Data processing apparatus, sensor and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11867534-B2
Application number	US-202017430402-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2020
Priority date	Mar 29, 2019
Publication date	Jan 9, 2024
Grant date	Jan 9, 2024

Abstract

A data processing method comprising: receiving, from each of a plurality of sensors each located at a respective location, a signal indicative of a respective value of a parameter measured by that sensor at a respective one of a plurality of successive times; and determining, based on the value of the parameter measured by one or more first sensors of the plurality of sensors at a respective one or more of the plurality of successive times, a value of the parameter at the location of a second sensor of the plurality of sensors at one of the one or more of the plurality of successive times.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A data processing method comprising:
receiving, from each of a plurality of sensors each located at a respective location, a signal indicative of a respective value of a parameter measured by that sensor at a respective one of a plurality of successive times in a common measurement cycle set to each of the plurality of sensors such that only one signal indicative of the respective value of the parameter is received from the plurality of sensors corresponding to each of the plurality of successive times in the common measurement cycle, each of the plurality of sensors including a battery used to transmit the respective signals; and
determining, by circuitry, based on the value of the parameter measured by one or more first sensors of the plurality of sensors at a respective one or more of the plurality of successive times, a value of the parameter at the location of a second sensor of the plurality of sensors at one of the one or more of the plurality of successive times,
wherein the signal received from each sensor is received over a low-power wide-area network, LPWAN.

2. The data processing method according to claim 1 , wherein the value of the parameter at the location of the second sensor is determined based on a weighted combination of the values of the parameter measured by the one or more first sensors, the weighting of the value of the parameter measured by each of the one or more first sensors being determined based on one or more of a time elapsed since the value of the parameter was measured by that first sensor and a spatial separation between the first sensor and the second sensor.

3. The data processing method according to claim 2 , wherein:
a variation in space and/or time of the parameter varies with different time periods; and
weightings of the values of the parameter measured by the one or more first sensors vary accordingly with the different time periods.

4. The data processing method according to claim 1 , wherein:
a variation in space and/or time of the parameter varies with different time periods; and
a number of first sensors used to determine the value of the parameter at the location of the second sensor varies accordingly with the different time periods.

5. The data processing method according to claim 1 , wherein:
a variation in space and/or time of the parameter varies with different time periods; and
an interval between each of the plurality of successive times varies accordingly with the different time periods.

6. The data processing method according to claim 1 , comprising:
for each sensor, receiving further signals from that sensor indicative of respective further values of the parameter periodically measured by that sensor, the further measurements of the sensors being interleaved with each other in time at respective ones of a plurality of further successive times; wherein, for each sensor:
if the latest measured value of the parameter is different to a previous measured value of the parameter, the further signal indicative of the latest measured value of the parameter comprises the latest measured value of the parameter, and
if the latest measured value of the parameter is within a predetermined threshold of the previous measured value of the parameter, the further signal indicative of the latest measured value of the parameter comprises an indicator indicating that the latest measured value of the parameter is the same as the previous measured value of the parameter.

7. The data processing method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of sensors comprises a first set of sensors each configured to measure a value of a first parameter and a second set of sensors each configured to measure a value of a second parameter; and
an interval between each of the plurality of successive times at which a value of the first parameter is measured by a respective one of the first set of sensors is different to an interval between each of the plurality of successive times at which a value of the second parameter is measured by a respective one of the second set of sensors, and/or
a spatial separation between the sensors of the first set of sensors is different to the spatial separation between the sensors of the second set of sensors.

8. The data processing method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors are distributed along a road and the parameter measured each sensor is one of temperature, humidity, an amount of an air pollutant, a vehicle count, a depth of settled precipitation and a presence of an oil-based substance.

9. The data processing method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors are distributed along a fluid transport conduit and the parameter measured by each sensor is one of temperature, vibration, pressure, fluid flow rate, conduit degradation and substance build up.

10. The data processing method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors are distributed over an agricultural region and the parameter measured by each sensor is one of temperature, humidity, an amount of acidity or alkalinity, an amount of a nutrient and an amount of a toxin.

11. The data processing method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors are distributed over a volume of water containing aquatic animals and the parameter measured by each sensor is one of temperature, oxygen concentration, algae concentration, toxin concentration and sediment build up.

12. The data processing method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors are distributed over a pedestrianized region and the parameter measured by each sensor is one of temperature, humidity, an amount of an air pollutant and a pedestrian count.

13. A non-transitory storage medium comprising computer readable instructions for controlling a computer to perform a method according to claim 1 .

14. The data processing method according to claim 1 , wherein the value of the parameter at the location of the second sensor is determined based on a weighted combination of the values of the parameter measured by the one or more first sensors, the weighting of the value of the parameter measured by each of the one or more first sensors being determined based on both of a time elapsed since the value of the parameter was measured by that first sensor and a spatial separation between the first sensor and the second sensor.

15. A data processing apparatus comprising:
receiver circuitry configured to receive, from each of a plurality of sensors each located at a respective location, a signal indicative of a respective value of a parameter measured by that sensor at a respective one of a plurality of successive times in a common measurement cycle set to each of the plurality of sensors such that only one signal indicative of the respective value of the parameter is received from the plurality of sensors corresponding to each of the plurality of successive times in the common measurement cycle in the common measurement cycle, each of the plurality of sensors including a battery used to transmit the respective signals; and
processor circuitry configured to determine, based on the value of the parameter measured by one or more first sensors of the plurality of sensors at a respective one or more of the plurality of successive times, a value of the parameter at the location of a second sensor of the plurality of sensors at one of the one or more of the plurality of successive times,
wherein the signal received from each sensor is received over a low-power wide-area network, LPWAN.

16. The data processing apparatus according to claim 15 , com

Assignees

• Sony Group Corp

Inventors

• Agarwal Rajni

Classifications

• H04W4/38

  for collecting sensor information · CPC title

• G01D21/00 Primary

  Measuring or testing not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• H04W84/02

  Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop] · CPC title

• G01D1/02 Primary

  giving mean values, e.g. root means square values (measuring root mean square values of currents or voltages G01R19/02) · CPC title