Methods and apparatus to bridge communications between devices using low-energy devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10855367-B2
Application number	US-201816144748-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2018
Priority date	Oct 2, 2017
Publication date	Dec 1, 2020
Grant date	Dec 1, 2020

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a field device including a network bridge, the network bridge to convert first data received at a first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio of the network bridge, over a BLE network, from a second BLE radio of a remote device, and formatted according to a BLE communication protocol, into second data formatted according to an industrial communication protocol.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a field device including a network bridge, the network bridge to:
obtain a first data packet including a first payload having a first size at a first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio of the network bridge, over a BLE network, from a second BLE radio of a remote device, and formatted according to a BLE communication protocol, the remote device to generate the first data packet by:
removing first data from a second data packet including a second payload having a second size less than the first size;
generating the first payload by increasing the second size of the second payload to the first size; and
adding second data to the first payload, the first data and the second data packet formatted according to an industrial communication protocol; and

convert the first data packet into a third data packet formatted according to the industrial communication protocol, the conversion in response to determining that the first payload is properly formed, the conversion including adding the first data to the first payload.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the network bridge includes a platform manager to determine whether the first payload is properly formed based on at least one of evaluating a protocol command, a data length corresponding to the protocol command, or a range of a parameter value included in the first data packet.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the platform manager rejects the first data packet based on determining that the first payload is not properly formed.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first data packet includes an extendible, flexible data structure based on a requirement from an operator of the field device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the field device includes at least one processor, the first data including a first industrial protocol address associated with the remote device, and wherein:
in response to the network bridge converting the first data packet, the at least one processor to:
generate a fourth data packet formatted according to the industrial communication protocol, the fourth data packet including a second industrial protocol address associated with the field device, a protocol preamble, and a message integrity check; and
transmit the fourth data packet to the network bridge; and

the network bridge to:
convert the fourth data packet into a fifth data packet formatted according to the BLE communication protocol, the conversion including removing at least one of the second industrial protocol address, the protocol preamble, or the message integrity check; and
transmit the fifth data packet to the second BLE radio of the remote device.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the industrial communication protocol is one of a Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) communication protocol, a PROFIBUS communication protocol, a FOUNDATION Fieldbus communication protocol, or a MODBUS communication protocol.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the remote device is one of a server computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a smartphone, or a personal digital assistant.

8. A method comprising:
obtaining, by executing one or more machine readable instructions via a network bridge of a field device, a first data packet including a first payload having a first size at a first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio of the network bridge, over a BLE network, from a second BLE radio of a remote device, and formatted according to a BLE communication protocol, the remote device to generate the first data packet by:
removing first data from a second data packet including a second payload having a second size less than the first size;
generating the first payload by increasing the second size of the second payload to the first size; and
adding second data to the first payload, the first data and the second data packet formatted according to an industrial communication protocol; and

converting, by executing one or more machine readable instructions via the network bridge, the first data packet into a third data packet formatted according to the industrial communication protocol, the conversion in response to determining that the first payload is properly formed, the conversion including adding the first data to the first payload.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining that the first payload is properly formed is based on at least one of evaluating a protocol command, a data length corresponding to the protocol command, or a range of a parameter value included in the first data packet.

10. The method of claim 9 , further including rejecting the first data packet based on determining that the first payload is not properly formed.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first data packet includes an extendible, flexible data structure based on a requirement from an operator of the field device.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first data packet includes a first industrial protocol address associated with the remote device, and further including:
in response to converting the first data packet, generating a fourth data packet formatted based on the industrial communication protocol, the fourth data packet including a second industrial protocol address associated with the field device, a protocol preamble, and a message integrity check;
transmitting the fourth data packet to the network bridge;
removing at least one of the second industrial protocol address, the protocol preamble, or the message integrity check from the fourth data packet to generate a fifth data packet;
converting the fifth data packet into a sixth data packet formatted based on the BLE communication protocol; and
transmitting the sixth data packet to the second BLE radio of the remote device.

13. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a network bridge of a field device to at least:
obtain a first data packet including a first payload having a first size at a first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio of the network bridge, over a BLE network, from a second BLE radio of a remote device, and formatted according to a BLE communication protocol, the remote device to generate the first data packet by:
removing first data from a second data packet including a second payload having a second size less than the first size;
generating the first payload by increasing the second size of the second payload to the first size; and
adding second data to the first payload, the first data and the second data packet formatted according to an industrial communication protocol; and

convert the first data packet into a third data packet formatted according to the industrial communication protocol, the conversion in response to determining that the first payload is properly formed, the conversion including adding the first data to the first payload.

14. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the network bridge to at least determine whether the first payload is properly formed based on at least one of evaluating a protocol command, a data length corresponding to the protocol command, or a range of a parameter value included in the first data packet.

15. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the network bridge to at least reject the first data packet based on determining that the first payload is not properly formed.

16. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the first data p

Assignees

• Fisher Controls Int Llc

Inventors

• Junk Kenneth William
• Jensen Kurtis K
• Latwesen Annette Lynn

Classifications

• H04L69/08 Primary

  Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion · CPC title

• G05B2219/13164

  Remote and local programming unit, control panel · CPC title

• G05B2219/25186

  Bluetooth® · CPC title

• G05B19/0423

  Input/output · CPC title

• G05B2219/25428

  Field device · CPC title