SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR RE-CONNECTING TO A ZIGBEE NETWORK

• US 20110211532A1
• Filed: 05/09/2011
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman Professional, Inc. (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Amx LLC (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hargrave, James Roger, Smith, Darin William
• Granted Patent: US 8,553,602 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/12 by using return channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/625 for service slots or service orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/10 Flow control between communication endpoints
• 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 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An end device on a Zigbee network exits a power saving mode and transmits a wake notification message to the network. The network retrieves a cached status flag indicating whether the end device is defined on the Zigbee network and transmits the status flag to the end device. If the end device is undefined on the Zigbee network, the end device attempts to re-join the network. During the power saving mode, the network can cache messages intended for the end device and transmit the messages to the end device when the device exits the power saving mode.

Claims

1. A method, comprising;

determining from a received acknowledgement message at an end device whether the end device is defined on a zigbee network by evaluating a defined flag portion of a status field; and

if the device is not defined on the zigbee network as the defined flag portion of the status field is not set, transmitting a join request message from the end device to the zigbee network.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising updating a status of the end device on the zigbee network to indicate that the device has exited a power saving mode.

3. The method according to claim 2 further comprising transmitting said updated status from a gateway of the zigbee network to at least one peripheral network.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein at least one peripheral network is a non-zigbee network.

5. The method according to claim 4 wherein the non-zigbee network comprises a master controller.

6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising transmitting one or more cached messages to the end device.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising receiving a message for the end device at a gateway;

determining the status of the end device; and

, if the end device is offline, storing the received message in a cache.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein said acknowledgement message comprises a flag indicative of whether the end device is defined on the zigbee network, and wherein determining whether the end device is defined on the zigbee network comprises determining a status of said flag.

9. The method according to claim 1 further comprising transmitting one or more status flags from the zigbee network to the end device.

10. The method according to claim 9 further comprising transmitting said status flags from said end device to said zigbee network prior to entering said power saving mode and storing said status flags on said zigbee network.

11. A device, comprising:

at least one transmitter;

at least one receiver;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory;

wherein the processor processes an acknowledgement message to determine if the device is defined on a zigbee network by evaluating a defined flag portion of a status field and, if the device is not defined on the zigbee network as the defined flag portion of the status field is not set, the processor causes the transmitter to transmit a join request message to the zigbee network.

12. The device according to claim 11 wherein the processor is configured to transmit one or more status flags to the zigbee network prior to entering a power saving mode.

13. The device according to claim 12 wherein at least one status flag includes an indication that the device is entering a power saving mode.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for execution by a processor, the computer executable instructions for:

receiving an acknowledgement message at an end device, the acknowledgement message indicating whether the end device is defined on a the zigbee network by evaluating a defined flag portion of a status field;

receiving from the end device a join request message from the end device if the device is not defined on the zigbee network as the defined flag portion of the status field is not set; and

joining the end device to the zigbee network.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 14 further comprising computer executable instructions for updating a status of the end device on the zigbee network to indicate that the device has exited a power saving mode.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 15 further comprising computer executable instructions for transmitting said updated status from a gateway of the zigbee network to at least one peripheral network.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 14 further comprising computer executable instructions for transmitting one or more cached messages to the end device.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 14 further comprising computer executable instructions for receiving a message for the end device at a gateway;

determining the status of the end device; and

, if the end device is offline, storing the received message in a cache.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 14 further comprising computer executable instructions for transmitting one or more status flags from the zigbee network to the end device.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 19 further comprising computer executable instructions for receiving said status flags from said end device prior to the end device entering said power saving mode and storing said status flags on said zigbee network.