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US 10,708,871 B2Granted
Apparatus and method for powering nodes of a wireless network
AssigneeBlackBerry Limited
InventorsMahendra Fuleshwar Prasad, Ying Tong Man, Jonathan Quinn Brubacher
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for transmitting power from a primary node to one or more secondary nodes of a wireless network includes, for each of the one or more secondary nodes, associating one of a plurality of directional antenna arrays of the primary node with the secondary node, and transmitting power to the secondary node utilizing the one of the plurality of directional antenna arrays associated with the secondary node.
Claims19
A method of transmitting power by a primary node to one or more secondary nodes of a wireless network, the method comprising:
- for each of the one or more secondary nodes:
- associating one or more of a plurality of directional antenna arrays of the primary node with the secondary node;
- and
- transmitting power to the secondary node utilizing the one or more of the plurality of directional antenna arrays associated with the secondary node;
- wherein associating one or more of a plurality of directional antennas of the primary node with the secondary node comprises:
- determining a direction of the secondary node relative to the primary node based on a map of locations of the one or more secondary nodes and the primary node, the map of locations generated utilizing standardized Bluetooth low energy (BLE) indoor positioning services;
- selecting a subset of one or more of the plurality of directional antenna arrays having transmission directions that differ from the determined direction by less than a threshold amount;
- sweeping transmission through each of the directional antenna arrays of the selected subset such that each directional antenna of the selected subset array transmits a signal in sequence;
- receiving a message from the secondary node indicating a signal strength received at the secondary node from the signals transmitted during the sweep of the directional antenna arrays of the selected subset;
- and
- associating the secondary node with the one or more of the directional antenna arrays of the selected subset based on the message indicating the signal strength received at the secondary node.
8 more elements
An apparatus for transmitting power to one or more secondary nodes of a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of directional antenna arrays;
- a processor in communication with the plurality of directional antenna arrays, the processor configured to:
- for each of the one or more secondary nodes:
- associate one or more of the plurality of directional antenna arrays with the secondary node;
- and
- transmit power to the secondary node utilizing the one or more of the plurality of directional antenna arrays associated with the secondary node;
- wherein to associate one or more of a plurality of directional antennas of the primary node with the secondary node, the processor is configured to:
- determine a direction of the secondary node relative to the primary node based on a map of locations of the one or more secondary nodes and the primary node, the map of locations generated utilizing standardized Bluetooth low energy (BLE) indoor positioning services;
- select a subset of one or more of the plurality of directional antenna arrays having transmission directions that differ from the determined direction by less than a threshold amount;
- sweep transmission through each of the directional antenna arrays of the selected subset such that each directional antenna of the selected subset array transmits a signal in sequence;
- receive a message from the secondary node indicating a signal strength received at the secondary node from signals transmitted during the sweep of the directional antenna arrays of the selected subset;
- and
- associate the secondary node with the one or more of the directional antenna arrays of the selected subset based on the message indicating the signal strength received at the secondary node.
10 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer readable code executable by a processor of a primary node to cause the processor to:
- for each of the one or more secondary nodes:
- associate one or more of the plurality of directional antenna arrays with the secondary node;
- and
- transmit power to the secondary node utilizing the one or more of the plurality of directional antenna arrays associated with the secondary node;
- wherein to associate one or more of a plurality of directional antennas of the primary node with the secondary node, the computer readable code causes the processor to:
- determine a direction of the secondary node relative to the primary node based on a map of locations of the one or more secondary nodes and the primary node, the map of locations generated utilizing standardized Bluetooth low energy (BLE) indoor positioning services;
- select a subset of one or more of the plurality of directional antenna arrays having transmission directions that differ from the determined direction by less than a threshold amount;
- sweep transmission through each of the directional antenna arrays of the selected subset such that each directional antenna of the selected subset array transmits a signal in sequence;
- receive a message from the secondary node indicating a signal strength received at the secondary node from signals transmitted during the sweep of the directional antenna arrays of the selected subset;
- and
- associate the secondary node with the one or more of the directional antenna arrays of the selected subset based on the message indicating the signal strength received at the secondary node.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.