Systems of wireless communication-enabled integrated roofing accessories and methods of use thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11626656-B2
Application number	US-202217821127-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 19, 2022
Priority date	Sep 4, 2019
Publication date	Apr 11, 2023
Grant date	Apr 11, 2023

Abstract

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a system of integrated roofing accessories on a plurality of roofs, where at least one integrated roofing accessory on each roof may include: i) at least one transceiver configured to produce electromagnetic communication signals using electromagnetic communication protocols, ii) at least one dielectric antenna in electrical communication with the at least one transceiver for emitting the electromagnetic communication signals according to the at least one electromagnetic communication protocol, iii) an edge computing device having at least one processor and at least one non-transitory storage with software to operate the edge computing device in communication with the at least one transceiver, and iv) at least one power supply. The software is configured to cause, when executed, the integrated roofing accessories to form an electromagnetic communication network using the electromagnetic communication signals which communicates with at least one computing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
at least one first integrated roofing accessory installed on a first roof, wherein the at least one first integrated roofing accessory comprises:
i) at least one first transceiver configured to produce electromagnetic communication signals using at least one electromagnetic communication protocol,
ii) at least one first dielectric antenna in electrical communication with the at least one first transceiver for emitting the electromagnetic communication signals according to the at least one electromagnetic communication protocol,
iii) a first edge computing device having at least one first processor and at least one first non-transitory storage with first software to operate the first edge computing device in communication with the at least one first transceiver, and
iv) at least one first power supply;

at least one second integrated roofing accessory installed on a second roof, wherein the at least one second integrated roofing accessory comprises:
i) at least one second transceiver configured to produce the electromagnetic communication signals using the at least one electromagnetic communication protocol,
ii) at least one second dielectric antenna in electrical communication with the at least one second transceiver for emitting the electromagnetic communication signals according to the at least one electromagnetic communication protocol,
iii) a second edge computing device having at least one second processor and at least one second non-transitory storage with second software to operate the second edge computing device in communication with the at least one second transceiver, and
iv) at least one second power supply;

at least one third integrated roofing accessory installed on a third roof, wherein the at least one third integrated roofing accessory comprises:
i) at least one third transceiver configured to produce the electromagnetic communication signals using the at least one electromagnetic communication protocol,
ii) at least one third dielectric antenna in electrical communication with the at least one third transceiver for emitting the electromagnetic communication signals according to the at least one electromagnetic communication protocol,
iii) a third edge computing device having at least one third processor and at least one third non-transitory storage with third software configured to operate the third edge computing device in communication with the at least one third transceiver, and
iv) at least one third power supply;

wherein the first software, the second software and the third software are configured to cause, when executed, the at least one first integrated roofing accessory, the at least one second integrated roofing accessory and the at least one third integrated roofing accessory to form an electromagnetic communication network using the electromagnetic communication signals; and
wherein at least one of the first software, the second software, and the third software are further configured to cause, when executed, the electromagnetic communication network to communicate with at least one computing device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the at least one first integrated roofing accessory, the at least one second integrated roofing accessory, or the at least one third integrated roofing accessory is integrated into at least one modified photovoltaic module.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one modified photovoltaic module comprises at least one photovoltaic panel.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the at least one first transceiver, the at least one second transceiver, or the at least one third transceiver comprises a software-defined radio module.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the software-defined radio module comprises a virtual firewall.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic communication network is defined according to an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first integrated roofing accessory further comprises:
a compartment, holding:
i) the at least one first transceiver,
ii) the at least one first dielectric antenna, and
iii) the at least one first edge computing device;
wherein a portion of the compartment comprises a roofing material; and

a frame connected to the compartment and to the first roof.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the compartment extends vertically above the first roof.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the frame is installed into a ridge vent of the first roof.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first integrated roofing accessory further comprises:
a shingle, holding:
i) the at least one first transceiver,
ii) the at least one first dielectric antenna, and
iii) the at least one first edge computing device.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first dielectric antenna is a plurality of first dielectric antennas.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first integrated roofing accessory further comprises:
a siding, holding:
i) the at least one first transceiver,
ii) the at least one first dielectric antenna, and
iii) the at least one first edge computing device.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first software, the second software, or the third software are further configured to cause, when executed, the electromagnetic communication network to communicate with at least one customer access radio enabled computing device.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the customer access radio enabled device comprises a WiFi communication module.

15. The system of claim 1 :
wherein the at least one first integrated roofing accessory comprises a first data storage device and a first compute device;
wherein the at least one second integrated roofing accessory comprises a second data storage device and a second compute device;
wherein the at least one third integrated roofing accessory comprises a third data storage device and a third compute device; and
wherein the first software, the second software and the third software are configured to cause, when executed, the at least one first integrated roofing accessory, the at least one second integrated roofing accessory and third the plurality of integrated roofing accessories to form a distributed datacenter across the electromagnetic communication network.

16. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a fiber optic connection between a backhaul network and at least one of the at least one first integrated roofing accessory, the at least one second integrated roofing accessory, or the at least one third integrated roofing accessory.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic communication network is a mesh network.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic communication protocol comprises at least one of:
a fifth-generation cellular (5G) protocol,
a fourth-generation cellular (4G) protocol,
a third-generation cellular (3G) protocol,
a WiFi protocol,
a Bluetooth protocol,
a Zigbee protocol, or
a Z-Wave protocol.

19. A method comprising:
obtaining a at least one first integrated roofing accessory, comprising:
i) at least one first transceiver configured to produce electromagnetic communication signals using at least one electromagnetic communication protocol,
ii) at least one first dielectric antenna in electrical communication with the at least one first transceiver for emitting the electromagnetic communication signals a

Assignees

• Bmic Llc

Inventors

• Robinson Rich
• Riley Xavier

Classifications

• E04D2001/306

  Under-ridge tiles · CPC title

• Y02B10/10

  Photovoltaic [PV] · CPC title

• H02S20/25

  Roof tile elements · CPC title

• H04L69/32

  Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level · CPC title

• H04W16/24 Primary

  Cell structures · CPC title