SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATION WITH A MOBILE DEVICE VIA A POSITIONING SYSTEM INCLUDING RF COMMUNICATION DEVICES AND MODULATED BEACON LIGHT SOURCES

• US 20150147067A1
• Filed: 11/25/2014
• Published: 05/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ryan, Daniel, Green, Kelby Edward, Malandrakis, Emanuel Paul, Klitenik, Konstantin
• Granted Patent: US 9,509,402 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/118
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/0426 Collocated with electrical equipment other than beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/7034 Mounting or deployment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02585 at least one of the measurements being a non-radio measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/04 Position of source determined by a plurality of spaced direction-finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/16 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/116 Visible light communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/25752 Optical arrangements for wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• 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 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• 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 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/195 the transmission using visible or infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/199 Commissioning of light sources

Abstract

A light source emits a modulated light, and a radio-frequency transceiver disposed therewith emits a radio-frequency signal. A mobile device may receive either or both signals and determine its position based thereon. The light and radio-frequency sources may be disposed in node in a network of said sources, and the nodes may communicate via the radio-frequency transceivers.

Claims

1. A mesh network comprising a plurality of nodes, each node comprising:

a light source for emitting a modulated light to be received by a mobile device;

a radio-frequency transceiver for emitting and receiving a radio-frequency signal enabling bi-directional communication with at least one other node in the mesh network; and

a power supply for drawing power from an AC mains source and for supplying power to the light source and radio-frequency transceiver.

2. The mesh network of claim 1, wherein one node in the mesh comprises a mesh controller for issuing commands, receiving data, or communicating with a device or network outside the mesh network.

3. The mesh network of claim 1, wherein each radio-frequency transceiver broadcasts bits sequentially in accordance with a physical modulation scheme.

4. The mesh network of claim 3, wherein the broadcast bits comprise groups of fixed or variable length.

5. The mesh network of claim 4, wherein the groups comprise information identifying the group, a transmitter of the group, an intended recipient of the group, commands, or collected data.

6. The mesh network of claim 1, wherein each node further comprises a packet ID.

7. The mesh network of claim 5, wherein each node compares a received packet ID to its packet ID and, based on a result of the comparison, executes a command associated with the received packet ID or retransmits the received packet ID.

8. The mesh network of claim 1, wherein the mesh network comprises a communications-range extender for a mobile device.

9. The mesh network of claim 8, wherein a node in the mesh network wraps a non-mesh packet'"'"'s content into one or more mesh packets and broadcasts the one or more mesh packets.

10. The mesh network of claim 1, wherein the radio-frequency transceiver receives a signal assigning a packet ID or identifier.

11. A method of communicating among a plurality of nodes in a mesh network, the method comprising:

emitting, from a light source disposed in each node, a modulated light to be received by a mobile device;

emitting and receiving, from a radio-frequency transceiver disposed in each node, a radio-frequency signal to thereby enable bi-directional communication with at least one other node in the mesh network; and

drawing power from an AC mains source and supplying power to the light source and radio-frequency source in each node.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising issuing commands, receiving data, or communicating with a device or network outside the mesh network.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein each radio-frequency transceiver broadcasts bits sequentially in accordance with a physical modulation scheme.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the broadcast bits comprise groups of fixed or variable length.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the groups comprise information identifying the group, a transmitter of the group, an intended recipient of the group, commands, or collected data.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein each node further comprises a packet ID.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising comparing a received packet ID to the packet ID and, based on a result of the comparison, executing a command associated with the received packet ID or retransmitting the received packet ID.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising extending a communications range of a mobile device using the mesh network.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising wrapping a non-mesh packet'"'"'s content into one or more mesh packets and broadcasting the one or more mesh packets.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the radio-frequency transceiver receives a signal assigning a packet ID or identifier.