Sensor emulation using mote networks

• US 20070035410A1
• Filed: 08/12/2005
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Jung, Edward, Cohen, Alexander, Malamud, Mark, Lord, Robert, Levien, Royce, Rinaldo, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,830,805 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/825
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 17/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines

Abstract

A method may include and/or involve collecting readings from a number of mote sensors of a mote network, the mote sensors at a number of mote sensor locations, and emulating, as a source or sources of the readings, a number of sensors at a number of sensor locations.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting one or more readings from a number of mote sensors of a mote network, the number of mote sensors at a number of mote sensor locations; and

emulating, as a source or sources of the one or more readings, a number of sensors at a number of sensor locations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein emulating, as a source or sources of the one or more readings, a number of sensors at a number of sensor locations further comprises:

emulating, as a source or sources of the one or more readings, a number of sensors at a number of sensor locations different than the number of mote sensors.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the one or more readings from a number of mote sensors of a mote network further comprises:

collecting the one or more readings from a number of mote sensors less than the number of the one or more sensors.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting one or more readings from a number of mote sensors of a mote network further comprises:

collecting the one or more readings from at least one mote sensor location different than any of the sensor locations.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein emulating a number of sensors further comprises:

emulating one sensor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein emulating, as a source or sources of the one or more readings, a number of sensors at a number of sensor locations further comprises:

improving upon an accuracy of the one or more readings over an accuracy of one or more readings from the sensors.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the one or more readings from a number of mote sensors of a mote network further comprises:

collecting the one or more readings from a number of mote sensors greater than the number of sensors.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adapting one or more of the number of mote sensors, the number of mote sensor locations, or the locations of the mote sensors to account for one or more failed mote sensors.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein adapting one or more of the number of mote sensors, the number of mote sensor locations, or the one or more mote sensor locations to account for one or more failed mote sensors further comprises:

the mote network adapting one or more of the number of mote sensors, the number of mote sensor locations, or the mote sensor locations to account for one or more failed mote sensors.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing at least one of the mote sensor locations to improve the accuracy of the emulating of the sensors.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein changing at least one of the mote sensor locations to improve the accuracy of the emulating of the number of sensors further comprises:

the mote network selecting at least one of the mote sensor locations to improve the accuracy of the emulating of the sensors.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adapting the emulating to account for one or more changes to (a) one or more of the mote sensor locations, (b) accuracy of the emulating of the number of sensors, (c) performance of the emulating of the number of sensors, or (d) the environment of the mote network.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

observing at least one of a behavior or a characteristic of the number of sensors, and refining a selection of at least one of the mote sensors, the number of mote sensors, the locations of the mote sensors, or the number of mote sensor locations in order to improve emulation of at least one of the behavior or the characteristic of the number of sensors.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein observing at least one of a behavior or a characteristic of the number of sensors and refining a selection of at least one of the mote sensors, the number of mote sensors, the mote sensor locations, or the number of mote sensor locations in order to improve emulation of at least one of the behavior or the characteristic of the number of sensors further comprises:

the mote network observing at least one of a behavior or a characteristic of the number of sensors and refining a selection of at least one of the mote sensors, the number of mote sensors, the one or more mote sensor locations, or the number of mote sensor locations in order to improve emulation of at least one of the behavior or the characteristic of the number of sensors.

15. A method comprising:

collecting one or more readings from two or more mote sensors of a mote network, the two or more mote sensors in two or more mote sensor locations; and

deriving one or more derived readings from the collected one or more readings, the one or more derived readings emulating one or more readings from at least one non-mote sensor in at least one non-mote sensor location.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

selecting one or more replacement mote sensors to replace one or more failed mote sensors as a source of the one or more collected readings.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein selecting one or more replacement mote sensors to replace one or more failed mote sensors as a source of the one or more collected readings further comprises:

the mote network selecting one or more replacement mote sensors to replace one or more failed mote sensors as a source of the one or more collected readings.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

the mote network selecting at least one of the mote sensor locations to improve an accuracy of the one or more derived readings.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

adapting the emulating to account for one or more changes to the one or more mote sensor locations.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

refining at least one of a selection of the two or more mote sensors from which to collect the one or more readings to improve emulation of the at least one non-mote sensor.

21. A apparatus comprising:

logic to receive one or more readings from two or more mote sensors;

logic to convert the one or more readings into at least one non-mote sensor reading; and

logic to communicate the at least one non-mote sensor reading via a non-mote sensor interface.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the logic to communicate the at least one non-mote sensor reading via a non-mote sensor interface further comprises:

logic to emulate a manner of communication of the at least one non-mote sensor.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising:

logic to apply location information for the two or more mote sensors to derive at least one emulated non-mote sensor location.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising:

logic to select at least one mote sensor to provide the one or more readings.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the logic to select at least one mote sensor to provide the one or more readings further comprises:

logic to select one or more mote sensors to compensate for at least one failed mote sensor.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the logic to select at least one mote sensor to provide the one or more readings further comprises:

logic to select at least one mote sensor to increase an accuracy of emulation of the at least one non-mote sensor.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising:

logic to emulate at least one source of non-mote sensor readings.

28. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising:

logic to cause a change in at least one location from which the one or more readings are provided.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the logic to cause a change in at least one location from which the one or more readings are provided further comprises:

logic to deselect at least one mote as a source of the one or more readings and to select at least one other mote as the source of the one or more readings.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the logic to cause a change in at least one location from which the one or more readings are provided further comprises:

logic to cause at least one mote that is a source of the one or more readings to change position.