US 9,438,311 B1Granted

Power efficient mesh network

AssigneeLogitech Europe S.A.

InventorsXavier Caine, Kevin McLintock

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Abstract

A method of communication between a plurality of network devices and an external electronic device is provided. The method includes receiving, at a first network device, device information and power information from a second network device, where the received device information and power information is transferred over a first communication link on a first network, where the first communication link is formed between a first transceiver of the first network device and a first transceiver of the second network device. The method further includes comparing the received power information with power information of the first network device. The method further includes transferring a portion of the received device information from the first network device over a second communication link on a second network when it is determined based on the comparison that the first network device is better suited than the second network device to communicate on the second network.

Claims12

Dependent claims

An apparatus comprising a first network device that comprises:

a processor;
a first transceiver;
a second transceiver;
a non-transitory memory hosting an application, which, when executed by the processor, performs an operation comprising:
receiving, at the first network device, device information and power information from a second network device, wherein the received device information and power information is transferred over a first communication link on a first network, wherein the first communication link is formed between a first transceiver of the first network device and a first transceiver of the second network device;
comparing the received power information with power information of the first network device, wherein the power information of the first network device includes information about a first power source used to power the first network device and the received power information includes information about a second power source used to power the second network device;
and
transferring at least a portion of the received device information from the first network device over a second communication link on a second network when it is determined based on the comparison that the first network device is better suited to communicate with the second network than the second network device, wherein the second communication link is formed between the second transceiver of the first network device and a device transceiver of an external electronic device,
wherein
the first power source is an on-board power source of the first network device and the power information of the first network device comprises a first state-of-charge of the first power source,
the second power source is an on-board power source of the second network device and the power information of the second network device comprises a second state-of-charge of the second power source, and
the first network device is determined to be better suited to communicate on the second network when the first state-of-charge is greater than the second state-of-charge, and
wherein the operation performed by the application further comprises:
upon determining the first state-of-charge is less than the second state-of-charge, transferring additional device information from the second network device over a third communication link formed between a second transceiver of the second network device and the device transceiver of the external electronic device, and
wherein transferring the additional device information over the third communication link is performed after terminating the second communication link.

12 more elements

A wireless communication system, comprising:

a first network device comprising:
a first processor;
a first power storage device;
an external network communication transceiver of the first network device;
and
an internal network communication transceiver of the first network device;
a second network device comprising:
a second processor;
a second power storage device;
an external network communication transceiver of the second network device;
and
an internal network communication transceiver of the second network device;
and
a non-transitory memory in the first network device that hosts an application, which, when executed by the first processor, performs an operation comprising:
receiving device information and power information from the second network device, wherein the received device information and power information is transferred over a first communication link formed between the internal network communication transceiver of the first network device and the internal network communication transceiver of the second network device;
comparing the received power information with power information of the first network device, wherein the power information of the first network device includes information about the first power storage device used to power the first network device and the received power information includes information about the second power storage device used to power the second network device;
transferring at least a portion of the received device information from the first network device to an external electronic device using the external network communication transceiver of the first network device when it is determined based on the comparison that the first network device is better suited to communicate with the external electronic device than the second network device,
maintaining, at the first network device, a second communication link between the external network communication transceiver in the first network device and the external electronic device, and
maintaining, at the first network device, the first communication link between the internal network communication transceiver in the first network device and the internal network communication transceiver in the second network device,
wherein the communication links are simultaneously maintained, and each have a low latency.

17 more elements

A wireless communication system, comprising:

a first network device comprising:
a first processor;
a first power storage device;
an external network communication transceiver of the first network device;
an internal network communication transceiver of the first network device;
and
a first power sensor that is configured to measure power information from the first power storage device;
a second network device comprising:
a second processor;
a second power storage device;
an external network communication transceiver of the second network device;
an internal network communication transceiver of the second network device;
and
a second power sensor that is configured to measure power information from the second power storage device;
and
a non-transitory memory in the first network device that hosts an application, which, when executed by the first processor, performs an operation comprising:
comparing power information that is received from the second network device with power information measured by the first power sensor, wherein the received power information includes information measured by the second power sensor;
and
transferring device information from the first network device to an external electronic device using the external network communication transceiver of the first network device when it is determined, based on the comparison of the power information received from the second network device and the power information measured by the first power sensor, that the first network device is better suited to communicate with the external electronic device than the second network device,
wherein
the first power storage device is an on-board power source of the first network device and the power information measured by the first power sensor comprises a first state-of-charge of the first power storage device,
the second power storage device is an on-board power source of the second network device and the received power information of the second network device comprises a second state-of-charge of the second power storage device, and
the first network device is determined to be better suited to communicate on the second network when the first state-of-charge is greater than the second state-of-charge,
wherein the operation performed by the application further comprises:
upon determining the first state-of-charge is less than the second state-of-charge, transferring additional device information from the second network device over a second communication link formed between the external network communication transceiver of the second network device and a device transceiver of the external electronic device, and
wherein transferring the additional device information over the second communication link is performed after terminating a first communication link that was formed between the external network communication transceiver of the first network device and the device transceiver of the external electronic device.

23 more elements

A wireless communication system, comprising:

a first network device comprising:
a first processor;
a first power storage device;
an external network communication transceiver of the first network device;
an internal network communication transceiver of the first network device;
and
a first power sensor that is configured to measure power information from the first power storage device;
a second network device comprising:
a second processor;
a second power storage device;
an external network communication transceiver of the second network device;
an internal network communication transceiver of the second network device;
and
a second power sensor that is configured to measure power information from the second power storage device;
and
a non-transitory memory in the first network device that hosts an application, which, when executed by the first processor, performs an operation comprising:
comparing power information that is received from the second network device with power information measured by the first power sensor, wherein the received power information includes information measured by the second power sensor,
transferring device information from the first network device to an external electronic device using the external network communication transceiver of the first network device when it is determined, based on the comparison of the power information received from the second network device and the power information measured by the first power sensor, that the first network device is better suited to communicate with the external electronic device than the second network device, wherein
the power information of the first network device comprises a first attribute indicating a type of power source attributed to the first power storage device;
the received power information from the second network device comprises a second attribute indicating a type of power source attributed to the second power storage device;
and
the first network device is determined to be better suited to communicate with the second network when the first attribute indicates the first power storage device is a remote power source and the second attribute indicates the second power storage device is an on-board power source.

19 more elements

A wireless communication system, comprising:

a first network device comprising:
a first processor;
a first power storage device;
an external network communication transceiver of the first network device;
an internal network communication transceiver of the first network device;
and
a first power sensor that is configured to measure power information from the first power storage device;
a second network device comprising:
a second processor;
a second power storage device;
an external network communication transceiver of the second network device;
an internal network communication transceiver of the second network device;
and
a second power sensor that is configured to measure power information from the second power storage device;
and
a non-transitory memory in the first network device that hosts an application, which, when executed by the first processor, performs an operation comprising:
comparing power information that is received from the second network device with power information measured by the first power sensor, wherein the received power information includes information measured by the second power sensor,
transferring device information from the first network device to an external electronic device using the external network communication transceiver of the first network device when it is determined, based on the comparison of the power information received from the second network device and the power information measured by the first power sensor, that the first network device is better suited to communicate with the external electronic device than the second network device,
terminating the communication between the first network device and the external electronic device when a power-level indicator of the first power storage device drops below a threshold, and
restoring communication between the first network device and the external electronic device upon determining, by the first network device, that a request to transmit data has been received from the second network device via the internal network communication transceiver.

17 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.