Low power radio frequency communication
First Claim
1. A radio-frequency (RF) tag for use in a sensor network, the RF tag comprising:
- an energy harvesting unit operable to convert incident RF energy to direct current (DC);
a storage unit operable to store recovered DC power;
one or more sensors for sensing;
a backscatter communicator to backscatter energy to communicate; and
a microcontroller coupled to the energy harvesting and storage units, the one or more sensors, and the backscatter communicator, the microcontroller operable to receive an interrupt,determine whether the interrupt is one of a first type and a second type;
responsive to determining the interrupt is the first type, wake up, sense data, store the sensed data and transition to a sleep state without a communication of the sensed data via backscatter, andresponsive to determining the interrupt is the second type, wake up, sense the data and transmit a communication via backscatter in accordance with the sensed data, the communication including the sensed data, wherein the communication includes a hybrid backscatter-Internet packet having a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address computed dynamically at run time;
wherein the interrupt of the second type includes a sensor interrupt from at least one of the one or more sensors indicating an alarm alert for a communication event based on a level of a sense output change of the at least one sensor, the level of the sense output change for the interrupt of the second type being greater than a level of a sense output change for the interrupt of the first type.
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Abstract
A method, system and tag for low power radio frequency communication is described. In one embodiment, the RF tag comprises: an energy harvesting unit operable to convert incident RF energy to direct current (DC); a storage unit operable to store recovered DC power; one or more sensors for sensing; a backscatter communicator to backscatter energy to communicate; and a microcontroller coupled to the energy harvesting and storage units, the one or more sensors, and the backscatter communicator, the microcontroller operable to wake up from a sleep state and cause the radio to communicate sensed data from at least one of the one or more sensors while powered by energy previously harvested and stored by the energy harvesting and storage unit.
27 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A radio-frequency (RF) tag for use in a sensor network, the RF tag comprising:
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an energy harvesting unit operable to convert incident RF energy to direct current (DC); a storage unit operable to store recovered DC power; one or more sensors for sensing; a backscatter communicator to backscatter energy to communicate; and a microcontroller coupled to the energy harvesting and storage units, the one or more sensors, and the backscatter communicator, the microcontroller operable to receive an interrupt, determine whether the interrupt is one of a first type and a second type; responsive to determining the interrupt is the first type, wake up, sense data, store the sensed data and transition to a sleep state without a communication of the sensed data via backscatter, and responsive to determining the interrupt is the second type, wake up, sense the data and transmit a communication via backscatter in accordance with the sensed data, the communication including the sensed data, wherein the communication includes a hybrid backscatter-Internet packet having a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address computed dynamically at run time; wherein the interrupt of the second type includes a sensor interrupt from at least one of the one or more sensors indicating an alarm alert for a communication event based on a level of a sense output change of the at least one sensor, the level of the sense output change for the interrupt of the second type being greater than a level of a sense output change for the interrupt of the first type. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A communication system comprising:
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an access point coupled to provide access to a network; a radio-frequency (RF) tag to communicate wirelessly with the access point, the RF tag comprising an energy harvesting unit operable to convert incident RF energy to direct current (DC), a storage unit operable to store recovered DC power, one or more sensors for sensing, a backscatter communicator to backscatter energy to communicate, and a microcontroller coupled to the energy harvesting and storage units, the one or more sensors, and the backscatter communicator, the microcontroller operable to receive an interrupt, determine whether the interrupt is one of a first type and a second type; responsive to determining the interrupt is the first type, wake up, sense data, store the sensed data and transition to a sleep state without a communication of the sensed data via backscatter, and responsive to determining the interrupt is the second type, wake up, sense the data and transmit a communication via backscatter in accordance with the sensed data, the communication including the sensed data, wherein the communication includes a hybrid backscatter-Internet packet having a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address computed dynamically at run time, wherein the interrupt of the second type includes a sensor interrupt from at least one of the one or more sensors indicating an alarm alert for a communication event based on a level of a sense output change of the at least one sensor, the level of the sense output change for the interrupt of the second type being greater than a level of a sense output change for the interrupt of the first type. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for communicating information wirelessly using a radio-frequency (RF) tag, the method comprising:
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converting incident RF energy to direct current using an energy harvesting unit of the RF tag; monitoring RF communications with the RF tag; performing pattern matching on the RF communications with a pattern detector of the RF tag; generating an interrupt to a microcontroller in response to pattern matching detecting a match; determining whether the interrupt is one of a first type and a second type; responsive to determining the interrupt is the first type, the microcontroller wakes up, performs a sensing operation, stores data sensed during the sensing operation and transitions to a sleep state without a communication of the sensed data via backscatter; and responsive to determining the interrupt is the second type, the microcontroller wakes up, performs a sensing operation and transmits a communication via backscatter in accordance with the sensed operation, the communication including sensed data, wherein the communication includes a hybrid backscatter-Internet packet having a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address computed dynamically at run time, wherein the interrupt of the second type includes a sensor interrupt from at least one of the one or more sensors indicating an alarm alert for a communication event based on a level of a sense output change of the at least one sensor, the level of the sense output change for the interrupt of the second type being greater than a level of a sense output change for the interrupt of the first type. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification