TRACKING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20130070636A1
• Filed: 09/15/2011
• Published: 03/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Farley, Richard O., Krishnaswamy, Dilip, Ding, Gang
• Granted Patent: US 9,084,075 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• 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 52/0203 in the radio access network or backbone network of wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A collaborative method for a node includes forming a local network with at least one other node using a lower power subsystem; selecting a master node from among the local network based on a first set of criteria; and communicating with a back end server over a wireless wide area network (WWAN) using a higher power subsystem. An apparatus may include a first subsystem for communicating with a local network; and a second subsystem having an active mode and an inactive mode, the second subsystem for communicating with a wireless wide area network (WWAN) when in the active mode, the apparatus selecting the active mode or inactive mode based on a set of criteria.

Claims

1. A collaborative method for a node, the method comprising:

forming a local network with at least one other node using a low power subsystem;

selecting a master node from among the local network based on a first set of criteria; and

communicating with a back end server over a wireless wide area network (WWAN) using a high power subsystem.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating id via at least the master node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the master node communicates with the back end server via another master node.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the master node communicates with the back end server based on a selection among the master node and at least one other master node.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the selection is based on a second set of criteria.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first set of criteria is the second set of criteria.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the second set of criteria includes at least one of:

WWAN load, WWAN availability, WWAN channel bandwidth, WWAN code availability, WWAN time utilization, quality of at least one link in at least one subsystem, type of WWAN protocol, remaining battery life, a cost associated with data collection process from a collection of objects, a transition cost of changing power states in at least one subsystem, energy efficiency, number of nodes allowed to participate in the WWAN, and number of nodes allowed to participate in the local network.

8. The method of claim 7, the method further comprising:

receiving the WWAN load in a system information block.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the number of nodes allowed to participate in the WWAN is specified by at least one of the WWAN and the back end server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a protocol for communicating over the WWAN is selected based on a third set of criteria.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the third set of criteria includes at least one of WWAN load, WWAN availability, WWAN channel bandwidth, WWAN code availability, WWAN time utilization, quality of WWAN link, and number of nodes allowed to participate in the WWAN.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of criteria includes at least one of:

WWAN load, WWAN availability, WWAN channel bandwidth, WWAN code availability, WWAN time utilization, quality of at least one link in at least one subsystem, type of WWAN protocol, remaining battery life, a cost associated with data collection process from a collection of objects, a transition cost of changing power states in at least one subsystem, energy efficiency, number of nodes allowed to participate in the WWAN, and number of nodes allowed to participate in the local network.

13. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

receiving the WWAN load in a system information block.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the number of nodes allowed to participate in the WWAN is specified by at least one of the WWAN and the back end server.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the master node receives data from non-master nodes in the local network.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the master node transmits, either directly or through at least another master node, at least the data received from the non-master nodes in the local network to the back end server.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the master node receives data from master nodes of a different local network.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the master node transmits, either directly or through at least another master node, at least the data received from the master nodes in the different local network to the back end server.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the master node receives partial data from master nodes of a different local network.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the master node transmits, either directly or through at least another master node, at least the partial data received from the master nodes in the different local network to the back end server.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the partial data is compressed.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the partial data indicates presence.

23. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

selecting a super-master node from among the master node and at least one other master node based on a second set of criteria, the super-master node for communicating with the back end server over the WWAN using the high power subsystem.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the second set of criteria includes at least one of:

WWAN load, WWAN availability, WWAN channel bandwidth, WWAN code availability, WWAN time utilization, quality of at least one link in at least one subsystem, type of WWAN protocol, remaining battery life, a cost associated with data collection process from a collection of objects, a transition cost of changing power states in at least one subsystem, energy efficiency, number of nodes allowed to participate in the WWAN, and number of nodes allowed to participate in the local network.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein a protocol for communicating over the WWAN is selected based on a third set of criteria.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the third set of criteria includes at least one of WWAN load, WWAN availability, WWAN channel bandwidth, WWAN code availability, WWAN time utilization, quality of WWAN link, and number of nodes allowed to participate in the WWAN.

27. The method of claim 24, the method further comprising:

receiving the WWAN load in a system information block.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the number of nodes allowed to participate in the WWAN is specified by at least one of the WWAN and the back end server.

29. An apparatus comprising:

a first subsystem for communicating with a local network; and

a second subsystem having an active mode and an inactive mode, the second subsystem for communicating with a wireless wide area network (WWAN) when in the active mode, the apparatus selecting the active mode or inactive mode based on a set of criteria.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the set of criteria includes at least one of:

WWAN load, WWAN availability, WWAN channel bandwidth, WWAN code availability, WWAN time utilization, quality of at least one link in at least one subsystem, type of WWAN protocol, remaining battery life, a cost associated with data collection process from a collection of objects, a transition cost of changing power states in at least one subsystem, energy efficiency, number of apparatuses allowed to participate in the WWAN, and number of apparatuses allowed to participate in the local network.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein apparatus is configured to form the local network with at least one other apparatus.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein apparatus is configured to select a master apparatus from among the local network based on the set of criteria.

33. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising:

at least one sensor module for sensing one or more parameters relating to one or more assets associated with the apparatus; and

an RFID module for reading one or more RFID tags of the one or more assets associated with the apparatus;

wherein the subsystem communicates data in the local network, the data comprising at least data relating to the one or more parameters and the one or more RFID tags.

34. An apparatus comprising:

a first communication means for communicating with a local network; and

a second communication means having an active mode and an inactive mode, the second communication means for communicating with a wireless wide area network (WWAN) when in the active mode, the apparatus selecting the active mode or inactive mode based on a set of criteria.

35. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a first subsystem for communicating with a local network;

a second subsystem having an active mode and an inactive mode, the second subsystem for communicating with a wireless wide area network (WWAN) when in the active mode; and

a memory comprising processor executable code and/or data, the processor executable code and/or data, when executed by the processor, configures the apparatus to select the active mode or inactive mode based on a set of criteria.