Management of synchronisation with a beacon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10444318-B2
Application number	US-201715615075-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2017
Priority date	Jun 10, 2016
Publication date	Oct 15, 2019
Grant date	Oct 15, 2019

Abstract

The present invention relates to a communication assembly comprising a first terminal provided with a first communication module arranged to communicate with a plurality of beacons, each comprising a communication circuit to enable data to be sent and/or received with a particular periodicity Said assembly additionally comprises a second terminal having a second communication module, wherein said second terminal is arranged to scan its environment by means of said second communication module in order to detect the presence of beacons within range and to retrieve for each beacon detected the particular periodicity and a time offset corresponding to the period between a reference point and the start of the transmission of the message and send them to the first terminal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication assembly comprising:
a first terminal provided with a first communication module to communicate with a plurality of beacons, each of the plurality of beacons comprising a communication circuit to send and/or receive data with a particular periodicity; and
a second terminal having a second communication module, wherein said second terminal detects the presence of the plurality of beacons within range of said second terminal,
wherein said second terminal retrieves, for each of the plurality of the detected beacons, the particular periodicity and a time offset, and said second terminal sends the particular periodicity and the time offset of the plurality of the detected beacons to said first terminal,
wherein the time offset corresponds to a period between a reference point and a start of a transmission of a message from each of the plurality of the detected beacons,
wherein said first terminal is configured to select at least one of the plurality of the detected beacons and activate said first communication module synchronously with the selected beacon based on the particular periodicity and the time offset of the selected beacon received from said second terminal, to receive the message from the selected beacon,
wherein the second terminal having the second communication module retrieves the particular periodicity and the time offset by measurement of the transmission of the message by each of the plurality of the detected beacons over a predefined scan time, and
wherein the particular periodicity and time offset are determined while the selected beacon is monitored.

2. The communication assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said first terminal is a watch, and wherein said second terminal is one of a computer, electronic tablet, mobile telephone or a gateway device to collect beacon data.

3. The communication assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said first terminal includes display devices to display data sent by said second terminal and control devices to select a desired beacon from those detected by said second terminal.

4. A method for operating a communication assembly comprising a first terminal provided with a first communication module to communicate with a plurality of beacons, each of the plurality of beacons comprising a communication circuit to send and/or receive data with a particular periodicity, and a second terminal comprising a second communication module, said method comprising:
detecting, by the second terminal, the plurality of beacons within range of the second terminal;
retrieving, by the second terminal, periodicity information and time offset information regarding a time offset for each of the plurality of the detected beacons;
sending, from the second terminal to the first terminal, said periodicity information and said time offset information regarding the time offset for each of the plurality of the detected beacons; and
in the first terminal, selecting the at least one of the plurality of the detected beacons received from said second terminal and then activating the first communication module of the first terminal synchronously with the particular periodicity of the selected beacon to monitor the selected beacon;
wherein the second terminal having the second communication module retrieves the particular periodicity and the time offset by measurement of the transmission of the message by each of the plurality of the detected beacons over a predefined scan time, and
wherein the retrieving of the periodicity information and time offset information is determined during the monitoring of the selected beacon.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the retrieving of the periodicity information and time offset information is via a sent request.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the selecting of the at least one beacon is based on existing selection parameters in the first or the second terminal.

7. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the selecting of the at least one beacon includes presenting a list of the plurality of the detected beacons on the first terminal and selecting the at least one beacon by a user via the control devices of the first terminal from the list.

8. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the selecting of the at least one beacon comprises selection of at least two beacons, and wherein said method further comprises managing of the plurality of beacons by determining a monitoring order of the plurality of beacons based on the time offset and periodicity durations of each of the selected beacons.

9. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said first terminal is a watch, and wherein said second terminal is one of a computer, electronic tablet, mobile telephone or a gateway device to collect beacon data.

Assignees

• Swatch Group Res & Dev Ltd

Inventors

• Randjelovic Zoran

Classifications

• H04W52/0216

  using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame · CPC title

• H04W56/001 Primary

  Synchronization between nodes · CPC title

• H04B7/2687 Primary

  Inter base stations synchronisation · CPC title

• H04W56/0015 Primary

  one node acting as a reference for the others · CPC title

• G01S1/20 Primary

  using a comparison of transit time of synchronised signals transmitted from non-directional antennas or antenna systems spaced apart, i.e. path-difference systems · CPC title