Interface for sensor query and control

• US 8,355,804 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2006
• Issued: 01/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Gonzalez-Banos, Hector H., Guan, Li, Wormer, Joel A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gami, Tejal
• Application Number:
  US11/532,492
• Publication Number:
  US 20070078527A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,314 Days
• Field of Search: 700/19, 700/65, 718/100, 711/154, 710/1
• US Class Current: 700/19
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/00 Arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless electrical link
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

Systems and methods are presented that enable a higher-level software application to query and control a sensor through a generic interface. In one embodiment, a system includes a controller, and interface, and a set of sensor driver modules. The interface receives a command from the controller and sends it to the driver modules. The interface includes a client, a server, and a network. The server includes two interfaces: a client interface to communicate with the client and a driver interface to communicate with the driver modules. The server also includes two buffers: a command queue and a reply queue. The command queue stores commands received from the controller (via the client). The reply queue stores replies received from the driver modules.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a composite sensor in a robot, wherein the composite sensor includes a plurality of sensors and a simple-sensor controller application that controls the plurality of sensors, the method comprising:

defining a parameter of the composite sensor, wherein the parameter describes a state of the composite sensor, wherein the simple-sensor controller application obtains simple sensed data from the plurality of sensors and processes the obtained data to generate composite data;

an interface module receiving, from a composite-sensor controller application, a software command that is sensor-independent of composite sensor commands and sensor-independent of sensor commands and an indication of the parameter;

the interface module determining a composite-sensor-dependent software command based on the composite-sensor-independent software command and the indication of the parameter;

the interface module sending, to the simple-sensor controller application, the composite-sensor-dependent software command; and

wherein the composite-sensor-independent software command includes a starting time that indicates when to execute the composite-sensor-independent software command.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameter describes a configuration of the composite sensor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameter describes data sensed by the composite sensor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the parameter of the composite sensor comprises specifying whether a value of the parameter can be set.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the composite-sensor-dependent software command sets a value of the parameter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the composite-sensor-dependent software command sets a default value of the parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the composite-sensor-dependent software command sets a value of the parameter to a default value.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the composite-sensor-dependent software command sets a factory default value of the parameter.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the composite-sensor-dependent software command sets a value of the parameter to a factory default value.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the composite-sensor-dependent software command prevents a value of the parameter from being set.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the composite-sensor-dependent software command allows a value of the parameter to be set.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, from the composite-sensor controller application, the composite-sensor-independent software command and the indication of the parameter comprises receiving, from one of a plurality of composite-sensor controller applications, the composite-sensor-independent software command and the indication of the parameter.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, from the composite-sensor controller application, the composite-sensor-independent software command and the indication of the parameter comprises receiving, from the composite-sensor controller application, a set of commands and parameter indications that includes the composite-sensor-independent software command and the indication of the parameter.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein sending, to the simple-sensor controller application, the composite-sensor-dependent software command comprises sending, to one of a plurality of simple-sensor controller applications, the composite-sensor-dependent software command.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the simple-sensor controller application, a reply; and

sending, to the composite-sensor controller application, the reply.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the reply includes a value of the parameter.

17. A system for controlling a composite sensor in a robot, wherein the composite sensor includes a plurality of sensors and a simple-sensor controller application that controls the plurality of sensors, the system comprising:

a processor;

means for defining a parameter of the composite sensor, wherein the parameter describes a state of the composite sensor, wherein the simple-sensor controller application obtains simple sensed data from the plurality of sensors and processes the obtained data to generate composite data;

means for receiving, from a composite-sensor controller application, a software command that is sensor-independent of composite sensor commands and sensor-independent of sensor commands and an indication of the parameter;

means for determining a composite-sensor-dependent software command based on the composite-sensor-independent software command and the indication of the parameter;

means for sending, to the simple-sensor controller application, the composite-sensor-dependent software command; and

wherein the composite-sensor-independent software command includes a starting time that indicates when to execute the composite-sensor-independent software command.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

means for receiving, from the simple-sensor controller application, a reply; and

means for sending, to the composite-sensor controller application, the reply.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the reply includes a value of the parameter.