Pairing wireless devices of a network using relative gain arrays

• US 8,705,423 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2012
• Issued: 04/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tyco Fire & Security GmbH (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Salsbury, Timothy I., Botic, James S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alizada, Omeed
• Application Number:
  US13/692,894
• Publication Number:
  US 20130095868A1
• Time in Patent Office: 505 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/253, 370/332, 370/333, 370/328, 370/310
• US Class Current: 370/310
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A method for pairing a first wireless device with a second wireless device includes gathering a first wireless communications characteristic about communications between the first wireless device and the second wireless device. The method further includes gathering second wireless communications characteristics about communications between the first wireless device and at least one wireless device other than the second wireless device. The method further includes generating a relative gain array from the communications characteristics and computing the pairing between the first wireless device and the second wireless device using the generated relative gain array. The method further includes configuring the first wireless device and/or the second wireless device based on the computed pairing.

Claims

1. A method for pairing a first wireless device with a second wireless device, comprising:

gathering a first wireless communications strength indicator about communications between the first wireless device and the second wireless device;

gathering second wireless communications strength indicator about communications between the first wireless device and at least one wireless device other than the second wireless device;

generating a relative gain array using the first and second wireless communications strength indicators;

computing the pairing between the first wireless device and the second wireless device using the generated relative gain array; and

configuring at least one of the first wireless device and the second wireless device based on the computed pairing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second wireless communications strength indicators are at least one of signal strength measurements and signal to noise ratios.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the relative gain array further comprises:

generating at least one data structure storing the first and second wireless communications strength indicators; and

calculating power level values for each of the values in the at least one data structure; and

populating the relative gain array based on the calculated power level values.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein calculating power level values includes utilizing a decibel-to-power level conversion formula.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein computing the pairing between the first wireless device and the second wireless device using the generated relative gain array includes selecting device-to-device pairs having a relative gain array value closest to one.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second wireless communications characteristics are indicia of signal strength measurements and are adjusted based on one of a signal range and a noise level.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second wireless communications strength indicators are computed indicia of signal quality determined by a weighting function.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring at least one of the first wireless device and the second wireless device based on the computed pairing comprises storing the address of the second wireless device in a memory device of the first wireless device or storing the address of the first wireless device in a memory device of the second wireless device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the first wireless device and/or the second wireless device based on the computed pairing comprises storing the pairing in a memory device of a controller.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a graphical representation of the relative gain array and indicia of the computed pairing on a computer display.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless device is a sensor device for a building automation system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the second wireless device is a controller for a building automation system and is configured to control sensor devices such as the first wireless devices.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the steps of the method are conducted for at least four wireless devices for pairing in a meshed network.

14. A controller for pairing a network of more than three wireless devices, comprising:

a communications interface;

a processing circuit configured to use information received at the communications interface to gather indications of signal strength between each possible pair of the more than three wireless devices, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to generate a relative gain array using the gathered indications of signal strength, and wherein the processing circuit is further configured to compute a pairing determination using the generated relative gain array and to cause the pairing to be sent to at least one of (a) a memory device local to the controller and (b) a first wireless device of the network.

15. The controller of claim 14, wherein the processing circuit is configured to generate the relative gain array by creating a data structure storing an indication of strength for each possible pairing, wherein the processing circuit is configured to calculate power levels for the values in the data structure.

16. The controller of claim 15, wherein the communications interface is one of a wired communications interface and a wireless communications interface.

17. The controller of claim 15, wherein the processing circuit is configured to utilize a decibel-to-power level conversion formula to calculate the power levels.

18. The controller of claim 14, wherein computing the pairing between the first wireless device and the second wireless device using the generated relative gain array includes selecting device-to-device pairs having a relative gain array value closest to one.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program code for causing a controller to pair nodes of a network, the computer readable medium comprising:

program code for gathering wireless communications characteristics of communications between the nodes of the network;

program code for generating a relative gain array of the wireless communications characteristics of the communications between the nodes of the network;

program code for computing pairing determinations using the generated relative gain array; and

program code for configuring the nodes of the network using the pairing determinations.

20. A server computer configured to provide program code to a client computer, the program code for causing the client computer to pair nodes of a network, the server computer comprising:

a communications interface for communicating with the client computer; and

a processing circuit for accessing a memory device storing the program code, the program code comprising;

(a) program code for gathering wireless communications characteristics of communications between the nodes of the network,

(b) program code for generating a relative gain array of the wireless communications characteristics of the communications between the nodes of the network,

(c) program code for computing pairing determinations using the generated relative gain array, and

(d) program code for configuring the nodes of the network using the pairing determinations.