IP Library Granted Patent US 10,694,336
Granted Patent B2
US 10,694,336 · App. 15/703,528 · Granted Jun 23, 2020

Systems and methods of active beacons

Inventors: Raghu Arunachalam (Pittsburgh, PA); L. Robert Crouthamel (Mars, PA)
Assignee: Industrial Scientific Corporation
H04W4/029B60Q5/006B60Q9/008G01C21/206G01S1/042G01S1/68G01S5/0036G01S5/02G01S13/931G08B21/22H04B5/0031H04L67/18H04L67/303H04W4/02H04W4/021H04W4/023H04W4/025H04W4/18H04W4/30H04W4/80H04W4/90H04W64/003G01S2013/9318G01S2013/9325H04W4/022H04W4/35
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,694,336
App. No.
15/703,528
Granted
Jun 23, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system for creating of list of active beacons includes at least one receiving device, comprising a receiver adapted to receive a beacon broadcast from one or more of a plurality of beacons, resulting in one or more received beacon broadcasts, a processor, a memory, and a smart beacon application. For each received beacon broadcast comprising informational data and data regarding a range of relevance for that beacon, the smart beacon application: 1) determines whether the beacon is relevant by comparing a strength of the received beacon broadcast to the range of relevance in the beacon broadcast, and 2) creates a list of relevant beacons.

Claims (54)

1. A system comprising:

at least one receiving device, comprising:

a receiver adapted to receive a beacon broadcast corresponding to a beacon of a plurality of beacons, wherein each beacon broadcast comprises informational data and data regarding a minimum received signal strength for a relevance of a corresponding beacon;

a processor;

a memory; and

a smart beacon application,

wherein, the smart beacon application determines whether the corresponding beacon is relevant by comparing the data regarding the minimum received signal strength for the relevance of the corresponding beacon to an actual received signal strength of a current beacon broadcast and, wherein, if the actual received signal strength of the current beacon broadcast is greater than or equal to the minimum received signal strength for the relevance of the corresponding beacon, the smart beacon application adds the corresponding beacon to a list of relevant beacons.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one receiving device is one of a laptop, a smart phone or a tablet.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one receiving device is a smart identification badge.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one receiving device further comprises a piece of personal protective equipment.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one receiving device comprises one of a hearing protection, an eye protection, a protective footwear, a gas mask, a respirator, a harness, a lighting device, an exposure tracker, a hardhat, or a fall arrest device.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one receiving device comprises a tool.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one receiving device comprises one of a saw, a gas sensor, a portable environmental sensing device, a gas detection instrument, a thermal detector, a flame detector, a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) detector, a chemical detection instrument, or an industrial monitoring equipment.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein if a broadcast from a beacon on the list of relevant beacons is not received over a predetermined number of scans, the beacon is removed from the list of relevant beacons.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein if a beacon on the list of relevant beacons is determined to not be relevant for a predetermined number of consecutive scans, it is removed from the list of relevant beacons.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein a beacon must be determined to be relevant for a predetermined number of consecutive scans to be added to the list of relevant beacons.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one receiving device is in electronic communication with one of a sensor, a piece of equipment, a smart identification badge, or a remote server.

12. A system, comprising:

at least one receiving device comprising:

a receiver adapted to receive a beacon broadcast corresponding to a beacon of a plurality of beacons, wherein each beacon broadcast comprises informational data and data regarding a minimum received signal strength for a relevance of a corresponding beacon;

a processor;

a memory; and

a smart beacon application,

wherein, the smart beacon application calculates a normalized average of actual received signal strength of corresponding received beacon broadcasts over a predetermined number of samples, and determines a relevance of the corresponding beacon by comparing the data regarding a minimum received signal strength for the relevance of the corresponding beacon with the normalized average actual received signal strength of the corresponding received beacon broadcast, and, if the normalized average of actual received signal strength of corresponding received beacon broadcast is greater than or equal to the minimum received signal strength for the relevance of the corresponding beacon, creates a list of relevant beacons.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the smart beacon application further identifies a site beacon to be used for identifying a location based on a highest normalized average strength of the corresponding received beacon broadcasts for those beacons having informational data that comprises location information.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein if a new beacon having informational data comprising location information is identified as having a higher normalized average strength of the received beacon broadcast than the site beacon, the normalized average of the actual received signal strength of the received beacon broadcast of the new beacon must exceed the normalized average strength of the received beacon broadcast of the site beacon by a predetermined margin in order to become a new site beacon.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one receiving device is one of a laptop, a smart phone or a tablet.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one receiving device is a smart identification badge.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one receiving device further comprises a piece of personal protective equipment.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the at least one receiving device comprises one of a hearing protection, an eye protection, a protective footwear, a gas mask, a respirator, a harness, a lighting device, an exposure tracker, a hardhat, or a fall arrest device.

19. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one receiving device comprises a tool.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the at least one receiving device comprises one of a saw, a gas sensor, a portable environmental sensing device, a gas detection instrument, a thermal detector, a flame detector, a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) detector, a chemical detection instrument, or an industrial monitoring equipment.

21. The system of claim 12 , wherein if a broadcast from a beacon on the list of relevant beacons is not received over a predetermined number of scans, the beacon is removed from the list of relevant beacons.

22. The system of claim 12 , wherein if a beacon on the list of relevant beacons is determined to not be relevant for a predetermined number of consecutive scans, it is removed from the list of relevant beacons.

23. The system of claim 12 , wherein a beacon must be determined to be relevant for a predetermined number of consecutive scans to be added to the list of relevant beacons.

24. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one receiving device is in electronic communication with one of a sensor, a piece of equipment, a smart identification badge, or a remote server.

25. A system comprising:

at least one receiving device comprising:

a receiver adapted to receive a beacon broadcast corresponding to a beacon of a plurality of beacons, wherein each beacon broadcast comprises informational data and data regarding a minimum received signal strength for a relevance of a corresponding beacon;

a processor;

a memory; and

a smart beacon application,

wherein, the smart beacon application calculates an average actual received signal strength of the received beacon broadcasts from a corresponding beacon over a predetermined number of samples, and determines whether the corresponding beacon is relevant by comparing the average actual received signal strength of the corresponding received beacon broadcasts to the data regarding the minimum received signal strength the relevance of the corresponding beacon, and, if the average actual received signal strength of corresponding received beacon broadcasts is greater than or equal to the minimum received signal strength for the relevance of the corresponding beacon, creates a list of relevant beacons.

26. The system of claim 25 , wherein the smart beacon application further identifies a site beacon to be used for identifying a location based on a highest average strength of the corresponding received beacon broadcast for those beacons whose informational data comprises location information.

27. The system of claim 25 , wherein the at least one receiving device is one of a laptop, a smart phone or a tablet.

28. The system of claim 25 , wherein the at least one receiving device is a smart identification badge.

29. The system of claim 25 , wherein the at least one receiving device further comprises a piece of personal protective equipment.

30. The system of claim 29 , wherein the at least one receiving device comprises one of a hearing protection, an eye protection, a protective footwear, a gas mask, a respirator, a harness, a lighting device, an exposure tracker, a hardhat, or a fall arrest device.

31. The system of claim 25 , wherein the at least one receiving device comprises a tool.

32. The system of claim 31 , wherein the at least one receiving device comprises one of a saw, a gas sensor, a portable environmental sensing device, a gas detection instrument, a thermal detector, a flame detector, a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) detector, a chemical detection instrument, or an industrial monitoring equipment.

33. The system of claim 25 , wherein if a broadcast from a beacon on the list of relevant beacons is not received over a predetermined number of scans, the beacon is removed from the list of relevant beacons.

34. The system of claim 25 , wherein if a beacon on the list of relevant beacons is determined to not be relevant for a predetermined number of consecutive scans, it is removed from the list of relevant beacons.

35. The system of claim 25 , wherein a beacon must be determined to be relevant for a predetermined number of consecutive scans to be added to the list of relevant beacons.

36. The system of claim 25 , wherein the at least one receiving device is in electronic communication with one of a sensor, a piece of equipment, a smart identification badge, or a remote server.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 18, 2018
From: ARUNACHALAM, RAGHU; CROUTHAMEL, L. ROBERT
To: INDUSTRIAL SCIENTIFIC CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 046121/0097 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 15702246 · Sep 12, 2017
Provisional Application 62393238 · Sep 12, 2016
Provisional Application 62412156 · Oct 24, 2016
Related Publication 20180077521A1 · Mar 15, 2018
Cited By (1)
US 12,470,093