Method and system for discovery and transparent status reporting for sensor networks
First Claim
1. A method of monitoring wireless node devices in an electronic article surveillance (“
- EAS”
) system, the method comprising;
polling at least one sensor device in communication with at least one wireless node device for status information, the polling configured to cause the at least one sensor device to transmit a response message having a transmission frame structure including a plurality of fields corresponding to a first communication layer and a second communication layer different from the first communication layer, the response message including sensor status information generated by the at least one sensor node;
receiving a modified response message, the modified response message containing at least one additional field embedded within the plurality of fields of the response message, the at least one additional field including wireless node status information and corresponding to a third communication layer different from the first and second communication layers; and
extracting the wireless node status information from the modified response message.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for monitoring the status of wireless node devices in a network. A network controller polls one or more sensor devices for status information. The sensor devices are in communication with at least one wireless node device. More than one sensor device may be associated with a single wireless node device. The wireless node device appends its own status information to the transmission frame of the sensor device'"'"'s response message, and the transmission frame, containing the address and status information for both the sensor device and the wireless node device, is transmitted to the network controller. The inclusion of the wireless node device address and status information is done without the knowledge of the sensor device.
64 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of monitoring wireless node devices in an electronic article surveillance (“
- EAS”
) system, the method comprising;polling at least one sensor device in communication with at least one wireless node device for status information, the polling configured to cause the at least one sensor device to transmit a response message having a transmission frame structure including a plurality of fields corresponding to a first communication layer and a second communication layer different from the first communication layer, the response message including sensor status information generated by the at least one sensor node; receiving a modified response message, the modified response message containing at least one additional field embedded within the plurality of fields of the response message, the at least one additional field including wireless node status information and corresponding to a third communication layer different from the first and second communication layers; and extracting the wireless node status information from the modified response message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
- EAS”
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6. A wireless node device in an electronic article surveillance (“
- EAS”
) system, the wireless node device being in communication with at least one sensor device, the wireless node device comprising;a wireless transmitter; a receiver configured to receive a response message from the at least one sensor device, the response message having a transmission frame structure including a plurality of fields corresponding to a first communication layer and a second communication layer different from the first communication layer; and a processor in communication with the receiver and the wireless transmitter, the processor configured to; embed at least one additional field within the plurality of fields of the response message, the at least one additional field including wireless node device status information and corresponding to a third communication layer different from the first and second communication layers; and send the response message with the embedded wireless node device status information to the wireless transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 19)
- EAS”
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11. A method of supplying wireless node device status information from a wireless node device to a network controller in an electronic article surveillance (“
- EAS’
) system, the method comprising;establishing communication with at least one sensor device; receiving a response message from the sensor device, the response message having a transmission frame structure including a plurality of fields corresponding to a first communication layer and a second communication layer different from the first communication layer; embedding at least one additional field within the plurality of fields of the transmission frame structure of the response message received from the sensor device, the at least one additional field including wireless node device status information and corresponding to a third communication layer different from the first and second communication layers; and transmitting the response message with the embedded wireless node device status information to the network controller. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
- EAS’
Specification