FLEET POWER MANAGEMENT THROUGH INFORMATION STORAGE SHARING

• US 20170064634A1
• Filed: 08/26/2015
• Published: 03/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Van Horn, Erik, Kearney, Sean Philip, Giordano, Patrick Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 9,781,681 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems for power management of a fleet of devices through information storage sharing are described. According to one embodiment, each one of a group of networked devices offloads information to a substantially powered hub device before entering a low power consumption mode and receives the respective information back from the hub device upon wake. Another embodiment describes a system of networked devices in which each one of the networked devices offloads information to a selected networked device before entering a sleep mode and receives the respective information back from that selected networked device after entering a wake mode. Another embodiment describes a system whereby the original selected networked device then backups to a new selected networked device if the original selected networked device needs to enter a low power consumption mode, and the other networked devices receive the respective information back from the new selected networked device.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a first device comprising;

a first communication interface;

a first control system communicatively coupled to the first communication interface and comprising at least one first hardware processor and a first memory storing program codes operable to;

receive a first sleep event;

send first information to a third device;

enter a first sleep mode;

receive a first wake event; and

receive the first information from the third device; and

a second device comprising;

a second communication interface;

a second control system communicatively coupled to the second communication interface and comprising at least one second hardware processor and a second memory storing program codes operable to;

receive a second sleep event;

send second information to the third device;

enter a second sleep mode;

receive a second wake event; and

receive the second information from the third device; and

a substantially powered third device comprising;

a third communication interface;

a third control system communicatively coupled to the third communication interface and comprising at least one third hardware processor and a third memory storing program codes operable to;

receive the first information from the first device;

receive the second information from the second device;

send the first information to the first device after the first wake event; and

send the second information to the second device after the second wake event.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second devices are selected from the group consisting of:

cellular telephones, smart phones, personal digital assistants, tablets, pagers, two-way radios, netbooks, barcode scanners, radio frequency identification (RFID) readers, intelligent sensors, tracking devices, and smart tags.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second information are selected from the group comprising:

information about the operation of the device, the total operational time of the device, information about the timing and duration of sleep and wake cycles of the device, information about installed software applications and operating systems and respective patches or updates, information about the state and operation of the sensors, data collected by the sensors, data collected from touch screens or keypads of the device, and information on communications between the device and other devices in the network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second sleep events are selected from a group consisting of:

in response to input received at the first and second devices respectively, in response to a low power state at the first and second devices respectively, in response to a timer at the first and second devices respectively, in response to an absence of a proximity event at the first and second devices respectively, and in response to a message from the third device to the first and second devices respectively.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second wake events are selected from a group consisting of:

in response to input received at the first and second devices respectively, in response to the addition of a power supply to the first and second device respectively, in response to a timer at the first and second devices respectively, in response to a proximity event at the first and second devices respectively, and in response to a message from the third device to the first and second devices respectively.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the third device is further operable to:

receive a lightweight signal from the first device, wherein the lightweight signal is indicative of a wake state of the first device; and

receive a lightweight signal from the second device, wherein the lightweight signal is indicative of a wake state of the second device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the third device is further operable to:

poll the first device to determine if the first device is in a wake state before sending the first information to the first device; and

poll the second device to determine if the second device is in a wake state before sending the second information to the second device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the third device is further operable to:

receive a request from the first device for the first information; and

receive a request from the second device for the second information.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein in sending the first information to the first device and the second information to the second device, the third device only sends a subset of the first and second information respectively.

19. The system of claim 6, wherein in sending the first information to the first device and the second information to the second device, the third device only sends a subset of the first and second information respectively.

10. A system, comprising:

a first device comprising;

a first communication interface;

a first control system communicatively coupled to the first communication interface and comprising at least one first hardware processor and a first memory storing program codes operable to;

receive a first sleep event;

identify a third device as available to receive first information;

send the first information to the third device;

enter a first sleep mode;

receive a first wake event; and

receive the first information from the third device; and

a second device comprising;

a second communication interface;

a second control system communicatively coupled to the second communication interface and comprising at least one second hardware processor and a second memory storing program codes operable to;

receive a second sleep event;

identify the third device as available to receive second information;

send the second information to the third device;

enter a second sleep mode;

receive a second wake event; and

receive the second information from the third device; and

a third device comprising;

a third communication interface;

a third control system communicatively coupled to the third communication interface and comprising at least one third hardware processor and a third memory storing program codes operable to;

receive the first information from the first device;

receive the second information from the second device;

send the first information to the first device after the first wake event; and

send the second information to the second device after the second wake event.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first, second, and third devices are selected from the group consisting of:

cellular telephones, smart phones, personal digital assistants, tablets, pagers, two-way radios, netbooks, barcode scanners, radio frequency identification (RFID) readers, intelligent sensors, tracking devices, and smart tags.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the first and second information are selected from the group comprising:

information about the operation of the device, the total operational time of the device, information about the timing and duration of sleep and wake cycles of the device, information about installed software applications and operating systems and respective patches or updates, information about the state and operation of the sensors, data collected by the sensors, data collected from touch screens or keypads of the device, and information on communications between the device and other devices in the network.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the first and second sleep events are selected from a group consisting of:

in response to input received at the first and second devices respectively, in response to a low power state at the first and second devices respectively, in response to a timer at the first and second devices respectively, in response to an absence of a proximity event at the first and second devices respectively, and in response to a message from the third device to the first and second devices respectively.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the first and second wake events are selected from a group consisting of:

in response to input received at the first and second devices respectively, in response to the addition of a power supply to the first and second device respectively, in response to a timer at the first and second devices respectively, in response to a proximity event at the first and second devices respectively, and in response to a message from the third device to the first and second devices respectively.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein identifying the third device as available to receive information comprises:

sending a request to the third device for information regarding the power and storage status of the third device;

receiving information regarding the power and storage status of the third device; and

determining, using the information regarding the power and storage status of the third device, if the third device is available to receive information.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the third device is further operable to:

receive a lightweight signal from the first device, wherein the lightweight signal is indicative of a wake state of the first device; and

receive a lightweight signal from the second device, wherein the lightweight signal is indicative of a wake state of the second device.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the third device is further operable to:

poll the first device to determine if the first device is in a wake state before sending the first information to the first device; and

poll the second device to determine if the second device is in a wake state before sending the second information to the second device.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the third device is further operable to:

receive a request from the first device for the first information; and

receive a request from the second device for the second information.

20. A system, comprising:

a first device comprising;

a first communication interface;

a first control system communicatively coupled to the first communication interface and comprising at least one first hardware processor and a first memory storing program codes operable to;

receive a first sleep event;

identify a third device as available to receive first information;

send the first information to the third device;

enter a first sleep mode;

receive a first wake event; and

receive the first information from a fourth device; and

a second device comprising;

a second communication interface;

a second control system communicatively coupled to the second communication interface and comprising at least one second hardware processor and a second memory storing program codes operable to;

receive a second sleep event;

identify the third device as available to receive second information;

send the second information to the third device;

enter a second sleep mode;

receive a second wake event; and

receive the second information from the fourth device; and

a third device comprising;

a third communication interface;

a third control system communicatively coupled to the third communication interface and comprising at least one third hardware processor and a third memory storing program codes operable to;

receive the first information from the first device;

receive the second information from the second device;

receive a third sleep event;

identify the fourth device as available to receive the first, the second, and third information;

send the first, second, and third information to the fourth device;

enter a third sleep mode;

receive a third wake event; and

receive the third information from the fourth device; and

a fourth device comprising;

a fourth communication interface;

a fourth control system communicatively coupled to the fourth communication interface and comprising at least one fourth hardware processor and a fourth memory storing program codes operable to;

receive the first, second, and third information from the third device;

send the first information to the first device after the first wake event;

send the second information to the second device after the second wake event; and

send the third information to the third device after the third wake event.