US 5,963,650 A · Method and apparatus for a customizable low power RF telemetry system with high performance reduced data rate

Abstract

A customizable data acquisition device (DA) and a data collection system (DCS). The DA is remotely located for attachment to a variety of I/O devices, and uses an RF transceiver with a primary cache. A centrally located or mobile DCS with a secondary cache communicates with one or more DA's and stores DA data in the secondary cache. The DA has a programmable controller and an I/O interface capable of attaching to a variety of I/O devices. The DA primary cache holds data for bulk transfers to the DCS to minimize DA/DCS data transmission traffic. The DCS secondary cache accumulates data from the DA and allows data queries by multiple independent application programs (which may be located on the DCS, other DCSs, or remote host systems) without requiring retransmission of data from the DA for each query. Applications can query cached data in the secondary cache, and optionally query the primary cache or query the I/O device via the DA. Each DA is capable of peer to peer communication to allow DAs physically located outside of the transmission range of the DA/DCS to communicate with the DCS by routing data through other DAs in a network of DAs until the data can be transmitted to the DCS. I/O devices and DAs are shared by multiple applications in a hierarchical network of applications, host computers, DCSs, DAs, and I/O devices. A pass-through function allows the I/O interface to be emulated for software testing. When software testing is complete, the software is permanently stored in the DA.

Claims29

Dependent claims

An RF telemetry system for transferring data between remotely located data acquisition devices and application programs, further comprising:

at least one remotely located data acquisition device, further comprising:
an I/O interface connector having means to attach to, and transfer data to and from, an I/O device;
an RF transceiver for transferring data to and from a data collection system;
a primary cache to hold data transferred to and from the I/O device and to and from the data collection system;
a microprocessor having means to control communication between the data acquisition device and the I/O device and means to control communication between the data acquisition device and the data collection system;
and
programmable storage for use by the microprocessor;
and
at least one data collection system, further comprising:
means to transfer data to and from at least one application program;
a secondary cache to hold data transferred to and from the remotely located data acquisition device;
a processor having means to control communication between the data collection system and the application program and means to control communication between the data collection system and the data acquisition device;
and
programmable storage for use by the processor;
whereby data received by the data acquisition device from an I/O device is stored in the primary cache of the data acquisition device until transferred to the data collection system and then stored in the secondary cache until transferred to an application program.

12 more elements

An RF telemetry system for transferring data between remotely located data acquisition devices and application programs, further comprising:

a plurality of remotely located data acquisition devices, each data acquisition device further comprising:
an I/O interface connector having means to attach to, and transfer data to and from, an I/O device;
an RF transceiver for transferring data to and from a data collection system;
a primary cache to hold data transferred to and from the I/O device and to and from the data collection system;
a microprocessor having means to control communication between the data acquisition device and the I/O device and means to control communication between the data acquisition device and the data collection system;
means to communicate with and transfer data to other data acquisition devices;
means to store data received from another data acquisition device in its primary cache;
means to transfer data received from another data collection system to data collection system;
and
programmable storage for use by the microprocessor;
and
at least one data collection system, further comprising:
means to transfer data to and from at least one application program;
a secondary cache to hold data transferred to and from the remotely located data acquisition device;
a processor having means to control communication between the data collection system and the application program and means to control communication between the data collection system and the data acquisition device;
and
programmable storage for use by the processor;
whereby data received by the data acquisition device from an I/O device is stored in the primary cache of the data acquisition device until transferred to the data collection system and then stored in the secondary cache until transferred to an application program.

15 more elements

A method of transferring data between remotely located data acquisition devices and application programs in an RF telemetry system, including the steps of:

connecting an I/O device to a remotely located data acquisition device with an I/O interface connector;
storing data transferred to and from the I/O device in a primary cache in the remotely located data acquisition device;
transferring data to and from the primary cache of the remotely located data acquisition device to the data collection system with an RF transceiver;
storing data transferred to and from the remotely located data acquisition device in a secondary cache in the data collection system;
using a microprocessor to control communication between the remotely located data acquisition device and the I/O device and to control communication between the remotely located data acquisition device and the data collection system;
storing program instructions for use by the microprocessor in programmable storage;
and
transferring data to and from the secondary cache and at least one application program;
whereby data received by the data acquisition device from an I/O device is stored in the primary cache of the data acquisition device until transferred to the data collection system and then stored in the secondary cache until transferred to an application program.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method and apparatus for a customizable low power RF telemetry system with high performance reduced data rate

Life of this patent

Method and apparatus for a customizable low power RF telemetry system with high performance reduced data rate

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims29