Ad-hoc wireless sensor package

• US 9,893,551 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2013
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Cheatham, III, Jesse R., Dyor, Matthew G., Glaskowsky, Peter N., Hallman, Kimberly D. A., Hyde, Roderick A., Ishikawa, Muriel Y., Jung, Edward K. Y., Koenig, Michael F., Lord, Robert W., Lord, Richard T., Mundie, Craig J., Myhrvold, Nathan P., Petroski, Robert C., Tan, Desney S., Wood, Jr., Lowell L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Toan
• Application Number:
  US14/020,604
• Publication Number:
  US 20140180630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,621 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/001 Energy harvesting or scavenging
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/30 using light, e.g. lasers
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/40 using two or more transmitting or receiving devices H02J50/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/80 involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/02 for charging batteries from ac mains by converters

Abstract

Systems, methods, computer-readable storage mediums including computer-readable instructions and/or circuitry for control of transmission to a target device with communicating with one or more sensors in an ad-hoc sensor network may implement operations including, but not limited to: receiving electrical power via at least one structurally integrated electrically conductive element; and powering one or more sensing operations of one or more sensors via the electrical power.

Claims

1. A method for powering one or more sensors in an ad-hoc sensor network comprising:

transmitting one or more sensor acquisition signals via one or more sensor monitoring devices;

determining a location of one or more sensors within a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors based at least partially on the one or more sensor acquisition signals, the one or more sensors integrated into one or more sensor devices;

determining that one or more sheets containing at least one inductive element is proximate to the determined location of the one or more sensor devices;

powering the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element proximate to the determined location of the one or more sensor devices; and

powering one or more sensing operations of the one or more sensors via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices and the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element.

2. A system for powering one or more sensors in an ad-hoc sensor network comprising:

circuitry for transmitting one or more sensor acquisition signals via one or more sensor monitoring devices;

circuitry for determining a location of one or more sensors within a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors based at least partially on the one or more sensor acquisition signals, the one or more sensors integrated into one or more sensor devices;

circuitry for determining that one or more sheets containing at least one inductive element is proximate to the determined location of the one or more sensor devices;

circuitry for powering the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element proximate to the determined location of the one or more sensor devices; and

circuitry for powering one or more sensing operations of the one or more sensors via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices and the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for powering one or more sensing operations of the one or more sensors via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices and the at least one inductive element comprises:

circuitry for powering the one or more sensor devices via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices with an inductive element enclosed within a portion of a partition defining a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the circuitry for powering the one or more of the sensor devices via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices with the at least one inductive element comprises:

circuitry for receiving electrical power at the one or more sensor devices via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices with an inductive element enclosed within a portion of drywall defining a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors.

5. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

circuitry for wirelessly receiving one or more signals indicative of a location of the one or more sensors to one or more sensor monitoring devices at least partially in response to the transmitted one or more sensor acquisition signals.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

circuitry for transmitting, to the one or more sensors, one or more wireless signals directionally transmitted from one or more sensor monitoring devices according to the location of the at least one sensor.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the circuitry for transmitting, to the one or more sensors, one or more wireless signals comprises:

circuitry for transmitting, to the one or more sensors, one or more wireless radio frequency signals from the one or more sensor monitoring devices.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the circuitry for transmitting, to the one or more sensors, one or more wireless signals comprises:

circuitry for receiving, at the one or more sensors, one or more wireless optical frequency signals from the one or more sensor monitoring devices.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the circuitry for transmitting, to the one or more sensors, one or more wireless signals comprises:

circuitry for transmitting, to the one or more sensors, one or more wireless sensor operation activation signals transmitted according to one or more external control signals.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the circuitry for transmitting, to the one or more sensors, one or more wireless signals comprises:

circuitry for transmitting, to the one or more sensors, one or more wireless sensor operation activation signals transmitted according to one or more external control signals received from one or more switches.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for powering one or more sensing operations of the one or more sensors via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices and the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element comprises:

circuitry for powering at least one of one or more thermal sensing operations or one or more pressure sensing operations of a sensor.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for powering one or more sensing operations of the one or more sensors via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices and the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element comprises:

circuitry for powering one or more motion sensing operations of a sensor.

13. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for powering one or more sensing operations of the one or more sensors via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices and the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element comprises:

circuitry for powering one or more image sensing operations of a sensor.

14. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for powering one or more sensing operations of the one or more sensors via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices and the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element comprises:

circuitry for powering one or more audio sensing operations of a sensor.

15. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

circuitry for wirelessly receiving, via at least one sensor, one or more signals indicative of a presence of a sensor within a portion of a region to be monitored by a sensor monitoring device.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the circuitry for wirelessly receiving, via at least one sensor, one or more signals indicative of a presence of a sensor within a portion of a region to be monitored by a sensor monitoring device comprises:

circuitry for wirelessly receiving, via at least one sensor, one or more signals indicative of a sensor type associated with a particular sensor.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the circuitry for wirelessly receiving, via at least one sensor, one or more signals indicative of a presence of a sensor within a portion of a region to be monitored by a sensor monitoring device comprises:

circuitry for wirelessly receiving, via at least one sensor, one or more signals indicative of one or more sensor operation parameters to at least one sensor monitoring device.

18. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for powering one or more sensing operations of the one or more sensors via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices and the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element comprises:

circuitry for powering one or more electromagnetic radiation sensing operations of a sensor.

19. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

circuitry for wirelessly receiving sensor data from the one or more sensors via at least one of the one or more sensor monitoring devices.

20. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for determining a location of one or more sensors within a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors based at least partially on the one or more sensor acquisition signals, the one or more sensors integrated into one or more sensor devices comprises:

circuitry for determining the location of one or more sensor devices relative to one or more other sensor devices.

21. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for determining a location of one or more sensors within a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors based at least partially on the one or more sensor acquisition signals, the one or more sensors integrated into one or more sensor devices comprises:

circuitry for determining the location of one or more sensor devices relative to the one or more sensor monitoring devices.

22. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for determining a location of one or more sensors within a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors based at least partially on the one or more sensor acquisition signals, the one or more sensors integrated into one or more sensor devices comprises:

circuitry for determining the location of one or more sensor devices based at least partially on at least one scan of the region to be monitored.

23. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for powering the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element proximate to the determined location of the one or more sensor devices comprises:

circuitry for applying power to one or more sheets containing at least one inductive element based at least partially on a determination that the one or more sheets is proximate to the determined location of the one or more sensor devices.

24. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for determining a location of one or more sensors within a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors based at least partially on the one or more sensor acquisition signals, the one or more sensors integrated into one or more sensor devices comprises:

circuitry for determining at least one optimal location for the one or more sensor devices based at least partially on the determined one or more sheets containing at least one inductive element.

25. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

circuitry configured for storing at least some of the received power.

26. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for transmitting one or more sensor acquisition signals via one or more sensor monitoring devices comprises:

circuitry configured for scanning one or more regions to be monitored by the one or more sensors with the one or more sensor monitoring devices.

27. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry for determining a location of one or more sensors within a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors based at least partially on the one or more sensor acquisition signals, the one or more sensors integrated into one or more sensor devices comprises:

circuitry configured for determining at least some location data regarding the one or more sensors responsive to the one or more sensor acquisition signals; and

circuitry configured for storing the determined at least some location data regarding the one or more sensors.

28. A system for powering one or more sensors in an ad-hoc sensor network comprising:

one or more sensor monitoring devices;

one or more sensors disposed within a region to be monitored;

at least one sheet containing at least one inductive element proximate to a determined location of the one or more sensor devices, the location determined based at least partially on one or more sensor acquisition signals sent by at least one of the one or more sensor monitoring devices;

an electrical power source interface operably coupling the at least one inductive element to at least one power source; and

one or more sensors inductively coupled to the at least one inductive element and configured to receive electrical power from the at least one power source via the inductive element.

29. A system for powering one or more sensors in an ad-hoc sensor network comprising:

at least one processor device; and

one or more instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor device, program the at least one processor device to perform one or more operations including at least;

transmitting one or more sensor acquisition signals via one or more sensor monitoring devices;

determining a location of one or more sensors within a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors based at least partially on the one or more sensor acquisition signals, the one or more sensors integrated into one or more sensor devices;

determining that one or more sheets containing at least one inductive element is proximate to the determined location of the one or more sensor devices;

powering the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element proximate to the determined location of the one or more sensor devices; and

powering one or more sensing operations of the one or more sensors via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices and the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly embodying computer-readable instructions for execution of a process on a computing device, the process comprising:

transmitting one or more sensor acquisition signals via one or more sensor monitoring devices;

determining a location of one or more sensors within a region to be monitored by the one or more sensors based at least partially on the one or more sensor acquisition signals, the one or more sensors integrated into one or more sensor devices;

determining that one or more sheets containing at least one inductive element is proximate to the determined location of the one or more sensor devices;

powering the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element proximate to the determined location of the one or more sensor devices; and

powering one or more sensing operations of the one or more sensors via an inductive coupling of the one or more sensor devices and the one or more sheets containing the at least one inductive element.