Systems and methods for monitoring and controlling remote devices

• US 7,697,492 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2005
• Issued: 04/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: SIPCO LLC (Ideahub, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SIPCO LLC (Ideahub, Inc.)
• Inventors: Petite, Thomas David
• Primary Examiner(s): Sam, Phirin
• Application Number:
  US11/159,768
• Publication Number:
  US 20050243867A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,755 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/364 Seismic filtering G01V1/37 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4183 characterised by data acquisition, e.g. workpiece identification
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31093 Communication between sensors, actuators and gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/007 Details of data content structure of message packets; data protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/009 Signalling of the alarm condition to a substation whose identity is signalled to a central station, e.g. relaying alarm signals in order to extend communication range
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/005 with transmission via computer network
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15 Active relay systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

Systems and methods for monitoring and controlling remote devices are provided. In an embodiment, a system can comprise one or more remotely controlled sensors and actuators. The remote sensors/actuators can interface with uniquely identified remote transceivers that transmit and/or receive data. The embodiment can also comprise a plurality of transceivers each having a unique address, and a controller adapted to communicate with at least one of the transceivers in a preformatted message. A sensor can be associated with at least one transceiver to detect a condition and output a data signal to the transceiver, and an actuator can be associated with a transceiver to receive a control signal and activate a device. Other embodiments are also claimed and described.

Claims

1. In a communication system to communicate command and sensed data between remote devices, the system comprising:

a receiver address comprising a scalable address of at least one remote device;

a command indicator comprising a command code;

a data value comprising a scalable message; and

a controller associated with a remote wireless device comprising a transceiver configured to send and receive wireless signals, the remote device configured to send a preformatted message comprising the receiver address, a command indicator, and the data value via the transceiver to at least one other remote device.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of transceivers each having a unique address, the transceiver being one of the plurality of transceivers;

a plurality of controllers associated with each the controller associated with at least one of the transceivers, the controller being in communication with at least one other transceiver with a preformatted message, the preformatted message having at least one scalable field;

at least one sensor associated with at least one of the transceivers to detect a condition and output a data signal to the transceiver; and

at least one actuator associated with at least one of the transceivers to activate a device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller sends the preformatted message via an associated transceiver, and at least one transceiver sends the preformatted response message.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one transceiver receives the preformatted message requesting sensed data, confirms the receiver address as its own unique address, receives a sensed data signal, formats the sensed data signal into scalable byte segments, determines the number of segments required to contain the sensed data signal, and generates and transmits the preformatted response message comprising at least one packet.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the packet further comprises:

a preface having a predetermined sequence including a first logic level and a subsequent sequence comprising at least two bytes of a second logic level; and

a postscript having a low voltage output.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein each remote device is adapted to transmit and receive radio frequency transmissions to and from at least one other transceiver.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the preformatted message comprises Manchester encoding.

8. A method of communicating command and sensed data between remote wireless devices, the method comprising:

providing a receiver to receive at least one message;

wherein the message has a packet that comprises a command indicator comprising a command code, a scalable data value comprising a scalable message, and an error detector that is a redundancy check error detector; and

providing a controller to determine if at least one received message is a duplicate message and determining a location from which the duplicate message originated.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing at least one remote wireless communication device, wherein at least one of the devices comprise geographically remote transceivers adapted to transmit and receive the at least one message using radio frequency transmissions.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing at least one remote wireless communication device, wherein at least one of the devices has a unique address and the packet further comprises at least one scalable address field to contain the unique address for at least one device.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing an actuator associated with at least one of the remote devices, the actuator configured to actuate in response to the command code.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising sending at least one message via Manchester type encoding.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining if an error exists in a packet of the at least one message.

14. A wireless communication device for use in a communication system to communicate command and sensed data between remote wireless communication devices, the wireless communication device comprising:

a transceiver configured to send and receive wireless communications; and

a controller configured to communicate with at least one other remote wireless device via the transceiver with a preformatted message, the controller further configured to format a message comprising a receiver address comprising a scalable address of at least one remote wireless device;

a command indicator comprising a command code;

a data value comprising a scalable message.

15. The wireless communication device of claim 14, further comprising at least one sensor configured to detect a condition and output a signal to the controller.

16. The wireless communication device of claim 14, wherein the controller is further configured to determine if at least one received message is a duplicate message and determine a location from which the duplicate message originated.

17. The wireless communication device of claim 14, further comprising at least one actuator configured to implement an action corresponding to the command code.

18. The device of claim 14, wherein the transceiver comprises a unique transceiver address to distinguish the transceiver from other transceivers.

19. In a system for communicating commands and sensed data between remote devices comprising a communications device for communicating commands and sensed data, the communications device comprising:

a transceiver operatively configured to be in communication with at least one other of a plurality of transceivers, wherein the transceiver has a unique address, wherein the unique address identities the individual transceiver, wherein the transceiver is geographically remote from the other of the plurality of transceivers, wherein each transceiver communicates with each of the other transceivers via preformatted messages;

a controller configured to be in communication with the transceiver, the controller configured to provide preformatted messages for communication;

wherein the preformatted messages comprises at least one packet, wherein the packet comprises;

a receiver address comprising a scalable address of the at least one of the intended receiving transceivers;

sender address comprising the unique address of the sending transceiver;

a command indicator comprising a command code;

at least one data value comprising a scalable message; and

an error detector comprising a redundancy check error detector; and

wherein the controller is configured to interact with the transceiver to send preformatted command messages.

20. The communications device of claim 19, further comprising a sensor operatively configured to detect a condition and output a sensed data signal that corresponds to the condition to the transceiver.

21. The communications device of claim 20, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive a preformatted command message requesting sensed data, confirms the receiver address as its own unique address, receives the sensed data signal, formats the sensed data signal into scalable byte segments, determines a number of segments required to contain the sensed data signal, and generates and transmits the preformatted response message comprising at least one packet.

23. The communications device of claim 21, wherein the means for communicating information is further configured to encode messages via Manchester encoding.

24. The communication device of claim 23, wherein the means for indicating potential error is configured to detect if an error exists in a packet or a number of packets of at least one message.

22. In a system for controlling geographically diverse devices from a central location, a communications device comprising:

means for dynamically sending and receiving messages, wherein the sent messages comprise commands and the received messages comprise responses to the commands, wherein the message comprises at least one means for packeting a message;

a means for communicating information, the communicating means comprising;

means for receiving messages;

means for preparing responses to the received message; and

means for sending the response message;

wherein each communicating means has a unique identifying address;

and wherein the packeting means comprises;

means for identifying intended recipients;

means for identifying a sender;

means for indicating a command;

means for data transfer;

means for indicating potential error;

means for indicating a byte length of a packet;

means for indicating a total number of packets in a message;

means for identifying a message;

means for alerting a recipient to an incoming packet; and

means for indicating an end of a packet.

25. A wireless communication device for use in a communication system to communicate a number of commands and sensed data between remote wireless communication devices, the wireless communication device comprising:

a transceiver configured to send and receive wireless communications; and

a controller configured to communicate with at least one other remote wireless device via the transceiver with a preformatted message, the controller further configured to reformat a message comprising a receiver address comprising a scalable address of at least one remote wireless device;

a command indicator comprising a command code;

a data value comprising a scalable message.