Application framework for interactive wireless sensor networks

• US 10,422,650 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2015
• Issued: 09/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Barnard, Chris, Ryhorchuk, Kent W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Huy D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Bao G
• Application Number:
  US14/743,726
• Publication Number:
  US 20150373482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,559 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/39 the satellite radio beacon positioning system transmitting time-stamped messages, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System], GLONASS [Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System] or GALILEO
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/14 indicating individual free spaces in parking areas
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/168 Driving aids for parking, e.g. acoustic or visual feedback on parking space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• 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 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• 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 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 : Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

In various example embodiments, a system and method for a light sensor network that provides an application framework for interactive applications that use location-based information are presented. In example embodiments, the light sensor network includes a plurality of lighting nodes and a plurality of sensor controller nodes (SCNs) positioned within a wireless communications range of one or more of the plurality of LNs. A LN within the light sensor network includes a communication interface having a first transceiver and a second transceiver. The first transceiver being configured to exchange communication signals to and from a service platform over a wide area network (WAN) via a lighting gateway node. The second transceiver being configured to receive beacon signals from a beacon transmitting device within a beacon communications range and further configured to transmit beacon signals to be received by a beacon-enabled device within the beacon communications range. Sensor data and beacon data are used by the interactive applications.

Claims

1. A lighting node in a light sensor network, comprising:

a sensor configured to detect an input from an environment;

a light source;

a network interface configured to receive sensor data from other nodes within the light sensor network over a local area network (LAN);

a processor coupled to the sensor, the processor configured to read the sensor data from the input detected by the sensor; and

a communication interface having a first transceiver and a second transceiver,

the first transceiver being configured to exchange communication signals with a service platform over a wide area network (WAN) via a lighting gateway node and further configured to exchange communication signals with other nodes within the light sensor network over the LAN, the second transceiver being configured to receive beacon signals from beacon transmitting devices within a beacon communications range and further configured to transmit beacon signals to be received by beacon-enabled devices within the beacon communications range of the second transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to perform operations included in instructions transmitted in the communication signals and the beacon signals, the operations including, at least;

identifying possible navigation routes from a start location to a destination location,

ranking the possible navigation routes,

identifying a virtual barrier in the path of or alongside at least one of the possible navigation routes,

disqualifying at least one of the possible navigation routes based on an identified virtual barrier in the disqualified navigation route, and

based on the ranking or a disqualification, identifying a preferred navigation route,

the communication signals identifying a set of lighting nodes that identify, based on the preferred navigation route, a virtual travel path comprising visual indicators associated with the set of lighting nodes from a location of one of the beacon transmitting devices, associated with the start location, to a destination lighting node associated with the destination location, the destination lighting node identified based on data from a corresponding sensor of the destination lightning node, the light sources of the set of lighting nodes forming a visual path corresponding to the virtual travel path.

2. The lighting node of claim 1, wherein the communication signals are associated with at least one of the sensor data and beacon data associated with the lighting node or the other nodes within the light sensor network.

3. The lighting node of claim 2, wherein the beacon data includes unique beacon identification information and position coordinates of the lighting node or the other nodes within the light sensor network.

4. The lighting node of claim 2,

wherein the beacon signals include a first beacon signal transmitted at a first time by the beacon transmitting device, the first beacon signal being used to estimate a distance of the beacon transmitting device from the lighting node based on a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the first beacon signal.

5. The lighting node of claim 4, wherein the beacon data and the estimated distance of the beacon transmitting device from the lighting node are used to estimate a location of the beacon transmitting device.

6. The lighting node of claim 1, further comprising a sensor controller, wherein the communication signals received from the service platform over the WAN via the lighting gateway node includes instructions to set a condition of the sensor controller at the lighting node, and wherein the processor is configured to perform the instructions to set sensor condition values of the sensor controller at the lighting node.

7. The lighting node of claim 1, wherein the first transceiver is configured to receive the communication signals from the other nodes within the light sensor network over the LAN, and further configured to retransmit the communication signals to another node within the light sensor network over the LAN.

8. The lighting node of claim 1, wherein the second transceiver periodically scans for the beacon signals transmitted by the beacon transmitting devices to receive the transmitted beacon signals within the beacon communications range.

10. The lighting node of claim 1, wherein the lighting node is included in a system for a light sensor network, the system comprising:

a service platform for;

configuring and reading data from the lighting node and other nodes in the light sensor network,

executing software relating to the receiving of the sensor data, and

tracking beacon requests from the beacon-enabled devices and providing analytics on the usage of each beacon or node per individual or group of individuals;

a plurality of lighting nodes (LNs), wherein at least one of the LNs in the plurality of Lns includes an LN processor, an LN sensor coupled to the LN processor;

a communication interface coupled to the LN processor, the LN processor being configured to read sensor data from the LN sensor and set sensor control values associated with the LN sensor, the communication interface having a first transceiver and a second transceiver, the first transceiver being configured to exchange communication signals to and from the service platform over a wide area network (WAN) via a lighting gateway node, the second transceiver being configured to receive beacon signals from a beacon transmitting device within a beacon communications range and further configured to transmit beacon signals to be received by a beacon-enabled device within the beacon communications range, wherein LN the processor is configured to perform instructions included in the communication signals and the beacon signals; and

a plurality of sensor controller nodes (SCNs) positioned within a wireless communications range of one or more of the plurality of LNs, at least one of the SCNs in the plurality of SCNs including an SCN sensor, and an SCN processor coupled to the SCN sensor and configured to read sensor data from the SCN sensor and set sensor control values associated with the SCN sensor.

11. The lighting node of claim 10, wherein the communication signals are associated with the sensor data from the LN sensor or instructions to set sensor control values associated with the LN sensor.

12. The lighting node system of claim 10,

wherein the communication interface of the at least one of the LNs is configured to transmit, to the service platform, a first communication signal including the sensor data from the LN sensor;

wherein the at least one LN includes an LN sensor controller, the LN sensor controller being coupled to the LN processor;

wherein a second communication signal received by the first transceiver from the service platform includes instructions to set the sensor control values based on the sensor data from the LN sensor; and

wherein the LN processor is configured to execute the instructions to set the sensor control values at the LN sensor controller provided in the second communication signal.

13. The lighting node of claim 10,

wherein the at least one of the SCNs includes a wireless transceiver;

wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to provide a first wireless SCN signal to the communication interface of the at least one of the LNs, the first wireless SCN signal including the sensor data from the SCN sensor;

wherein the communication interface of the at least one of the LNs is configured to transmit a first communication signal including the sensor data from the SCN sensor to the service platform;

wherein at least one of the SCNs includes an SCN controller;

wherein the communication interface is configured to receive, from the service platform, a second communication signal including instructions to set sensor control values in response to the sensor data from the SCN sensor;

wherein the communication interface is configured to transmit a second wireless SCN signal to the wireless transceiver of the at least one SCN, the second wireless SCN signal including the instructions to set the sensor control values based on the sensor data from the SCN sensor; and

wherein the LN processor is configured to execute the instructions to set the sensor control values of the SCN controller.

14. The lighting node of claim 10, wherein the plurality of lighting nodes (LNs) and the plurality of sensor controller nodes (SCNs), positioned within a wireless communications range of one or more of the plurality of LNs, represents multiple LANs in the light sensor network, wherein the multiple LANs are associated with more than one owner.

15. The lighting node of claim 10, wherein the multiple LANs share the service platform, wherein the service platform provides access to data from the multiple LANs stored in databases of the service platform to be used by the same applications.

16. The lighting node of claim 10, wherein some of the plurality of lighting nodes represent nodes within the light sensor network associated with a lighting infrastructure and some of the plurality of sensor controller nodes represent nodes within the light sensor network that are remote from lighting fixtures within the lighting infrastructure.

17. The lighting node of claim 10, wherein a processor, representing at least one of the LN processor and the SCN processor, is configured to:

enable a sensor, representing at least one of an LN sensor and an SCN sensor, to operate in an active state after a sensor timer has expired to query the sensor data, the sensor data indicating a sensor state;

disable the sensor to operate in an inactive state after the sensor data is collected;

reset the sensor timer;

enable a transceiver to operate in an active state after a transmit timer has expired to transmit the sensor state;

disable the transceiver to operate in an inactive state after the sensor state is transmitted;

reset the transmit timer; and

based on the transmitted sensor state, determine whether to enable or disable an indicator.

18. The lighting node of claim 10, wherein the system is configured to transmit sensor data collected by the lighting node in the light sensor network by performing operations comprising:

enabling a sensor, representing at least one of a lighting node (LN) sensor and a sensor controller node (SCN) sensor, to operate in an active state after a sensor timer has expired to query sensor data, the sensor data indicating a sensor state;

disabling the sensor to operate in an inactive state after the sensor data is collected;

resetting the sensor timer;

enabling a transceiver to operate in an active state after a transmit timer has expired to transmit the sensor state;

disabling the transceiver to operate in an inactive state after the sensor state is transmitted;

resetting the transmit timer; and

based on the transmitted sensor state, determining whether to enable or disable an indicator.

19. The lighting node of claim 18, wherein the indicator is a light-emitting diode (LED) light that indicates whether a parking space is occupied or not occupied.

20. The lighting node of claim 19, wherein the indicator is an LED light that flashes in a sequence together with other LED lights of other lighting nodes of the light sensor network, the sequence forming a visual path corresponding to the virtual travel path to locate a parking space.

9. A service platform, comprising:

a plurality of databases for storing information received from a light sensor network that includes a plurality of lighting nodes and a plurality of sensor nodes, the information including sensor data and beacon data;

a processor coupled to the plurality of databases, the processor being configured to access the information stored on the plurality of databases to support an application framework associated with multiple applications having corresponding mobile applications; and

an interface coupled to the processor that is configured to transmit a first communication signal to a lighting node from the plurality of lighting nodes to provide instructions for the lighting node to generate an encoded wireless message for transmission to a beacon-enabled mobile device, the interface further configured to transmit a second communication signal to the beacon-enabled mobile device to provide instructions for the beacon-enabled mobile device to decode the encoded wireless message that was transmitted to the beacon-enabled mobile device from the lighting node, wherein the encoded wireless message that was decoded includes navigation data for one of the mobile applications for display on the beacon-enabled mobile device, the processor further configured to;

identify possible navigation routes from a start location to a destination location, ranking the possible navigation routes,

identify a virtual barrier in the path of or alongside at least one of the possible navigation routes,

disqualify at least one of the possible navigation routes based on an identified virtual barrier in the disqualified navigation route,

based on the ranking or a disqualification, identifying a preferred navigation route, and

track beacon requests from the beacon-enabled mobile devices and generate analytics on the usage of each beacon or lighting node per individual or group of individuals, the navigation data based at least on data indicating a virtual travel path comprising visual indicators associated with a set of lighting nodes of the plurality of lighting nodes from a location of the beacon-enabled mobile device associated with the start location to a destination lighting node associated with the destination location, the destination lighting node identified based on data from a corresponding sensor of the destination lightning node.