Systems, apparatus, and methods of checkpoint summary based monitoring for an event candidate related to an ID node within a wireless node network

• US 10,033,594 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2016
• Issued: 07/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fedex Corporate Services Incorporated (FedEx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fedex Corporate Services Incorporated (FedEx Corporation)
• Inventors: Skaaksrud, Ole-Petter, Hollahan, Terence
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Thai
• Application Number:
  US15/168,442
• Publication Number:
  US 20170013547A1
• Time in Patent Office: 784 Days
• Field of Search: 370230-231, 370248, 370254-258, 370389, 3703953-39532, 370400-411, 370419-423
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0645 by additionally acting on or stimulating the network after receiving notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/32 Specific management aspects for broadband networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements

Abstract

Systems, apparatus, and methods are described for checkpoint summary based monitoring for an event candidate within a wireless node network of ID nodes, a master node, and a server. Such a method, for example, may have the master node receiving a first set of advertising signals broadcast by an ID node and generating a first checkpoint summary representing the first set of received signals. The master node then receives a second set of advertising signals broadcast by the ID node (after the ID node broadcasts the first set) and generates a second checkpoint summary representing the second set of received signals. The method then identifies the event candidate based upon a comparison of an observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary; and reports to the server a message about the event candidate relative to the ID node.

Claims

1. A monitoring system that identifies an event candidate within a wireless node network, the system comprising:

a server disposed at a top level of the wireless node network;

an ID node disposed at a low level of the wireless node network;

a master node disposed at a middle level of the wireless node network, wherein the master node further comprises

a master node processing unit,

a memory storage coupled to the master node processing unit, the memory storage maintaining event detection engine code for execution by the master node processing unit,

a first communication interface coupled to the master node processing unit and operative to communicate with the ID node over a first communication path, and

a second communication interface coupled to the master node processing unit and operative to communicate with the server over a second communication path, wherein the first communication path is different from the second communication path;

wherein the master node, when executing the event detection engine code on the master node processing unit, is operative to

detect, via the first communication interface, a first set of advertising signals broadcast by a first of the ID nodes over the first communication path,

generate a first checkpoint summary representing the first set of advertising signals detected by the first communication interface,

detect, via the first communication interface, a second set of advertising signals broadcast by the first ID node over the first communication path after the first ID node broadcasts the first set of advertising signals,

generate a second checkpoint summary representing the second set of advertising signals detected by the first communication interface,

compare an observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary,

identify the event candidate based upon the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary, and

cause the second communication interface to report the identified event candidate to the server over the second communication path; and

wherein the server is operative to receive the identified event candidate from the master node and transmit a responsive adjustment response to the master node based upon the identified event candidate, the responsive adjustment response comprising at least one of an adjusted profile for the master node, an adjusted profile for the ID node, and updated context data reflecting the identified event candidate.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second communication interface of the master node is operative to transmit a message to the server when reporting the identified event candidate, the message comprising a reduced monitoring data feed about the ID node that at least includes summary information indicating an observed change between the first set of advertising signals represented by the first checkpoint summary and the second set of advertising signals represented by the second checkpoint summary.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the observed parameter for the first checkpoint summary comprises a statistical representation of the observed signal strength values for the first set of advertising signals;

and

wherein the observed parameter for the second checkpoint summary comprises the statistical representation of the observed signal strength values for the second set of advertising signals.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the statistical representation of the observed signal strength values comprises one from a group consisting of a mean, a median, an average, a moving average over a subset window of advertising signals, a moving average over a sliding time window, or a weighted average.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the observed signal strength value comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) reflecting a signal strength as detected by the first communication interface.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the master node is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as an online event for the ID node when (a) a detected time gap between successive ones of the first set of advertising signals and the second set of advertising signals is less than the threshold time gap and (b) the master node has received at least a threshold number of advertising signals from the ID node in the first set and the second set.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the master node is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as a shift event for the ID node when a difference between the observed parameter for the first checkpoint summary and the observed parameter for the second checkpoint summary is at least a threshold value.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the master node is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as an offline event when a detected time gap between any successive ones of the second set of advertising signals after detecting the first set of advertising signals is greater than the threshold time gap during an event horizon for the ID node.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the master node is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as a sporadic event when the first communication interface detects at least one advertising signal from the ID node but does not detect at least a threshold number of advertising signals from the ID node within a defined period of time from when the first communication interface detects the at least one advertising signal.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the master node is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as a checkpoint event when a periodic reporting interval ends and based upon the comparison of the observed parameter for the first checkpoint summary and the observed parameter for the second checkpoint summary.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the master node is further operative to

identify a profile identifier from the ID node, the profile identifier being part of at least one of the advertising signals in either of the first set of advertising signals and the second set of advertising signals;

and

alter the periodic reporting interval based upon an alert profile corresponding to the profile identifier, the alert profile comprising a plurality of node management rules related to monitoring the ID node and reporting to the server.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein periodic reporting interval comprises a threshold time period adjustable by the node processing unit in response to identifying the profile identifier.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein periodic reporting interval comprises a threshold number of signal receptions adjustable by the node processing unit in response to identifying the profile identifier.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the master node is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as a profile change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a first observed profile setting reflected in the first set of advertising signals is different than a second observed profile setting reflected in the second set of advertising signals.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first observed profile setting and second observed profile setting relate to operation of the ID node.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the first observed profile setting and second observed profile setting relate to operation of the master node.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the master node is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as a transmission power change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a first observed output power setting reflected in the first set of advertising signals is different than a second observed output power setting reflected in the second set of advertising signals.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the master node is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as an environmental change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a second sensor data value associated with the second set of advertising signals is different than a first sensor data value associated with the first set of advertising signals.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the master node is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as an environmental change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a second sensor data value associated with the second set of advertising signals reflects a departure from a first sensor data value associated with the first set of advertising signals, wherein the departure is more than a threshold difference.

20. A master node apparatus for enhanced monitoring for an event candidate within a wireless node network having a plurality of ID nodes and a server, the master node apparatus comprising:

a node processing unit;

a memory storage coupled to the node processing unit, the memory storage maintaining event detection engine code for execution by the node processing unit;

a first communication interface coupled to the node processing unit and operative to communicate with at least a first of the ID nodes over a first communication path;

a second communication interface coupled to the node processing unit and operative to communicate with the server over a second communication path; and

wherein the node processing unit, when executing the event detection engine code maintained on the memory storage, is operative to

detect, via the first communication interface, a first set of advertising signals broadcast by a first of the ID nodes,

generate a first checkpoint summary representing the first set of advertising signals detected by the first communication interface,

detect, via the first communication interface, a second set of advertising signals broadcast by the first ID node after the first ID node broadcasts the first set of advertising signals,

generate a second checkpoint summary representing the second set of advertising signals detected by the first communication interface,

compare an observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary,

identify the event candidate based upon the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary, and

cause the second communication interface to report the identified event candidate to the server over the second communication path.

21. The master node apparatus of claim 20, wherein the second communication interface is operative to transmit a message to the server when reporting the identified event candidate, the message comprising a reduced monitoring data feed about the first ID node that at least includes summary information indicating an observed change between the first set of advertising signals represented by the first checkpoint summary and the second set of advertising signals represented by the second checkpoint summary.

22. The master node apparatus of claim 20, wherein the observed parameter for the first checkpoint summary comprises a statistical representation of the observed signal strength values for the first set of advertising signals;

and

wherein the observed parameter for the second checkpoint summary comprises the statistical representation of the observed signal strength values for the second set of advertising signals.

23. The master node apparatus of claim 22, wherein the statistical representation of the observed signal strength values comprises one from a group consisting of a mean, a median, an average, a moving average over a subset window of advertising signals, a moving average over a sliding time window, or a weighted average.

24. The master node apparatus of claim 22, wherein the observed signal strength value comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) reflecting a signal strength as detected by the first communication interface.

25. The master node apparatus of claim 22, wherein the node processing unit is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as an online event for the first ID node when (a) a detected time gap between successive ones of the first set of advertising signals and the second set of advertising signals is less than the threshold time gap and (b) the first communication interface has received at least a threshold number of advertising signals from the first ID node in the first set and the second set.

26. The master node apparatus of claim 22, wherein the node processing unit is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as a shift event for the first ID node when a difference between the observed parameter for the first checkpoint summary and the observed parameter for the second checkpoint summary is at least a threshold value.

27. The master node apparatus of claim 22, wherein the node processing unit is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as an offline event when a detected time gap between any successive ones of the second set of advertising signals after detecting the first set of advertising signals is greater than the threshold time gap during an event horizon for the first ID node.

28. The master node apparatus of claim 20, wherein the node processing unit is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as a sporadic event when the first communication interface detects at least one advertising signal from the first ID node but does not detect at least a threshold number of advertising signals from the first ID node within a defined period of time from when the first communication interface detects the at least one advertising signal.

29. The master node apparatus of claim 20, wherein the node processing unit is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as a checkpoint event when a periodic reporting interval ends and based upon the comparison of the observed parameter for the first checkpoint summary and the observed parameter for the second checkpoint summary.

30. The master node apparatus of claim 29, wherein the node processing unit is further operative to

identify a profile identifier from the first ID node, the profile identifier being part of at least one of the advertising signals in either of the first set of advertising signals and the second set of advertising signals;

and

alter the periodic reporting interval based upon an alert profile corresponding to the profile identifier, the alert profile comprising a plurality of node management rules related to monitoring the first ID node and reporting to the server.

31. The master node apparatus of claim 30, wherein periodic reporting interval comprises a threshold time period adjustable by the node processing unit in response to identifying the profile identifier.

32. The master node apparatus of claim 30, wherein periodic reporting interval comprises a threshold number of signal receptions adjustable by the node processing unit in response to identifying the profile identifier.

33. The master node apparatus of claim 20, wherein the node processing unit is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as a profile change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a first observed profile setting reflected in the first set of advertising signals is different than a second observed profile setting reflected in the second set of advertising signals.

34. The master node apparatus of claim 33, wherein the first observed profile setting and second observed profile setting relate to operation of the first ID node.

35. The master node apparatus of claim 33, wherein the first observed profile setting and second observed profile setting relate to operation of the master node.

36. The master node apparatus of claim 20, wherein the node processing unit is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as a transmission power change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a first observed output power setting reflected in the first set of advertising signals is different than a second observed output power setting reflected in the second set of advertising signals.

37. The master node apparatus of claim 20, wherein the node processing unit is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as an environmental change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a second sensor data value associated with the second set of advertising signals is different than a first sensor data value associated with the first set of advertising signals.

38. The master node apparatus of claim 20, wherein the node processing unit is operative to identify the event candidate by being further operative to identify the event candidate as an environmental change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a second sensor data value associated with the second set of advertising signals reflects a departure from a first sensor data value associated with the first set of advertising signals, wherein the departure is more than a threshold difference.

39. The master node apparatus of claim 20, wherein the node processing unit is further operative to receive, via the second communication interface, an adjustment response from the server based upon the event candidate.

40. The master node apparatus of claim 39, wherein the adjustment response comprises an adjusted profile for at least one of the master node and the first ID node.

41. The master node apparatus of claim 40, wherein the adjustment response comprises an adjusted profile for at least one of the other ID nodes.

42. The master node apparatus of claim 39, wherein the adjustment response comprises updated context data reflecting the reported event candidate.

43. A method for enhanced monitoring for an event candidate within a wireless node network having a plurality of ID nodes, a master node in communication with the ID nodes, and a server in communication with the master node, comprising the steps of:

receiving, by the master node, a first set of advertising signals broadcast by a first of the ID nodes;

generating, by the master node, a first checkpoint summary representing the first set of advertising signals received by the master node;

receiving, by the master node, a second set of advertising signals broadcast by the first ID node after the first ID node broadcasts the first set of advertising signals;

generating, by the master node, a second checkpoint summary representing the second set of advertising signals received by the master node;

identifying, by the master node, the event candidate based upon a comparison of an observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary; and

reporting, by the master node to the server, the event candidate relative to the first ID node.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the reporting step further comprises simplifying, by the master node, a data feed about the first ID node by sending the event candidate to the server as summary information reflecting an observed change between the first set of advertising signals represented by the first checkpoint summary and the second set of advertising signals represented by the second checkpoint summary.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the observed parameter for the first checkpoint summary comprises a statistical representation of the observed signal strength values for the first set of advertising signals;

and

wherein the observed parameter for the second checkpoint summary comprises the statistical representation of the observed signal strength values for the second set of advertising signals.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the statistical representation of the observed signal strength values comprises one from a group consisting of a mean, a median, an average, a moving average over a subset window of advertising signals, a moving average over a sliding time window, or a weighted average.

47. The method of claim 43, wherein each of the observed signal strength values comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) reflecting a signal strength as detected by the master node.

48. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of identifying the event candidate further comprises identifying, by the master node, the event candidate as an online event for the first ID node when (a) a detected time gap between successive ones of the first set of advertising signals and the second set of advertising signals is less than the threshold time gap and (b) the master node has received at least a threshold number of advertising signals from the first ID node in the first set and the second set.

49. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of identifying the event candidate further comprises identifying, by the master node, the event candidate as a shift event for the first ID node when a difference between the observed parameter for the first checkpoint summary and the observed parameter for the second checkpoint summary is at least a threshold value.

50. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of identifying the event candidate further comprises identifying, by the master node, the event candidate as an offline event when a detected time gap between any successive ones of the second set of advertising signals after detecting the first set of advertising signals is greater than the threshold time gap during an event horizon for the first ID node as monitored by the master node.

51. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of identifying the event candidate further comprises identifying, by the master node, the event candidate as a sporadic event when the master node receives at least one advertising signal from the first ID node but does not receive at least a threshold number of advertising signals from the first ID node within a defined period of time from when the master node receives the at least one advertising signal.

52. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of identifying the event candidate further comprises identifying, by the master node, the event candidate as a checkpoint event when a periodic reporting interval ends and based upon the comparison of the observed parameter for the first checkpoint summary and the observed parameter for the second checkpoint summary.

53. The method of claim 52 further comprising:

detecting, by the master node, a profile identifier from the first ID node, the profile identifier being part of at least one of the advertising signals in the first set of advertising signals and the second set of advertising signals; and

altering, by the master node, the periodic reporting interval based upon an alert profile corresponding to the profile identifier, the alert profile comprising a plurality of node management rules related to monitoring the first ID node and reporting to the server.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the periodic reporting interval comprises a threshold time period adjustable by the master node.

55. The method of claim 53, wherein the periodic reporting interval comprises a threshold number of signal receptions adjustable by the master node.

56. The method of claim 52 further comprising resetting information collected based upon at least the first set of advertising signals and the second set of advertising signals after reporting the checkpoint event to the server by the master node for data reduction purposes on the master node.

57. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of identifying the event candidate further comprises identifying, by the master node, the event candidate as a profile change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a first observed profile setting reflected in the first set of advertising signals is different than a second observed profile setting reflected in the second set of advertising signals.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the first observed profile setting and second observed profile setting relate to operation of the first ID node.

59. The method of claim 57, wherein the first observed profile setting and second observed profile setting relate to operation of the master node.

60. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of identifying the event candidate further comprises identifying, by the master node, the event candidate as a transmission power change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a first observed output power setting reflected in the first set of advertising signals is different than a second observed output power setting reflected in the second set of advertising signals.

61. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of identifying the event candidate further comprises identifying, by the master node, the event candidate as an environmental change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a second sensor data value associated with the second set of advertising signals is different than a first sensor data value associated with the first set of advertising signals.

62. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of identifying the event candidate further comprises identifying, by the master node, the event candidate as an environmental change event when the comparison of the observed parameter for each of the first checkpoint summary and the second checkpoint summary indicates a second sensor data value associated with the second set of advertising signals reflects a departure from a first sensor data value associated with the first set of advertising signals, wherein the departure is more than a threshold difference.

63. The method of claim 43 further comprising receiving, by the master node, an adjustment response from the server based upon the event candidate.

64. The method of claim 63, wherein the adjustment response comprises an adjusted profile for at least one of the master node and the first ID node.

65. The method of claim 64, wherein the adjustment response comprises an adjusted profile for at least one of the other ID nodes.

66. The method of claim 63, wherein the adjustment response comprises updated context data reflecting the reported event candidate.