US 10,257,236 B2 · Sensor gateway

Abstract

A sensor gateway manages wireless communications to sensors and the exchange of data between the sensors and a connection to the Internet. A sensor gateway processor runs the network and wireless stack, automatically picks the same channel as the home access point (AP), and runs sensor software to provide the sensors with low power, wireless support and deep sleep support. The sensor gateway selects same channel as the home AP by following the strongest beacon or by following the home AP service set identifier (SSID), in case more than one strong beacon is present. If the home AP and sensor gateway are placed close by and are on a different channel in 2.4G, there is destructive interference between the two devices. By using same channel on the sensor gateway as that of the home AP, both devices can coexist in same band without destructive interference.

Claims34

Dependent claims

A sensor gateway for managing wireless communications between a plurality of sensors and a backend connection, the sensor gateway comprising:

a communications interface;
and
a processor communicatively coupled to the communications interface, the processor configured to execute instructions to cause the sensor gateway to:
communicate wirelessly, via the communications interface, with the plurality of sensors over a first channel of a plurality of channels of a communications band;
exchange information between the plurality of sensors and the backend connection via a home access point (AP) or gateway, the home AP or gateway engaging in wireless communications within the communications band over a selected channel of the plurality of channels;
determine a characteristic of a beacon frame;
switch from the first channel to the selected channel when the characteristic of the beacon frame indicates that communication via the selected channel will be improved relative to communications via the first channel;
and
communicate via the same channel as the home AP or gateway thereby facilitating reduced communication interference between the sensor gateway and the home AP or gateway, the same channel being the selected channel.

6 more elements

A non-transient machine readable storage medium for use in a processing system, the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions, an execution of which in the processing system causes the processing system to perform operations comprising:

communicating wirelessly with a plurality of sensors over a first channel of a plurality of channels of a communications band;
exchanging information between the plurality of sensors and a backend connection via a home access point (AP) or gateway, the home AP or gateway engaging in wireless communications within the communications band over a selected channel of the plurality of channels;
determining a characteristic of a beacon frame;
switching from the first channel to the selected channel when the characteristic of the beacon frame indicates that communication via the selected channel will be improved relative to communications via the first channel;
and
communicating via the same channel as the home AP or gateway thereby facilitating reduced communication interference between the sensor gateway and the home AP or gateway, the same channel being the selected channel.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Sensor gateway

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Sensor gateway

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims34