Battery operated remote transceiver (BORT) system and method

• US 20020146985A1
• Filed: 01/31/2001
• Published: 10/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Axxon Corporation
• Original Assignee: Axonn LLC (Globalstar Incorporated)
• Inventors: Naden, Gary Allen
• Application Number:
  US09/774,027
• Publication Number:
  US 20020146985A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0248 dependent on the time of the day, e.g. according to expected transmission activity
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product for reducing power consumption in remote communications, wherein a system transceiver transmits in a system transceiver message a count value and modulated communication data, and a remote transceiver polls for the count value indicative of a scheduled broadcast time for broadcast of the modulated communication data. The remote transceiver conserves power during a time period prior to the scheduled broadcast time and synchronizes an on-time of the remote transceiver with the scheduled broadcast time of the system transceiver. The remote transceiver conserves power both by polling rather than continuously listening and by entering a low-power sleep period for a time period prior to the scheduled broadcast time.

Claims

1. A system for reducing power consumption in remote communications, comprising:

a system transceiver configured to transmit in a system transceiver message a count value and modulated communication data, said count value indicating a scheduled broadcast time for broadcast of the modulated communication data; and

a remote transceiver configured as the remote communication device to poll for the count value, to conserve power during a time period prior to the scheduled broadcast time, and to synchronize an on-time of the remote transceiver with the scheduled broadcast time.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote transceiver comprises a polling device configured to poll on a predetermined schedule to sample for the count value prior to receiving the system transceiver message.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the system transceiver comprises a data modulator configured to transmit, over a timed interval which is longer than a time between repeated remote transceiver pollings, a preamble including the count value and is configured to transmit the modulated communication data in a data modulation section.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the data modulator is configured to generate the preamble with the following components:

a leader section configured with an identifying signal which the remote transceiver recognizes as being transmitted from the system transceiver; and

a synch pattern configured to identify an end of the leader section and a beginning of the data modulation section, said data modulation section to contain count value or message content.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the identifying signal comprises all logic “

1”

values.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the synch pattern comprises a logic “

0111”

value.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the synch pattern and the count value comprise at least one of 4-bit, 5-bit, and 6-bit values.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the polling device is configured to poll for a time period as short as a transmission time for one bit.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the polling device is configured to poll in at least two consecutive time periods.

10. The system according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the system transceiver comprises an encoder configured to encode at least one of the count values with Manchester encoding.

11. The system according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the system transceiver comprises a remapping mechanism configured to re-map at least one of the count values such that count values with consecutive zeroes are not transmitted.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the re-mapped count values comprise:

at least one of “

01” and

“

10”

for “

0”

; and

“

11”

for “

1”

.

13. The system according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the system transceiver comprises a remapping mechanism configured to re-map at least one of the count values such that count values with zeroes of “

N”

spacing are not transmitted and the remote transceiver comprises a polling mechanism configured to poll in at least two consecutive time periods with a total interval less than a time duration of said “

N”

spacing.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the remote transceiver comprises:

a detection device configured to correlation event occurring when a transmitted signal from the transceiver changes from a low value to a high value; and

a correlation device configured to correlate together high value transmitted signals.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the correlation device is configured to select a first set of data samples that are high in value and perform a correlation operation on said first set of data samples repetitively with a selected different set of data samples from said first set at least until the correlation function determines that the correlation event has occurred and all data between the two consecutive time periods have been selected.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the selected different set of data samples comprises a set non-contiguous with the first set of data samples

17. The system of claim 8, wherein the polling mechanism is configured to poll in two non-consecutive time periods with a sampling interval between the two non-consecutive time periods such that one poll is taken during the data modulation section and the other poll is taken during the leader section of the preamble.

18. The system of claim 4, wherein the preamble further comprises a parity value.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the system transceiver comprises an encoding mechanism configured to encode at least one of the parity values with Manchester encoding.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the system transceiver comprises a remapping mechanism configured to re-map at least one of the parity values such that count values with consecutive zeroes are not transmitted value.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the re-mapped parity values comprise:

at least one of “

01” and

“

10”

for “

0”

; and

“

11”

for “

1”

.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote transceiver having obtained the count value determines a low-power sleep period prior to the scheduled broadcast time.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the system transceiver comprises a line-powered transceiver.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote transceiver comprises a battery-operated remote transceiver.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote transceiver comprises a supervisory device configured to broadcast a supervisory message to the system transceiver, the broadcast of the supervisory message maintains positive communication between the remote transceiver and the system transceiver.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote transceiver comprises a broadcast device configured to broadcast an alarm message to the system transceiver, the broadcast of the alarm message transfers status information.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of polling by a remote transceiver comprises:

polling on a predetermined schedule for the count value when the remote transceiver has not obtained the count information.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of transmitting comprises:

transmitting, over a timed interval which is longer than a time between repeated remote transceiver pollings, the modulated communication data and the count value.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of transmitting the modulated communication data and the count value comprises:

broadcasting an identifying signal in a leader section, wherein the remote transceiver recognizes the identifying signal as being transmitted from the system transceiver; and

broadcasting a synch pattern which identifies an end of the leader section and a beginning of the count value.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the step of broadcasting an identifying signal comprises:

broadcasting an identifying signal with all logic “

1”

values.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the step of broadcasting a synch pattern comprises:

broadcasting a synch pattern of “

0111”

.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the steps of broadcasting a synch pattern and transmitting a count value comprise:

broadcasting a synch pattern and a count value with at least one of 4-bit, 5-bit, and 6-bit values.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of polling on a predetermined schedule comprises:

polling for time periods as short as a transmission time of one bit.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of polling comprises:

polling in at least two consecutive time periods.

36. The method according to claim 35, wherein the step of transmitting the count value comprises:

encoding count values with Manchester encoding.

37. The method according to claim 35, wherein the step of transmitting the count value comprises:

re-mapping count values such that count values with consecutive zeroes are not used.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the step of re-mapping count values comprises:

re-mapping “

0”

as at least one “

01” and

“

10”

; and

re-mapping “

1”

as “

11”

.

39. The method according to claim 35, wherein the step of transmitting the count value comprises:

re-mapping count values such that count values with zeroes of “

N”

spacing are not transmitted; and

polling in at least two consecutive time periods with a total interval less than a time duration of said “

N”

spacing.

40. The method of claim 35, wherein the step of polling with a remote transceiver comprises:

performing a correlation function which detects a correlation event occurring when a transmitted signal from the transceiver changes from a low value to a high value; and

correlating together high value transmitted signals.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the step of performing a correlation function comprises:

selecting a first set of data samples that are high in value;

performing a correlation operation on said first set of data samples repetitively with a selected different set of data samples from said first set at least until the remote transceiver determines that the correlation event has occurred and all data samples between the two consecutive time periods have been selected.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of performing a correlation operation a selected different set comprises:

selecting a set non-contiguous with the first set of data samples.

43. The method of claim 30, wherein the step of transmitting the modulated communication data and the count value further comprises:

broadcasting a parity value.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of broadcasting a parity value comprises:

encoding at least one of the parity values with Manchester encoding.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the step of broadcasting a parity value comprises:

re-mapping at least one of the parity values such that parity values with consecutive zeroes are not transmitted.

46. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of re-mapping at least one of the parity values comprises:

re-mapping “

0”

as at least one “

01” and

“

10”

; and

re-mapping “

1”

as “

11”

.

47. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of polling by a remote transceiver comprises:

polling in two non-consecutive time periods with a sampling interval between the two non-consecutive time periods such that, when one poll is taken during the data modulation section, the other poll is taken during the leader section of the packet message.

48. The method of claim 27, wherein said step of conserving power comprises:

determining a low-power sleep period prior to the on-time of the remote transceiver when the remote transceiver has obtained the count value.

49. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

acknowledging receipt of the count value by the remote transceiver.

50. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

broadcasting with the remote transceiver a supervisory message to the system transceiver, wherein broadcast of the supervisory message maintains positive communication between the remote transceiver and the system transceiver.

51. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

broadcasting with the remote transceiver an alarm message to the system transceiver, wherein broadcast of the alarm message transfers system status information.

27. A method for reducing power consumption in remote communications, comprising:

transmitting from a system transceiver a count value and modulated communication data, said count value indicating a scheduled broadcast time for broadcast of the modulated communication data;

polling by a remote transceiver for the count value transmitted from the system transceiver;

conserving power in the remote transceiver during a time period prior to the scheduled broadcast time; and

synchronizing an on-time of the remote transceiver with the scheduled broadcast time of the system transceiver.

60. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for execution on a computer system, which when executed by the computer system, causes the computer system to perform the steps of the method recited in anyone of claims 27-51 and 56-59.

52. A system for acquiring a signal in remote communications comprising:

a system transmitter configured to transmit a signal which does not contain more than one “

0”

value symbol, said signal including a leader section and a data section;

a receiver configured to sample and store data samples from the transmitted signal including at least two symbols for at least two consecutive time periods; and

a correlation operator in the receiver configured to sequence through the stored data samples using a correlator of a length equal to one time period to increase a probability that a “

01”

sequence is read.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein the data samples are digitized and sequentially stored in a memory.

54. The system of claim 52, wherein the memory is a circular buffer.

55. The system of claim 52, where the leader section does not contain more than one consecutive “

0”

value symbol.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein the step of sampling comprises:

digitizing the data samples; and

storing the digitized data samples sequentially in a memory.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein the step of storing comprises:

storing the digitized data samples in a circular buffer.

59. The method of claim 56, where the transmitting comprises:

transmitting a leader section with no more than one consecutive “

0”

value symbol.

56. A method for acquiring a signal in remote communications, comprising:

transmitting a signal which does not contain more than one “

0”

value symbol, said signal including a leader section and a data section;

sampling and storing data samples from the transmitted signal including at least two symbols for at least two consecutive time periods; and

sequencing through the stored data samples with a correlator of a length equal to one time period to increase a probability that a “

01”

sequence is read.

61. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for execution on a computer system, which when executed by the computer system, causes the computer system to perform the steps of:

polling by a remote transceiver for a count value transmitted from a system transceiver;

conserving power in the remote transceiver during a time period prior to a scheduled broadcast time of modulated communication data from the system transceiver; and

synchronizing an on-time of the remote transceiver with the scheduled broadcast time of the system transceiver.

62. The computer readable medium of claim 61, wherein the step of polling by a remote transceiver comprises:

polling on a predetermined schedule for the count value when the remote transceiver has not obtained the count information.

63. The computer readable medium of claim 61, wherein the step of polling by a remote transceiver comprises:

polling in two non-consecutive time periods with a sampling interval between the two non-consecutive time periods such that, when one poll is taken during the data modulation section, the other poll is taken during the leader section of the packet message.

64. The computer readable medium of claim 61, wherein said step of conserving power comprises:

determining a low-power sleep period prior to the on-time of the remote transceiver when the remote transceiver has obtained the count value.