Method for managing a set of communicating objects allowing the propagation of a signal, notably a wake instruction, between said objects

• US 9,665,751 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2015
• Issued: 05/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique (AES Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique (AES Corporation)
• Inventors: Thomas, Thierry, Descharles, Mlanie, Lhermet, Hlne, Lionti, Rosolino
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): Point, Rufus
• Application Number:
  US14/692,438
• Publication Number:
  US 20150302233A1
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10366 the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/45 Transponders
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer

Abstract

The method for managing a set (100) of communicating objects (101), which are distributed such that each object (101) in the set (100) is neighboring at least one other object (101) in said set (100) so as to form a pair of neighboring objects that are capable of communicating with one another, has the following steps: activation (E1) of an initial object (101a) chosen among the objects (101) in the set (100); propagation (E2), from the activated initial object (101a), of a signal to each of the other objects in the set, said propagation being configured such that each of said other objects in the set has received, at the end of the step of propagation (E2), said signal from at least one neighboring object belonging to said set at least once.

Claims

1. A method for managing a set of communicating objects that are distributed so that each object in the set is neighbouring at least one other object in said set so as to form a pair of neighbouring objects that are configured so as to communicate with one another, wherein, in each pair of neighbouring objects, the objects of the pair are directly placed beside one another without interposition of another of said objects, said method comprising:

activating an initial object chosen among the objects in the set, and

propagating, from the activated initial object, a signal to each of the other objects in the set, said propagation being configured so that each of said other objects in the set has received, at the end of the propagating, said signal from at least one neighbouring object belonging to said set at least once,

wherein the propagated signal is a wake instruction,

wherein, each of the objects in the set being in a passive state, a change from a passive state to an active state of the initial object is performed by the activating causing a supply of power to at least one reader of the initial object and a transmission of an electromagnetic field by said at least one reader for transmitting the wake instruction to a corresponding neighbouring object, and

wherein the change from a passive state to an active state of each of the other objects in the set is performed by supplying power to a radio tag of said object in the passive state, said supply of power being caused by an electromagnetic field transmitted by a reader of a neighbouring object in the active state, said supply of power to the radio tag of said object in the passive state causing;

a setup of a communication link between said reader of the neighbouring object in the active state and said radio tag of said object in the passive state,

a transmission, via the communication link that has been set up, of the wake instruction by said reader of the neighbouring object in the active state, and

a reception, by said radio tag of said object in the passive state, of said wake instruction causing the implementation of supplying power to at least one reader of said object in the passive state, its change to the active state, and a transmission, by said at least one powered reader, of an electromagnetic field with the aim of transmitting said wake instruction.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the set of objects is configured to adopt a standby configuration in which all the objects in the set are in the passive state and a wake configuration in which all the objects in the set are in the active state, the change from the standby configuration to the wake configuration being implemented by the propagating, said propagated signal then being the wake instruction.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, when said radio tag of said object in the passive state receives said wake instruction, the method comprises authenticating the wake instruction by said radio tag with the aim of verifying that the wake instruction is indeed an authorized wake instruction, and if the wake instruction is authenticated, causing implementation of the supply of power to at least one reader of said object in the passive state, the change of said object to the active state, and the transmission, by said at least one powered reader, of the electromagnetic field with the aim of transmitting said wake instruction.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein each object in the set has a plurality of communicating elements, each pair of neighbouring objects having two objects that are configured so as to communicate directly with one another solely by means of a single communicating element of one of the objects in the pair of neighbouring objects and a single communicating element of the other of the objects in the pair of neighbouring objects, and wherein the propagating of said signal includes a direct communication of the signal between said two objects in one and the same pair of neighbouring objects.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein each communicating element has a reader and a radio tag, and wherein the supplying of power to a radio tag of one of the communicating elements of an object by a neighbouring object causes, in an event of reception of the wake instruction by said powered radio tag, the supply of power to each of the readers of the other communicating elements of said object.

6. The method according to claim 1, comprising generating a neighborhood inventory for the objects in the set from data generated by each of the objects in the set following reception of said signal, said inventory having, for each object in the set, a list comprising information relating to each object that is neighbouring said object.

7. The method according to claim 6, comprising using the data from the neighborhood inventory to generate mapping for a spatial arrangement of the objects in the set in relation to one another.

8. The method according to claim 7, comprising generating, for each object in the set, a communication path between the initial object and said object using a communication capabilities of at least one of (i) said initial object and (ii) at least one intermediate object situated on said communication path.

9. The method according to claim 8, comprising interrogating an object chosen among the set, the interrogating comprising:

transmitting an interrogation request from the initial object, said transmitted request propagating along the corresponding communication path until it reaches the chosen object, and

responding to the request, said response being transmitted by the chosen object and propagating along the corresponding communication path as far as the initial object.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein the generating of the inventory comprises a first object in the set drawing up a first list comprising information relating to each object that is neighbouring said first object.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the generating of the inventory includes a step of an enrichment of the inventory in which a second object transmits a second list, comprising information relating to each neighbouring object, to said first object, said first and second objects being neighbours, said first object enriching the inventory by including the first list of neighbouring objects that is associated with an identifier of said first object and the second list from the second object that is associated with an identifier of said second object.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the generating of the inventory includes enriching the inventory in which the first object transmits the first list to a second object, the second object being the one that transmitted said signal to the first object.

13. A storage installation comprising a set of communicating objects that are distributed that each object in the set of objects is neighbouring at least one other object in said set so as to form a pair of neighbouring objects that are configured so as to communicate with one another, said installation comprising elements that are configured so as to implement the method according to claim 1.

16. The method according to claim 2, wherein, when said radio tag of said object in the passive state receives said wake instruction, the method comprises authenticating the wake instruction by said radio tag with the aim of verifying that the wake instruction is indeed an authorized wake instruction, and if the wake instruction is authenticated, causing implementation of the supply of power to at least one reader of said object in the passive state, the change of said object to the active state, and the transmission, by said at least one powered reader, of the electromagnetic field with the aim of transmitting said wake instruction.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein each object in the set has a plurality of communicating elements, each pair of neighbouring objects having two objects that are configured so as to communicate directly with one another solely by means of a single communicating element of one of the objects in the pair of neighbouring objects and a single communicating element of the other of the objects in the pair of neighbouring objects, and wherein the propagating of said signal includes a direct communication of the signal between said two objects in one and the same pair of neighbouring objects.

18. The method according to claim 2, wherein each object in the set has a plurality of communicating elements, each pair of neighbouring objects having two objects that are configured so as to communicate directly with one another solely by means of a single communicating element of one of the objects in the pair of neighbouring objects and a single communicating element of the other of the objects in the pair of neighbouring objects, and wherein the propagating of said signal includes a direct communication of the signal between said two objects in one and the same pair of neighbouring objects.

19. The method according to claim 7, wherein the generating of the inventory comprises a first object in the set drawing up a first list comprising information relating to each object that is neighbouring said first object.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the generating of the inventory includes an enrichment of the inventory in which a second object transmits a second list, comprising information relating to each neighbouring object, to said first object, said first and second objects being neighbours, said first object enriching the inventory by including the first list of neighbouring objects that is associated with an identifier of said first object and the second list from the second object that is associated with an identifier of said second object.

14. A communicating object intended to be stored in a storage installation comprising a set of communicating objects that are distributed such so that each object in the set of objects is neighbouring at least one other object in said set so as to form a pair of neighbouring objects that are configured so as to communicate with one another, said communicating objects being configured to implement a method comprising:

activating an initial object chosen among the objects in the set, and

propagating, from the activated initial object, a signal to each of the other objects in the set, said propagation being configured so that each of said other objects in the set has received, at the end of the propagating, said signal from at least one neighbouring object belonging to said set at least once,

wherein the propagated signal is a wake instruction,

wherein, each of the objects in the set being in a passive state, a change from a passive state to an active state of the initial object is performed by the activating causing a supply of power to at least one reader of the initial object and a transmission of an electromagnetic field by said at least one reader for transmitting the wake instruction to a corresponding neighbouring object, and

wherein the change from a passive state to an active state of each of the other objects in the set is performed by supplying power to a radio tag of said object in the passive state, said supply of power being caused by an electromagnetic field transmitted by a reader of a neighbouring object in the active state, said supply of power to the radio tag of said object in the passive state causing;

a setup of a communication link between said reader of the neighbouring object in the active state and said radio tag of said object in the passive state,

a transmission, via the communication link that has been set up, of the wake instruction by said reader of the neighbouring object in the active state, and

a reception, by said radio tag of said object in the passive state, of said wake instruction causing the implementation of supplying power to at least one reader of said object in the passive state, its change to the active state, and a transmission, by said at least one powered reader, of an electromagnetic field with the aim of transmitting said wake instruction,

wherein the communicating object comprises a plurality of communicating elements that are each disposed on different faces of the communicating object, and

wherein each communicating element is configured to receive a signal and to transmit the signal to the other communicating elements on the communicating object, said other communicating elements being configured to propagate, following reception of said transmitted signal, said received signal to the outside of said communicating object.

15. The object according to claim 14, wherein each communicating element has:

a reader configured to transmit an electromagnetic field allowing wireless powering of a radio tag of another communicating object, and

a radio tag configured to be powered by the electromagnetic field transmitted by the reader of another communicating object.