Geographically agnostic wireless data communication system having wireless devices
A wireless data communication system suitable for use as a radio frequency (RF) locationing or presence detection system includes at least one wireless access device and at least one active RF tag corresponding to an item or asset of interest. The wireless access device is configured to transmit a locale message that conveys location-specific data corresponding to a geographic operating region of the wireless access device. The active RF tag receives the locale message, processes the location-specific data conveyed in the locale message, and configures itself in accordance with the location-specific data to support operation using a selected wireless data communication scheme. The selected scheme is compliant with the operating requirements of the geographic operating region in which the active RF tag resides.
1. A method of managing transmissions in a wireless system having a wireless active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag device and a wireless access device, the method comprising:
obtaining location-specific global positioning system (GPS) data at the wireless access device;
generating, at the wireless access device, a locale message that conveys the GPS data; the wireless active RFID tag device receiving the locale message from the wireless access device, the locale message conveying the GPS data that indicates a location of the wireless access device;
extracting, at the wireless active RFID tag device, the location-specific GPS data from the locale message;
processing the GPS data with the wireless active RFID tag device;
selecting, at the wireless active RFID tag device, one of a plurality of geographically-dependent wireless data communication schemes, wherein the selecting step is based on and determined by the GPS data and selects a wireless data communication scheme that is compliant with requirements of a geographic operating region of the wireless access device, and wherein the wireless data communication scheme specifies an operating frequency or frequency range and an operating power limit for the wireless active RFID tag device; and
operating the wireless active RFID tag device in accordance with the selected wireless data communication scheme.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location-specific GPS data comprises latitude and longitude data that indicates a location of the at least one wireless access device.
3. A wireless data communication system comprising:
a global positioning system (GPS) receiver configured to obtain GPS data and calculate latitude and longitude data using the GPS data;
a wireless access device configured to receive the latitude and longitude data from the GPS receiver and transmit a locale message that conveys the latitude and longitude data, which indicates a location of the wireless access device; and
an active radio frequency identification (RFID) device configured to:
receive the locale message;
process the latitude and longitude data conveyed in the locale message;
select one of a plurality of different geographically-dependent wireless data communication schemes for use as a selected wireless data communication scheme that is compliant with requirements of the location of the wireless access device, wherein the selected wireless data communication scheme is based on and determined by the latitude and longitude data; and
configure itself in accordance with the latitude and longitude data to support operation using the selected wireless data communication scheme.
4. The wireless data communication system of claim 3 , wherein the wireless access device is configured to automatically adapt to the location of the wireless access device to support operation using the selected wireless data communication scheme.