Class switched networks for tracking articles

• US 20020119770A1
• Filed: 03/13/2001
• Published: 08/29/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SeekerNet Incorporated
• Inventors: Twitchell, Robert W. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 6,745,027 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/426.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0029 the arrangement being specially adapted for wireless interrogation of grouped or bundled articles tagged with wireless record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1854 with non-centralised forwarding system, e.g. chaincast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method of forming an ad hoc hierarchical communication network involves associating a plurality of wireless transceivers with articles, and assigning to each of the transceivers a class designation representative of a characteristic or behavior of the article with which the transceiver is associated. A network organization routine of the wireless transceivers operates to establish the hierarchical network based on the transceivers'"'"' class designations, resulting in a logical network organization that provides efficiencies for asset tracking. Each wireless transceiver'"'"'s class designation is used by a digital processor of the wireless transceiver to selectively receive packets intended for receipt by transceivers of the same class. The class-based network reduces power consumption and signal interference, which increases battery life in the wireless transceivers. The wireless transceivers may include a query handling routine in communication with a memory of the transceiver for serving as a dynamic distributed hierarchical database system.

Claims

1. A method of forming a wireless data communication network amongst a plurality of transceivers for tracking articles associated with the transceivers, comprising:

assigning a class designation to a population of transceivers based on a common characteristic or behavior of the articles associated with the transceivers;

selecting a primary transceiver from among the population of transceivers, the remainder of the population of transceivers being secondary transceivers; and

forming a class-based hierarchical network amongst the population of transceivers, including;

(a) broadcasting from the primary transceiver a primary availability signal including a primary class identifier representative of the class designation assigned to both the primary transceiver and the secondary transceivers,

(b) in response to the primary availability signal, transmitting from a responding one of the secondary transceivers a registration signal including a secondary transceiver identifier,

(c) storing at the primary transceiver the secondary transceiver identifier of the responding secondary transceiver, and

(d) repeating steps (b) and (c) for each of the secondary transceivers;

to thereby facilitate class-based communication with the population of transceivers.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a network link between an asset tracking application and the primary transceiver;

receiving a message from the asset tracking application at the primary transceiver, the message including one or more packets having a preamble that includes a target class identifier representing the class designation; and

retransmitting the message from the primary transceiver for receipt by the secondary transceivers.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing a network interface module (NIM) in communication with the asset tracking application; and

establishing a communication link between the NIM and the primary transceiver based on the class designation of the primary transceiver, thereby enabling the asset tracking application to communicate selectively with the population of transceivers based on its assigned class designation.

4. The method of claim 1 in which assigning the class designation to the population of transceivers comprises, for each of the transceivers:

placing a plurality of radio frequency transponders (RFTs) in proximity to the transceiver, each of the RFTs including a preset class designation;

reading, at the transceiver, the preset class designations of at least a portion of the RFTs in proximity to said transceiver; and

assigning the class designation to the transceiver based on the preset class designations read by said transceiver.

5. The method of claim 1 in which assigning the class designation to the population of transceivers comprises, for each of the transceivers:

providing an interrogator module including a interrogator interface and an interrogator transmission module;

manually activating the interrogator module via the interrogator interface, the interrogator transmission module responsive to the manual activation to send a configuration command to the transceiver, the configuration command including the class designation;

receiving the configuration command at the transceiver; and

assigning the class designation to the transceiver based on the configuration command received.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the forming of the class-based hierarchical network includes promoting one of the secondary transceivers and propagating an additional hierarchical level of the network from the promoted secondary transceiver.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning an abstracted class designation to a second population of transceivers, the abstracted class designation representing a common characteristic or behavior of the articles associated with the first and second populations of transceivers, the abstracted class designation being a meta-class of the class designation of the primary transceiver;

abstracting the class designation of the primary transceiver; and

establishing a network link between the primary transceiver and one or more of the second population of transceivers.

8. The method of claim 1 in which the class designation includes a privilege level of the transceiver.

9. An ad hoc network organization routine operable on a transceiver to automatically form with multiple peer transceivers the class-based hierarchical network in accordance with the method of claim 1, in the absence of centralized control.

10. An ad hoc network formed in accordance with the method of claim 1.

11. The ad hoc network of claim 10, further comprising a network interface module (NIM) in communication with the transceivers and an external computer network to facilitate communication between the transceivers and the external computer network.

12. An asset tracking system including the ad hoc network of claim 10 and a computer-operable asset tracking application in communication with the ad hoc network for querying the transceivers of the ad hoc network.

13. The asset tracking system of claim 12, further comprising a handheld interrogator module adapted for operating the asset tracking application, and for querying one or more of the transceivers of the ad hoc network, selectively, on the basis of the transceivers'"'"' class designations.

14. A dynamic distributed hierarchical database system formed in accordance with the method of claim 1.

15. The database system of claim 14, further comprising a computer-operable asset tracking application for sending a class-directed database command to one or more of the transceivers, the class-directed database command including an address representative of the class designation, and in which each transceiver of the class-based hierarchical network includes:

a read/write memory for storing a profile representative of the class designation; and

a handling routine for interpreting and responding to the class-directed database command received from the asset tracking application.

16. The database system of claim 15 in which:

the class-directed database command includes a data query; and

the handling routine of each transceiver includes a query handling routine for transmitting at least a portion of said transceiver'"'"'s profile to the asset tracking application in response to receipt of the data query.

17. The database system of claim 15 in which:

the class-directed database command includes a data update command; and

the handling routine of each transceiver includes a data update routine for changing at least a portion of said transceiver'"'"'s profile in the read/write memory, in response to receipt of the data update command.

18. The database system of claim 15 in which the address of the class-directed database command includes a wildcard to thereby direct the class-directed database command to any subclasses of the class designation.

20. The method of claim 19, in which:

the propagating of each of the first and second hierarchical class-based communication networks includes operating at each transceiver a network organization routine,

the network organization routines of each of the first population of transceivers cooperating with the network organization routines of at least some of the others of the first population of transceivers to thereby automatically form the network amongst the first population of transceivers, and

the network organization routines of each of the second population of transceivers cooperating with the network organization routines of at least some of the others of the second population of transceivers to thereby automatically form the network amongst the second population of transceivers.

21. A method in accordance with claim 19, further comprising:

providing an asset tracking application;

establishing a first network link between the asset tracking application and the first root primary transceiver;

establishing a second network link between the asset tracking application and the second root primary transceiver; and

selectively transmitting a message from the asset tracking application to the first hierarchical network, the message including one or more packets having a preamble that includes a target class identifier representing the first class designation.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

providing a network interface module (NIM) in communication with the asset tracking application;

establishing a first communication link between the NIM and the first root primary transceiver, based on the first class designation; and

establishing a second communication link between the NIM and the second root primary transceiver, thereby enabling the asset tracking application to communicate selectively with the first and second populations of transceivers.

23. The method of claim 19 in which assigning the first and second class designations to the respective first and second populations of transceivers comprises, for each of the transceivers:

placing a plurality of radio frequency transponders (RFTs) in proximity to the transceiver, each of the RFTs including a preset class designation; and

reading, at the transceiver, the preset class designations of at least a portion of the RFTs in proximity to said transceiver.

24. The method of claim 19 in which assigning the first and second class designations to the respective first and second populations of transceivers comprises, for each of the transceivers:

providing an interrogator module including a interrogator interface and an interrogator transmission module;

manually activating the interrogator module via the interrogator interface, the interrogator transmission module responsive to the manual activation to send a configuration command to the transceiver, the configuration command including one of the first and second class designations;

receiving the configuration command at the transceiver; and

assigning said one of the first and second class designations to the transceiver based on the configuration command received.

25. The method of claim 19 in which the forming of at least one of the first and second class-based hierarchical communication networks includes promoting one of the transceivers and propagating an additional hierarchical level of the network from the promoted transceiver.

26. The method of claim 19 in which, the second class designation is an abstraction of the first class designation and represents a common characteristic or behavior of the articles associated with the first and second populations of transceivers, and further comprising:

abstracting the first class designation of the first root primary transceiver; and

establishing a network link between the first root primary transceiver and one or more of the second population of transceivers.

27. The method of claim 19 in which one or more of the first and second class designations includes a privilege level.

28. An ad hoc network organization routine operable on a transceiver to automatically form with multiple peer transceivers the first and second class-based hierarchical networks in accordance with the method of claim 19, in the absence of centralized control.

29. An ad hoc network formed in accordance with the method of claim 19.

30. The ad hoc network of claim 29, further comprising a network interface module (NIM) in communication with the first and second root primary transceivers and an external computer network to facilitate communication between the first and second class-based hierarchical networks and the external computer network.

31. An asset tracking system including the ad hoc network of claim 29 and a computer-operable asset tracking application in communication with the ad hoc network for querying the transceivers of the ad hoc network.

32. The asset tracking system of claim 31, further comprising a handheld interrogator module adapted for operating the asset tracking application, and for querying one or more of the transceivers of the ad hoc network, selectively, on the basis of the transceivers'"'"' class designations.

33. A dynamic distributed hierarchical database system formed in accordance with the method of claim 19.

34. The database system of claim 33, further comprising a computer-operable asset tracking application for sending a class-directed database command to one or more of the transceivers, the class-directed database command including an address representative of a selected one of the first and second class designations, and in which each transceiver of the first and second class-based hierarchical networks includes:

a read/write memory for storing a profile representative of the transceiver'"'"'s assigned class designation; and

a handling routine for receiving, interpreting, and responding to class-directed database commands when the address of the class-directed database command corresponds to the transceiver'"'"'s assigned class designation.

35. The database system of claim 34 in which:

the class-directed database command includes a data query; and

the handling routine of each transceiver includes a query handling routine for transmitting at least a portion of said transceiver'"'"'s profile to the asset tracking application in response to receipt of the data query.

36. The database system of claim 34 in which:

the class-directed database command includes a data update command; and

the handling routine of each transceiver includes a data update routine for changing at least a portion of said transceiver'"'"'s profile in the read/write memory, in response to receipt of the data update command.

37. The database system of claim 34 in which the address of the class-directed database command includes a wildcard, to thereby direct the class-directed database command to all subclasses of the selected one of the first and second class designations.

39. The method of claim 38 in which the first class of articles includes a subclass of articles sharing a third common characteristic or behavior.

19. A method of forming a wireless data communication network amongst a plurality of transceivers for tracking articles associated with the transceivers, comprising:

assigning a first class designation to a first population of transceivers based on a first common characteristic or behavior of the articles associated with the first population of transceivers;

assigning a second class designation to a second population of transceivers based on a second common characteristic or behavior of the articles associated with the second population of transceivers; and

propagating a first and second class-based hierarchical communication networks for transmitting data amongst the respective first and second populations of transceivers based on their respective class designations, the first hierarchical communication network including a first root primary transceiver, and the second hierarchical communication network including a second root primary transceiver.

38. A method of forming a hierarchical ad hoc network for use in tracking articles, comprising:

identifying a first class of the articles having a first common characteristic or behavior;

identifying a second class of the articles having a second common characteristic or behavior;

associating a wireless transceiver with each of the articles of the first and second classes of articles, each of the wireless transceivers including a digital processor, a memory, and a network organization routine operable on the digital processor;

selecting a first class designation representative of the first class of articles and a second class designation representative of the second class of articles;

storing a first class designation in the memories of each of the wireless transceivers associated with the first class of articles;

storing a second class designation in the memories of each of the wireless transceivers associated with the second class of articles; and

initiating the network organization routines of the wireless transceivers to automatically propagate, in the absence of central control, a first hierarchical ad hoc network amongst the wireless transceivers of the first class and a second hierarchical ad hoc network amongst the wireless transceivers of the second class,

the first hierarchical network being automatically organized so that it is logically distinct from the second hierarchical network.

40. A portable network device adapted for attachment to one of multiple peer articles having a common characteristic or behavior, comprising:

a wireless transceiver;

a digital information processor in communication with the wireless transceiver;

a power source for providing electrical power to the wireless transceiver and the digital information processor;

a memory unit in communication with the digital information processor, the memory unit adapted to store a class designation representative of the common characteristic or behavior; and

a network organization routine operable on the digital information processor to form a network link selectively with one of multiple peer devices attached to other peer articles and including a peer designation representing the common characteristic or behavior of the peer articles,

the network organization routine operable to send network organization messages including the class designation and to receive network organization requests from the peer devices, to thereby selectively propagate a class-based hierarchical ad hoc network among the network device and the peer devices for tracking the peer articles.

41. The device of claim 40 in which the memory unit is a read/write memory unit.

42. A dynamic distributed hierarchical database system for asset tracking, comprising:

a plurality of computer units each associated with at least one asset having a characteristic or behavior represented by a class designation, each computer unit including;

(a) a memory unit for storing a profile representative of the class designation;

(b) an ad hoc network organization routine in communication with the memory for establishing a hierarchical network with other computer units based on the class designation; and

(c) a query handling routine for interpreting and responding to database queries received from an asset tracking application that correspond to the class designation.

43. The database system of claim 42 in which the memory unit includes a read/write memory unit.