Universal Protocol Translator

• US 20170289317A1
• Filed: 03/29/2017
• Published: 10/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Resolution Products, LLC
• Original Assignee: Resolution Products, Inc. (Alula Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Seemann, Brian K., Mayne, David J., Saldin, Paul G., Mondor, Daniel, Hauser, Joshua
• Granted Patent: US 10,516,765 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/02 Power saving arrangements in wired systems H04L12/12; signaling of mobile application services, e.g. low battery notifications H04W4/20
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

In one implementation, a universal translator device for translating protocols, the device includes one or more peripheral device interfaces through which communication from one or more peripheral devices is received using any of a plurality of protocols; a protocol translator that is (i) preconfigured with translation mappings to translate between each possible permutation of the plurality of protocols and (ii) programmed to translate, using the translation mappings, signals received from the peripheral devices into at least one target protocol; and a wireless interface that is configured to transmit wireless signals in the target protocol, the wireless signals having been translated into the target protocol by the protocol translator.

Claims

1. A universal translator device for translating protocols, the device comprising:

one or more peripheral device interfaces through which communication from one or more peripheral devices is received using any of a plurality of protocols;

a protocol translator that is (i) preconfigured with translation mappings to translate between each possible permutation of the plurality of protocols and (ii) programmed to translate, using the translation mappings, signals received from the peripheral devices into at least one target protocol; and

a wireless interface that is configured to transmit wireless signals in the target protocol, the wireless signals having been translated into the target protocol by the protocol translator.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the protocol translator is further programmed to automatically discover one or more particular protocols and device types for the one or more peripheral devices based on signals that are communicated by the one or more peripheral devices and without explicit identification by a human operator of the one or more particular protocols or the device types.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein:

the signals communications by the one or more peripheral devices are wireless signals transmitted by the one or more peripheral devices,

the one or more protocols and the device types are automatically discovered based on the wireless signal, and

the automatic discovery includes determining a configuration for the target protocol based on identified changes in particular bits in wireless packets transmitted over time by the one or more peripheral devices.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein:

the signals communicated by the one or more peripheral devices are wired signals transmitted over one or more hardwired connections between by the one or more peripheral devices and the device,

configuration of the one or more hardwired connections is automatically discovered based on the wired signals, and

the automatic discovery of the one or more protocols and the device types includes, at least, (i) automatically dropping power, by the device, to the one or more peripheral devices and (ii) identifying whether electrical behavior on the one or more wires of the one or more hardwired connections changes in response to the power being automatically dropped.

5. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

an external power source adapter to connect to an external power source for powering the device; and

a backup battery to provide power to the device in the event that insufficient power is received from the external power source,

wherein;

the one or more peripheral devices include at least (i) perimeter sensors that monitor breaches to a perimeter of the building, and (ii) internal sensors that monitor an internal environment within the building,

the protocol translator is further programmed to, while external power source is not supplying power, (i) detect the charge condition of the backup battery for powering the device, and (ii) to automatically cut power to, at least, the internal sensors in response to identifying the charge condition.

6. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a first selector through which a user is able to designate one or more particular protocols for the one or more peripheral devices; and

a second selector through which a user is able to designate the target protocol.

7. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a configuration lock mechanism through which a protocol mapping used between the one or more peripheral devices and the target protocol is permanently locked.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the configuration lock mechanism includes one or more of:

a wire that, when cut, permanently locks the protocol mapping, and

a timer that is automatically started when the device is initially programmed with the protocol mapping and that, when expired, permanently locks the protocol mapping.

9. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a local repository of verified wireless characteristics of wireless signals transmitted by the one or more peripheral devices,

wherein;

the protocol translator is programmed to perform an anti-spoofing check on wireless signals purported to be from the one or more peripheral devices before translating the signals using the translation mappings,

the anti-spoofing check includes (i) identifying received wireless characteristics for the wireless signals purported to be from the one or more peripheral devices, (ii) comparing the received wireless characteristics to the verified wireless characteristics for the one or more peripheral devices, and (iii) blocking any wireless signals from being translated that have corresponding received wireless characteristics that do not correspond to the verified wireless characteristics for the one or more peripheral devices.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein, in response to certain unique conditions of the device being powered down and then being powered back up, the protocol translator automatically transitions to operating in a configuration mode of operation, to further configure devices already enrolled (in the translator) for a period of time.

28. The device of claim 5, wherein the protocol translator is further programmed to, while external power source is not supplying power, automatically restore power to the internal sensors, while still operating under the battery backup, in response to detecting that the perimeter sensors indicate that the perimeter of the building has been breached.

29. The device of claim 10, wherein, further in response to certain unique conditions of the device being powered down and then being powered back up, the protocol translator automatically transitions back to operating in a normal translation mode of operation after expiration of the period of time.

11. A universal wireless system translator:

configured to receive wireless transmissions from wireless sensor-transmitters utilizing any of multiple different wireless transmission protocols, and communicate translated wireless sensor-transmissions to a control panel utilizing any of multiple different wireless transmission protocols; and

utilizing an intermediate protocol in a process of translating a wireless transmission received from a sensor-transmitter in a first wireless transmission protocol to a wireless transmission sent to a control panel in a second wireless transmission protocol.

12. The universal wireless system translator of claim 11, wherein the intermediate protocol is a superset of the multiple different protocols.

13. A universal wireless system translator:

configured to receive wireless transmissions from wireless sensor-transmitters utilizing any of multiple different wireless transmission protocols, and communicate translated wireless sensor-transmissions to a control panel utilizing any of multiple different wireless transmission protocols; and

having a multiple channel buffering structure, wherein each channel of the multiple channel buffering structure is configured to store transmissions from one of a plurality of sensor-transmitters before translating a received wireless transmission from a sensor-transmitter in a first wireless transmission protocol to a wireless transmission to be sent to a control panel in a second wireless transmission protocol.

14. The universal wireless system translator of claim 13, wherein each channel is configured to store multiple different states for one of the plurality of sensor-transmitters.

15. The universal wireless system translator of claim 13, wherein the wireless transmission protocols are each one-way protocols that use multiple duplicate transmissions to increase a probability of accurate receipt in view of possible collision with other wireless transmissions

16. The universal wireless system translator of claim 13, wherein the translator is configured to determine whether a received wireless transmission from a sensor-transmitter already has previously stored message in a channel of the buffering structure with the same state as the received wireless transmission, and if so treat that received wireless transmission as a duplicate.

17. The universal wireless system translator of claim 13, wherein the translator is configured to translate and wireless transmit multiple duplicate wireless transmissions for each received wireless transmission stored in a channel of the buffer structure with a particular state.

18. The universal wireless system translator of claim 13, wherein the translator is processing a wireless transmission stored in a first channel of the buffer structure having a first state, the translator processes wireless transmissions stored in second and higher channels of the buffer structure even if the first channel requires more transmissions be sent for that first state or includes a second state, and cycles through the wireless transmissions stored in the buffer channels by transmitting packets alternately from each channel until all transmissions are sent.

19. A method of enrolling a multiple-input sensor-transmitter into a translator device that receives wireless transmissions from wireless sensor-transmitters utilizing a first wireless transmission protocol and communicates translated wireless sensor-transmissions to a control panel utilizing a second wireless transmission protocol, the method comprising:

enrolling a multiple-input sensor-transmitter into a translator device using a wireless transmission in a first wireless transmission protocol sent from the multiple-input sensor-transmitter, wherein the first wireless transmission protocol includes multiple different fields each corresponding to one of multiple different sensor inputs for a multiple-input sensor-transmitter; and

after enrollment of the multiple-input sensor-transmitter, the translator determining whether the multiple different fields in subsequent wireless transmissions include a state change, and if so further storing in the translator configuration information indicating which of the inputs of the multiple-input sensor is being utilized.

20. A method of configuring a wireless system comprising a control panel and one or more wireless sensor-transmitters, comprising:

placing an assistance device in a user selectable assist mode in which the assistance device is operable to assist in configuring a wireless sensor-transmitter into a control panel;

receiving at the assistance device a first wireless transmission from a sensor-transmitter when the assistance device is placed in the user selectable assist mode; and

upon receiving the first wireless transmission, transmitting, by the assistance device, subsequent wireless transmissions on behalf of the sensor-transmitter and for receipt by the control panel, the subsequent wireless transmissions having a predefined characteristic that causes a configuration process to be performed with respect to the sensor-transmitter in the control panel.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein user selectable assist mode is selected by having a normally closed cover of the assistance device open.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the assistance device is translator.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein different protocols for receive and transmit from assistance device.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the configuration process is enrollment of sensor.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the transmission to the control panel is on-off sequence predefined for enrollment.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the received transmission is a transmission induced by a change in state of a sensor associated with the sensor-transmitter.

27. The method of claim 20, wherein the received transmission is a special transmission predefined in a configuration process for the sensor-transmitter.