SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EFFICIENTLY COMMUNICATING BETWEEN LOW-POWER DEVICES

• US 20170003736A1
• Filed: 06/30/2015
• Published: 01/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Turon, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 10,203,748 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4035 in which slots of a TDMA packet structure are assigned based on a contention resolution carried out at a master unit TDM/TDMA multiplex systems per se H04J3/1694; hybrid switching systems H04L12/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless

Abstract

A system includes a first electronic device that activates a first receiver according to a communication schedule that includes a plurality of frames. Each frame is organized according to a grid including a plurality of cells, wherein the cells are associated with a plurality of communication channels and a plurality of time slots. The system also includes a second electronic device that communicates with the first electronic device by transmitting a wake-up packet during a first time slot on a first communication channel. The first time slot and the first communication channel are located at a known position of a respective grid in each frame of the communication schedule. The first electronic device performs an operation based on the wake-up packet after receiving the wake-up packet. The second electronic device also receives a first acknowledgment packet associated with the wake-up packet.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a first electronic device configured to activate a first receiver according to a communication schedule comprising a plurality of frames, wherein each of the plurality of frames is organized according to a grid comprising a plurality of cells, wherein the plurality of cells is associated a plurality of communication channels and a plurality of time slots; and

a second electronic device configured to communicate with the first electronic device by;

transmitting a wake-up packet during a first time slot on a first communication channel, wherein the first time slot and the first communication channel are located at a known position of a respective grid in each frame of the plurality of frames of the communication schedule, and wherein the first electronic device is configured to perform an operation based on the wake-up packet after receiving the wake-up packet; and

receiving a first acknowledgment packet associated with the wake-up packet.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second electronic device is configured to communicate with the first electronic device by transmitting one or more data packets to the first electronic device when the first electronic device is configure to activate the first receiver based on the communication schedule.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the grid associated with each of the plurality of frames indicates at least one time slot and a corresponding communication channel in which a pair of electronic devices are scheduled to communication with each other.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first electronic device is configured to:

activate the first receiver during the first time slot on the first communication channel for a first duration of time;

deactivate the first receiver for a second duration of time after the first duration of time expires; and

reactivate the first receiver for a third duration of time after the second duration of time expires.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the first duration of time and the third duration of time comprises approximately 2 ms, and wherein the second duration of time comprises approximately 1.6 ms.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein each frame of the plurality of frames of the communication schedule comprises at least one cell that is associated with a pair of devices in a respective grid.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one cell is in a fixed position in the respective grid of each frame of the plurality of frames.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein first electronic device and the second electronic device are configured to operate in a low-power mode by operating in a sleep mode for a first period of time and awaking periodically to detect for data transmissions.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first electronic device is configured to:

receive the wake-up packet after detecting that the wake-up packet is being transmitted during the first time slot on the first communication channel;

synchronize a first clock associated with the first electronic device based on wake-up packet;

verify that the wake-up packet is received free of any error; and

send the first acknowledgment packet to the second electronic device when the wake-up packet is free of any error.

10. An electronic device configured to communicate with a plurality of electronic devices disposed in a building, wherein the electronic device comprises a processor configured to:

receive an indication of data to be transmitted to one of the plurality of electronic devices;

identify a first cell in first frame of a grid of a communication schedule comprising a plurality of frames of the grid, wherein the first cell is associated with a first time slot and a first communication channel in which the electronic device and the one of the plurality of electronic devices are scheduled to communicate with each other; and

transmit a plurality of wake-up packets centered at a time within the first time slot to the one of plurality of electronic devices, wherein each of the plurality of wake-up packets is configured to cause the one of the plurality of electronic devices to perform an operation based on a respective wake-up packet.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to transmit one or more data packets associated with the data after receiving an acknowledgment associated with one of the plurality of wake-up packets.

12. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the data comprises alarm information, one or more sensor measurements, one or more commands, or any combination thereof.

13. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein a number of the plurality of wake-up packets is determined based on an expected amount of time drift between the electronic device and the one of the plurality of electronic devices.

14. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the operation comprises instructions configured to control one or more operations of one or more devices in the building.

15. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to transmit the plurality of wake-up packets during the first time slot, such that the transmission of the plurality of wake-up packets is centered between a double sniff interval of the one of the plurality of electronic devices.

16. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the one of the plurality of wake-up packets comprises time synchronization information associated with a clock of the electronic device.

17. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to transmit the plurality of wake-up packets when communication between the electronic device and the one of the plurality of electronic devices has not occurred for a period of time, when the processor determines that an expected data packet from the one of the plurality of electronic devices has not been received, when the processor determines that the one of the plurality of electronic devices is not available during a scheduled time according to the communication schedule, or any combination thereof.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the one of the two devices comprises a thermostat, a hazard detector, or a portable electronic device, and wherein the wake-up packet comprises instructions to perform an operation configured to adjust a condition in a building.

18. A method, comprising:

receiving, via a processor, a communication schedule comprising a plurality of frames of a grid, wherein the grid is organized with respect to a plurality of time slots and a plurality of communication channels, and wherein each frame comprises a first cell associated with one of the plurality of time slots, one of the plurality of communication channels, and two devices configured to communicate with each other;

activating, via the processor, a receiver according to a double sniff interval, wherein the receiver is configured to receive data packets from one of the two devices, and wherein the receiver is activated during the one of the plurality of time slots and on the one of the plurality of communication channels;

detecting, via the processor, energy of a wake-up packet when the receiver is activated; and

activating, via the processor, the receiver for a duration of time when the energy is detected, wherein the duration of time corresponds to an amount of time to receive the wake-up packet.

19. The method of claim 18, comprising:

determining, via the processor, time information associated with the one of the two devices based on the wake-up packet; and

adjusting, via the processor, a clock based on the time information.