IP Library Granted Patent US 12,490,053
Granted Patent B2
US 12,490,053 · App. 17/448,346 · Granted Dec 2, 2025

Distributed intelligent software for industrial IOT

Inventors: Hendrik J. Volkerink (Palo Alto, CA); Ajay Khoche (West San Jose, CA)
H04W4/029G16Y20/10
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,490,053
App. No.
17/448,346
Filed
Sep 21, 2021
Granted
Dec 2, 2025
Kind
B2
Examiner
GAO, JING
Art Unit
2647
USPC
455/456.1
Abstract

A tracking system includes a plurality of tape nodes, each including a battery, a short-range wireless interface, a processor, and a memory storing a liquid operating system (OS) having machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to receiving, within the tape node, a mission defining at least one goal for the tape node, the tape node acting as a master agent of the tracking system to complete each of a plurality of tasks defined by the mission, managing power usage of the battery to complete the mission, the liquid OS delegating the task to another node of the tracking system to reduce power usage; performing a second task received from a second node, the tape node acting as a slave in response to the second task.

Claims (43)

1 . A tracking system for tracking an asset, comprising:

a first tape node attachable to the asset and having a liquid operating system (OS) that causes the first tape node to:

receive a first mission defining goals for the first tape node, and

operate as a master agent to complete the first mission, wherein the master agent is configured to generate instructions and transmit the instructions to at least one other tape node of the tracking system for the at least one other tape node to perform; and

an infrastructure component having the liquid OS that causes the infrastructure component to operate as a secondary agent and provide a slave service to the first tape node, wherein the secondary agent is configured to receive instructions from the master agent and perform tasks based on the received instructions.

2 . The tracking system of claim 1 , the liquid OS causing the first tape node to change its operations from operating as a master to agent to operating as a secondary agent and provide a slave service to the infrastructure component.

3 . The tracking system of claim 1 , the liquid OS causing the first tape node to evaluate remaining battery power and delegate the task to the infrastructure component when the remaining battery power is below a threshold value.

4 . The tracking system of claim 1 , the liquid OS of the infrastructure component causing the infrastructure component to act as a master agent to complete a second mission of the infrastructure component.

5 . The tracking system of claim 1 , the first tape node and the infrastructure component communicating wirelessly.

6 . The tracking system of claim 1 , the liquid OS causing the first tape node to make decisions relating to the first mission when operating as the master agent.

7 . The tracking system of claim 1 , the liquid OS causing the first tape node to maintain a graph of resources available to the first tape node and delegate the task to the infrastructure component when the graph indicates a lower cost.

8 . The tracking system of claim 7 , the cost being based on battery usage of the first tape node for at least one of wireless communication and computation.

9 . The tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the infrastructure component comprises at least one of a gateway device, an edge computer, an edge node, a tape node associated with a physical infrastructure, and a smart infrastructure.

10 . A tape node of a tracking system, comprising:

a battery;

a short-range wireless interface;

a processor; and

a memory storing a liquid operating system (OS) having machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:

receive, within the tape node, a mission defining at least one goal for the tape node, the tape node acting as a master agent of the tracking system to complete each of a plurality of tasks defined by the mission;

transmit instructions delegating at least one task of the plurality of tasks to another node of the tracking system, wherein the delegating the at least one task is based on optimizing one or more of airwave congestion and latency.

11 . The tape node of claim 10 , the liquid OS causing the tape node to make decisions corresponding to the mission when operating as the master agent.

12 . The tape node of claim 10 , the tape node having only a short-range wireless transceiver, wherein the delegating at least one task of the plurality of tasks comprises delegating a long-range communication task to the other node via the short range wireless transceiver.

13 . The tape node of claim 10 , the liquid OS determining a graph of resources available to the tape node, the graph having edges indicative of cost of the resource to the tape node, the liquid OS using selecting a least cost path thought the graph to identify resources to use.

14 . The tape node of claim 13 , the cost being based on battery usage for at least one of wireless communication and computation.

15 . A tracking system, comprising:

a plurality of tape nodes, each tape node having a liquid operating system (OS) and being capable to operate as a master agent to fulfill first mission of the tape node and capable to operate as a slave agent to support second missions of other tape nodes,

wherein a first tape node of the plurality of tape nodes operates as a slave agent providing slave services to multiple tape nodes, and

each respective tape node of the multiple tape nodes operating operates as a master agent of the first tape node, the liquid OS causing each respective tape node to:

receive a first mission defining at least one goal for the respective tape node, the goal comprising a plurality of tasks; and

transmit instructions delegating at least one task of the plurality of tasks to the first tape node of the tracking system, wherein the delegating the at least one task is based on optimizing one or more of airwave congestion and latency.

16 . The tracking system of claim 15 , wherein at least one tape node of the plurality of tape nodes is configured to communicate with at least one intermediary device to convey mission data to a central database and controller or to at least one other tape node.

17 . The tracking system of claim 15 , wherein the second missions are sensing missions of a first plurality of the plurality of tape nodes, and wherein the first tape node is configured to evaluate sensor data received from tape nodes of the first plurality.

18 . A method comprising:

receiving, by a wireless IOT device of a tracking system, a mission determined by the liquid operating system (OS) of the wireless IOT device defining at least one goal for the wireless IOT device, the wireless IOT device acting as a master agent of the tracking system to complete each of a plurality of tasks defined by the mission;

determining, by the wireless IOT device, one or more tasks of the plurality of tasks to delegate to other nodes of the tracking system based on the liquid OS;

identifying, by the wireless IOT device, one or more nodes of the tracking system capable of completing a first task of the one or more tasks;

transmitting, by the wireless IOT device, instructions delegating the first task to a first node of the one or more nodes, wherein the delegating the first task is based on optimizing one or more of airwave congestion and latency, and

wherein the wireless IOT device acts as a master agent, and the first node acts as a slave agent, in response to the first node receiving the instructions delegating the first task.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising,

broadcasting, by the wireless IOT device, the mission, of the wireless IOT device, a manifest of available services and capabilities of the wireless IOT device for helping other nodes of the tracking system complete respective missions, and diagnostic information of the wireless IOT device to a second node;

receiving, by the wireless IOT device, instructions to perform a second task from the second node, the second task corresponding to a mission determined by a respective liquid OS of second node; and

performing, by the wireless IOT device of the tracking system, the second task from the second node, the wireless IOT device acting as a slave in response to receiving instructions to perform the second task.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein prior to the performing the second task, the wireless IOT device and the second node achieve consensus that the wireless IOT device is an optimal agent for performing the second task.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 19, 2021
From: KHOCHE, AJAY
To: TRACKONOMY SYSTEMS, INC.
Reel/Frame 057840/0188 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 19, 2021
From: VOLKERINK, HENDRIK J
To: TRACKONOMY SYSTEMS, INC.
Reel/Frame 058014/0642 →
Continuity (4)
Provisional Application 63087319 · Oct 5, 2020
Provisional Application 63087486 · Oct 5, 2020
Provisional Application 63081284 · Sep 21, 2020
Related Publication 20220095079A1 · Mar 24, 2022
References Cited (85)
US 5917433A · Keillor et al. · 1999 [cited by applicant]
US 6614392B2 · Howard · 2003 [cited by applicant]
US 6919803B2 · Breed · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 7009517B2 · Wood · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7353259B1 · Bakke · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 7427918B2 · Fano · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 8258953B2 · Stem et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8356207B2 · Hosek et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8754748B2 · Orlassino · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 9015071B2 · Breed · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9182231B2 · Skaaksrud · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9189226B2 · Driesen et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9767516B1 · Konrardy et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9799149B2 · Davidson · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9824329B2 · Stirling et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9854556B2 · Skaaksrud et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9860688B2 · Kulkarni et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 9875459B2 · Altamirano et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 9984350B2 · Skaaksrud · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10674346B2 · Faccin et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 11115732B2 · Lucrecio et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 20030018927A1 · Gadir et al. · 2003 [cited by applicant]
US 20040193467A1 · Williams et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 20070049291A1 · Kim et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 20070095905A1 · Kadaba · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 20080151801A1 · Mizuta · 2008 [cited by examiner]
US 20080239282A1 · Zou et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20080279103A1 · Yong et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20090147702A1 · Buuhikot et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20100029268A1 · Myer et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20100045436A1 · Rinkes · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20100067420A1 · Twitchell, Jr. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20100082870A1 · Tokuhara · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20100299401A1 · Lloyd · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20110139871A1 · Yturralde et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 20130070636A1 · Farley et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20130107770A1 · Marsden et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20130278412A1 · Kelly et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20150154531A1 · Skaaksrud · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20150154538A1 · Skaaksrud · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20150154544A1 · Skaaksrud · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20150154554A1 · Skaaksrud · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20150156747A1 · Skaaksrud et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20160217399A1 · Roelofs et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160233927A1 · Wu · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160234104A1 · Hoffmann · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20170039666A1 · Kuersten et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170279892A1 · Skaaksrud · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170280297A1 · Skaaksrud · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20180046964A1 · Leoni et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180132183A1 · Gattu · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180165568A1 · Khoche · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180302807A1 · Chen et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20190025818A1 · Mattingly · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190174449A1 · Shan et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190179298A1 · Hosek et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190215729A1 · Oyman et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190222055A1 · Khoche · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190254013A1 · Chang et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190272458A1 · Khoche · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190281588A1 · Zhang et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190325173A1 · Tingler et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190362215A1 · Khoche · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190370624A1 · Khoche · 2019 [cited by applicant]
CA 3008512A1 · 2019 [cited by applicant]
JP 2008239282 · 2008 [cited by applicant]
WO WO2013100834A1 · 2013 [cited by examiner]
WO WO2019028269A1 · 2019 [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 10/057,722, filed Aug. 21, 2018, Skaaksrud. [cited by applicant]
International Patent Application No. PCT/US2019/042488, International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Nov. 5, 2019. [cited by applicant]
International Patent Application No. PCT/US2019/046588, International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Jan. 6, 2020 9 pages. [cited by applicant]
Chong Shen et al., “A mobility framework to improve heterogeneous wireless network services,” Inderscience Enterprises Ltd., 2011. [cited by applicant]
Lucas Iacono, Wireless Sensor Network Protocols, Universidad De Mendoza, Argentina, 2011. [cited by applicant]
M.A. Matin et al., Overview of Wireless Sensor Network, Intech, 2012 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/49376.1). [cited by applicant]
Mario G. C. Cimino et al., “Wireless communication, identification, and sensing technologies enabling integrated logistics: a study in the harbor environment,” Research Gate, Oct. 2015 (https://www.researchgate.net/publ… [cited by applicant]
International Patent Application No. PCT/US2019/046588, International Preliminary Report on Patentability, dated Feb. 16, 2021, 7 pgs, Geneva, Switzerland. [cited by applicant]
PCT Application No. PCT/US2021/023545, International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Jun. 24, 2021, 10 pages. [cited by applicant]
European Patent Application No. 19837758.2 extended European search report, dated Feb. 25, 2022, 7 pages. [cited by applicant]
European Patent Application No. 19850357.5 extended European search report, dated Mar. 4, 2022, 8 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 17/208,765 Office Action dated Jul. 14, 2022, 9 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Patent Application No. PCT/2021/051383, International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Dec. 28, 2021, 15 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Patent Application No. PCT/2021/053442, International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Jan. 14, 2022, 17 pages. [cited by applicant]
Non-Final Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 16/680,469 dated Apr. 28, 2022, 14 pages. [cited by applicant]
Non-Final Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 16/680,469 dated Nov. 10, 2022, 12 pages. [cited by applicant]
Non-Final Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 17/208,765 dated Jul. 14, 2022, 9 pages. [cited by applicant]