System and method for commissioning devices

• US 9,762,295 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2012
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: Brandsma, Ewout, Pennings, Maarten Christiaan, Syed, Aly Aamer, van Roermund, Timo, Hendricksen, Ruud, Moonen, Oswald
• Primary Examiner(s): McNally, Kerri
• Assistant Examiner(s): Akhter, Sharmin
• Application Number:
  US13/622,936
• Publication Number:
  US 20130076491A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,819 Days
• Field of Search: 340 31, 340 56, 340 572, 340 101- 106, 34042635-42636, 34053811, 3405391, 3405721-5729
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

According to an aspect of the invention a system for commissioning devices is provided, which system comprises: a first device and a second device; an RFID tag comprised in the first device; a host processor comprised in the first device; wherein the second device is arranged to generate an electromagnetic field; wherein the RFID tag is arranged to detect the electromagnetic field and to wake up the host processor upon detecting said electromagnetic field in order for the second device to communicate with the host processor. Furthermore, a corresponding method for commissioning devices is provided. Since the RFID tag comprised in the first device is arranged to wake up the host processor, an end-user does not have to switch on the first device manually. Therefore, the user interaction is simplified. Furthermore, there is no need for a separate power button on the first device. The latter reduces cost and simplifies the design of the first device.

Claims

1. A system for commissioning devices, the system comprising:

a first device comprising an RFID tag and a host processor;

a second device;

wherein the second device is configured to generate an electromagnetic field, the RFID tag is configured to detect the electromagnetic field and wake up the host processor upon detecting said electromagnetic field in order for the second device to communicate with the host processor, the RFID tag comprises a tag controller which is configured to send a wake-up signal to the host processor in order to wake up the host processor only when data are read from and/or written to a predetermined area of memory; and

a separate wake-up circuit comprising a tag selection detector capable of detecting whether the RFID tag continues interacting for a longer period of time after an initial field is detected in the antenna coil.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second device is configured to read out configuration data from the RFID tag and to use said configuration data to commission the first device.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the configuration data comprise contact data and the second device is configured to use said contact data for establishing a network connection with the first device.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the host processor comprises an interface unit and the second device is configured to establish the network connection with the first device via the interface unit.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first device is a Bluetooth™

headset and the second device is a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the network is a wireless sensor network, the first device is a wireless sensor node, and the second device is configured to commission the wireless sensor node.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein conditions that determine whether or not a wake-up signal is generated are reconfigurable.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the second device is configured to write configuration parameters into a dedicated area of the tag memory in order to reconfigure said conditions, and the host processor is configured to write configuration parameters into said dedicated area by means of a host connection in order to reconfigure said conditions.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second device writes configuration parameters into a dedicated area of the tag memory in order to reconfigure said conditions, and the host processor writes configuration parameters into said dedicated area by means of a host connection in order to reconfigure said conditions.

10. A method for commissioning a first device comprising an RFID tag and a host processor and a second device, the method comprising:

detecting, with the RFID tag, an electromagnetic field generated by the second device;

waking up the host processor upon detecting an electromagnetic field in order for the second device to communicate with the host processor;

sending, with a tag controller in the RFID tag, a wake-up signal to the host processor in order to wake up the host processor only when data are read from and/or written to predetermined areas of a tag memory; and

detecting, with a tag selection detector, whether the RFID tag continues interacting for a longer period of time after an initial field is detected in the antenna coil.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

reading, with the second device, configuration data comprised in the RFID tag; and

using the configuration data to commission the first device.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the configuration data comprise contact data and wherein the second device uses said contact data for establishing a network connection with the first device.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the contact data comprise a Media Access Control (MAC) address and a public key.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising:

encrypting, with the second device, network parameters with the public key; and

sending the encrypted network parameters to the host processor utilizing the MAC address, wherein the host processor receives the encrypted network parameters and decrypts the network parameters with a private key corresponding to the public key.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the host processor uses the decrypted network parameters for establishing the network connection.

16. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein, subsequent to establishing the network connection, the first device sends a message to the second device for initiating a control relationship between the first device and the second device.

17. A system for commissioning devices, the system comprising:

a first device comprising an RFID tag and a host processor; and

a second device, wherein the second device is configured to generate an electromagnetic field, the RFID tag is configured to detect the electromagnetic field, wake up the host processor upon detecting said electromagnetic field in order for the second device to communicate with the host processor, and detect said electromagnetic field and wake up the host processor by means of a separate wake-up circuit, wherein the separate wake-up circuit comprises a tag selection detector capable of detecting whether the RFID tag continues interacting for a longer period of time after an initial field is detected in the antenna coil.

18. The system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the separate wake-up circuit shares an antenna coil with the RFID tag.