Determining a transmission number for a device

• US 10,531,334 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2016
• Issued: 01/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Greenberger, Jeremy A., Hannigan, Ciaran E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsvey, Gennadiy
• Application Number:
  US15/194,595
• Publication Number:
  US 20170374495A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,288 Days
• 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 72/52 based on load

Abstract

A set of rules for assigning a transmission number to one or more computing devices is received. An indication from a first computing device is received. The indication includes a request for a transmission number. The transmission number for the first computing device is determined using the set of rules and a transmission window. The transmission number is transmitted to the first computing device.

Claims

1. A method for load balancing of transmissions from any number of computing devices found in a physical environment, the method comprising:

receiving, by a communications unit, a set of rules for assigning transmission numbers to a plurality of computing devices each configured to transmit received beacon notifications, wherein the transmission numbers are numbers which indicate when the plurality of computing devices can transmit the received beacon notifications within a corresponding portion of a transmission window and wherein the set of rules for assigning transmission numbers includes a rule that the transmission numbers be assigned such that each transmission number has an approximately equal number of computing devices assigned to it;

receiving, by the communications unit, an indication from each of the plurality of computing devices, wherein the indication includes a request for a transmission number;

determining, by one or more computer processors, the transmission numbers for the plurality of computing devices using the set of rules and the transmission window;

transmitting, by the communications unit, the transmission numbers to the plurality of computing devices;

receiving, by the communications unit, two or more beacon notification transmissions from each of the plurality of computing devices during the corresponding portion of the transmission window, each of the plurality of computing devices having batched the two or more beacon notification transmissions to send according to the transmission number; and

determining, by one or more computer processors, to update a transmission number for a first computing device of the plurality of computing devices based on the set of rules, wherein the physical environment is a physical area and wherein the determining is based on determining there have been one or more changes to the physical area including changes to performance of a server device containing the communications unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of rules consists of rules for assigning the transmission numbers based on respective locations of the plurality of computing devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by one or more computer processors, a transmission number for a first computing device of the plurality of computing devices using the set of rules and the transmission window comprises:

determining, by one or more computer processors, a current allocation of the transmission numbers to the plurality of computing devices;

determining, by one or more computer processors, a first transmission number of the transmission numbers with a lowest non-zero allocation; and

determining, by one or more computer processors, the first transmission number is the transmission number for the first computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by one or more computer processors, a transmission number for a first computing device of the plurality of computing devices using the set of rules and the transmission window comprises:

determining, by one or more computer processors, a last transmission number that was last assigned to any computing device;

determining, by one or more computer processors, a next transmission number after the last transmission number; and

determining, by one or more computer processors, the next transmission number is the transmission number for the first computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by one or more computer processors, whether to update a transmission number for a first computing device of the plurality of computing devices based on the set of rules;

responsive to determining to update the transmission number for the first computing device based on the set of rules, updating, by one or more computer processors, the transmission number for the first computing device using the set of rules and the transmission window; and

transmitting, by the communications unit, the updated transmission number to the first computing device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the physical environment is a physical area;

and

wherein determining, by one or more computer processors, whether to update the transmission number for the first computing device based on the set of rules comprises;

determining, by one or more computer processors, there have been one or more changes to size of the physical area.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the indication from each of the plurality of computing devices, the transmitting the transmission numbers, and the receiving the transmissions are performed using Bluetooth™

.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of rules consists of rules for assigning the transmission numbers based on respective predicted numbers of beacons each of the plurality of computing devices will interact with.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of rules for assigning transmission numbers is received from a user via a graphical user interface.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the received beacon notifications are universally unique identifiers that identify beacons transmitting to the plurality of computing devices.

11. A computer program product for load balancing of transmission from any number of computing devices found in a physical environment, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media; and

program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive, by a communications unit, a set of rules for assigning transmission numbers to a plurality of computing devices each configured to transmit received beacon notifications, wherein the transmission numbers are numbers which indicate when the plurality of computing devices can transmit the received beacon notifications within a corresponding portion of a transmission window and wherein the set of rules for assigning transmission numbers includes a rule that the transmission numbers be assigned such that each transmission number has an approximately equal number of computing devices assigned to it;

program instructions to receive, by the communications unit, an indication from each of the plurality of computing devices, wherein the indication includes a request for a transmission number;

program instructions to determine, by one or more computer processors, the transmission numbers for the plurality of computing devices using the set of rules and the transmission window;

program instructions to transmit, by the communications unit, the transmission numbers to the plurality of computing devices;

program instructions to receive, by the communications unit, two or more beacon notification transmissions from each of the plurality of computing devices during the corresponding portion of the transmission window, each of the plurality of computing devices having batched the two or more beacon notification transmissions to send according to the transmission number; and

program instructions to determine, by one or more computer processors, to update a transmission number for a first computing device of the plurality of computing devices based on the set of rules, wherein the physical environment is a physical area and wherein the determining is based on determining there have been one or more changes to the physical area including changes to performance of a server device containing the communications unit.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the set of rules consists of rules for assigning the transmission numbers based on a historical length of stay of each of the plurality of computing devices.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the program instructions to determine a transmission number for a first computing device of the plurality of computing devices using the set of rules and the transmission window comprises:

program instructions to determine a current allocation of transmission numbers to the plurality of computing devices;

program instructions to determine a first transmission number of the transmission numbers with a lowest non-zero allocation; and

program instructions to determine the first transmission number is the transmission number for the first computing device.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions to:

determine whether to update a transmission number for a first computing device of the plurality of computing devices based on the set of rules;

responsive to determining to update the transmission number for the first computing device based on the set of rules, to update the transmission number for the first computing device using the set of rules and a transmission window; and

transmit, by the communications unit, the updated transmission number to the first computing device.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the physical environment is a physical area;

and

wherein the program instructions to determine whether to update the transmission number for the first computing device based on the set of rules comprises;

program instructions to determine there have been one or more changes to size of the physical area.

16. A computer system for load balancing of transmission from any number of computing devices found in a physical environment, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more computer readable storage media;

a communications unit; and

program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more computer processors, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive, by the communications unit, a set of rules for assigning transmission numbers to a plurality of computing devices each configured to transmit received beacon notifications, wherein the transmission numbers are numbers which indicate when the plurality of computing devices can transmit the received beacon notifications within a corresponding portion of a transmission window and wherein the set of rules for assigning transmission numbers includes a rule that the transmission numbers be assigned such that each transmission number has an approximately equal number of computing devices assigned to it;

program instructions to receive, by the communications unit, an indication from each of the plurality of computing devices, wherein the indication includes a request for a transmission number;

program instructions to determine, by the one or more computer processors, the transmission numbers for the plurality of computing devices using the set of rules and the transmission window;

program instructions to transmit, by the communications unit, the transmission numbers to the plurality of computing devices;

program instructions to receive, by the communications unit, two or more beacon notification transmissions from each of the plurality of computing devices during the corresponding portion of the transmission window, each of the plurality of computing devices having batched the two or more beacon notification transmissions to send according to the transmission number; and

program instructions to determine, by the one or more computer processors, to update a transmission number for a first computing device of the plurality of computing devices based on the set of rules, wherein the physical environment is a physical area and wherein the determining is based on determining there have been one or more changes to the physical area including changes to performance of a server device containing the communications unit.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the set of rules includes rules for reassigning updated transmission numbers based on the number or percentage of computing devices assigned to each transmission number, wherein the number or percentage is not zero.

18. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the program instructions to determine a transmission number for a first computing device of the plurality of computing devices using the set of rules and the transmission window comprises:

program instructions to determine a current allocation of transmission numbers to the plurality of computing devices;

program instructions to determine a first transmission number of the transmission numbers with a lowest non-zero allocation; and

program instructions to determine the first transmission number is the transmission number for the first computing device.

19. The computer system of claim 16, further comprising program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more computer processors, the program instructions to:

determine whether to update a transmission number for a first computing device of the plurality of computing devices based on the set of rules;

responsive to determining to update the transmission number for the first computing device based on the set of rules, to update the transmission number for the first computing device using the set of rules and a transmission window; and

transmit, by the communications unit, the updated transmission number to the first computing device.