COMMUNICATION GATEWAY AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM INCLUDING SAID COMMUNICATION GATEWAY

• US 20150223289A1
• Filed: 07/05/2013
• Published: 08/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric Industries SAS (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Schneider Electric Industries SAS (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Gassion, Romain, Coutelou, Olivier
• Granted Patent: US 9,578,685 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0701 at least one of the integrated circuit chips comprising an arrangement for power management
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0702 the arrangement including a battery
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0705 the battery being connected to a power saving arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0707 the arrangement being capable of collecting energy from external energy sources, e.g. thermocouples, vibration, electromagnetic radiation G06K19/0702 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07741 comprising a first part operating as a regular record carrier and a second attachable part that changes the functional appearance of said record carrier, e.g. a contact-based smart card with an adapter part which, when attached to the contact card makes the contact card function as a non-contact card
• 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 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A communication gateway including: a first communication interface for communicating, over a first communication network, with a mobile terminal; a second wireless communication interface for communicating, over a second communication network, with at least one external device. The communication gateway; an electrical energy recovery mechanism configured to recover electrical energy supplied by the mobile terminal; and a non-volatile memory powered by the electrical energy recovered and a microcontroller connected to the non-volatile memory and configured to exchange data with the mobile terminal over the first communication network and with the external device over the second communication network.

Claims

1-15. -15. (canceled)

16. A communication gateway comprising:

a first communication interface for communicating, over a first communication network, with a mobile terminal;

a second wireless communication interface for communicating, over a second communication network, with at least one external device;

electrical energy recovery means configured to recover electrical energy supplied by the mobile terminal; and

a non-volatile memory powered by the electrical energy recovered and a microcontroller connected to the non-volatile memory and configured to exchange data with the mobile terminal over the first communication network and with the external device over the second communication network.

17. The communication gateway as claimed in claim 16, wherein the first communication interface comprises an RF tag comprising an antenna and operating according to a near-field communications technology or of RFID type.

18. The communication gateway as claimed in claim 17, further comprising a support configured to receive the mobile terminal, the support incorporating the antenna.

19. The communication gateway as claimed in claim 17, wherein the non-volatile memory is included in the RF tag.

20. The communication gateway as claimed in claim 17, further comprising a power supply link between the RF tag, the microcontroller, and the second communication interface.

21. The communication gateway as claimed in claim 16, further comprising means for managing the electrical energy recovered by the electrical energy recovery means, the means for managing the electrical energy being configured to supply power to the microcontroller and the second communication interface.

22. The communication gateway as claimed in claim 21, wherein the electrical energy recovery means comprises a photovoltaic module and means for storing the electrical energy connected to the means for managing the electrical energy.

23. The communication gateway as claimed in claim 21, wherein the electrical energy recovery means comprises an antenna configured to supply power to the communication gateway by magnetic coupling.

24. The communication gateway as claimed in claim 16, wherein the second communication interface comprises an electronic circuit operating according to a protocol of the Zigbee or Zigbee Green Power type and an antenna connected to the electronic circuit.

25. A communication system comprising:

a mobile terminal comprising a communication interface for communicating over a first communication network and an electrical power supply interface for providing a supply of electrical energy;

at least one external device comprising a wireless communication interface for communicating over a second communication network;

a communication gateway comprising;

a first communication interface for communicating with the mobile terminal over the first communication network;

a second wireless communication interface for communicating with the external device over the second communication network;

means for recovering electrical energy supplied by the electrical power supply interface of the mobile terminal;

a non-volatile memory powered by the electrical energy recovered and a microcontroller connected to the non-volatile memory and configured to exchange data with the mobile terminal over the first communication network and with the external device over the second communication network.

26. The communication system as claimed in claim 25, wherein the mobile terminal comprises a reader/encoder operating in near-field mode or in RFID mode.

27. The communication system as claimed in claim 25, wherein the non-volatile memory stores a unique identifier of the communication gateway and the mobile terminal associates a software application dedicated to control, reading, and/or monitoring of the external device with the unique identifier stored in the non-volatile memory of the communication gateway.

28. The communication system as claimed in claim 25, wherein the mobile terminal comprises a human-machine interface allowing control, reading, and/or monitoring of the external device.

29. The communication system as claimed in claim 25, wherein the external device comprises a sensor or a coordination unit connected to several sensors.

30. The communication system as claimed in claim 25, wherein the non-volatile memory is configured to store in memory a unique identifier of the mobile terminal and for associating access rights with it.