Methods and apparatus to control communication data rates of low-energy devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019246353-A1
Application number	US-201916372364-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 1, 2019
Priority date	Oct 2, 2017
Publication date	Aug 8, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to control communication data rates of low-energy devices. An example apparatus includes a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio, and a power manager to determine whether to divide a first computation task into at least a second and a third computation task based on (1) energy stored in a power supply associated with the BLE radio and (2) a charging rate of the power supply, and when the first computation task is to be executed by the BLE radio and the first computation task is divided based on the determination, instruct the BLE radio to enter a sleep mode after the second computation task is executed, and invoke the BLE radio to transition from the sleep mode to an operating mode to execute the third computation task, the invoking in response to a measurement associated with the power supply satisfying an energy threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus to manage a power profile of a network bridge of a field device in a process control environment, the apparatus comprising:
a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio; and a power manager to:
determine whether to divide a first computation task into at least a second computation task and a third computation task based on (1) energy stored in a power supply associated with the BLE radio and (2) a charging rate of the power supply; and
when the first computation task is to be executed by the BLE radio and the first computation task is divided based on the determination:
instruct the BLE radio to enter a sleep mode after the second computation task is executed; and
invoke the BLE radio to transition from the sleep mode to an operating mode to execute the third computation task, the invoking in response to a measurement associated with the power supply satisfying an energy threshold.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the measurement is a first measurement and the energy threshold is a high-energy threshold, and further including:
an input/output interface to:
obtain a first interrupt from a first comparator, the first comparator is to compare the first measurement to the high-energy threshold; and
obtain a second interrupt from a second comparator, the second comparator is to compare a second measurement associated with the power supply to a low-energy threshold; and
the power manager is to:
instruct the BLE radio to enter the operating mode when the first interrupt indicates the first measurement satisfies the high-energy threshold; and
direct the BLE radio to enter the sleep mode when the second interrupt indicates the second measurement does not satisfy the low-energy threshold.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , further including a BLE stack handler to:
assign a first data rate to the BLE radio when the charging rate is a first charging rate; adjust the first data rate to a second data rate for the BLE radio when the first charging rate is changed to a second charging rate, the second charging rate less than the first charging rate, the second data rate less than the first data rate; and when the first computation task is to be executed by the BLE radio, facilitate communication of data between the BLE radio and a device separate from the field device based on the second data rate.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the BLE stack handler is to adjust the first data rate to the second data rate by adjusting at least one of (1) a first data quantity to a second data quantity to be communicated during a radiofrequency operation, or (2) a first data interval to a second data interval, the first data interval and the second data interval corresponding to time durations between radiofrequency operations of the BLE radio.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the field device is to charge the power supply, and the power manager is to:
determine a first charging rate of the power supply based on first data in a data buffer, the field device to write the first data to the data buffer; determine a power budget associated with the BLE radio based on the first charging rate; and adjust the power budget when the first charging rate is changed to a second charging rate when the field device writes second data to the data buffer, the second charging rate different from the first charging rate, the second data different from the first data.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further including a BLE stack handler to:
instruct the BLE radio to execute the second computation task by facilitating communication of a first data quantity between the BLE radio and a device separate from the field device at a first data interval when the charging rate is a first charging rate; and instruct the BLE radio to execute the second computation by facilitating communication of a second data quantity between the BLE radio and the device at a second data interval when the charging rate is a second charging rate, the second data quantity less than the first data quantity, the second data interval longer than the first data interval, the second charging rate less than the first charging rate, the first data interval and the second data interval corresponding to time durations between radiofrequency operations of the BLE radio.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the energy threshold is a first energy threshold corresponding to a first energy quantity stored by the power supply, the first computation task is not to be executed by the BLE radio, and the power manager is to:
determine that a first task queue having a first priority includes the first computation task; determine that a second task queue having a second priority includes a fourth computation task, the first priority greater than the second priority; calculate a second energy quantity to execute the first computation task; calculate a third energy quantity to execute the fourth computation task; determine a difference between the first energy quantity and a sum of the second energy quantity and the third energy quantity; and when the difference is greater than a fourth energy quantity associated with a second energy threshold, invoke a platform manager to execute the first computation task and the fourth computation task, the first computation task to be executed at a first time, the fourth computation task to be executed at a second time after the first time, the fourth energy quantity less than the first energy quantity.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , when the difference is not greater than the fourth energy quantity, the power manager is to:
divide the fourth computation task into at least a fifth computation task and a sixth computation task; instruct the platform manager to execute the first computation task and the fifth computation task, the first computation task to be executed at the first time, the fifth computation task to be executed at the second time; and instruct the platform manager to execute the sixth computation task, the sixth computation task to be executed at a third time after the second time, the platform manager in the sleep mode from the second time to the third time.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second computation task and the third computation task are radiofrequency operations of the BLE radio, and the power manager is to:
identify a fourth computation task to be executed, the fourth computation task not to be executed by the BLE radio; invoke a platform manager to execute the fourth computation task when at least one of (i) the BLE radio is in a first BLE state or (ii) the power supply is in a first power supply state when the energy stored satisfies the energy threshold; and invoke the platform manager to defer execution of the fourth computation task when at least one of (iii) the BLE radio is in a second BLE state different from the first BLE state or (iv) the power supply is in a second power supply state when the energy stored does not satisfy the energy threshold, wherein the fourth computation task is to be deferred until at least one of the BLE radio is in the first BLE state or the power supply is in the first power supply state.

10 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor of a network bridge of a field device in a process control environment to at least:
determine whether to divide a first computation task into at least a second computation task and a third computation task based on (1) energy stored in a power supply associated with a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio of the network bridge and (2) a charging rate of the power supply; and when the first comput

Assignees

• Fisher Controls Int Llc

Inventors

• Jensen Kurtis K
• Junk Kenneth William
• Bulleit Gregory Robert

Classifications

• H04W52/0225 Primary

  using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal · CPC title

• G06F9/4893

  taking into account power or heat criteria (power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206) · CPC title

• H04B1/40

  Circuits · CPC title

• G05B19/042

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04W12/10

  Integrity · CPC title