RADIO PROXIMITY MONITORING
First Claim
1. An apparatus for monitoring proximity comprising:
- a transmitter device operable to transmit electromagnetic signals;
a receiver device operable to receive the electromagnetic signals so as to establish a link between the devices; and
a proximity monitoring module operable to monitor the proximity of the transmitter device and the receiver device using the electromagnetic signals,wherein the transmitter device is configurably operable to transmit electromagnetic signals with a plurality of transmission powers each corresponding to a respective set proximity.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A tag (2) is attachable to items such as a briefcase or a laptop and communicates via Bluetooth™ (4,8) with a mobile (cell) phone (6). In use, a user carries their mobile phone on their person and the proximity of one or more of the tags is monitored (14). When a tag goes out of range then alarms (18,20) are triggered (16). The transmitter device (tag or phone) transmits radio signals with a plurality of set transmission powers (5), each corresponding to a respective set proximity, with Bluetooth power adaption turned off. The proximity is monitored by using a correlation between RSSI signal strength (10) and BER link quality (12) measurements. The proximity may be monitored by using a delay count measurement, including a measure of the time to successfully transfer data to a buffer (9). The signal strength (26), link quality (28) and delay count (30) measurements are combined into a confidence measure (32) to monitor proximity.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. An apparatus for monitoring proximity comprising:
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a transmitter device operable to transmit electromagnetic signals; a receiver device operable to receive the electromagnetic signals so as to establish a link between the devices; and a proximity monitoring module operable to monitor the proximity of the transmitter device and the receiver device using the electromagnetic signals, wherein the transmitter device is configurably operable to transmit electromagnetic signals with a plurality of transmission powers each corresponding to a respective set proximity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification