System and device using spectrum-impact-smoothed channel sequencing and deferred acknowledgments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10248087-B2
Application number	US-201715647492-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2017
Priority date	Jul 12, 2017
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed herein are wireless devices operable at intermediate wireless at ranges of thousands of meters, utilizing packets that include a preamble and a data payload. Devices may be such things as keypads, door latches, occupancy monitors, sprinkler controllers and other devices needing a communications link. A digital spread-spectrum frequency hopping rotation is used, wherein packet transmissions rotate through frequency sequences. A spectrum-impact-smoothed channel set is fashioned using sequences that each specify a unique preamble frequency relative to the other sequences and channels. The set is traversed as packets are transmitted, thereby distributing the focused radio-frequency emission impact of packets having long preambles over time. Packet acknowledgments are deferred until a group of packets in a stream has been exchanged. Detailed information on various example embodiments of the inventions are provided in the Detailed Description below, and the inventions are defined by the appended claims.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A pair of wireless communications devices operational at intermediate ranges, one of said pair of wireless communication devices being a stream-producer and the other being a stream-receiver, said devices utilizing a set of discrete radio frequencies upon which are organized a set of spectrum-impact-smoothed (SIS) channels each having a distinct digital spread spectrum frequency sequence, each SIS channel specifying a unique frequency to be used in the transmission of a packet preamble relative to all of the other SIS channels within the set, each of said pair of wireless communication devices comprising:
a transceiver functional for wireless communication using the frequency sequence of the spectrum-impact-smoothed channels; and
an electronic circuit implementing a state machine immutable to power-transient events;
wherein said state machine of each device is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement functions (a) and (b):
(a) configuring said transceiver of a particular device to transmit or receive a packet on a channel having distinct communication parameters,
(b) exchanging a stream of packets with the other of said pair of wireless communication devices using a schedule of SIS channels, wherein both of said pair of wireless communication devices either transmits or receives that stream of packets using channels as specified by that schedule;
wherein said state machine of a stream-producing device is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement functions (c)-(f):
(c) for each of a stream of packets exchanged using a schedule of SIS channels, transmitting each packet with a packet identifier,
(d) following the transmission of a stream of packets, requesting from a stream-receiving device a deferred acknowledgment,
(e) receiving a deferred acknowledgment from a stream-receiving device specifying individual packets of a stream that were or were not received, and
(f) retransmitting individual packets identified in a deferred acknowledgment that were not received by a stream-receiving device; and
wherein said state machine of said stream-receiving device is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement functions (g)-(j):
(g) for each of a stream of packets exchanged using a schedule of SIS channels, recording receipt of a packet identified by a packet identifier contained within each packet,
(h) receiving a request from a stream-producing device for a deferred acknowledgment,
(i) transmitting a deferred acknowledgment specifying identifiers of individual packets of a stream that were or were not received, and
(j) receiving retransmissions of individual packets identified in a deferred acknowledgment that were not received by said stream-receiving device.

2. The pair of wireless communications devices recited in claim 1 , wherein said state machine of said stream-producing device is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement a function of: for each of a stream of packets exchanged using a schedule of SIS channels, transmitting each packet with a unique packet identifier.

3. The pair of wireless communications devices recited in claim 1 , wherein:
said state machine of said stream-producing device is configured to transmit packets within a stream of packets using sequential packet identifiers.

4. The pair of wireless communications devices recited in claim 1 , wherein:
said state machine of said stream-receiving device is configured to process packets out-of-order as they are received.

5. The pair of wireless communications devices recited in claim 1 , wherein said state machine of said stream-receiving device is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement functions (k) and (I):
(k) buffering out-of-order packets, and
(l) processing buffered packets after all in a stream of packets have been received.

6. The pair of wireless communications devices recited in claim 1 , wherein:
said state machine of said stream-producing device is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement a function of: initiating a new SIS channel sequence during the course of an exchanging of a stream of packets with the stream-receiving device.

7. The pair of wireless communications devices recited in claim 1 , wherein said stream producing device is configured to calculate a number of packets within a particular stream of packets that coincides the end of the transmission of that stream of packets with the end of an SIS channel sequence being used.

8. The pair of wireless communications devices recited in claim 1 , wherein the pair of wireless communications devices communicate at intermediate ranges through a cloud based network.

9. A pair of wireless communications devices operational at intermediate ranges, one of said pair of wireless communication devices being a stream-producer and the other being a stream-receiver, said devices utilizing a set of discrete radio frequencies upon which are organized a set of spectrum-impact-smoothed (SIS) channels each having a distinct digital spread spectrum frequency sequence, each SIS channel specifying a unique frequency to be used in the transmission of a packet preamble relative to all of the other SIS channels within the set, each of said pair of wireless communication devices comprising:
a transceiver functional for wireless communication using the frequency sequence of the spectrum-impact-smoothed channels; and
an electronic circuit implementing a state machine immutable to power-transient events;
wherein said state machine of each device is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement functions (a) and (b):
(a) configuring said transceiver of a particular device to transmit or receive a packet on a channel having distinct communication parameters,
(b) exchanging a stream of packets with the other of said pair of wireless communication devices using a schedule of SIS channels, wherein both of said pair of wireless communication devices either transmits or receives that stream of packets using channels as specified by that schedule;
wherein said state machine of a stream-producing device is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement functions (c)-(g):
(c) dividing a continuing stream of data destined for a stream-receiving device into a succession of multiple streams of packets,
(d) for each of a stream of packets exchanged using a schedule of SIS channels, transmitting each packet with a packet identifier,
(e) following the transmission of a stream of packets, requesting from a stream-receiving device a deferred acknowledgment,
(f) receiving a deferred acknowledgment from a stream-receiving device specifying individual packets of a stream that were or were not received, and
(g) retransmitting individual packets identified in a deferred acknowledgment that were not received by a stream-receiving device; and
wherein said state machine of said stream-receiving device is configured to sequence through a set of states to implement functions (h)-(I):
(h) for each of a stream of packets exchanged using a schedule of SIS channels, recording receipt of a packet identified by a packet identifier contained within each packet,
(i) receiving a request from a stream-producing device for a deferred acknowledgment,
(j) transmitting a deferred acknowledgment specifying identifiers of individual packets of a stream that were or were not received,
(k) receiving retransmissions of individual packets identified in a deferred acknowledgment that were not received by said stream-receiving device, and
(l) assembling received streams of packets into a continuing stream of data.

10. The pair of wireless communications devices recited i

Assignees

• Hall David R
• Boswell Craig
• Robinson Everett D
• Fox Joe
• Hall Labs Llc

Inventors

• Hall David R
• Boswell Craig
• Robinson Everett D
• Fox Joe

Classifications

• H04N7/18

  Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• G08B25/10

  using wireless transmission systems {(G08B25/009 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L12/2818

  from a device located outside both the home and the home network (access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007) · CPC title