Method and system for synchronization of sensing operations performed by a plurality of devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10383072-B2
Application number	US-201715635830-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2017
Priority date	Jun 28, 2017
Publication date	Aug 13, 2019
Grant date	Aug 13, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for synchronization of sensing operations performed by a plurality of devices. The method may include collecting sensing capabilities of one or more connected devices that are communicably coupled with a central device. Each connected device may include one or more sensors, and the sensing capabilities may include at least sensor type and sensing interval for each sensor. The method may also include coordinating sensing operations performed by the central device and the one or more connected devices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for synchronization of sensing operations performed by a plurality of devices, the method comprising:
collecting, by a central device, sensing capabilities of one or more connected devices that are communicably coupled with the central device, wherein each connected device has one or more sensors, and wherein the sensing capabilities comprise at least sensor type and sensing interval for each sensor; and
coordinating, by the central device, sensing operations performed by sensors of the central device and the one or more connected devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein coordinating sensing operations further comprises:
generating a schedule that coordinates sensing operations performed by sensors of the central device and the one or more connected devices; and
distributing the schedule to the one or more connected devices causing the central device and the one or more connected devices to perform coordinated sensing operations according to the schedule.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein coordinating sensing operations performed by sensors of the central device and the one or more connected devices comprises, based at least on the collected sensing intervals, causing one or more sensors of the central device to start data collection at the same time as one or more sensors of the one or more connected devices.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein coordinating sensing operations performed by sensors of the central device and the one or more connected devices comprises, based at least on the collected sensing intervals, causing one or more sensors of the central device to perform data collection at intervals that overlap with data collection intervals of one or more sensors of the one or more connected devices.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein coordinating sensing operations performed by sensors of the central device and the one or more connected devices comprises, based at least on the collected sensor types:
causing each of a plurality of sensors of a same sensor type at different connected devices to start data collection at a different time than others of the plurality of sensors of the same sensor type, and
causing each of the plurality of sensors of the same sensor type to perform data collection at intervals which are temporally staggered with respect to data collection performed by others of the plurality of sensors of the same sensor type.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
collecting data from the coordinated sensing operations performed by the one or more connected devices and the central device; and
performing a positioning process by the central device based, at least in part, on the data collected from the coordinated sensing operations.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
collecting data from the coordinated sensing operations performed by the one or more connected devices and the central device; and
providing a location of the central device and the collected data from the coordinated sensing operations associated with the location to a crowdsourcing server.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the coordinated sensing operations comprises sensing by the one or more connected devices temporally aligned with an interval of crowdsourcing sensing performed by the central device.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving a request to perform on-demand crowdsourcing sensing;
delaying sensing performed by the central device based on sensing intervals of the one or more connected devices; and
initiating sensing operations by the central device with the sensing operations performed by the one or more connected devices.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the central device is one of a smartphone, a tablet computer, a controller of a motor vehicle, an access point, or a home controller.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more connected devices comprise one or more of a smart watch, fitness tracker, smart glasses, smart garment, medical device, gaming device, or a combination thereof.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the central device is communicatively coupled with the one or more connected devices over a personal area network, a wireless local area network, or a combination thereof.

13. An apparatus for synchronization of sensing operations performed by a plurality of devices, the apparatus comprising:
a memory; and
a processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor configured to:
collect sensing capabilities of one or more connected devices that are communicably coupled with a central device, wherein each connected device has one or more sensors, and wherein the sensing capabilities comprise at least sensor type and sensing interval for each sensor, and
coordinate sensing operations performed by sensors of the central device and the one or more connected devices.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor configured to coordinate sensing operations further comprises the processor configured to:
generate a schedule that coordinates sensing operations performed by sensors of the central device and the one or more connected devices, and
distribute the schedule to the one or more connected devices causing the central device and the one or more connected devices to perform coordinated sensing operations according to the schedule.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor configured to coordinate sensing operations performed by sensors of the central device and the one or more connected devices further comprises the processor configured to:
cause one or more sensors of the central device to start data collection at the same time as one or more sensors of the one or more connected devices, based at least on the collected sensing intervals.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor configured to coordinate sensing operations performed by sensors of the central device and the one or more connected devices further comprises the processor configured to:
cause one or more sensors of the central device to perform data collection at intervals that overlap with data collection intervals of one or more sensors of the one or more connected devices, based at least on the collected sensing intervals.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor configured to coordinate sensing operations performed by sensors of the central device and the one or more connected devices further comprises the processor configured to, based at least on the collected sensor types:
cause each of a plurality of sensors of a same sensor type at different connected devices to start data collection at a different time than others of the plurality of sensors of the same sensor type, and
cause each of the plurality of sensors of the same sensor type to perform data collection at intervals which are temporally staggered with respect to data collection performed by others of the plurality of sensors of the same sensor type.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising the processor configured to:
collect data from the coordinated sensing operations performed by the one or more connected devices and the central device; and
perform a positioning process by the central device based, at least in part, on the data collected from the coordinated sensing operations.

19. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising the processor configured to:
collect data from the coordinated sensing operations performed by the one or more connected devices and the central device; and
provide a location of the central devi

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Do Ju-Yong
• Venkatraman Sai Pradeep
• Gao Weihua
• Zhang Gengsheng
• Pon Rayman

Classifications

• H04W56/001 Primary

  Synchronization between nodes · CPC title

• H04W64/003

  locating network equipment · CPC title