Serially-connected bluetooth low energy nodes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016088421-A1
Application number	US-201414492148-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 22, 2014
Priority date	Sep 22, 2014
Publication date	Mar 24, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Bluetooth Low Energy nodes are serially-connected with a cable that includes power lines and can include communication wires. The nodes do not have individual batteries. Instead, a single common power source is connected to the wires to provide power for all the nodes. The nodes can also be connected in series with the communication wires (which can be the same as the power wires) along a length of the cable. A headend interface can also be connected at one point of the cable to provide a communication interface with the nodes. The nodes can transmit and/or receive beacons to be used for locationing of mobile devices.

First claim

1 . An apparatus for serially-connected Bluetooth Low Energy nodes, comprising:
a cable including power wires; a plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy nodes connected in series with the power wires along a length of the cable, the nodes without individual batteries; and a power source connected at one point along the cable and operable to continuously provide power to the plurality of nodes along the power wires.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cable also includes communication wires for communicating with the plurality of nodes, and further comprising a headend interface coupling the communication wires to a remote device.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the remote device is an access point, and wherein the headend interface communicates with the access point wirelessly.

4 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the power wires and the network communication wires are the same two wires, and wherein the headend interface is operable to individually address and communicate with each node along the two wires by digitally modulating signals at a frequency above baseband to allow the nodes to have simultaneous communication and delivery of power.

5 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the headend interface is operable to individually address and communicate with each node along the network communication wires in order to reconfigure operating parameters of addressed nodes.

6 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein reconfiguring the node operating parameters includes at least one of the group of: software upgrades, provisioning the node, changing power levels, transmit beacon duty cycle, transmit/receive mode.

7 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the remote device is an Ethernet device and the power source is a Power over Ethernet connection.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nodes have known, fixed locations, are operable to transmit beacons for use in locationing of a mobile device.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of nodes are also operable to receive beacons for use in locationing of a mobile device when not transmitting beacons.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nodes have known, fixed locations, are operable to receive beacons for use in locationing of a mobile device.

11 . A system for serially-connected Bluetooth Low Energy nodes, comprising:
a remote controller; a cable including two wires for carrying power and communications; a plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy nodes connected in series with the wires along a length of the cable, the nodes without individual batteries, and the nodes operable to use beacons for locationing of mobile devices by the remote controller; a power source connected at one point along the cable and operable to continuously provide power to the plurality of nodes along the wires; and a headend interface coupling the wires to the remote controller, wherein the headend interface is operable to individually address and communicate with each node along the two wires by digitally modulating signals at a frequency above baseband to allow the nodes to have simultaneous communication and delivery of power.

12 . A method for serially-connected Bluetooth Low Energy nodes, comprising:
providing a cable including two wires, and a plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy nodes connected in series with the wires along a length of the cable, the nodes without individual batteries; and continuously powering the plurality of nodes by a power source connected to the wires at one point along the cable.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising communicating with the plurality of nodes over the wires by a headend interface.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein communicating includes individually addressing and communicating with each node along the two wires by digitally modulating signals at a frequency above baseband to allow the nodes to have simultaneous communicating and powering.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein communicating includes reconfiguring operating parameters of addressed nodes.

16 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
transmitting beacons by the nodes, and locationing of a mobile device using the transmitted beacons.

17 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving beacons by the nodes, and locating a mobile device using the received beacons.

18 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy nodes are configured to be simultaneously reset based on one or more predetermined conditions.

19 . The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the reset is triggered via one or more of an interface disposed on the power source and a message received from a headend interface.

20 . The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the one or more predetermined conditions includes a predetermined interval of inactivity of one or more of the plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy nodes.

Assignees

• Symbol Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Warner Thomas E
• Geiger Edward W
• Phan Chinh Q
• Wallace Patrick J
• Webber Harold H

Classifications

• H04W4/008 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• H04B2203/547

  via DC power distribution · CPC title

• H04W4/80 Primary

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title