System and apparatus for integrated location detection and wireless communications

• US 20090009327A1
• Filed: 07/02/2007
• Published: 01/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Amidi, Soroush
• Granted Patent: US 7,768,394 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/568.100
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2462 Asset location systems combined with EAS inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0275 Electronic Article Surveillance [EAS] tag technology used for parent or child unit, e.g. same transmission technology, magnetic tag, RF tag, RFID
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/028 Communication between parent and child units via remote transmission means, e.g. satellite network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

An apparatus, system and method are provided for an integrated location detection and wireless communication tracking node. The tracking node includes a housing, a wireless node located in the housing, and a tracking receiver located in the housing. The tracking receiver is coupled to the wireless node and the wireless node is operable to transmit a location signal received by the tracking receiver from a tracking device. The wireless node may include a wireless relay node that is operable to relay a radio frequency signal from a leaf node to one of a gateway and an intermediate node.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a housing;

a wireless node located in the housing; and

a tracking receiver located in the housing and coupled to the wireless node,

wherein the wireless node is operable to transmit a location signal received by the tracking receiver.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a power supply operable to supply electrical power to the wireless node and the tracking receiver.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless node is operable to transmit the location signal to a location server.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the wireless node is operable to transmit the location signal to the location server via a plurality of intermediate nodes.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tracking receiver comprises one of a directional antenna, an array antenna, and an omni-directional antenna.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tracking receiver comprises an Ultra Wide Band receiver.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless node communicates using one of the WiFi protocol and the ZigBee protocol.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless node comprises a wireless relay node operable to relay a radio frequency signal from a leaf node to one of a gateway and an intermediate node.

9. A system, comprising:

a tracking device; and

a tracking node, comprising;

a housing;

a wireless node located in the housing; and

a tracking receiver located in the housing and coupled to the wireless node,

wherein the tracking node is operable to receive from the tracking device a location signal using the tracking receiver and transmit the location signal using the wireless node.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the tracking node further comprises a power supply operable to supply electrical power to the wireless node and the tracking receiver.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising a location server, wherein:

the tracking node is operable to transmit the location signal to a location server; and

the location server is operable to determine a location of the tracking device.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a plurality of intermediate nodes, wherein the tracking node is operable to transmit the location signal to the location server via the plurality of nodes.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the tracking receiver comprises one of a directional antenna, an array antenna, and an omni-directional antenna.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the tracking receiver comprises an Ultra Wide Band receiver.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the radio frequency relay node communicates using one of the WiFi protocol and the ZigBee protocol.

16. The system of claim 9, further comprising a leaf node and one of a gateway and an intermediate node, wherein the wireless node comprises a wireless relay node operable to relay a radio frequency signal from the leaf node to the one of a gateway and an intermediate node.

17. A method, comprising:

providing a wireless node located in a housing;

providing a tracking receiver located in the housing; and

coupling the tracking receiver to the wireless node,

wherein the wireless node is operable to transmit a location signal received by the tracking receiver.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the wireless node is operable to transmit the location signal to a location server.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the wireless node is operable to transmit the location signal to the location server via a plurality of intermediate nodes.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing one of a directional antenna, an array antenna, and an omni-directional antenna coupled to the tracking receiver.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the wireless node is operable to relay a radio frequency signal from a leaf node to one of a gateway and an intermediate node.