Method for autonomous establishment and utilization of an active-RF tag network
First Claim
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1. A method comprising the steps of:
- providing a plurality of active RF tags within a volume of interest, each active RF tag comprising an application identifier, wherein said active RF tag maximizes battery life by utilizing a plurality of power consumption modes;
providing at least one data collection node;
registering level n nodes (1≦
n≦
N), which comprise active RF tags accessible directly or indirectly by said data collection node, by compelling level n+1 nodes to report their unit identifiers to level n nodes, updating routing indices of said level n nodes with the unit identifiers of level n+1 nodes, sending to said data collection node by said level n nodes a transmission comprising level n+1 node unit identifiers, and updating registration status of said level n+1 nodes, wherein said updating occurs when said level n+1 nodes receive said transmission;
populating routing indices of registered nodes using connection strings, wherein said routing indices are stored in a data storage device of each registered active RF tag and provide path data for communication between registered nodes; and
communicating data between said active RF tags and said data collection node according to said routing indices;
thereby autonomously establishing and utilizing an active-RF-tag network, wherein said method utilizes a message frame structure for communications, said message frame structure comprising an application identifier field.
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Abstract
Methods to autonomously establish and utilize a network of active RF tags can include the steps of providing a plurality of active RF tags within a volume of interest, providing at least one data collection node, registering the active RF tags, populating a routing index stored in each tag'"'"'s data storage device, and communicating data between the active RF tags and the data collection node according to the routing indices. The method can be implemented on a computer-readable medium.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of active RF tags within a volume of interest, each active RF tag comprising an application identifier, wherein said active RF tag maximizes battery life by utilizing a plurality of power consumption modes; providing at least one data collection node; registering level n nodes (1≦
n≦
N), which comprise active RF tags accessible directly or indirectly by said data collection node, by compelling level n+1 nodes to report their unit identifiers to level n nodes, updating routing indices of said level n nodes with the unit identifiers of level n+1 nodes, sending to said data collection node by said level n nodes a transmission comprising level n+1 node unit identifiers, and updating registration status of said level n+1 nodes, wherein said updating occurs when said level n+1 nodes receive said transmission;populating routing indices of registered nodes using connection strings, wherein said routing indices are stored in a data storage device of each registered active RF tag and provide path data for communication between registered nodes; and communicating data between said active RF tags and said data collection node according to said routing indices; thereby autonomously establishing and utilizing an active-RF-tag network, wherein said method utilizes a message frame structure for communications, said message frame structure comprising an application identifier field. - 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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27. A method comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of active RF tags within a volume of interest, each active RF tag comprising an application identifier, wherein said active RF tag maximizes battery life by utilizing a plurality of power consumption modes; providing at least one data collection node; registering level n nodes (1≦
n≦
N), wherein said level n nodes comprise active RF tags accessible directly or indirectly by said data collection node;populating routing indices of registered nodes using connection strings, wherein said routing indices comprise routing tables having GPS-location data for said registered level n nodes (for ≦
n≦
N), are stored in a data storage device of each registered active RF tag, and provide path data for communication between registered nodes;communicating data between said active RF tags and said data collection node according to said routing indices; thereby autonomously establishing and utilizing an active-RF-tag network, wherein said method utilizes a message frame structure for communications, said message frame structure comprising an application identifier field.
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28. A method comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of active RF tags within a volume of interest, each active RF tag comprising an application identifier that associates the active RF tag with a particular deployment purpose and distinguishes it from other active RF tags having a different deployment purpose, wherein said active RF tag maximizes battery life by utilizing a plurality of power consumption modes; providing at least one data collection node; registering level n nodes (1≦
n≦
N), which comprise active RF tags accessible directly or indirectly by said data collection node, by compelling level n+1 nodes to report their unit identifiers to level n nodes, updating routing indices of said level n nodes with the unit identifiers of level n+1 nodes, sending to said data collection node by said level n nodes a transmission comprising level n+1 node unit identifiers, and updating registration status of said level n+1 nodes, wherein said updating occurs when said level n+1 nodes receive said transmission;populating routing indices of registered nodes using connection strings, wherein said routing indices are stored in a data storage device of each registered active RF tag and provide path data for communication between registered nodes; and communicating data between said active RF tags and said data collection node according to said routing indices; thereby autonomously establishing and utilizing an active-RF-tag network, wherein said method utilizes a message frame structure for communications, said message frame structure comprising an application identifier field.
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29. A method comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of active RF tags within a volume of interest, each active RF tag comprising an application identifier, wherein said active RF tag maximizes battery life by utilizing a plurality of power consumption modes; providing at least one data collection node; registering level n nodes (1≦
n≦
N), wherein said level n nodes comprise active RF tags accessible directly or indirectly by said data collection node;populating routing indices of registered nodes using connection strings, wherein said routing indices are stored in a data storage device of each registered active RF tag and provide path data for communication between registered nodes; communicating data between said active RF tags and said data collection node according to said routing indices; thereby autonomously establishing and utilizing an active-RF-tag network, wherein said method utilizes a message frame structure for communications, said message frame structure comprising an application identifier field and an address field having addresses selected from the group consisting of a target-node unit identifier, a sender-node unit identifier, an originator-node unit identifier, a segment identifier, and combinations thereof, and wherein said sender-node unit identifier is updated when a new tag relays a received message frame.
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30. A method comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of active RF tags within a volume of interest, each active RF tag comprising an application identifier, wherein said active RF tag maximizes battery life by utilizing a plurality of power consumption modes; providing at least one data collection node; registering level n nodes (1≦
n≦
N), wherein said level n nodes comprise active RF tags accessible directly or indirectly by said data collection node;populating routing indices of registered nodes using connection strings, wherein said routing indices are stored in a data storage device of each registered active RF tag and provide path data for communication between registered nodes; communicating data between said active RF tags and said data collection node according to said routing indices; thereby autonomously establishing and utilizing an active-RF-tag network, wherein said method utilizes a message frame structure for communications, said message frame structure comprising an application identifier field and at least one message-descriptor modifier field used to assign said active nodes a transmit time slot when a plurality of active RF tags are transmitting.
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31. A method comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of active RF tags within a volume of interest, each active RF tag comprising an application identifier, wherein said active RF tag maximizes battery life by utilizing a plurality of power consumption modes; providing at least one data collection node; registering level n nodes (1≦
n≦
N), wherein said level n nodes comprise active RF tags accessible directly or indirectly by said data collection node;populating routing indices of registered nodes using connection strings, wherein said routing indices are stored in a data storage device of each registered active RF tag and provide path data for communication between registered nodes; communicating data between said active RF tags and said data collection node according to said routing indices; thereby autonomously establishing and utilizing an active-RF-tag network, wherein said method utilizes a message frame structure for communications, said message frame structure comprising an application identifier field and at least one message-descriptor modifier field used to seed a pseudo-random number generator.
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Specification