System Architectures and Methods for Radiobeacon Data Sharing

• US 20160182170A1
• Filed: 12/13/2015
• Published: 06/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PB, Inc.
• Original Assignee: PB, Inc.
• Inventors: Pearson-Franks, Nick L., Daoura, Daniel J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,774,410 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/59 for emergency or urgency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• 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 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Remote actuation of machines or machine systems is realized by a system for coupling a radiobeacon to a smart device and in turn to a broader network. The smart device is configured as a proximity-actuated “community nodal device” by an application that operates as part of the system. The community nodal device is given instructions to function as a “soft switch”: to automatically “upswitch”, amplify, and broadcast low energy, local area radiobeacon “messages” to a cloud-based server, where the message is interpreted according to rules or policies established by an operator, and a command is transmitted for execution to a remote device. Conventional smart devices generally discard data not addressed to the owner of the smart device. Instead of discarding third party messages, the system preempts their handling, and using a soft switch formed from background resources, anonymously, without access to the message by a user interface of the proxy device, and without waiting for a network query from the host, engineers an “upswitched transmission” of radiobeacon-generated data to a cloud host. Advantageously, confidential sharing of ad hoc community resources results in a negligible load on background resources of the community nodal device. Messages may include a sensor data payload. Bit overloading enables a sensor data payload to be compressed into a few hundred bytes or less.

Claims

1. A method for upswitching sensor data from a low energy radio transmission to a cloud host in digital communication with a broad area network having a plurality of smart devices, each smart device being privately owned and having a processor, memory, and hardware layers for a) receiving low energy radio transmissions, b) installing and implementing software applications, c) operating software applications as a foreground service or as a background service, d) directing radio transmissions identifiably associated with the owner of a smart device to a foreground service, e) dumping radio transmissions not identifiably associated with the private owner of the smart device, f) marking radio transmissions with a timestamp when received, g) optionally marking radiobeacon transmissions with a proximity measurement or a geostamp where received, and h) amplifying, broadcasting, and receiving radio transmissions on a broad area radioset that is efficacious in communicating digitally with a cloud host;

which comprises;

(a) providing one or more radiobeacons having a sensor or sensor package, a radio emitter with antenna, an encoder, a processor with supporting data processing circuitry, and memory for storing data an instruction set to be executed by said processor, wherein said radiobeacon or radiobeacons are configured for emitting a low energy radio transmission that includes a formatted unique identifier and a sensor payload;

wherein said formatted unique identifier and sensor payload define a qualified radio message, further wherein each said radio message is associated with a private owner of said radiobeacon, said owner being identifiable by said identifier;

(b) installing an application on a smart device of said plurality of smart devices, wherein said application is configured for preempting said smart device from discarding said qualified radio message when received by said smart device, instead said application operating to configure said processor, memory and hardware layers as a soft switch enabled to upswitchingly amplify and broadcast said radio message as a forward broadcast to said cloud host server, including in said broadcast said identifier and sensor payload, plus any preamble, network address of said cloud host server, any communication format as needed, and any timestamp, proximity measurement, or geostamp as generated by said smart device,

thereby restructuring said smart device as a community nodal device, said community nodal device and soft switch being further characterized as having the capacity for

i) automatically upswitching and forward broadcasting any qualified message in background to said cloud host if the unique identifier is not recognized as being associated with the private owner of the smart device, without revealing the message contents to the owner of the smart device; and

,

ii) automatically processing said message in foreground services if the unique identifier is recognized as being associated with the private owner of the smart device, revealing and acting on the message contents in foreground services to the owner.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving said forward broadcast at said cloud host, said cloud host having an administrative server configured with an instruction set and an administrative database, wherein said instruction set comprises instructions for:

i) parsing said forward broadcast so as to extract said unique identifier, said sensor payload, and any associated timestamp, proximity measurement, or geostamp coded therein; and

,

ii) based on said owner identification, sensor payload, and any contextual information associated therewith, formulating a command or notification, wherein said command or notification is based on rules associated with said owner identification in an administrative database and any rules implemented by a system administrator on behalf of a community of members; and

,

transmitting said command or notification over said broad area network to at least one smart device of said plurality of smart devices, to a remote machine, or to an actuation device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising dumping any record or content of said message from said community nodal device on completion of said forward broadcast to said cloud host server and releasing any computing resources shared by said community device in assembling said soft switch.

4. The method of claim 2, comprising automatically suspending any process for processing said message in foreground services if said foreground services are unresponsive, and automatically upswitching and forward broadcasting said message in background to said cloud host server for disposition based on rules associated with said private owner of said radiobeacon in an administrative database and any rules implemented by a system administrator on behalf of a community of members.

5. The method of claim 2, comprising transmitting said command over said broad area network to at least one smart device of said plurality of smart devices.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising transmitting said command to said plurality of smart devices, wherein said command is a command to display a notification to a community of members having converted their smart devices to community nodal devices.

7. The method of claim 2, comprising transmitting said command over said broad area network to a remote machine, an actuation device, or a plurality thereof.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising transmitting said command to said plurality of remote machines or actuation devices, wherein said command is a command to execute a machine action or to actuate a device.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising providing said sensor or sensor package with a radiobeacon, wherein said sensor or sensor package is selected from a photocell, a radiation sensor, a motion sensor, a velocity sensor, an accelerometer, a jolt sensor, a gyroscopic sensor, a gesture sensor, a gravitational sensor, a magnetic field sensor, a compass, a local time sensor, a switch open/switch closed sensor, a vibration sensor, an audio pattern detection sensor, a vehicle performance sensor, a biological agent sensor, a biochemical agent sensor, a chemical agent sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a humidity sensor, a windspeed sensor, a location sensor, a global positioning satellite sensor, a proximity sensor, a relative radio signal strength sensor, or a radio traffic sensor.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said method comprises providing a first plurality of radiobeacons attached to a plurality of portable objects and a second plurality of radiobeacons having defined stationary locations.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said command is directed to a smart device, remote machine, or actuation device according to a location datum received from said sensor or sensor package, from any said community nodal device, from a radiobeacon according to whether said radiobeacon is stationary, or deduced from an aggregation of radio messages.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said command is directed to a plurality of smart devices, remote machines, or actuation devices according to a location datum received from said sensor or sensor package, from said nodal device, from a radiobeacon according to whether said radiobeacon is stationary, or deduced from an aggregation of radio messages.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said command is configured according to rules established by an owner of said radiobeacon or an operator of said administrative server, said rules being conditioned upon said sensor payload.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said command is configured according to rules established by an owner of said radiobeacon or an operator of said administrative server, said rules being conditioned upon said context known to said administrative server.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising storing a chronological record in said administrative server of said sensor payloads of an aggregation of messages.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising compiling and sharing a map or plot display in which sensor data is graphically displayed in aggregate, or graphically displayed with trend lines, or graphically displayed with a updatable tracking function.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising providing a cloud-based service for graphically displaying the location of a lost object as tracked by its radiotag in the form of a track or path superimposed on said map, wherein said map is updated when said administrative server receives a fresh radio contact and location of said lost object, said track comprising a chronological record of recent contacts in a mapped sequence.

18. The method of claim 16, comprising providing a cloud based service for mapping the location of a friend.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein said radio message comprises a plurality of frames, each frame having a defined number of bytes or bits, and further wherein said radiobeacon encoder is configured to overload one or more of said frames with at least one sensor datum when transmitting said radio message.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said radio message comprises frames, each frame comprising a sensor payload such that sensor payloads are streamed in series in real time as a concatenation of frames streamed in series in a message.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein said radio message includes a UUID value, a major value, a minor value, and a sensor payload for each of a plurality of radiobeacons in a local area, and wherein said administrative database is configured for mapping said sensor payload according to a known location of each of said radiobeacons, said mapping generating a display containing aggregated most recent or historically trending sensor data from each of said radiobeacons, such that said display is continuously refreshed and can be accessed to support user queries.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein said community nodal devices are defined by a common denominator selected from institution, neighborhood, user profile, or location.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said radiobeacon includes at least one button, and said radio message emitted by said radiobeacon includes a UUIC and a sensor data payload, said sensor data payload reporting a state of said button, and further comprising

a) pressing said button to generate a message that will be recognized at cloud host server as a call for help or vigilance;

b) conveying said message to said cloud host server through said plurality of community nodal devices; and

,

c) transmitting a command and a notification dispatching a first responder, including a timestamp and a location of said radiobeacon.

24. The method of claim 23, comprising automatically commanding an increase in illumination, strobe lamps, sounding an alarm at the location of said radiobeacon, or actuating a camera at the location when a button press sensor state is received at said cloud host server.

25. The method of claim 23, comprising automatically notifying community members belonging to an institution, neighborhood, or location of a potential need for vigilance at a location associated with a button press sensor state received at said cloud host server.

26. A system for performing the method of claim 1, wherein said radio message from said radiobeacon is encoded or encrypted.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said operation of said soft switch and said upswitching process is automatic, being conducted without access to or access by a user interface.