Patent Application
20180350227
As is known in the art, sensors can include various components such as temperature, humidity, accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, and others. Such sensors can be used to collect data which can be processed.
In embodiments, the type C USB port (or other port such as, e.g., a mini or micro USB port) 110 is a multi-function port that can be used for one or more of the following: (1) for charging the battery, (2) to connect an external battery and extend the operation of the device, (3) to power the device where the LED 106 would light up, (4) to configure the device and update the firmware, and/or (5) to send other data such as sensor data through USB 110. This USB can also be utilized to communicate using other protocols with an adapter for UART/SPI/I2C or others and then sending data using those other protocols. In addition, the USB port can be used to connect two or more devices together so that they can share data between their sensors, processors, and/or their modules and utilize each other's wireless communication capabilities.
In embodiments, there are multiple sensors placed on the device. In some embodiments, sensors are provided for sensing of environmental conditions, ambient light, and/or infrared light. In order to perform these functions, the device utilizes sensors that measure: temperature, humidity, air pressure, acceleration, rotation, motion, and/or light, and they could be internal to the device or external sensors that communicate with the device using wireless communications such as BLE, WiFi, ZigBee, or other proprietary or open standards available. In one embodiment, an opening window 104 is provided enabling air flow and light to enter the device case. The general-purpose hole or lanyard hole 112 can be used for attaching the device to keys, bags, cars, and other things.
In embodiments, the type C USB port (or other port such as, e.g., a mini or micro USB port) 199 is a multi-function port that can be used for one or more of the following: (1) for charging the battery, (2) to connect an external battery and extend the operation of the device, (3) to power the device where the LED 196 would light up, (4) to configure the device and update the firmware, and/or (5) to send other data such as sensor data through USB 199. This USB can also be utilized to communicate using other protocols with an adapter for UART/SPI/I2C or others and then sending data using those other protocols. In addition, the USB port can be used to connect two or more devices together so that they can share data between their sensors, processors, and/or their modules and utilize each other's wireless communication capabilities.
In embodiments, there are multiple sensors placed on the device. In some embodiments, sensors are provided for sensing of environmental conditions, ambient light, and/or infrared light. In order to perform these functions, the device utilizes sensors that measure: temperature, humidity, air pressure, acceleration, rotation, motion, and/or light, and they could be internal to the device or external sensors that communicate with the device using wireless communications such as BLE, WiFi, ZigBee, or other proprietary or open standards available. In one embodiment, an opening window 194 is provided enabling air flow and light to enter the device case.
Tracking of the package can be visualized from its source to its destination. The pressure sensor and the accelerometer on the device can be used to determine the shipping method: ground or air. If the package is being transported by ground the pressure sensor will sense a certain range of pressure values that correspond with measurements of less than a few thousand feet above sea level and accelerometer readings that can correlate to accelerometer reading produced by an automobile, truck, or other means of ground transportation.
If the package is being transported by air, the pressure sensor will detect altitudes that are above 10,000 feet above sea level, for example, and sense accelerations within in a time period that can only be produced by an aircraft during takeoff 208 or landing 210. In embodiments, a sensor detects rate of change on air pressure inside a pressurized aircraft. If the pressure changes are greater than a selected number of Pascals per second that corresponds to the pressure changes inside a cabin of an aircraft. The other way would be to set a threshold so that when the pressure inside an aircraft is greater than a given number of Pascals (corresponding to a level at which aircrafts are usually normally pressurized to), and then turn off any radio transmission capabilities. In embodiments, a pressure sensor could detect the pressure inside an aircraft, which is usually pressurized between 11 and 12 psi, typically at 11.3 psi, when the aircraft is airborne above 10,000 feet, and then turn off any radio transmission capabilities. This mechanism can also be used to independently turn off all radios on the device to comply with FAA or other flight regulations. Additional embodiments that use accelerometer information for radio control are described below.
Turning off the radio causes the device to stop sending sensor measurement data to the cloud. However, the device continuously monitors the status of the package and stores the readings in its memory. An advantage of the device is that it has a memory that communicates to the micro-controller and it can store sensor data with timestamps during transportation of the package. Once connectivity conditions are met, the WWAN, WLAN, or WPAN radios are turned on to establish connectivity to the cloud and transfer the data based on the available wireless connections to the cloud.
Devices in accordance with various embodiments can be operated in various other configurations. For instance, in one example, the device can be configured to stay in sleep mode until there is a movement of the package detected by analyzing the accelerometer sensor data. Once the movement is detected the package can be tracked and traced continuously for a certain amount of time, or indefinitely until it runs out of battery power depending on the setup by the end user. This feature could allow the device to operate longer and save on its battery power. In another example, the device can be configured to be in sleep mode and only wake up once there is a change detected by the ambient light sensor, such as package being opened 212, or any other scenario where the ambient light sensor can change due to light 214 exposures.
In a further example, the device is configured to continuously track temperature or humidity and it can be setup to send an alert once a particular threshold is reached, enabling the safe and efficient transportation of items that are sensitive to temperature or humidity. In another example, the device is configured to monitor how the package has been handled by using the accelerometer sensor. For example, if a fragile package is thrown, tossed or moved in an undesired fashion during shipment, this data can be stored and reported back to the cloud. This can also apply for the orientation of the shipment as there are shipments that require particular orientation during transportation, such as refrigerators, stoves, server racks, and other appliances or electronics. The device can be attached inside the box used to transport these items and the orientation can be tracked and recorded in real-time.
In another illustrative embodiment, the device 300 is placed in one of the assets shown below it: a package 302, a pallet 304, or any other asset 306. The assets are inside a warehouse, but they could be anywhere where tampering of the assets is not permitted for a certain period of time. In this case the device 300 is configured such that the majority of time is kept in sleep mode and once motion is detected it wakes up and utilizes the WPAN, WLAN, or WWAN connectivity 308 to send information to the cloud about the whereabouts of the device, using GPS/GNSS based location, cellular based location, WiFi based location and also send additional information regarding the motion detection due to tampering of the tracked device and the abrupt changes on the accelerometer or gyroscope readings.
In another embodiment the device containing WWAN+WPAN+WLAN, WWAN+WPAN, or WWAN+WLAN connectivity combinations could be utilized for reducing or minimizing power consumption. In one or more embodiments, six devices 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 412 are shown. Initially, device 412 is connected to WWAN, and the device 412 will remain connected to the WWAN network for as long as the battery of the device reaches a certain percentage, such as 20%, 30% or any other percentage threshold. All the sensor readings from the other devices will be transferred to the WWAN connected device 412 through WPAN or WLAN through mesh or direct transfer method. Once that battery threshold is reached, the WWAN connectivity is turned off at the device 412 and WWAN of the next device 410 is utilized, and this continues with all other consecutive devices until the batteries of all devices are fully consumed as WWAN connectivity is a power-hungry connectivity method when compared with the other modules inside the electronic device. The data flow in this example goes from device 412 to 410 through WPAN or WLAN connection, and 410 then sends the received data to the cloud through its WWAN connectivity.
In another embodiment, the data is sent using the POST method 518 as an HTTP request to the server. As an underlying protocol, TCP, UDP, or other protocols can be utilized for communication to the cloud from the device. Once the Device API 516 receives the data it runs through multiple checks to validate that the data is coming from a real device, it has not been altered, and that the server is not being attacked with malicious hits. In order to read the data, the decryption 514 of the data is performed. The decryption happens using a key that is unique to the device. The keys are securely stored internally on the device and on the server and accessed only when decryption of the data occurs. After decryption, the integrity of the received and decrypted data string is double checked using a checksum 504 such as CRC16, CRC32, or others, if that passes, the length of the data 506 is verified. For each transaction, there is a unique request ID that is generated and checks if the request ID 508 is different from the last transaction. In order to mitigate Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, a duplication check 510 is performed to make sure that the same string is not being sent over and over again by an unauthorized client, where SSL is not utilized. In this case any duplicate data is ignored, this check most likely will not occur as it would have failed the unique request ID check 508. If the above checks pass, a last check 512 of confidence is performed to verify that the incoming data from the device correlates with the configuration of the device. For instance, if the data is being sent every minute and the device is configured to send every 15 minutes, this raises a flag. The device is then checked to make sure that the update rate is set to the client's desired update rate of every 15 minutes. Device API also communicates back to the actual device hardware with response such as SUCCESS of reception of data, and/or ERROR ###, where ### is an error number corresponding to an issue that the device has experienced. Upon successful checks, the device API also responds 520 to the device for “Successful Reception” of data or an error code showing the reason why the data reception failed. If there are any configuration changes on the device, those are also sent at this time. In addition to responding to the device, the device API sends all the verified data to a queue for further processing, computation and storage.
The GPS/GNSS receiver 814 can be a separate receiver or incorporated inside the WWAN cellular connectivity module 824. The WPAN module 822 could also be a ZigBee, Z-Wave, 6LoWPAN, or any other personal area network module. The WWAN module could meet one or more or any combination of cellular standards such as: GSM, UMTS, CDMA, WCDMA, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-Catl, LTE-Cat0, LTE Cat-M1, NB-IoT, LTE-MTC, LoRa, Sigfox, and others. WWAN module 824 could also be a LoRA or a Sigfox module that connects to the non-cellular network focused of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. WWAN module 824 can be any other module that functions in wide area using wireless means of communication.
In another aspect, embodiments of a sensor device can collect signal information at various frequency bands for testing purposes and transmit the information to a remote location for processing. For example, a sensor device can be placed in a test-mode for configuring the receive channels to record power levels at each band and store signal information.
As is known in the art, frequency bands have a specific Evolved-UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency No. (EARFCN) number that is allocated with that band. For instance, the EARFCN of 19200 is associated with frequency band 1710 MHz and 19201 is associated with frequency band 1710.1 MHz. These bands are available in test mode and can be swept through using cellular device modules, such as a sensor device.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an agency of the United States government created by statute to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. Each frequency band in United States belongs to a licensed or an unlicensed band, and each country has its own regulatory body. There are various bands in each country that are designated for cellular coverage. Certain frequency bands, such as 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, are unlicensed where WiFi routers can operate freely. Licensed bands include GSM Bands 850, 900 and 1800 which cover the globe with cellular connectivity. It will be appreciated that monitoring these bands at a global level is expensive as one would need to place spectrum analyzers in every location where these licensed bands operate.
There has also been an increase in the number of so-called rogue cell-towers and stingrays which are difficult to detect without any type radio frequency power measurements. However, using spectrum monitoring together with mapping of frequency bands and their power emissions FCC and other interested parties could easily detect anomalies in locations where rogue towers and stingrays that are not permitted to operate.
In embodiments, sensor devices in shipping containers can monitor desired bands as the shipping containers travel throughout the globe. In embodiments, sensor devices can collect signal information to identify signal anomalies and/or generate a spectrum usage map. In embodiments, data from sensor devices in shipping containers routed all over the world can be aggregated and processed.
Table 1 shows example definitions for radio spectrum segments and Table 2 show example microwave band designations.
Table 3 below shows example GSM band information.
When radio frequency equipment is used it is usually transmitted at an allowable transmit power that is regulated by the FCC and other bodies. As an example, in US the output power of a device at 2.4 GHz cannot exceed Effective Radiated Power of 1 mW (0.001 W) and the transmitter must have a valid FCC Part 15 Reg ID.
In embodiments, a sensor device, which can be in or on a shipping container, can have spectrum monitoring capability for detecting signal powers that are higher than usual for excessive periods of time, which can be flagged. Once the spectrum scan is performed on the sensor device, the collected signal spectrum data can be sent to the cloud during times of connectivity. In embodiments, machine learning modules can be trained to detect signal anomalies. In embodiments, a sensor device can detect and store signal anomalies and report the anomalies to the FCC, for example, when FCC regulations may be an issue.
In some embodiments, a system can process the signal spectrum data collected from various devices, such as sensor devices in shipping containers, in trucks, in packages, and other items. Some of these sensor devices could be stationary, and some of them could be mobile. Processing can be performed to identify usage increases and decreases on particular locations on various bands, and/or other anomalies. For example, the spectrum data at times and locations can be used to monitor cell-sites from various providers, such as AT&T, T-MOBILE, VODAFONE, etc., to identify cell-sites being shut down, and/or brought up by monitoring cell-site downlink frequencies at various locations.
In embodiments, a route for a given package with sensor device can be based upon the spectrum map. For example, a package having expensive or sensitive content may be routed in a particular way to maximize cloud connectivity. Based on spectrum monitoring and cloud connectivity on previous shipments, the shipping carrier route could be adjusted so that the moving asset would take routes through areas where cellular coverage is the best. In this way, the package contents can be monitored securely during the route.
Based on the time/location, the sensor device can initiate collection of signal spectrum data in step 1204. As described above, the sensor device can collect signal data such as bandwidth and power at selected frequencies, which can be stored in step 1206. In step 1208, the sensor device can transmit the stored data. In embodiments, the sensor device transmits data when a wireless network is detected to ensure efficient transmission to a remote network via the cloud. In step 1210, the data collected at the remote site can be analyzed.
For example, if a particular cell site is operational 24-7 and is found to be missing at a particular time, the FCC, vendor, or other entity, can be notified. In another embodiment, a signal at a particular frequency at a certain location is found by a given sensor device to exceed an FCC threshold for some period of time, or some number of times by multiple sensor devices. Such information can be transmitted to a monitoring site, so that an appropriate action can be taken by interested parties.
It is understood that the term anomaly in the context of signal spectrum should be construed to include a wide variety of unknown and/or unexpected conditions. For example, anomalies can include the unexpected absence of a signal for one or more frequencies and/or bandwidths, the unexpected presence of a signal for one or more frequencies and/or bandwidths, the presence of a signal that exceeds certain parameters, such as FCC regulations on maximum allowable transmission power for unlicensed and licensed bands from an intentional radiator.
While example embodiments are shown and described in conjunction with sensor devices that facilitate tracking of shipping containers and monitoring environmental conditions, it is understood that any suitable mobile device that can collect signal spectrum data can be used to meet the needs of a particular application without departing from the scope of the claimed invention.
Embodiments of the invention provide spectrum monitoring and/or signal anomaly detection for a variety of RF signals having characteristics, such as frequency band, bandwidth, power level (Watts or dBm), etc. Signals can be monitored continuously to enabling spectrum mapping over the country and world for understanding of licensed operators emitting a wide range of signals. In embodiments, the signal spectrum data collected by sensor devices can be sent to a remote site via the cloud for processing, such as signal averaging, threshold comparisons and other metrics to meet the needs of a particular application. Example signal anomalies that can be detected include sudden power emission increases in a particular frequency band or set of frequency. Bands, sudden power emission decreases in a particular frequency band or set of frequency bands, periodic detection of power increases and decreases, such as power being on for five minutes and then off for five minutes, detection of power increases on one or more frequency bands due to wideband signal jamming, detecting power spectrum changes on a particular location after a period of time of not being there and reporting the change, e.g., a sensor device that showed up at the same location again after a month.
In embodiments, a sensor device can separate code for spectrum monitoring that is not enabled by default, however, after the request made from the cloud the sensor device can turn on the spectrum monitoring. In addition, the spectrum monitoring can be a default state of the sensor device, and the cloud can command the device to monitor signals at a set interval, or monitor during certain periods of the day/night, or just listen and wait for a monitoring request from the cloud.
Processing may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of the two. Processing may be implemented in computer programs executed on programmable computers/machines that each includes a processor, a storage medium or other article of manufacture that is readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and one or more output devices. Program code may be applied to data entered using an input device to perform processing and to generate output information.
The system can perform processing, at least in part, via a computer program product, (e.g., in a machine-readable storage device), for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus (e.g., a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple computers). Each such program may be implemented in a high level procedural or object-oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, the programs may be implemented in assembly or machine language. The language may be a compiled or an interpreted language and it may be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program may be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network. A computer program may be stored on a storage medium or device (e.g., CD-ROM, hard disk, or magnetic diskette) that is readable by a general or special purpose programmable computer for configuring and operating the computer when the storage medium or device is read by the computer. Processing may also be implemented as a machine-readable storage medium, configured with a computer program, where upon execution, instructions in the computer program cause the computer to operate.
Processing may be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs to perform the functions of the system. All or part of the system may be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry (e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) and/or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit)).
Having described exemplary embodiments of the invention, it will now become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments incorporating their concepts may also be used. The embodiments contained herein should not be limited to disclosed embodiments but rather should be limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims. All publications and references cited herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present application is a CIP of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/383,762, filed on Dec. 19, 2016, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/269,090 filed on Dec. 17, 2015, entitled “MULTI SENSOR DEVICE WITH CONNECTIVITY AND SENSING AS A SERVICE PLATFORM AND WEB APPLICATION,” all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62269090 | Dec 2015 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15383762 | Dec 2016 | US |
| Child | 16039913 | US |
