Method of and a coordinator device for selectively commissioning a node device in network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12028175-B2
Application number	US-202117796005-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 8, 2021
Priority date	Feb 11, 2020
Publication date	Jul 2, 2024
Grant date	Jul 2, 2024

Abstract

A method of selectively commissioning a node device by a coordinator device in a network created by the coordinator device is disclosed. The coordinator device and the node device interact with each other to check and confirm that a coordinator temporal indication related to a commissioning start time recorded by the coordinator device and a node temporal indication related to a commissioning start time recorded by the node device are the same or temporally very similar or close to each other. Then the coordinator device will commission the node device by joining the node device into the network created by the coordinator device. The ensures that only wanted or expected node devices will be joined into the network created and managed by the coordinator device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of selectively commissioning a node device by a coordinator device in a network created by said coordinator device, said method comprising the steps of:
storing, by said coordinator device, a commissioning start time;
transmitting, by said coordinator device, a network-available message;
receiving, by said coordinator device, from said node device a joining request comprising a node temporal indication related to said commissioning start time of said node device;
determining, by said coordinator device, said commissioning start time of said coordinator device matches said node temporal indication, and
commissioning, by said coordinator device, said node device by joining said node device into said network.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said network-available message comprises a coordinator temporal indication related to said commissioning start time of said coordinator device and said joining request is transmitted by said node device in response to determining that said coordinator temporal indication matches said node temporal indication.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said step of transmitting comprises one of broadcasting, by said coordinator device, a beacon message indicating availability of said network as said network-available message, and transmitting, by said coordinator device, in response to receiving a beacon request message from said node device, a beacon response message indicating availability of said network as said network-available message.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said step of determining said coordinator indication matches said node indication comprises the steps of:
calculating, by said coordinator device, a time difference between said commissioning start time of said coordinator device and said commissioning start time of said node device, and
deciding, by said coordinator device, that said time difference is smaller than a predefined threshold value.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said coordinator temporal indication related to said commissioning start time of said coordinator device comprises a first elapsed time from said coordinator device being powered up to said network-available message being transmitted by said coordinator device, said node temporal indication related to said commissioning start time of said node device comprises a second elapsed time from said node device being powered up to said joining request being transmitted by said node device, said step of calculating comprises calculating a time difference between said first elapsed time and said second elapsed time.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said coordinator device and said node device are synchronized and powered up at substantially the same time, said coordinator temporal indication related to said commissioning start time of said coordinator device comprises a first time when said coordinator device is powered up, said node temporal indication related to said commissioning start time of said node device comprises a second time when said node device is powered up, said step of calculating comprises calculating a time difference between said first time and said second time.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said transmitted network-available message further comprises one of a plurality of flags generated by said coordinator device within a time window subsequent to creation of said network, said joining request further comprises said flag.

8. The method according to claim 7 , said step of determining that said coordinator indication matches said node indication further comprises determining that said flag comprised in said joining request matches one of said plurality of flags.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said transmitted network-available message is transmitted to node devices within a limited number of hops away from said coordinator device.

10. The method according to claim 1 , each of said coordinator device and said node device operating in accordance with a Medium Access Control, MAC, data processing protocol sub-layer, wherein said coordinator temporal indication and said node temporal indication are respectively comprised in MAC transmission offset field of said network-available message and said joining request.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said step of determining is performed by said MAC data processing protocol sub-layer.

12. A coordinator device arranged for selectively commissioning a node device in a network created by said coordinator device, the coordinator device configured to:
store a commissioning start time;
transmit a network-available message;
receive, from said node device, a joining request comprising a node temporal indication related to said commissioning start time of said node device;
determine said commissioning start time of said coordinator device matches said node temporal indication, and
commission said node device by joining said node device into said network.

13. A node device arranged for being selectively commissioned according to claim 1 .

14. The node device according to claim 13 , comprising a lighting fixture.

15. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause said at least one processor to carry out the method according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Signify Holding Bv

Inventors

• Yao Jun
• Zhang Zhizhong
• Dong Peiliang

Classifications

• H04L67/125 Primary

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• H05B47/1995

  Auto-commissioning · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H05B47/19

  via wireless transmission · CPC title