System for exchanging information between wireless peripherals and back-end systems via a peripheral hub

• US 9,852,102 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2015
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Kohtz, Robert Arlan, McMahan, Ryan, Schoon, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Shyu, Jing-Yih
• Application Number:
  US14/687,289
• Publication Number:
  US 20160306769A1
• Time in Patent Office: 986 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4221 being an input/output bus, e.g. ISA bus, EISA bus, PCI bus, SCSI bus
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Wireless peripherals may be used by workers to facilitate communication, data entry, data visualization, safety, and security. Typically, these peripherals must communicate with a back-end system; however, direct communication is often impossible. Instead, the peripherals must communicate through an intermediary device (i.e., a base station) to reach the back-end system. To be most effective, the back-end system must be able to adapt its communication/response to a worker'"'"'s identity, location, and/or peripherals. To facilitate this, the present invention embraces a peripheral hub, worn by a worker. The peripheral hub uses information regarding the worker and/or his peripherals to generate a peripheral manifest. The peripheral hub can transmit the peripheral manifest to the back-end system via the base station, and using information from the peripheral manifest, the back-end system may communicate/respond appropriately to the worker.

Claims

1. A peripheral hub for creating and broadcasting a peripheral manifest, comprising:

a computer readable memory for storing a hub identifier (hub-ID) to identify the peripheral hub on a network;

a wireless receiver configured to;

(i) receive wireless signals from peripheral devices, and

(ii) decode the wireless signals to obtain a peripheral identification (peripheral-ID) for each peripheral device;

a processor communicatively coupled to the computer readable memory and the wireless receiver, wherein the processor is configured by a software program stored in the computer readable memory to;

(i) receive the peripheral-IDs from the wireless receiver,

(ii) create a peripheral manifest comprising the peripheral-IDs and the hub-ID, and

(iii) store the peripheral manifest in the computer readable memory; and

a wireless transmitter communicatively coupled to the computer readable memory, wherein the wireless transmitter is configured to;

(i) read the peripheral manifest from the computer readable memory, and

(ii) broadcast the peripheral manifest wirelessly.

2. The peripheral hub according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral hub is worn, held, or otherwise possessed by a worker and the peripheral devices are worn, held, or otherwise possessed by the worker.

3. The peripheral hub according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral devices comprise a voice headset.

4. The peripheral hub according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral devices comprise a handheld scanner.

5. The peripheral hub according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral devices comprise a display to be worn by a worker.

6. The peripheral hub according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral manifest comprises information to identify a worker.

7. The peripheral hub according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral manifest comprises information to facilitate network communication with the peripheral devices.

8. The peripheral hub according to claim 1, wherein the wireless transmitter is configured to broadcast the peripheral manifest repeatedly as a peripheral-manifest beacon.

9. A communication system comprising:

a plurality of peripherals worn, held, or otherwise possessed by a worker, wherein each peripheral is configured to transmit a unique peripheral identifier (peripheral-ID) wirelessly;

a peripheral hub worn, held, or otherwise possessed by the worker and identified on a network by a hub identifier (hub-ID), wherein the peripheral hub is configured to;

(i) receive peripheral-IDs from the plurality of peripherals,

(ii) generate, using the peripheral-IDs and the hub-ID, a peripheral manifest, and

(iii) transmit the peripheral manifest wirelessly;

a base station operable to communicate wirelessly with the peripheral hub and communicatively coupled to the network, wherein the base station is operable to;

(i) receive the peripheral manifest from the peripheral hub, and

(ii) transmit information obtained using the peripheral manifest to the network; and

a back-end system communicatively coupled to the network, wherein the back-end system is configured to;

(i) receive the information transmitted by the base station, and

(ii) establish, using the received information, a communication link with at least one of the plurality of peripherals via the base station.

10. The communication system according to claim 9, wherein the peripheral hub transmits the peripheral manifest in response to a query from the base station.

11. The communication system according to claim 9, wherein the back-end system is an electronic-health-record (EHR) database.

12. The communication system according to claim 9, wherein a particular peripheral'"'"'s unique peripheral identifier (peripheral-ID) comprises information to facilitate communication with the particular peripheral.

13. The communication system according to claim 9, wherein the base station is located in a room and the base station can communicate wirelessly with the peripheral hub only when the peripheral hub is in the same room.

14. The communication system according to claim 13, wherein the room is a hospital room.

15. The communication system according to claim 9, wherein the base station is operable to communicate wirelessly with a plurality of peripheral hubs simultaneously.

16. A communication system comprising:

a plurality of peripherals worn, held, or otherwise possessed by a worker, wherein each peripheral is configured to transmit a unique peripheral identifier (peripheral-ID) wirelessly;

a peripheral hub worn, held, or otherwise possessed by the worker and identified on a network by a hub identifier (hub-ID), wherein the peripheral hub is configured to;

(i) receive peripheral-IDs from the plurality of peripherals,

(ii) generate, using the peripheral-IDs and the hub-ID, a peripheral manifest, and

(iii) transmit the peripheral manifest wirelessly;

a base station operable to communicate wirelessly with the peripheral hub and communicatively coupled to the network, wherein the base station is operable to;

(i) receive the peripheral manifest from the peripheral hub, and

(ii) transmit information obtained using the peripheral manifest to the network; and

a back-end system communicatively coupled to the network and configured to respond to a particular set of peripheral IDs, wherein the back-end system is configured to;

(i) receive the peripheral manifest, and

(ii) if the particular set of peripheral-IDs is represented in the peripheral manifest, transmit a response to the base station.

17. The communication system according to 16, wherein the base station comprises a door lock and the back-end system'"'"'s transmitted response is a signal to open the door lock.

18. The communication system according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of peripherals comprises a piece of equipment having an attached wireless module for communication with the peripheral hub.

19. The communication system according to claim 16, wherein the base station wirelessly communicates with the peripheral hub only when the peripheral hub is brought within a predetermined distance from the base station.

20. The communication system according to claim 16, wherein the base station is in a fixed location and the back-end system is in a remote location with respect to the peripheral hub.