METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISCOVERY AND TRANSPARENT STATUS REPORTING FOR SENSOR NETWORKS

• US 20110169612A1
• Filed: 01/08/2010
• Published: 07/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sensormatic Electronics LLC (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Sensormatic Electronics LLC (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: ALICOT, Jorge F., RELIHAN, Timothy J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,007,181 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10009 sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2462 Asset location systems combined with EAS inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring the status of wireless node devices in a network. A network controller polls one or more sensor devices for status information. The sensor devices are in communication with at least one wireless node device. More than one sensor device may be associated with a single wireless node device. The wireless node device appends its own status information to the transmission frame of the sensor device'"'"'s response message, and the transmission frame, containing the address and status information for both the sensor device and the wireless node device, is transmitted to the network controller. The inclusion of the wireless node device address and status information is done without the knowledge of the sensor device.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring wireless node devices in an electronic article surveillance (“

EAS”

) system, the method comprising;

polling at least one sensor device for status information, the at least one sensor device in communication with at least one wireless node device;

receiving a response message from the at least one wireless node device, the response message containing sensor status information generated by the at least one sensor device and wireless node status information appended to the sensor status information by the at least one wireless node device; and

extracting the wireless node status information from the response message, the response message including a frame transmission.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising populating a routing table with wireless node device addresses and sensor device addresses associated with a corresponding wireless node device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the routing table includes the current status of each sensor device and the current status of each associated wireless node device.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising assessing the status of a wireless node device by directing a status command directly to the wireless node device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor device and the at least one wireless node device are containing within a same housing.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the address of a wireless node device is associated with addresses of more than one sensor device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the response message includes fields containing information introduced by different communication layers of the EAS system.

8. A wireless node device in an electronic article surveillance (“

EAS”

) system, the wireless node being in communication with at least one sensor device, the wireless node device comprising;

a wireless transmitter;

a receiver arranged to receive a response message from the at least one sensor device; and

a processor in communication with the receiver and the wireless transmitter, the processor operating to append wireless node device status information to the response message received from the at least one sensor device,

the processor sending the response message with the appended wireless node device status information to the wireless transmitter.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the processor determines when a status response message is being transmitted by the at least one sensor device.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor determines when a status response message is being transmitted by the at least one sensor device by decoding a command field of the response message.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein the response message includes fields containing information introduced by different communication layers of the EAS system.

12. The device of claim 8, wherein the receiver further receives status inquiries from a network controller.

13. A method of supplying wireless node device status information from a wireless node device to a network controller in an electronic article surveillance (“

EAS’

) system, the method comprising;

establishing communication with at least one sensor device; and

appending wireless node device status information to a response message received from the sensor device; and

transmitting the response message with the appended wireless node device status information to the network controller.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining when the at least one sensor device transmits the response message.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining when the at least one sensor device transmits the response message includes decoding a command field of the response message.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the response message includes a sensor device transmission frame, the method further comprising updating the sensor device transmission frame to accommodate the wireless node device status information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein updating the sensor device transmission frame includes increasing the size of the sensor device transmission frame.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the wireless node device and the at least one sensor device are housed in a single unit.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the wireless node device status information includes an address of the wireless node device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the address of the wireless node device is associated with an address of more than one sensor device.