect to the peripheral hub.

14. A communication system, comprising:

a plurality of peripherals, wherein each peripheral is configured to transmit a unique peripheral identifier (peripheral ID) wirelessly;

a peripheral hub worn, held, or otherwise possessed by the worker and identified on a network by a hub identifier (hub-ID), wherein the peripheral hub is configured to;

(i) receive peripheral IDs from the plurality of peripherals,

(ii) generate, using the peripheral IDs and the hub-ID, a peripheral manifest, and

(iii) transmit the peripheral manifest wirelessly;

a base station operable to communicate wirelessly with the peripheral hub and communicatively coupled to the network, wherein the base station is operable to;

(i) receive the peripheral manifest from the peripheral hub, and

(ii) transmit information obtained using the peripheral manifest to the network; and

a back-end system communicatively coupled to the network, wherein the back-end system is configured to;

(i) receive the information transmitted by the base station, and

(ii) establish, using the received information, a communication link with at least one of the plurality of peripherals via the base station.

15. The communication system according to claim 14, wherein the peripheral hub transmits the peripheral manifest in response to a query from the base station.

16. The communication system according to claim 14, wherein the back-end system is an electronic-health-record (EHR) database.

17. The communication system according to claim 14, wherein a particular peripheral'"'"'s unique peripheral identifier (peripheral ID) comprises information to facilitate communication with the particular peripheral.

18. The communication system according to claim 14, wherein the base station is located in a room and the base station can communicate wirelessly with the peripheral hub only when the peripheral hub is in the same room.

19. The communication system according to claim 14, wherein the base station is configured to wirelessly communicate with a plurality of peripheral hubs simultaneously.

20. The communication system according to claim 14, wherein the back-end system is configured to adjust a type of data sent to the peripheral based on the information transmitted by the base station.