Remote data acquisition and communication system
First Claim
1. A remote data acquisition and communication system, comprising:
- a large number of data collector devices each comprising a radio transmitter, with all of said radio transmitters designed to transmit at the same carrier frequency and each of said collector devices designed to transmit a data transmission at said frequency at each of a plurality of specified intervals of substantially identical duration, each collector device being designed to pseudo-randomly select the time of its first data transmission after it is at a random time first supplied with electrical power, and each collector device being designed to pseudo-randomly very slightly change the duration of the interval between its data transmissions, whereby said time intervals for each collector device have beginning and end times which are independently randomly related to those of other collector devices in the system;
and a plurality of controller devices, each including a radio transmitter also designed to operate at said carrier frequency, a radio receiver for receiving data transmissions at said carrier frequency, and a memory for storing received data;
and a data management platform computer for receiving data transmissions, controlling the system and processing the received data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A remote data acquisition and communication system includes a plurality of collector devices including a radio transmitter, optionally a plurality of concentrator devices including a radio transmitter, a radio receiver and a memory, a plurality of controller devices including a radio transmitter, a radio receiver and a memory, optionally a plurality of data communications nodes coupled to corresponding concentrator devices via a first communications link, and a data management platform computer coupled to the data communications nodes or the next lower level of devices via a second communications link. The collector devices, concentrator devices and controller devices communicate with one another via RF communications, preferably a single communication channel at a single carrier frequency. The collector devices preferably transmit data to the concentrator devices at intervals of between 4 to 6 hours and in preferred transmission bursts of less than 200 milliseconds, to minimize collisions between transmissions from different collector devices, and the transmitted data is sorted and redundancies discarded for each desired period of data keeping, i.e., typically daily.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A remote data acquisition and communication system, comprising:
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a large number of data collector devices each comprising a radio transmitter, with all of said radio transmitters designed to transmit at the same carrier frequency and each of said collector devices designed to transmit a data transmission at said frequency at each of a plurality of specified intervals of substantially identical duration, each collector device being designed to pseudo-randomly select the time of its first data transmission after it is at a random time first supplied with electrical power, and each collector device being designed to pseudo-randomly very slightly change the duration of the interval between its data transmissions, whereby said time intervals for each collector device have beginning and end times which are independently randomly related to those of other collector devices in the system; and a plurality of controller devices, each including a radio transmitter also designed to operate at said carrier frequency, a radio receiver for receiving data transmissions at said carrier frequency, and a memory for storing received data; and a data management platform computer for receiving data transmissions, controlling the system and processing the received data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification