WO2021006806A1

WO2021006806A1 - A system and method for sending and receiving wireless signals

Info

Publication number: WO2021006806A1
Application number: PCT/SG2019/050334
Authority: WO
Inventors: Edmund June Jie GAIR; Louis Kent Ting Wei LEE
Original assignee: Viatick Pte. Ltd.
Priority date: 2019-07-05
Filing date: 2019-07-05
Publication date: 2021-01-14
Also published as: AU2019261761A1; CN112449762A

Abstract

According to various embodiments, there is provided a wireless communication device comprising a first transceiver communicatively connected to a controller, the first transceiver configured to transmit a first wireless data packet via a short range radio communication protocol at a predetermined time interval for receipt by one or more communication devices; a second transceiver communicatively connected to the controller, the second transceiver configured to receive a second wireless data packet from the one or more communication devices via a first radio communication protocol and configured to transmit the second wireless data packet via a second radio communication protocol to a server; wherein the controller is configured to obtain the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet; and wherein the controller is further configured to at least partially synchronize the transmission of the first wireless data packet from the first transceiver with the receipt of the second wireless data packet from the second transceiver based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet, such that the transmission of the first wireless data packet and the receipt of the second wireless data packet are carried out at the same time.

Description

A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SENDING AND RECEIVING WIRELESS

SIGNALS

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to wireless communication systems that use multiple protocol wireless connections to wirelessly communicate data between communication devices.

Background

[0002] As IoT (Internet of Things) devices grow and billions of connected devices enter the world, one of the most critical components of the future IoT systems may be a device known as an IoT gateway. The IoT is based on the idea that everyday objects, not just computers and computer networks, can be readable, recognizable, locatable, addressable and controllable via an IoT communications network. An IoT gateway device aggregates sensor data, translates between sensor protocols, processes sensor data before sending it onward to the cloud and more. For many organizations, IoT gateway devices provide opportunities for monitoring, tracking, or controlling other devices and items, including further IoT devices, other home and industrial devices, items in manufacturing and food production chains, and the like. The emergence of IoT networks has served as a catalyst for profound change in the evolution in the internet.

[0003] Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has gained importance in the IoT industry because it wants to ensure low energy consumption while maintaining a good range of communication. BLE incorporates profdes that enable devices to perform predefined interoperable tasks independent of device manufacturer, operating system, or class of device. Although Bluetooth devices utilize interoperable profiles, these devices use a transceiver that typically provides lower data throughput and shorter range than devices utilizing WiFi technology. Communication dropouts between IoT devices is a common problem especially where dense deployment of wireless IoT sensors or devices are operating on different bands and using different radio protocols. The devices may not connect, or transfer of data packets may be slow or disrupted, or they may randomly disconnect or run into interference from other devices. Such unexplained communication failures have become sufficiently commonplace and can negatively impact the outcome of an operation. For example, critical medical applications require complete and uninterrupted connectivity to process medical alerts and transfer large amounts of data quickly. Any disruption could negatively impact a patient’s outcome.

[0004] Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system that improves the ability of wireless devices to operate in the presence of other equipment using similar or dissimilar operating protocols.

[0005] Accordingly, it would be desirable to avoid interference and improve the communication drop-out rates between IoT sensors and wireless communication devices.

[0006] The present invention attempts to overcome or to address at least in part some of the aforementioned problems.

Summary of the Invention

[0007] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[0008] In accordance with a first embodiment of the invention, there is provided a wireless communication device comprising: a first transceiver communicatively connected to a controller, the first transceiver configured to transmit a first wireless data packet via a short range radio communication protocol at a predetermined time interval for receipt by one or more communication devices; a second transceiver communicatively connected to the controller, the second transceiver configured to receive a second wireless data packet from the one or more communication devices via a first radio communication protocol and configured to transmit the second wireless data packet via a second radio communication protocol to a server; wherein the controller is configured to obtain the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet; and wherein the controller is further configured to at least partially synchronize the transmission of the first wireless data packet from the first transceiver with the receipt of the second wireless data packet from the second transceiver based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet, such that the transmission of the first wireless data packet and the receipt of the second wireless data packet are carried out at the same time.

[0009] Preferably, the receipt of the second wireless data packet by the second transceiver is aligned with the transmission of the first wireless data packet based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet.

[0010] Preferably, the predetermined time interval for the transmission of the first wireless data packet is at a frequency of 10 seconds.

[0011] Preferably, the first wireless data packet includes a beacon identifier, wherein the beacon identifier includes a universally unique identifier (UUID).

[0012] Preferably, the second wireless data packet includes beacon settings configured for providing updates to the controller for updating configuration of the first transceiver.

[0013] Preferably, the second wireless data packet includes any one of the following: beacon identifiers, firmware versions, protocol versions, or sensor data. [0014] Preferably, the short-range radio communication protocol is Bluetooth Low Energy.

[0015] Preferably, the first radio communication protocol and the second radio communication protocol is different.

[0016] In accordance with a second embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of sending and receiving wireless signals by a wireless communication device, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting, by a first transceiver via a short-range radio communication protocol, a first wireless data packet at a predetermined time interval for receipt by one or more communication devices; receiving, by a second transceiver via a first radio communication protocol, a second wireless data packet from the one or more communication devices; transmitting, by the second transceiver via a second radio communication protocol, the second wireless data packet to a server; obtaining, by a controller of the wireless communication device, the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet; aligning the transmission of the first wireless data packet from the first transceiver with the receipt of the second wireless data packet from the second transceiver based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet, such that the transmission of the first wireless data packet and the receipt of the second wireless data packet are carried out at the same time.

[0017] Preferably, the receipt of the second wireless data packet by the second transceiver is aligned with the transmission of the first wireless data packet based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet.

[0018] Preferably, the predetermined time interval for the transmission of the first wireless data packet is at a frequency of 10 seconds.

[0019] Preferably, the first wireless data packet includes a beacon identifier, wherein the beacon identifier includes a universally unique identifier (UUID). [0020] Preferably, the second wireless data packet includes beacon settings configured for providing updates to the controller for updating configuration of the first transceiver.

[0021] Preferably, the second wireless data packet includes any one of the following: beacon identifiers, firmware versions, protocol versions, or sensor data.

[0022] Preferably, the short-range radio communication protocol is Bluetooth Low Energy.

[0023] Preferably, the first radio communication protocol and the second radio communication protocol is different.

[0024] In accordance with a third embodiment of the invention, there is provided a system for sending and receiving wireless signals by a wireless communication device comprising: a memory; one or more processors coupled with the memory, wherein the memory includes processor executable code that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations including: transmitting, by a first transceiver via a short-range radio communication protocol, a first wireless data packet at a predetermined time interval for receipt by one or more communication devices; receiving, by a second transceiver via a first radio communication protocol, a second wireless data packet from the one or more communication devices; transmitting, by the second transceiver via a second radio communication protocol, the second wireless data packet to a server; obtaining, by a controller of the wireless communication device, the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet; aligning the transmission of the first wireless data packet from the first transceiver with the receipt of the second wireless data packet from the second transceiver based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet, such that the transmission of the first wireless data packet and the receipt of the second wireless data packet are carried out at the same time. [0025] Preferably, the receipt of the second wireless data packet by the second transceiver is aligned with the transmission of the first wireless data packet based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet.

[0026] Preferably, the predetermined time interval for the transmission of the first wireless data packet is at a frequency of 10 seconds.

[0027] Preferably, the first wireless data packet includes a beacon identifier, wherein the beacon identifier includes a universally unique identifier (UUID).

[0028] Preferably, the second wireless data packet includes beacon settings configured for providing updates to the controller for updating configuration of the first transceiver.

[0029] Preferably, the second wireless data packet includes any one of the following: beacon identifiers, firmware versions, protocol versions, or sensor data.

[0030] Preferably, the short-range radio communication protocol is Bluetooth Low Energy.

[0031] Preferably, the first radio communication protocol and the second radio communication protocol is different.

[0032] To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects include the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Brief Description of the Drawings [0033] In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. The dimensions of the various features or elements may be arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity. In the following description, various embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the following drawings, in which:

[0034] FIG. 1 is an overview of a cloud computing network, or cloud, in communication with a number of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0035] FIG. 2 is a diagram of a computing device for an IoT system in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0036] FIG. 3 shows a radio communication device in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0037] FIG. 4 shows a radio communication device in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

[0038] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific details and embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized and structural, and logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The various embodiments are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as some embodiments can be combined with one or more other embodiments to form new embodiments.

[0039] Accordingly, in one or more example embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes computer storage media. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include a random- access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the aforementioned types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

[0040] In the specification the term“comprising” shall be understood to have a broad meaning similar to the term“including” and will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps. This definition also applies to variations on the term “comprising” such as“comprise” and“comprises”.

[0041] In order that the invention may be readily understood and put into practical effect, particular embodiments will now be described by way of examples and not limitations, and with reference to the figures. It will be understood that any property described herein for a specific system may also hold for any system described herein. It will be understood that any property described herein for a specific method may also hold for any method described herein. Furthermore, it will be understood that for any system or method described herein, not necessarily all the components or steps described must be enclosed in the system or method, but only some (but not all) components or steps may be enclosed.

[0042] The term“coupled” (or“connected”) herein may be understood as electrically coupled or as mechanically coupled, for example attached or fixed, or just in contact without any fixation, and it will be understood that both direct coupling or indirect coupling (in other words: coupling without direct contact) may be provided. [0043] Various embodiments are provided for systems and devices various embodiments are provided for methods. It will be understood that basic properties of the systems and devices also hold for the methods and vice versa. Therefore, for sake of brevity, duplicate description of such properties may be omitted.

[0044] As used herein, the term“Internet of Things device” (or“IoT device”) may refer to any object that has an addressable interface (for example, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Bluetooth identifier, a near-field communication and can transmit information to one or more other devices over a wired or wireless connection. An IoT device may have a passive communication interface, such as a quick response (QR) code, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or the like, or an active communication interface, such as a modem, a transceiver, a transmitter-receiver, or the like. An IoT device can have a particular set of attributes (e.g., a device state or status, such as whether the IoT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, an environmental monitoring or recording function, a light- emitting function, a sound-emitting function, etc.) that can be embedded in and/or controlled/monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, or the like, and configured for connection to an IoT network such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example, IoT devices may include, but are not limited to, medical equipment, industrial machinery, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, microwaves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers, electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices are equipped with an addressable communications interface for communicating with the IoT network. IoT devices may also include cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Accordingly, the IoT network may be comprised of a combination of“legacy” Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do not typically have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

[0045] The present techniques are directed to an IoT system including an lot gateway device and IoT sensors, which may be attached to IoT devices, to measure data and forward the data to the gateway device. The gateway device receives the data and may provide the data, for example, to a cloud infrastructure. In certain embodiments, the gateway device can generally support multiple wireless technologies including a heterogeneous network. That is, if a gateway device has multiple interfaces, the gateway device can manage/interact with sensors that use Bluetooth® low energy (BLE), IEEE standard 802.15.4, etc.

[0046] A function of the IoT gateway device is to receive data from the IoT sensors, communicate with cloud-based servers to upload individual or aggregated sensor data, receive security keys, etc. Gateway devices also communicate with other gateway devices to provide load balancing of sensor platforms, sensor platform handoff, data aggregation and filtering, and exchange of sensor platform encryption keys, and so forth. Each IoT gateway device may be participating in a cluster of wireless sensor nodes, and is typically beneficial that the overall system operates effectively. Furthermore, gateway devices may be resource-rich devices and capable of applying machine learning techniques to the data received from the sensor platforms to offer analytical capabilities. This application of gateway devices may be desirable so that the analysis of the raw sensor data can be performed at the edge instead of passing the sensor data up to a central server in a cloud.

[0047] FIG. 1 presents a high level system architecture of a wireless communication system or an IoT system. In general, the internet of things (IoT) includes a paradigm in which a large number of computing devices are interconnected to each other and to the Internet to provide functionality and data acquisition at very low levels. As used herein, an IoT device may include a semiautonomous device performing a function, such as sensing or control, among others, in communication with other IoT devices and a wider network, such as the Internet. IoT devices may include IoT gateways devices, used to couple IoT devices to other IoT devices and to cloud applications, for data storage, process control, and the like. [0048] Networks of IoT devices may include commercial and home automation devices, such as water distribution systems, electric power distribution systems, pipeline control systems, plant control systems, light switches, thermostats, locks, cameras, alarms, motion sensors, factory automation, smart building, asset tracking/logistics, Operation Technology (OT) with industrial/factory networks, and the like. The IoT devices may be accessible through remote computers, servers, and other systems,

for example, to control systems or access data.

[0049] FIG. 1 is a drawing of a wireless communication system 100 including a cloud 101 in communication with a number of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors. The cloud 101 may represent the Internet, or may be a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN), such as a proprietary network for a company. The cloud 101 may be in contact with one or more servers 103 that may provide command and control functions or consume data from the IoT sensors. The servers 103 comprise a database (not shown). The database may contain a wide range of information about the components of the methods and systems disclosed herein, the data collected by or about them, or relevant data from other systems, applications or processes. For example, the database may contain the unique identifiers and locations of devices of the system, status formation from or about any of them, and information collected by or about them, including sensor information. The IoT sensors 110, 112 may be attached to devices, and may include any number of different types of devices, grouped in various combinations. For example, in relation to tracking of assets such as manpower or goods in a manufacturing plant, the IoT sensors 110, 112 may include historic or current location of physical goods or manpower, rate at which goods or manpower are travelling, state information of goods such as humidity, temperature, shock, changes in weight, and the like. The IoT sensors 110, 112 may be in communication with the cloud 101 through wireless links , such as low power wide area (LPWA) links, and the like. The IoT sensors may use another device, such as a gateway device 104, which may function as an aggregator or aggregation device, to communicate with the cloud 101. [0050] The IoT sensors, as mentioned above, are in proximity to or are secured to an asset to detect conditions of, conditions surrounding, or conditions affect the asset. The IoT sensors may detect such conditions as temperature, humidity, light, sound, wind, electric field, magnetic field, movement, pressure, weight, presence of smoke, presence of radioactivity, presence of biological materials, and the like. Therefore, sensors may be thermistors, capacitive sensors, piezo-electric sensors, optical sensors, microphones, weather sensors, chemical sensors, gyroscopic sensors, magnetic sensors, transducers, acoustic sensors, accelerometers, among others. Location-based sensors utilising GPS technology will be referred to as location sensors.

[0051] The IoT sensors may be controlled by a management system (not shown) and an application executed on a set of user devices. The management system functions to configure, deploy, monitor and manage the IoT sensors. The management system functions as a centralized system for control of the IoT sensors. For example, the management system can receive an update of settings for a cluster of IoT sensors, push the new settings to the cluster of sensors, track and monitor the sensors over time or through a predetermined time interval. The management system preferably includes a remote computing system including one or more servers, but can alternatively include a master IoT sensor, a user device for example a native application executing on a user device or a browser application on the user device) or be any other suitable computing system.

[0052] The application (not shown) functions as an interface between the IoT sensor, the management system and the user. The application can scan for beacon data packets, request content from the management system based on the beacon data packets and display content to the user. The application can connect to the IoT sensors, push updated settings to the IoT sensors, associate user device information with the beacon information for example, data packets or information extracted from data packets. The application is preferably executed by a user device and can be a customer device, employee device, a device belonging to any suitable user. The application can be a native application, a browser application, an intergrated operating system-level application or any other suitable application. The application can be connected to the management system through a common interface, for example an SDK, or alternatively connected in any other suitable manner.

[0053] The user device functions to execute the application and to present the information to the user. The user device may be a mobile device associated with a user, and can include mobile phones, laptops, smartphones, tablets, or any other suitable mobile device. The user device can also include one or more wireless communication protocols, user outputs (for example, display, speaker, etc.), sensors, power storage and/or any other suitable component. The wireless communication protocols may include WiFi, a cellular network service, or any other suitable wireless connection, a NFC (near field connection), Bluetooth, or any other suitable short range wireless communication protocols.

[0054] Other groups of IoT sensors that may be applied on assets include machinery 114, moving vehicles 116, industrial equipment 118, smoke detectors 120, alarm panels 122, among many others. Each of these IoT sensors may be in communication with other IoT sensors, with servers 103, or both.

[0055] As can be seen from FIG. 1, a large number of IoT devices may be communicating through the cloud 101. This may allow different IoT devices to request or provide information to other devices autonomously. For example, in a scenario of indoor asset tracking, a gateway device 104 may be mounted on a forklift attached with an IoT sensor, and a personnel is attached with an IoT sensor. Upon sensing a dangerously close proximity of the personnel near the forklift, the gateway device 104 may trigger the forklift to come to a halt, and prevent the forklift from possibly causing injury to the personnel. In another example scenario of outdoor asset tracking, an emergency vehicle 124 may be alerted by an automated teller machine 120 that a burglary is in progress. As the emergency vehicle 124 proceeds towards the automated teller machine 120, it may access a cluster of IoT sensors 110-113 to request clearance to the location, for example, by turning traffic lights to red to block cross traffic at an intersection in sufficient time for the emergency vehicle 124 to have unimpeded access to the intersection. [0056] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example of components that may be present in an loT gateway device 200 for a wireless communication system 100. The loT gateway device 200 may include any combinations of the components shown in the example. The components may be implemented as ICs, portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the IoT gateway device 200, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. The block diagram of FIG. 2 is intended to show a high level overview of components of the IoT gateway device 200. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0057] The IoT device 200 may include a controller or a processor 201, which may be a microprocessor, a multi-core processor, a multithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, or other known processing element. The processor 201 may be a part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which the processor 201 and other components are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a single package. As an example, the processor 201 may include an Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, an Atom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another such processor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. However, any number of other processors may be used, such as those available from Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) of Sunnyvale, Calif., a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. or customer thereof, or their licensees or adopters. The processors may include units such as an A5-A9 processor from Apple® Inc., a Snapdragon™ processor from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., or an OMAP™ processor from Texas Instruments, Inc.

[0058] The processor 201 may communicate with a system memory 203 over a bus 210. Any number of memory devices may be used to provide for a given amount of system memory. As examples, the memory 203 can be random access memory (RAM) in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design such as the current LPDDR2 standard according to JEDEC JESD 209-2E, or a next generation LPDDR standard, such as LPDDR3 or LPDDR4 that will offer extensions to LPDDR2 to increase bandwidth. In various implementations the individual memory devices may be of any number of different package types such as single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package (Q17P). These devices, in some embodiments, may be directly soldered onto a motherboard to provide a lower profile solution, while in other embodiments the devices are configured as one or more memory modules that in turn couple to the motherboard by a given connector. Any number of other memory implementations may be used, such as other types of memory modules, e.g., dual inline memory modules (DIMMs) of different varieties including but not limited to microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs. For example, a memory may be sized between 2 GB and 16 GB, and may be configured as a DDR3LM package or an LPDDR2 or LPDDR3 memory, which is soldered onto a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA).

[0059] To provide for persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth, a mass storage 205 may also be coupled to the processor 201 via the bus 210. To enable a thinner and lighter system design, the mass storage 205 may be implemented via a solid state disk drive (SSDD). Other devices that may be used for the mass storage 205 include flash memory cards, such as SD cards, microSD cards, xD picture cards, and the like, and USB flash drives. In low power implementations, the mass storage 205 may be on-die memory or registers associated with the processor 201. However, in some examples, the mass storage 205 may be implemented using a micro hard disk drive (HDD). Further, any number of new technologies may be used for the mass storage 205 in addition to, or instead of, the technologies described, such as resistance change memories, phase change memories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others.

[0060] The components may communicate over the bus 210. The bus 210 may include any number of technologies, including industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus 210 may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus systems may be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, point to point interfaces, and a power bus, among others.

[0061] The bus 210 may couple the processor 201 to a first transceiver 202. Alternatively, the first transceiver 202 may be incorporated or integrated with the processor 201. For example, the Samsung ARTIK™530 System-in-Module provides at least one transceiver that supports a wide range of wireless communication options - such as 802.1 la/b/g/n for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, and 802.15.4 for ZigBee. The first transceiver 202 may use any number of frequencies and protocols, such as 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) transmissions under the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, using the Bluetooth® low energy (BLE) standard, as defined by the Bluetooth® Special Interest Group, or the ZigBee® standard, among others. Any number of radios, configured for a particular wireless communication protocol, may be used for the connections to the sensors 110-112. For example, a WLAN unit may be used to implement Wi-Fi™ communications in accordance with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard. In addition, wireless wide area communications, e.g., according to a cellular or other wireless wide area protocol, can occur via a WWAN unit. The first transceiver is configured to receive signals in accordance with a short range radio communication technology from a plurality of IoT sensors.

[0062] In some embodiments, the first transceiver is configured to transmit data packets employing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology. BLE, in comparison to Bluetooth, provides reduced power consumption while maintaining a similar communication range. BLE is ideal for devices that are powered by a small battery and may be able to operate for months or years on a single battery cell. The data packets can be beacon identifiers, control instructions, information identifiers, or any other suitable data. The beacon identifier can be a globally unique identifier, a locally unique identifier, a temporally unique identifier or any other suitable identifier. In some embodiments, the first transceiver is a wireless beacon that transmits beacon signals that are received by other devices. Typically, the transmission of beacon signals are radio frequency broadcasts made by the first transceiver for which no response is requested or expected. In some embodiments, the beacon signals are repetitive transmissions that announce the presence of the wireless beacon. In some embodiments, the first transceiver is configured to transmit beacon signals which may be one or more data packets wirelessly periodically, continuously, or at a predetermined desired time interval. In some embodiments, the predetermined time interval can be configured by a user on a user device on an application or on the management system. In some embodiments, these data packets include one or more beacon identifiers. In some embodiments, a beacon identifier is a 16 byte first identifier referred to as a universally unique identifier (UUID), a 2 byte second identifier referred to as a Major identifier or a 2 byte third identifier referred to as a Minor identifier. In some embodiments, the first transceiver is compliant with one or more Bluetooth specifications, such as Bluetooth 4.0 or Bluetooth Low Energy. In some embodiments, the first transceiver is compliant with the Apple iBeacon specification. In some embodiments, the first transceiver can transmit only or listen only. In some embodiments, the first transceiver is configured such that the first transceiver only transmits signals but does not listen, i.e. receive signals. In other words, the first transceiver is configured such that receipt of signals in accordance with other short range or long range radio communication technology, other than the wireless communication technology it is configured to send beacon signals, is disabled to prevent interference with the receipt of signals from a second transceiver, which will be described hereinafter.

[0063] A second transceiver 204 may be included to communicate with the cloud 101 or with other IoT sensors. The second transceiver 204 is operable to transmit and to receive wireless data packets. In some embodiments, the second transceiver receives wireless data packets from other wireless devices that are compliant with the wireless communication technology that the second transceiver supports. In some embodiments, the wireless data packets are not the same wireless data packets transmitted by the first transceiver. In some embodiments, the second transceiver may support a wide range of wireless communication options - such as 802.11a/b/g/n for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 - 5.0 and 802.15.4 for ZigBee.

The second transceiver may use any number of frequencies and protocols, such as 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) transmissions under the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, using the Bluetooth® low energy (BLE) standard, as defined by the Bluetooth® Special Interest Group, or the ZigBee® standard, among others. Any number of radios, configured for a particular wireless communication protocol, may be used for the connections to the sensors 110-112. For example, where the wireless communication technology is one or more of Bluetooth, BLE, ZigBee, Z-Wave or other low power radio frequency data communications standards, the second transceiver may be configured to receive wireless data packets from one or more other wireless devices. In other embodiments, the second transceiver receives wireless data packets from other wireless devices that may be any wireless communication channel established between the second transceiver and another wireless device, such as such as 802.1 la/b/g/n for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 - 5.0, and 802.15.4 for ZigBee, a cellular network (eg., a GSM, WCDMA, LTE, 4G, 5G network), or a LP-WAN communication technology such as Sigfox, Lora, or Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT). The second transceiver receives the wireless data packets, unpacks the data packets, forward the data packets before transmitting the treated data packets to other gateway devices, network devices, cloud networks, server or the like. In some embodiments, the wireless data packets are transmitted via any wireless communication technology that is supported by the second transceiver. The second transceiver may also be configured to decode and/or decrypt various wireless signals received from one or more wireless devices.

[0064] As previously mentioned above, the management system can function as a centralized system for a cluster of IoT sensors. For example, the management system can receive an update of settings for a cluster of IoT sensors, push new settings to the cluster of IoT sensors, track which IoT sensors have and have not received the new settings, and initiate updating paths to update IoT sensors which have not received the new settings. The management system can function to store preferences, beacon identifiers, beacon settings, virtual maps of physical spaces, permissions, or other information associated with a user account. The management system also stores broadcast identifiers, settings, firmware versions, protocol versions, operation histories, location identifiers, or any other suitable information for a beacon. The second transceiver therefore transmits and receives data packets that include the above information. The wireless communication device as mentioned above can therefore act as both a gateway device and a beacon device. This provides the advantage of increasing the speed and efficiency of transmitting and receiving wireless data packets and to reduce the occurrence of interference.

[0065] The processor 201 is configured to at least partially synchronize the transmission of the wireless data packets via short range radio communication protocol on the first transceiver with the receipt of wireless data packets on the second transceiver via a range of radio communication protocol that the second transceiver supports such that the transmission of wireless data packets via short range radio communication protocol and the receipt of wireless data packets on the second transceiver via a range of radio communication protocols are carried out at the same time. In some embodiments, the wireless data packets transmitted by the first transceiver and the second transceiver are different.

[0066] The wireless data packets transmitted via short range radio communication protocol from the first transceiver and the wireless data packets recevied via a range of radio communication protocols by the second transceiver can be the same or different. For example, the first transceiver 202 may use any one of the frequencies and protocols, such as 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) transmissions under the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, using the Bluetooth® low energy (BLE) standard, as defined by the Bluetooth® Special Interest Group, or the ZigBee® standard, among others. The second transceiver 204 can use the same short range radio communication protocol employed for the first transceiver 202.

[0067] In order to prevent interference with the transmission of the wireless data packets via short range radio communication protocol from the first transceiver 202, the receipt of data packets via other radio communication protocols on the first transceiver is disabled. This can be done on a firmware level. For example, the mass storage 205 may include software or firmware or executable code to allow a user to configure the configuration parameters of the first transceiver and the second transceiver to implement the receipt and transmission of wireless data packets on the first and second transceivers. [0068] As shown in Figure 2, while the first transceiver 202 and the second transceiver 204 may be communicately connected via the bus 210, in some embodiments, the first transceiver 202 and the second transceiver 204 may also be communicatively coupled with each other to enable the transmission of wireless data packets via short range radio communication protocol from the first transceiver 202 to the second transceiver 204.

[0069] A third transceiver (not shown) may be included to communicate with IoT sensors 110-112 and the cloud 101. The third transceiver may support cellular wide area radio communication technology or Wireless Wide Area Netowrk radio communication technologies. The gateway device 200 may communicate over a wide area using WAN (Wide Area Network) technology. The techniques described herein are not limited to these technologies, but may be used with any number of other cloud transceivers that implement long range, low bandwidth communications, such as Sigfox, and other technologies. Further, other communications techniques, such as time-slotted channel hopping, described in IEEE 802.15.4e may be used. The third transceiver may be configured to receive signals in accordance with a Third Generation Partnership Project radio communication technology or in accordance with a 4 G radio communication technology. For example, the third transceiver is configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with a Long Term Evolution radio communication technology.

[0070] A network interface controller (NIC) 206 may be included to provide a wired communication to the cloud 101. The wired communication may provide an Ethernet connection, or may be based on other types of networks, such as Controller Area Network (CAN), Local Interconnect Network (LIN), DeviceNet, ControlNet, Data Highway+, PROFIBUS, or PRO FINE T, among many others. An additional NIC may be included to allow connection to a second network, for example, a NIC providing communications to the cloud over Ethernet, and a second NIC providing communications to other devices over another type of network. [0071] The bus 210 may couple the processor 201 to an interface 207 that may be used to connect external devices. The external devices may include sensors, such as accelerometers, level sensors, flow sensors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, barometric pressure sensors, and the like. The interface 207 may be used to connect the gateway device 200 to actuators , such as power switches, valve actuators, an audible sound generator, a visual warning device, and the like. Further, the interface 207 may be used to connect the gateway device 200 to other external devices via a Universal serial Bus (USB) port and cable for transfer of data.

[0072] While not shown, various input/output (I/O) devices may be present within, or connected to, the IoT device 200. For example, a display may be included to show information, such as sensor readings or actuator position. An input device, such as a touch screen or keypad may be included to accept input.

[0073] A battery 208 may power the gateway device 200, although in examples in which the gateway device 200 is mounted in a fixed location, it may have a power supply 300 coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 208 may be a lithium ion battery, a metal -air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like.

[0074] A battery charger 209 may be included in the gateway device 200 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 208. The battery charger 209 may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 208 to provide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the battery 208. The battery charger 209 may include a battery monitoring integrated circuit, such as an LTC4020 or an LTC2990 from Linear Technologies, an ADT7488A from ON Semiconductor of Phoenix Ariz., or an IC from the UCD90xxx family from Texas Instruments of Dallas, Tex. The battery charger 209 may communicate the information on the battery 208 to the processor 201 over the bus 210. The battery charger 209 may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the processor 201 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 208 or the current flow from the battery 208. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the gateway device 200 may perform, such as transmission frequency, mesh network operation, sensing frequency, and the like.

[0075] A power supply 300 may be coupled with the battery charger 209 to charge the battery 208. In some examples, the power supply 300 may be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the gateway device 200. The specific charging circuits chosen depend on the size of the battery 208, and thus, the current required. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, the Rezence charging standard, promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others.

[0076] The mass storage 205 may include a number of modules to implement the receipt and transmission of short range radio communication technology on the first and second transceivers described herein. The mass storage 205 may include software or firmware or executable code to implement the receipt and transmission of short range radio communication technology on the first and second transceivers.

[0077] It may be understood that any of the modules may be replaced with hardwired circuits, for example, built into an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The mass storage 205 may further include and store other functional blocks, such as a control UI for accessing configuration parameters, and an automation framework that may provide application program interfaces (APIs) for the interaction of canned trigger scripts. For example, the mass storage 205 may include a firmware for a user to access and modify configuration parameters related to the first transceiver and/or the second transceiver. This may include configuration of the frequency, dB, major, minor and UUID. Other functional blocks that may be present include accelerated processing units (APUs) in the automation framework that exchange a standard set of timing information that allows trigger scripts to identify synchronous versus staggered starts. An IoT database may be includes to store workflow configuration information, observed system performance, and resulting solution characteristics. Interactions with the IoTdatabase may be via the control UI. [0078] Fig. 3 shows a portion of a gateway device or an IoT device 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, with other components omitted. The gateway device 200 includes a first transceiver 202 configured to transmit wireless data packets via a short range radio communication protocol. The gateway device 200 further includes a second transceiver 204 configured to receive wireless data packets, which may or may not be the same wireless data packets transmitted by the first transceiver, via a range of radio communication protocols. Further, the second transceiver 204 is configured to transmit the wireless data packets via a range of radio communication protocols to the server or to the cloud. The processor 201 is configured to at least partially synchronize the transmitting of wireless data packets transmitted via short range radio communication protocol from the first transceiver 202 with the receipt of another wireless data packet via a range of radio communication protocols on the second transceiver 204 such that the transmission of wireless data packets via short-range radio communication protocol and the receipt of wireless data packets are carried out at the same time.

[0079] In order to prevent interference with the receipt of wireless data packets from the second transceiver 204, the receipt of wireless data packets via short-range radio communication protocol of the first transceiver 202 is disabled. This can be done on a firmware level. For example, the mass storage 205 may include software or firmware or executable code to allow a user to configure the configuration parameters of the first transceiver and the second transceiver to implement the receipt and transmission of short range radio communication technology on the first and second transceivers.

[0080] Although a connection of the first transceiver 202 and the second transceiver 204 via the processor is illustrated, the first transceiver 202 and the second transceiver 204 may also be directly connected (as shown in Figure 2).

[0081] The processor 201 may be configured to control the second transceiver 204 to at least partially synchronize the receiving of signals of the first transceiver 202 with the transmitting of signals of the second transceiver 204 dependent on a receiving schedule for the first transceiver 202.

[0082] The first transceiver 202 may be configured to receive signals in accordance with the short or long range radio communication technology selected from a group consisting of:

Bluetooth radio communication technology;

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio communication technology; a Thread Network Protocol;

Wireless Local Area Network radio communication technology;

Infrared Data Association radio communication technology;

Z-Wave radio communication technology;

ZigBee radio communication technology;

High PErformance Radio LAN radio communication technology; and IEEE 802.11 radio communication technology.

[0083] The second transceiver may be configured to receive and transmit signals in accordance with radio communication technology selected from a group consisting of:

Bluetooth radio communication technology;

Wireless Local Area Network radio communication technology;

Infrared Data Association radio communication technology;

Z-Wave radio communication technology; ZigBee radio communication technology;

High PErformance Radio LAN radio communication technology;

IEEE 802.11 radio communication technology; and Digital Enhanced Cordless radio communication technology

[0084] Fig. 4 shows a portion of a gateway device 200 or an IoT device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, with other components omitted. The gateway device 200 includes a first transceiver 202 configured to receive signals in accordance with a short-range radio communication technology from a plurality of IoT sensors. The first transceiver is incorporated or integrated with a processor 201.

[0085] The gateway device 200 further includes a second transceiver 204 configured to receive wireless data packets in accordance with one of a range of radio communication protocols from the first transceiver 202. Further, the second transceiver 204 is configured to transmit the said signals in accordance with a range of radio communication protocols to the cloud. The processor 201 is configured to at least partially synchronize the transmitting of wireless data packets via the short range radio communication protocol on the first transceiver 202 with the receipt of wireless data packets via one of a range of radio communication protocols on the second transceiver 204 such that the transmission of data packets via short range radio communication protocol and the receipt of data packets via one of a range of radio communication protocols are carried out at the same time.

[0086] In order to prevent interference with the transmission of the data packets from the second transceiver 204, the receipt of data packets in accordance with long range or short range radio communication protocols of the first transceiver 202 is disabled. This can be done on a firmware level. For example, the mass storage 205 may include software or firmware or executable code to allow a user to configure the configuration parameters of the first transceiver and the second transceiver to implement the receipt and transmission of short range radio communication technology on the first and second transceivers. [0087] Although a connection of the first transceiver 202 and the second transceiver 204 via the processor is illustrated, the first transceiver 202 and the second transceiver 204 may also be directly connected (as shown in Figure 2).

[0088] With respect to Figures 3 and 4, the first transceiver 202 includes a first communication circuit (not shown) which may perform various tasks related to the communication carried out by the first transceiver 202 such as controlling the reception timing of data packets via short range radio communication protocol from the IoT sensors. The first communication circuit may be seen as a processor and is for example configured to control the first transceiver 202.

[0089] The second transceiver 204 similarly includes a second communication circuit which may perform various tasks related to the communication carried out by the second transceiver such as controlling the transmission timings of data packets via one of a range of radio communication protocols transmitted from the first transceiver and the reception of data packets via one of a range of radio communication protocol from the second transceiver. The second communication circuit may be seen as a second processor and is for example configured to control the second transceiver 204.

[0090] It should be noted that a "circuit" may be understood as any kind of a logic implementing entity, which may be special purpose circuitry or a processor executing software stored in a memory, firmware, or any combination thereof. Thus, in an embodiment, a "circuit" may be a hard- wired logic circuit or a programmable logic circuit such as a programmable processor, e.g. a microprocessor (e.g. a Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) processor or a Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) processor). A "circuit" may also be a processor executing software, e.g. any kind of computer program, e.g. a computer program using a virtual machine code such as e.g. Java. Any other kind of implementation of the respective functions which will be described in more detail below may also be understood as a "circuit" in accordance with an alternative embodiment. [0091] It should be noted that while most of the examples described above are described for the coexistence of Bluetooth and BLE technology, the first transceiver 202 and the second transceiver 204 may also support other communication technologies. For example, the first and second transceiver may also support other short range radio communication technology (such as those mentioned above) and cellular wide area radio communication technology.

[0092] While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to specific embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The scope of the invention is thus indicated by the appended claims and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced.

Claims

Claims:

1. A wireless communication device comprising:

a first transceiver communicatively connected to a controller, the first transceiver configured to transmit a first wireless data packet via a short range radio communication protocol at a predetermined time interval for receipt by one or more communication devices;

a second transceiver communicatively connected to the controller, the second transceiver configured to receive a second wireless data packet from the one or more communication devices via a first radio communication protocol and configured to transmit the second wireless data packet via a second radio communication protocol to a server;

wherein the controller is configured to obtain the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet; and

wherein the controller is further configured to at least partially synchronize the transmission of the first wireless data packet from the first transceiver with the receipt of the second wireless data packet from the second transceiver based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet, such that the transmission of the first wireless data packet and the receipt of the second wireless data packet are carried out at the same time.

2. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the receipt of the second wireless data packet by the second transceiver is aligned with the transmission of the first wireless data packet based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet.

3. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the

predetermined time interval for the transmission of the first wireless data packet is at a frequency of 10 seconds.

4. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the first wireless data packet includes a beacon identifier, wherein the beacon identifier includes a universally unique identifier (UUID).

5. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the second wireless data packet includes beacon settings configured for providing updates to the controller for updating configuration of the first transceiver.

6. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the second wireless data packet includes any one of the following: beacon identifiers, firmware versions, protocol versions, or sensor data.

7. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the short-range radio communication protocol is Bluetooth Low Energy.

8. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the first radio communication protocol and the second radio communication protocol is different.

9. A method of sending and receiving wireless signals by a wireless communication device, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting, by a first transceiver via a short-range radio communication protocol, a first wireless data packet at a predetermined time interval for receipt by one or more communication devices;

receiving, by a second transceiver via a first radio communication protocol, a second wireless data packet from the one or more communication devices;

transmitting, by the second transceiver via a second radio communication protocol, the second wireless data packet to a server; obtaining, by a controller of the wireless communication device, the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet;

aligning the transmission of the first wireless data packet from the first transceiver with the receipt of the second wireless data packet from the second transceiver based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet, such that the transmission of the first wireless data packet and the receipt of the second wireless data packet are carried out at the same time.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the receipt of the second wireless data packet by the second transceiver is aligned with the transmission of the first wireless data packet based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined time interval for the transmission of the first wireless data packet is at a frequency of 10 seconds.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the first wireless data packet includes a beacon identifier, wherein the beacon identifier includes a universally unique identifier (UUID).

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the second wireless data packet

includes beacon settings configured for providing updates to the controller for updating configuration of the first transceiver.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein the second wireless data packet

includes any one of the following: beacon identifiers, firmware versions, protocol versions, or sensor data.

15. The method according to claim 9, wherein the short-range radio communication protocol is Bluetooth Low Energy.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first radio communication protocol and the second radio communication protocol is different.

17. A system for sending and receiving wireless signals by a wireless communication device comprising:

a memory;

one or more processors coupled with the memory, wherein the memory includes processor executable code that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations including:

transmitting, by a first transceiver via a short-range radio communication protocol, a first wireless data packet at a predetermined time interval for receipt by one or more communication devices;

transmitting, by the second transceiver via a second radio communication protocol, the second wireless data packet to a server;

obtaining, by a controller of the wireless communication device, the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet;

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the receipt of the second wireless data packet by the second transceiver is aligned with the transmission of the first wireless data packet based on the predetermined time interval for transmitting the first wireless data packet.

19. The system according to claim 17, wherein the predetermined time interval for the transmission of the first wireless data packet is at a frequency of 10 seconds.

20. The system according to claim 17, wherein the first wireless data packet includes a beacon identifier, wherein the beacon identifier includes a universally unique identifier (UUID).

21. The system according to claim 17, wherein the second wireless data packet

22. The system according to claim 17, wherein the second wireless data packet

23. The system according to claim 17, wherein the short-range radio communication protocol is Bluetooth Low Energy.

24. The system according to claim 17, wherein the first radio communication protocol and the second radio communication protocol is different.