System, method and unit to scan communication channels

1 . A method for allocating receiving and processing resources for scanning communication channels over a scanning time, the method carried out by a wireless device location unit, operable within a system for controlling functionalities of at least one wireless device located within a defined volume,

wherein said wireless device location unit comprises a radio frequency “RF” receiver operative to scan and receive signals transmittable by the at least one wireless device located within the defined volume, the RF receiver further connected to a plurality of antennas and further connected to a processor operative to process received signals,

wherein the at least one wireless device transmits signals on at least one communication channel, selected from a first number of communication channels, and

wherein the RF receiver is capable of simultaneously receiving a second number of communication channels which is smaller than the first number of communication channels;

said method comprising:

(a) dividing the scanning time into time slots, wherein at each time slot, allocating the RF receiver to receive signals in a channel selected from the first number of communication channels, and allocating the processor to process signals received in an earlier time slot;

(b) assigning a scanning priority to each of the first number of communication channels;

(c) scanning, by the wireless device location unit, in accordance with the assigned scanning priority, at least one of said second number of communication channels, to detect and process RF signals transmitted by the at least one wireless device;

(d) processing, by the processor, the received signals and assigning an updated scanning priority to at least one of the first number of communication channels, wherein the assigned scanning priority is dynamically modifiable by the processor; and

(e) repeating steps (c) and (d) with the updated scanning priority,

wherein the wireless device location unit has information regarding a time window in which the wireless device transmits the coordinated signals following the request from the wireless device location unit and also comprises information about one or more characteristics of at least one communication channel used by the wireless device to transmit the coordinated signals, and wherein the scanning priority assigned to said at least one communication channel during the time window is higher than the priority assigned to other communication channels.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reception by the wireless device location unit of the coordinated signals transmitted by the wireless device and said information is used by the wireless device location unit to identify said transmitted signals transmitted by said wireless device.

3 . A method for allocating receiving and processing resources for scanning communication channels over a scanning time, the method carried out by a wireless device location unit, operable within a system for controlling functionalities of at least one wireless device located within a defined volume,

wherein said wireless device location unit comprises a radio frequency “RF” receiver operative to scan and receive signals transmittable by the at least one wireless device located within the defined volume, the RF receiver further connected to a plurality of antennas and further connected to a processor operative to process received signals,

wherein the at least one wireless device transmits signals on at least one communication channel, selected from a first number of communication channels, and

wherein the RF receiver is capable of simultaneously receiving a second number of communication channels which is smaller than the first number of communication channels;

said method comprising:

(f) dividing the scanning time into time slots, wherein at each time slot, allocating the RF receiver to receive signals in a channel selected from the first number of communication channels, and allocating the processor to process signals received in an earlier time slot;

(g) assigning a scanning priority to each of the first number of communication channels;

(h) scanning, by the wireless device location unit, in accordance with the assigned scanning priority, at least one of said second number of communication channels, to detect and process RF signals transmitted by the at least one wireless device;

(i) processing, by the processor, the received signals and assigning an updated scanning priority to at least one of the first number of communication channels, wherein the assigned scanning priority is dynamically modifiable by the processor; and

(j) repeating steps (c) and (d) with the updated scanning priority, wherein the RF receiver comprises at least one RF receiver chain operative to receive signals in a selected communication channel and wherein the number of said at least one RF receiver chains is smaller than the number of said plurality of antennas; and wherein said receiving is performed by connecting at least one of the plurality of antennas to at least one of the RF receiver chains,

wherein the RF receiver comprises a plurality of RF receiver chains, each receiver chain operative to receive RF signals in a selected communication channel and wherein the wireless device location unit is operative to simultaneously scan a plurality of communication channels selected from the second number of the communication channels.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the scanning by each of the RF receiver chains is performed independently from the scanning of the other RF receiver chains or in coordination therewith.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the RF receiver chains is a wideband RF receiver chain configured to simultaneously receive a plurality of communication channels and wherein the scanning priorities of at least two of the communication channels are assigned based on the processing of the signals received by said wideband RF receiver chain.