Sharing duty cycle between devices

• US 10,367,754 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2016
• Issued: 07/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Guibene, Wael, Kelly, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Brenda H
• Application Number:
  US15/200,473
• Publication Number:
  US 20180006961A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,124 Days
• Field of Search: 3703102, 370328, 370338, 3703955, 370331, 370235, 370237
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/04 based on wireless node resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and apparatus for offloading data from a device with a duty cycle shortage to a device with an excess of duty cycle are provided. In an example method, a packet is sent to a cloud device. A duty cycle usage remaining for transmission of data to the cloud device is calculated. If the remaining duty cycle is below a preset limit, data is offloaded to a sending device.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising an internet-of-things (IoT) device, comprising:

a cloud radio transceiver to send data to a cloud connection over a first frequency;

a mesh transceiver to communicate with a mesh network over a second frequency;

a duty cycle calculator to determine if a duty cycle for transmissions from the cloud radio transceiver is nearing a limit, wherein the duty cycle calculator is to activate the mesh transceiver if the duty cycle remaining is greater than a preset limit and a state of charge of a battery to power the IoT device is greater than a threshold; and

a data offloader to send data from the IoT device to a sending device in the mesh network capable of receiving the data and sending the data on to the cloud connection.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the IoT device comprises a local transceiver to communicate with the mesh network, and wherein the mesh transceiver and the local transceiver cover different ranges from the IoT device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the mesh transceiver comprises a IEEE 802.15.4 transceiver.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the local transceiver comprises a Bluetooth low energy (BTLE) transceiver.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cloud radio transceiver comprises a low power wide area (LPWA) transceiver.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a route calculator to calculate a shortest route from the IoT device to the sending device over the mesh network.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising the battery to power the IoT device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, comprising a battery monitor to determine the state of charge on the battery.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a network interface controller (NIC) to provide a wired network connection.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising an interface to couple the IoT device to a sensor, and actuator, or both.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, the duty cycle calculator to determine if any device in the mesh network is reporting a duty cycle shortage, and, if not, to power down the mesh transceiver.

12. A method for offloading data from an internet of things (IoT) device, comprising:

sending a packet to a cloud device;

computing a duty cycle usage remaining for transmission of data to the cloud device;

activating a mesh transceiver if the remaining duty cycle is greater than a preset upper limit and a state of charge of a battery to power the IoT device is greater than a threshold; and

if the remaining duty cycle is below a preset lower limit, offloading data to a sending device.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising:

computing the duty cycle usage remaining for transmission of data to the cloud device; and

, if the remaining duty cycle is above the preset upper limit,

accepting offloaded data.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising:

determining a charge on the battery; and

, if the charge on the battery is below a threshold,

preventing the mesh transceiver from powering up.

15. The method of claim 12, comprising:

initializing a mesh transceiver; and

determining if any device in a mesh network is reporting a duty cycle shortage; and

, if not,

powering down the mesh transceiver.

16. The method of claim 12, comprising:

weighting each device in a mesh network by remaining duty cycle;

determining a route to the sending device in the mesh network; and

sending data to the sending device over the mesh network.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising sending the data to a device in a first range using a low-power transmitter.

18. The method of claim 16, comprising sending the data to a device in a second range using an intermediate power transmitter.

19. The method of claim 16, comprising determining the route to the sending device based, at least in part, on a power usage for the route.

20. The method of claim 16, comprising powering down a mesh transceiver to lower power consumption.

21. The method of claim 16, comprising formatting a packet to indicate an originating device for offloaded data.

22. A non-transitory machine readable medium, comprising instructions, which when executed, direct a processor in an internet of things (IoT) device to:

communicate over a low power wide area (LPWA) network;

determine a remaining duty cycle for LPWA communications;

determine the remaining duty cycle for units in a mesh network;

send packets over the mesh network to a second device having an excess of duty cycle;

determine if the IoT device has an excess of duty cycle; and

if the IoT device has an excess of duty cycle and a charge of a battery is sufficient to allow offloading of data, allow offloading of data to the IoT device.

23. The non-transitory, machine readable medium of claim 22, comprising instructions, which when executed, direct the processor to determine a route over the mesh network from the IoT device to the second device.

24. The non-transitory, machine readable medium of claim 23, comprising instructions, which when executed, direct the processor to send data to the second device over the route.

25. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 22, comprising instructions, which when executed, direct the processor to determine if any device in the mesh network is reporting a duty cycle shortage, and, if not, to power down the mesh transceiver.