Patent Application
20190037336
The present invention relates to wireless sensor devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for synchronizing wireless sensor devices connected to a control panel device via multiple access point devices.
It is known that an access point device can be the coordinator, center, and initiator of an IEEE 802.15.4 based low power wireless personal area network (WPAN). However, due to the limitations of wireless protocols and the limited memory in access point devices, the number of wireless sensor devices connected to a single access point device is limited. For example, some known access point devices can be connected to 64 sensor device nodes or 128 sensor device nodes. In known RF6 WPANs, one access point device can support 128 sensor device nodes.
When known commercial wireless systems require and support hundreds or thousands of sensor devices, multiple access point devices are required to connect the sensor devices. Therefore, the multiple access point devices must also be connected to a control panel device in a corresponding wired or wireless manner. For example, as seen in
When the One Go All Go feature is achieved and there is an emergency alarm in the system, such as a smoke alarm or a carbon monoxide (CO) alarm, sounder devices in the sensor devices, such as smoke detectors or CO detectors, are activated and synchronized with the temporal pattern alarm cadence of other sensor devices and siren devices installed in the same system. For example, the sensor devices can be synchronized with a temporal pattern 3 alarm cadence during the smoke alarm, which is graphically depicted in
In view of the above, there is a continuing, ongoing need for improved systems and methods.
While this invention is susceptible of an embodiment in many different forms, there are shown in the drawings and will be described herein in detail specific embodiments thereof with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention. It is not intended to limit the invention to the specific illustrated embodiments.
Embodiments disclosed herein can include systems and methods for synchronizing wireless sensor devices connected to a control panel device via multiple access point devices. It is to be understood that systems and methods disclosed herein can be implemented in connection with a security system, a fire alarm system, a smoke alarm system, a carbon monoxide detection system, or any connected system that includes Internet of things (IoT) devices.
In accordance with disclosed embodiments and as seen in
For example, the control panel device 520 can periodically broadcast its real time over the data bus 530 so that each of the access point devices 510 can synchronize with the control panel device 520 by adjusting the respective local clock 550 of a respective one of the access point devices 510. In some embodiments, an access point device 510 can adjust its local clock 550 by adding the real time of the control panel device 520 as broadcast and a transport latency time between the control panel device 520 and the access point device 510.
Similarly, each of the access point devices 510 can periodically broadcast its real time in a payload of the wireless beacon, that is, timestamp the wireless beacon, so that, when exiting the sleep mode to track the beacon, each of the plurality of sensor devices 540 connected thereto can synchronize with a respective one of the access points 510 by adjusting the respective local clock 550 of a respective one of the plurality of sensor devices 540. For example, when a sensor device 540 wakes up to receive the beacon from an access point device 510, the sensor device 540 can receive the timestamp of the beacon from the access point device 510 and synchronize with the access point device 510 by adjusting the local clock 550 of the sensor device 540. In some embodiments, the sensor device 540 can adjust its local clock by adding the timestamp of the beacon and a transport latency time between the access point device 510 and the sensor device 540.
In accordance with disclosed embodiments, when there is an emergency alarm in the system 500, a One Go All Go feature can be achieved. For example, as graphically depicted in
It is to be understood that each of the control panel, the access point devices, and the sensor devices disclosed and described herein can include a respective transceiver device and a memory device each of which can be in communication with respective control circuitry, a respective programmable processor, and respective executable control software as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The executable control software can be stored on a transitory or non-transitory computer readable medium, including, but not limited to local computer memory, RAM, optical storage media, magnetic storage media, flash memory, and the like. In some embodiments, some or all of the control circuitry, the programmable processors, and the executable control software can execute and control at least some of the methods disclosed and described herein.
Although a few embodiments have been described in detail above, other modifications are possible. For example, the logic flows described above do not require the particular order described or sequential order to achieve desirable results. Other steps may be provided, steps may be eliminated from the described flows, and other components may be added to or removed from the described systems. Other embodiments may be within the scope of the invention.
From the foregoing, it will be observed that numerous variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific system or method described herein is intended or should be inferred. It is, of course, intended to cover all such modifications as fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.
