SYSTEMS, METHODS AND DEVICES FOR ASSET STATUS DETERMINATION

• US 20160066137A1
• Filed: 09/03/2015
• Published: 03/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CloudLeaf, Inc
• Original Assignee: CloudLeaf, Inc
• Inventors: Kulkarni, Raghavendra, Narahari, Sharath, Roopreddy, Ravindar
• Granted Patent: US 9,860,688 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/75 using transponders powered from received waves, e.g. using passive transponders , or using passive reflectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/878 Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/28 using amplitude comparison of signals derived simultaneously from receiving antennas or antenna systems having differently-oriented directivity characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02213 Receivers arranged in a network for determining the position of a transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/04 Position of source determined by a plurality of spaced direction-finders
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A system for determining real time location of leaf node device, the system including at least one battery-powered Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) enabled leaf node device, wherein the at least one leaf node device is associated with a corresponding monitored asset; and at least one beam forming reader node in communication, via BLE, with the at least one leaf node, the reader node creating a plurality of sectorized beams in a plurality of sectors and collecting data related to the at least one leaf node device from at least one of the plurality of sectors, wherein a location processing facility determines the real-time location of the at least one leaf node device based on the data collected by the beam forming reader node.

Claims

1. A system for determining real time location of leaf node device, the system comprising

at least one battery-powered Bluetooth Low Energy-(BLE) enabled leaf node device, wherein the at least one leaf node device is associated with a corresponding monitored asset;

and

at least one beam forming reader node in communication, via BLE, with the at least one leaf node, the reader node creating a plurality of sectorized beams in a plurality of sectors and collecting data related to the at least one leaf node device from at least one of the plurality of sectors,

wherein a location processing facility determines the real-time location of the at least one leaf node device based on the data collected by the beam forming reader node.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one beam forming reader node comprises a plurality of physical radios associated with each sector of the plurality of sectors.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of physical radios communicate using diverse spectral bands.

4. The system of claim 2 comprising a TDM protocol of the beam forming reader node node to enable the beam forming reader node to manage a plurality of leaf node device connections per radio of the beam forming reader node.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one beam forming reader node shapes the sectorized beams with a plurality of patch antennas.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the patch antennas are used to form four sectorized beams around the beam forming reader node.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the sectorized beams collectively cover a 360-degree angle around the beam forming reader node.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the sectorized beams are at least partially overlapping.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the location processing facility determines location information by assessing at least one of signal strength, proximity and phase angle of the at least one leaf node with respect to the at least one beam forming reader node.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the location processing facility is in the reader node.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one leaf node devices is an asset tag on a physical asset.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising a sensor in communication with the at least one leaf node device detecting status information related to the asset.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the sensor is a temperature sensor.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the sensor is an accelerometer.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the sensor is a pressure sensor.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the sensor is a light sensor.