U.S. patent application number 15/361434 was filed with the patent office on 2017-03-16 for system and method for server based control.
The applicant listed for this patent is May Patents Ltd.. Invention is credited to Yehuda BINDER, Benjamin MAYTAL.
Application Number | 20170078400 15/361434 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 48902549 |
Filed Date | 2017-03-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170078400 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
BINDER; Yehuda ; et
al. |
March 16, 2017 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL
Abstract
A system and method in a building or vehicle for an actuator
operation in response to a sensor according to a control logic, the
system comprising a router or a gateway communicating with a device
associated with the sensor and a device associated with the
actuator over in-building or in-vehicle networks, and an external
Internet-connected control server associated with the control logic
implementing a PID closed linear control loop and communicating
with the router over external network for controlling the
in-building or in-vehicle phenomenon. The sensor may be a
microphone or a camera, and the system may include voice or image
processing as part of the control logic. A redundancy is used by
using multiple sensors or actuators, or by using multiple data
paths over the building or vehicle internal or external
communication. The networks may be wired or wireless, and may be
BAN, PAN, LAN, WAN, or home networks.
Inventors: |
BINDER; Yehuda; (Ramat Gan,
IL) ; MAYTAL; Benjamin; (Mevasseret Zion,
IL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
May Patents Ltd. |
Hod Hasharon |
|
IL |
|
|
Family ID: |
48902549 |
Appl. No.: |
15/361434 |
Filed: |
November 27, 2016 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
13733634 |
Jan 3, 2013 |
|
|
|
15361434 |
|
|
|
|
61584500 |
Jan 9, 2012 |
|
|
|
61620129 |
Apr 4, 2012 |
|
|
|
61637030 |
Apr 23, 2012 |
|
|
|
61647034 |
May 15, 2012 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/12 20130101;
B60Y 2200/40 20130101; B60Y 2200/126 20130101; B60Y 2200/11
20130101; B60Y 2200/12 20130101; G01C 21/00 20130101; B60Y 2200/50
20130101; G08G 1/00 20130101; B60Y 2200/30 20130101; B60Y 2200/90
20130101; G06Q 2240/00 20130101; B60Y 2200/13 20130101; Y04S 40/18
20180501; B60K 31/00 20130101; G07C 5/008 20130101; B60K 31/18
20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 29/08 20060101
H04L029/08 |
Claims
1. A vehicle control system for commanding an actuator operation
according in response to a sensor response associated with a
phenomenon to a control, for use with one or more in-vehicle
networks for communication in a vehicle, and one or more external
networks for communicating with an Internet-connected control
server via another vehicle or a roadside unit external to the
vehicle, the system comprising: a router in the vehicle, connected
to the one or more in-vehicle networks and to the one or more of
the external networks, and operative to pass digital data between
said in-vehicle and one or more of the external networks; a first
device in the vehicle comprising of, or connectable to, a sensor
that responds to the phenomenon, the first device is operative to
transmit a sensor digital data corresponding to the phenomenon to
said router over said one or more in-vehicle networks; a second
device in the vehicle comprising of, or connectable to, an actuator
that affects the phenomenon, the second device is operative to
execute actuator commands received from said router over said one
or more in-vehicle networks; and a control server external to the
vehicle storing the control logic, and communicatively coupled to
said router over the Internet via said one or more of the external
networks, wherein said control server is operative to receive the
sensor digital data from said router, to produce actuator commands
in response to the received sensor digital data according to the
control logic, and to transmit the actuator commands to said second
device via said router.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said
external network is a vehicle-to-vehicle network for communicating
with said control server via another vehicle.
3. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the
external networks is communicating with a stationary device, and
wherein the stationary device is a roadside unit.
4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said router, said first
device, and said second device are mechanical attached to the
vehicle.
5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is adapted
for travelling on land, or water, or is airborne.
6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is one out
of a bicycle, a car, a motorcycle, a train, a ship, an aircraft, a
boat, a spacecraft, a boat, a submarine, a dirigible, an electric
scooter, a subway, a train, a trolleybus, a tram, a sailboat, a
yacht, and an airplane.
7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is operative
to sense the phenomenon in the vehicle, external to the vehicle, or
associated with surroundings around the vehicle.
8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the actuator is
operative to affect the phenomenon in the vehicle, external to the
vehicle, or associated with surroundings around the vehicle.
9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an
automobile, and wherein said system is coupled to monitor or
control an Engine Control Unit (ECU), a Transmission Control Unit
(TCU), an Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), or Body Control Modules
(BCM) of the automobile.
10. The system according to claim 1 further integrated with or
being part of a vehicular communication system used for improved
safety, traffic flow control, traffic reporting, or traffic
management.
11. The system according to claim 1 further used for parking help,
cruise control, lane keeping, road sign recognition, surveillance,
speed limit warning, restricted entries, and pull-over commands,
travel information, cooperative adaptive cruise control,
cooperative forward collision warning, intersection collision
avoidance, approaching emergency vehicle warning, vehicle safety
inspection, transit or emergency vehicle signal priority,
electronic parking payments, commercial vehicle clearance and
safety inspections, in-vehicle signing, rollover warning, probe
data collection, highway-rail intersection warning, or electronic
toll collection.
12. The system according to claim 1, wherein one or more of the
in-vehicle networks is a vehicle bus.
13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the vehicle bus is
according to, or based on, Control Area Network (CAN) or Local
Interconnect Network (LIN).
14. The system according to claim 1, wherein one or more of the
in-vehicle networks is using is a communication medium that is
based on DC power lines of the vehicle.
15. The system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle further
comprising an On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) system.
16. The system according to claim 15, wherein said system is
coupled to or integrated with the OBD system.
17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the OBD system is
according to, or based on, OBD-II or EOBD (European On-Board
Diagnostics) standards.
18. The system according to claim 16, wherein the OBD system
further comprises a diagnostics connector, and wherein said router,
said first device, or said second device are coupled to the
diagnostics connector.
19. The system according to claim 18, wherein said router, said
first device, or said second device are at least in part powered
via the diagnostics connector.
20. The system according to claim 1, wherein said router is
operative to communicate to said control server an information
regarding fuel and air metering, ignition system, misfire,
auxiliary emission control, vehicle speed and idle control,
transmission, on-board computer, fuel level, relative throttle
position, ambient air temperature, accelerator pedal position, air
flow rate, fuel type, oxygen level, fuel rail pressure, engine oil
temperature, fuel injection timing, engine torque, engine coolant
temperature, intake air temperature, exhaust gas temperature, fuel
pressure, injection pressure, turbocharger pressure, boost
pressure, exhaust pressure, exhaust gas temperature, engine run
time, NOx sensor, manifold surface temperature, or a Vehicle
Identification Number (VIN).
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This disclosure relates generally to an apparatus and method
for control such as in a building or in a vehicle using a server
implementing gateway or control functionalities.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer
networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite
(TCP/IP), including Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the
Internet Protocol (IP), to serve billions of users worldwide. It is
a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public,
academic, business, and government networks, of local to global
scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic and optical
networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of
information resources and services, such as the interlinked
hypertext documents on the World Wide Web (WWW) and the
infrastructure to support electronic mail. The Internet backbone
refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically
interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet. These
data routes are hosted by commercial, government, academic and
other high-capacity network centers, the Internet exchange points
and network access points that interchange Internet traffic between
the countries, continents and across the oceans of the world.
Traffic interchange between Internet service providers (often Tier
1 networks) participating in the Internet backbone exchange traffic
by privately negotiated interconnection agreements, primarily
governed by the principle of settlement-free peering.
[0003] The Internet Protocol (IP) is the principal communications
protocol used for relaying datagrams (packets) across a network
using the Internet Protocol Suite. Responsible for routing packets
across network boundaries, it is the primary protocol that
establishes the Internet. IP is the primary protocol in the
Internet Layer of the Internet Protocol Suite and has the task of
delivering datagrams from the source host to the destination host
based on their addresses. For this purpose, IP defines addressing
methods and structures for datagram encapsulation. Internet
Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) is the dominant protocol of the Internet.
IPv4 is described in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request
for Comments (RFC) 791 and RFC 1349, and the successor, Internet
Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), is currently active and in growing
deployment worldwide. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses (providing 4
billion: 4.3.times.10.sup.9 addresses), while IPv6 uses 128-bit
addresses (providing 340 undecillion or 3.4.times.10.sup.38
addresses), as described in RFC 2460.
[0004] The Internet Protocol is responsible for addressing hosts
and routing datagrams (packets) from a source host to the
destination host across one or more IP networks. For this purpose
the Internet Protocol defines an addressing system that has two
functions. Addresses identify hosts and provide a logical location
service. Each packet is tagged with a header that contains the
meta-data for the purpose of delivery. This process of tagging is
also called encapsulation. IP is a connectionless protocol for use
in a packet-switched Link Layer network, and does not need circuit
setup prior to transmission. The aspects of delivery guaranteeing,
proper sequencing, avoidance of duplicate delivery, and data
integrity are addressed by an upper transport layer protocol (e.g.,
TC--Transmission Control Protocol and UDP--User Datagram
Protocol).
[0005] The main aspects of the IP technology are IP addressing and
routing. Addressing refers to how end hosts become assigned IP
addresses and how sub-networks of IP host addresses are divided and
grouped together. IP routing is performed by all hosts, but most
importantly by internetwork routers, which typically use either
Interior Gateway Protocols (IGPs) or External Gateway Protocols
(EGPs) to help make IP datagram forwarding decisions across IP
connected networks. Core routers serving in the Internet backbone
commonly use the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) as per RFC 4098 or
Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). Other prior art publications
relating to Internet related protocols and routing include the
following chapters of the publication number 1-587005-001-3 by
Cisco Systems, Inc. (7/99) entitled: "Internetworking Technologies
Handbook", which are all incorporated in their entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein: Chapter 5: "Routing Basics"
(pages 5-1 to 5-10), Chapter 30: "Internet Protocols" (pages 30-1
to 30-16), Chapter 32: "IPv6" (pages 32-1 to 32-6), Chapter 45:
"OSI Routing" (pages 45-1 to 45-8) and Chapter 51: "Security"
(pages 51-1 to 51-12), as well as IBM Corporation, International
Technical Support Organization Redbook Documents No. GG24-4756-00
entitled: "Local area Network Concepts and Products: LAN Operation
Systems and management", 1st Edition May 1996, Redbook Document No.
GG24-4338-00 entitled: "Introduction to Networking Technologies",
1.sup.st Edition April 1994, Redbook Document No. GG24-2580-01 "IP
Network Design Guide", 2.sup.nd Edition June 1999, and Redbook
Document No. GG24-3376-07 "TCP/IP Tutorial and Technical Overview",
ISBN 0738494682 8.sup.th Edition December 2006, which are
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0006] A Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) and Wireless Distribution
Systems (WDS) are known in the art to be a communication network
made up of clients, mesh routers and gateways organized in a mesh
topology and connected using radio. Such wireless networks may be
based on DSR as the routing protocol. WMNs are standardized in IEEE
802.11s and described in a slide-show by W. Steven Conner, Intel
Corp. et al. entitled: "IEEE 802.11s Tutorial" presented at the
IEEE 802 Plenary, Dallas on Nov. 13, 2006, in a slide-show by Eugen
Borcoci of University Politehnica Bucharest, entitled: "Wireless
Mesh Networks Technologies: Architectures, Protocols, Resource
Management and Applications", presented in INFOWARE Conference on
Aug. 22-29.sup.th 2009 in Cannes, France, and in an IEEE
Communication magazine paper by Joseph D. Camp and Edward W.
Knightly of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University,
Houston, Tex., USA, entitled: "The IEEE 802.11s Extended Service
Set Mesh Networking Standard", which are incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. The
arrangement described herein can be equally applied to such
wireless networks, wherein two clients exchange information using
different paths by using mesh routers as intermediate and relay
servers. Commonly in wireless networks, the routing is based on MAC
addresses. Hence, the above discussion relating to IP addresses
applies in such networks to using the MAC addresses for identifying
the client originating the message, the mesh routers (or gateways)
serving as the relay servers, and the client serving as the
ultimate destination computer.
[0007] The Internet architecture employs a client-server model,
among other arrangements. The terms `server` or `server computer`
relates herein to a device or computer (or a plurality of
computers) connected to the Internet and is used for providing
facilities or services to other computers or other devices
(referred to in this context as `clients`) connected to the
Internet. A server is commonly a host that has an IP address and
executes a `server program`, and typically operates as a socket
listener. Many servers have dedicated functionality such as web
server, Domain Name System (DNS) server (described in RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server
(described in RFC 2131 and RFC 3315), mail server, File Transfer
Protocol (FTP) server and database server. Similarly, the term
`client` herein refers to a program or to a device or a computer
(or a series of computers) executing this program, which accesses a
server over the Internet for a service or a resource. Clients
commonly initiate connections that a server may accept. For
non-limiting example, web browsers are clients that connect to web
servers for retrieving web pages, and email clients connect to mail
storage servers for retrieving mails.
[0008] Software as a Service (SaaS) is a Software Application (SA)
supplied by a service provider, namely, a SaaS Vendor. The service
is supplied and consumed over the internet, thus eliminating
requirements to install and run applications locally on a site of a
customer as well as simplifying maintenance and support.
Particularly it is advantageous in massive business applications.
Licensing is a common form of billing for the service and it is
paid periodically. SaaS is becoming ever more common as a form of
SA delivery over the Internet and is being facilitated in a
technology infrastructure called "Cloud Computing". In this form of
SA delivery, where the SA is controlled by a service provider, a
customer may experience stability and data security issues. In many
cases the customer is a business organization that is using the
SaaS for business purposes such as business software, hence,
stability and data security are primary requirements.
[0009] The term "Cloud computing" as used herein is defined as a
technology infrastructure facilitating supplement, consumption and
delivery of IT services. The IT services are internet based and may
involve elastic provisioning of dynamically scalable and time
virtualized resources. The term "Software as a Service (SaaS)" as
used herein in this application, is defined as a model of software
deployment whereby a provider licenses an SA to customers for use
as a service on demand. The term "customer" as used herein in this
application, is defined as a business entity that is served by an
SA, provided on the SaaS platform. A customer may be a person or an
organization and may be represented by a user that responsible for
the administration of the application in aspects of permissions
configuration, user related configuration, and data security
policy.
[0010] The term "SaaS Platform" as used herein in this application
is defined as a computer program that acts as a host to SAs that
reside on it. Essentially, a SaaS platform can be considered as a
type of specialized SA server. The platform manages underlying
computer hardware and software resources and uses these resources
to provide hosted SAs with multi-tenancy and on-demand
capabilities, commonly found in SaaS applications. Generally, the
hosted SAs are compatible with SaaS platform and support a single
group of users. The platform holds the responsibility for
distributing the SA as a service to multiple groups of users over
the internet. The SaaS Platform can be considered as a layer of
abstraction above the traditional application server, creating a
computing platform that parallels the value offered by the
traditional operating system, only in a web-centric fashion. The
SaaS platform responds to requirements of software developers. The
requirements are to reduce time and difficulty involved in
developing highly available SAs, and on-demand enterprise grade
business SAs.
[0011] ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level
communication protocols using small, low-power digital radios based
on an IEEE 802 standard for personal area networks. Applications
include wireless light switches, electrical meters with
in-home-displays, and other consumer and industrial equipment that
require short-range wireless transfer of data at relatively low
rates. The technology defined by the ZigBee specification is
intended to be simpler and less expensive than other WPANs, such as
Bluetooth. ZigBee is targeted at radio-frequency (RF) applications
that require a low data rate, long battery life, and secure
networking. ZigBee has a defined rate of 250 kbps suited for
periodic or intermittent data or a single signal transmission from
a sensor or input device.
[0012] ZigBee builds upon the physical layer and medium access
control defined in IEEE standard 802.15.4 (2003 version) for
low-rate WPANs. The specification goes on to complete the standard
by adding four main components: network layer, application layer,
ZigBee Device Objects (ZDOs) and manufacturer-defined application
objects which allow for customization and favor total integration.
Besides adding two high-level network layers to the underlying
structure, the most significant improvement is the introduction of
ZDOs. These are responsible for a number of tasks, which include
keeping of device roles, management of requests to join a network,
device discovery and security. Because ZigBee nodes can go from
sleep to active mode in 30 ms or less, the latency can be low and
devices can be responsive, particularly compared to Bluetooth
wake-up delays, which are typically around three seconds. ZigBee
nodes can sleep most of the time, thus average power consumption
can be lower, resulting in longer battery life.
[0013] There are three different types of ZigBee devices: ZigBee
coordinator (ZC), which are the most capable device, the
coordinator forms the root of the network tree and might bridge to
other networks. There is exactly one ZigBee coordinator in each
network since it is the device that started the network originally.
It is able to store information about the network, including acting
as the Trust Center & repository for security keys. ZigBee
Router (ZR) may be running an application function as well as can
acting as an intermediate router, passing on data from other
devices. ZigBee End Device (ZED) contains functionality to talk to
the parent node (either the coordinator or a router). This
relationship allows the node to be asleep a significant amount of
the time thereby giving long battery life. A ZED requires the least
amount of memory, and therefore can be less expensive to
manufacture than a ZR or ZC.
[0014] The protocols build on recent algorithmic research (Ad-hoc
On-demand Distance Vector, neuRFon) to automatically construct a
low-speed ad-hoc network of nodes. In most large network instances,
the network will be a cluster of clusters. It can also form a mesh
or a single cluster. The current ZigBee protocols support beacon
and non-beacon enabled networks. In non-beacon-enabled networks, an
unslotted CSMA/CA channel access mechanism is used. In this type of
network, ZigBee Routers typically have their receivers continuously
active, requiring a more robust power supply. However, this allows
for heterogeneous networks in which some devices receive
continuously, while others only transmit when an external stimulus
is detected.
[0015] In beacon-enabled networks, the special network nodes called
ZigBee Routers transmit periodic beacons to confirm their presence
to other network nodes. Nodes may sleep between the beacons, thus
lowering their duty cycle and extending their battery life. Beacon
intervals depend on the data rate; they may range from 15.36
milliseconds to 251.65824 seconds at 250 Kbit/s, from 24
milliseconds to 393.216 seconds at 40 Kbit/s and from 48
milliseconds to 786.432 seconds at 20 Kbit/s. In general, the
ZigBee protocols minimize the time the radio is on, so as to reduce
power use. In beaconing networks, nodes only need to be active
while a beacon is being transmitted. In non-beacon-enabled
networks, power consumption is decidedly asymmetrical: some devices
are always active, while others spend most of their time
sleeping.
[0016] Except for the Smart Energy Profile 2.0, current ZigBee
devices conform to the IEEE 802.15.4-2003 Low-Rate Wireless
Personal Area Network (LR-WPAN) standard. The standard specifies
the lower protocol layers--the PHYsical layer (PHY), and the Media
Access Control (MAC) portion of the Data Link Layer (DLL). The
basic channel access mode is "Carrier Sense, Multiple
Access/Collision Avoidance" (CSMA/CA). That is, the nodes talk in
the same way that people converse; they briefly check to see that
no one is talking before they start. There are three notable
exceptions to the use of CSMA. Beacons are sent on a fixed timing
schedule, and do not use CSMA. Message acknowledgments also do not
use CSMA. Finally, devices in Beacon Oriented networks that have
low latency real-time requirements may also use Guaranteed Time
Slots (GTS), which by definition do not use CSMA.
[0017] Z-Wave is a wireless communications protocol by the Z-Wave
Alliance (http://www.z-wave.com) designed for home automation,
specifically for remote control applications in residential and
light commercial environments. The technology uses a low-power RF
radio embedded or retrofitted into home electronics devices and
systems, such as lighting, home access control, entertainment
systems and household appliances. Z-Wave communicates using a
low-power wireless technology designed specifically for remote
control applications. Z-Wave operates in the sub-gigahertz
frequency range, around 900 MHz. This band competes with some
cordless telephones and other consumer electronics devices, but
avoids interference with WiFi and other systems that operate on the
crowded 2.4 GHz band. Z-Wave is designed to be easily embedded in
consumer electronics products, including battery operated devices
such as remote controls, smoke alarms and security sensors.
[0018] Z-Wave is a mesh networking technology where each node or
device on the network is capable of sending and receiving control
commands through walls or floors and use intermediate nodes to
route around household obstacles or radio dead spots that might
occur in the home. Z-Wave devices can work individually or in
groups, and can be programmed into scenes or events that trigger
multiple devices, either automatically or via remote control. The
Z-wave radio specifications include bandwidth of 9,600 bit/s or 40
Kbit/s, fully interoperable, GFSK modulation, and a range of
approximately 100 feet (or 30 meters) assuming "open air"
conditions, with reduced range indoors depending on building
materials, etc. The Z-Wave radio uses the 900 MHz ISM band: 908.42
MHz (United States); 868.42 MHz (Europe); 919.82 MHz (Hong Kong);
921.42 MHz (Australia/New Zealand).
[0019] Z-Wave uses a source-routed mesh network topology and has
one or more master controllers that control routing and security.
The devices can communicate to another by using intermediate nodes
to actively route around and circumvent household obstacles or
radio dead spots that might occur. A message from node A to node C
can be successfully delivered even if the two nodes are not within
range, providing that a third node B can communicate with nodes A
and C. If the preferred route is unavailable, the message
originator will attempt other routes until a path is found to the
"C" node. Therefore a Z-Wave network can span much farther than the
radio range of a single unit; however with several of these hops a
delay may be introduced between the control command and the desired
result. In order for Z-Wave units to be able to route unsolicited
messages, they cannot be in sleep mode. Therefore, most
battery-operated devices are not designed as repeater units. A
Z-Wave network can consist of up to 232 devices with the option of
bridging networks if more devices are required.
[0020] Most existing offices and some of the newly built buildings
facilitate the network structure based on dedicated wiring.
However, implementing such a network in existing buildings
typically requires installation of new wiring infrastructure. Such
installation of new wiring may be impractical, expensive and
problematic. As a result, many technologies (referred to as "no new
wires" technologies) have been proposed in order to facilitate a
LAN in a building without adding new wiring. Some of these
techniques use existing utility wiring installed primarily for
other purposes such as telephone, electricity, cable television
(CATV), and so forth. Such approach offers the advantage of being
able to install such systems and networks without the additional
and often substantial cost of installing separate wiring within the
building.
[0021] The technical aspect for allowing the wiring to carry both
the service (such as telephony, electricity and CATV) and the data
communication signals commonly involves using an FDM technique
(Frequency Division Multiplexing). In such configuration, the
service signal and the data communication signals are carried
across the respective utility wiring each using a distinct
frequency spectrum band. The concept of FDM is known in the art,
and provides means of splitting the bandwidth carried by a medium
such as wiring. In the case of a telephone wiring carrying both
telephony and data communication signals, the frequency spectrum is
split into a low-frequency band capable of carrying an analog
telephony signal and a high-frequency band capable of carrying data
communication or other signals.
[0022] A network in a house based on using powerline-based home
network is also known in the art. The medium for networking is the
in-house power lines, which is used for carrying both the AC power
(mains) power and the data communication signals. A PLC (Power Line
Carrier) modem converts a data communication signal (such as
Ethernet IEEE802.3) to a signal which can be carried over the power
lines, without affecting and being affected by the power signal
available over those wires. A consortium named HomePlug
(www.homeplug.org) is active in standardizing powerline
technologies. A powerline communication system is described in U.S.
Pat. No. 6,243,571 to Bullock et al., which also provides a
comprehensive list of prior art publications referring to powerline
technology and applications. A non-limiting example for such PLC
modem housed as a snap-on module is HomePlug1.0 based
Ethernet-to-Powerline Bridge model DHP-100 from D-Link.RTM.
Systems, Inc. of Irvine, Calif., USA. Outlets with built in PLC
modems for use with combined data and power using powerlines are
described in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0062990 to
Schaeffer et al. entitled `Powerline Bridge Apparatus`. Such power
outlets are available as part of PIugLAN.TM. by Asoka USA
Corporation of San Carlos, Calif., USA.
[0023] Similarly, carrying data over existing in home CATV coaxial
cabling is also known in the art, for example in U.S. Patent
Application Publication No. 2002/0166124 to Gurantz et al. A
non-limiting example of home networking over CATV coaxial cables
using outlets is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication
No. 2002/0194383 to Cohen et al. Such outlets are available as part
of HomeRAN.TM. system from TMT Ltd. of Jerusalem, Israel.
[0024] The term "telephony" herein denotes in general any kind of
telephone service, including analog and digital service, such as
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). Analog telephony,
popularly known as "Plain Old Telephone Service" ("POTS") has been
in existence for over 100 years, and is suited for the transmission
and switching of voice signals in the 300-3400 Hz portion (or
"voice band" or "telephone band") of the audio spectrum. The
familiar POTS network supports real-time, low-latency,
high-reliability, moderate-fidelity voice telephony, and is capable
of establishing a session between two end-points, each using an
analog telephone set.
[0025] The terms "telephone", "telephone set", and "telephone
device" herein denote any apparatus, without limitation, which can
connect to a Public Switch Telephone Network ("PSTN"), including
apparatus for both analog and digital telephony, non-limiting
examples of which are analog telephones, digital telephones,
facsimile ("fax") machines, automatic telephone answering machines,
voice modems, and data modems. In-home telephone service usually
employs two or four wires, to which telephone sets are connected
via telephone outlets.
[0026] Similarly to the powerlines and CATV cabling described
above, it is often desirable to use existing telephone wiring
simultaneously for both telephony and data networking. In this way,
establishing a new local area network in a home or other building
is simplified, because there is no need to install additional
wiring. Using FDM technique to carry video over active residential
telephone wiring is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,399 to Goodman
et al. entitled: "Video Transmission and Control System Utilizing
Internal Telephone Lines", and U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,455 to Rogers et
al. entitled: "Video Modem for Transmitting Video Data over
Ordinary Telephone Wires", which are both incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0027] Existing products for carrying data digitally over
residential telephone wiring concurrently with active telephone
service by using FDM commonly uses a technology known as HomePNA
(Home Phoneline Networking Alliance) (www.homepna.org). This
phoneline interface has been standardized as ITU-T (ITU
Telecommunication Standardization Sector) recommendation G.989.1.
The HomePNA technology is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,069,899 to
Foley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,443 to Dichter, U.S. Patent Application
No. 2002/0019966 to Yagil et al., U.S. Patent Application
Publication No. 2003/0139151 to Lifshitz et al., and others. The
available bandwidth over the wiring is split into a low-frequency
band capable of carrying an analog telephony signal (POTS), and a
high-frequency band is allocated for carrying data communication
signals. In such FDM based configuration, telephony is not
affected, while a data communication capability is provided over
existing telephone wiring within a home.
[0028] Prior art technologies for using the in-place telephone
wiring for data networking are based on single carrier modulation
techniques, such as AM (Amplitude Modulation), FM (Frequency
Modulation) and PM (Phase Modulation), as well as bit encoding
techniques such as QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and QPSK
(Quadrature Phase Shift Keying). Spread spectrum technologies, to
include both DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) and FHSS
(Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) are known in the art. Spread
spectrum commonly employs Multi-Carrier Modulation (MCM) such as
OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing). OFDM and other
spread spectrum are commonly used in wireless communication
systems, and in particular in WLAN networks. As explained in the
document entitled "IEEE 802.11g Offers Higher Data Rates and Longer
Range" to Jim Zyren et al. by Intersil which is hereby incorporated
by reference, multi-carrier modulation (such as OFDM) is employed
in such systems in order to overcome the signal impairment due to
multipath.
[0029] A popular approach to home networking (as well as office and
enterprise environments) is communication via radio frequency (RF)
distribution system that transports RF signals throughout a
building to and from data devices. Commonly referred to as Wireless
Local Area Network (WLAN), such communication makes use of the
Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) frequency spectrum. In the
US, three of the bands within the ISM spectrum are the A band,
902-928 MHz; the B band, 2.4-2.484 GHz (a.k.a. 2.4 GHz); and the C
band, 5.725-5.875 GHz (a.k.a. 5 GHz). Overlapping and/or similar
bands are used in different regions such as Europe and Japan.
[0030] In order to allow interoperability between equipment
manufactured by different vendors, few WLAN standards have evolved,
as part of the IEEE 802.11 standard group, branded as WiFi
(www.wi-fi.org). IEEE 802.11b describes a communication using the
2.4 GHz frequency band and supporting communication rate of 11
Mb/s, IEEE 802.11a uses the 5 GHz frequency band to carry 54 MB/s
and IEEE 802.11g uses the 2.4 GHz band to support 54 Mb/s.
[0031] A node/client with a WLAN interface is commonly referred to
as STA (Wireless Station/Wireless client). The STA functionality
may be embedded as part of the data unit, or alternatively be a
dedicated unit, referred to as bridge, coupled to the data unit.
While STAs may communicate without any additional hardware (ad-hoc
mode), such network usually involves Wireless Access Point (a.k.a.
WAP or AP) as a mediation device. The WAP implements the Basic
Stations Set (BSS) and/or ad-hoc mode based on Independent BSS
(IBSS). STA, client, bridge and WAP will be collectively referred
to hereon as WLAN unit.
[0032] Bandwidth allocation for IEEE 802.11g wireless in the U.S.
allows multiple communication sessions to take place
simultaneously, where eleven overlapping channels are defined
spaced 5 MHz apart, spanning from 2412 MHz as the center frequency
for channel number 1, via channel 2 centered at 2417 MHz and 2457
MHz as the center frequency for channel number 10, up to channel 11
centered at 2462 MHz. Each channel bandwidth is 22 MHz,
symmetrically (+/-11 MHz) located around the center frequency. In
the transmission path, first the baseband signal (IF) is generated
based on the data to be transmitted, using 256 QAM (Quadrature
Amplitude Modulation) based OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing) modulation technique, resulting a 22 MHz (single
channel wide) frequency band signal. The signal is then up
converted to the 2.4 GHz (RF) and placed in the center frequency of
required channel, and transmitted to the air via the antenna.
Similarly, the receiving path comprises a received channel in the
RF spectrum, down converted to the baseband (IF) wherein the data
is then extracted.
[0033] FIG. 1 shows an arrangement 10 according to the prior art
including a residence 19 which may be connected via the Internet 16
to many multiple servers, such as a server 17. In the premises 19
there may be multiple internal networks, such as home network 14a
connecting the desktop computer 18a and a home device 15a, and
other connected equipment may as well be connected. Similarly, home
network 14b is shown connecting desktop computer 18b and a home
device 15b, and other connected equipment may as well be connected.
A sensor network 12 may further be used, connecting sensor units
13a, 13b and 13c. The sensor network 12 may be based on ZigBee
protocol or another public or proprietary commercially accepted
protocol, or any suitable protocol now known or becoming known to
those skilled in the art in the present context. A gateway 11 is
connected, via suitable ports, to the various networks in the
residence 19, and allows communication between devices in a
specific network, between networks in the residence 19, and further
provides external connection to the Internet 16, typically via a
WAN network. While three internal networks 12, 14a and 14b are
shown in arrangement 10, one, two, four, or any number of such
internal networks may be equally deployed. Further, the various
networks inside the premises 19 may be the same, similar or
different. For example, the same or different network mediums may
be used, such as wired or wireless networks, and the same or
different network protocols may be used. Further, each of the
networks may be a LAN (Local Area Network), WLAN (Wireless LAN),
PAN (Personal Area Network), or WPAN (Wireless PAN). The gateway 11
is typically a dedicated hardware and software integrated device,
and is based on a firmware and a processor. A prior-art
architecture involving moving limited management functions of a
home gateway onto network cloud is described in the paper entitled:
"Home Network with Cloud Computing for Home Management", by Katsuya
Suzuki and Masahiro Inoue, IEEE 15.sup.th International Symposium
on Consumer Electronics, 2011, pages 421-425, which is incorporated
in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. The
gateway 11 is known in the art and is sometimes referred to as
Residential Gateway (RG) or Home Gateway, and serves to connect
devices in the home (commonly via a home network) to the Internet
or other WAN. Such RG may include a broadband modem (such as DSL or
cable modem), a firewall, a router, a packet-switch, and a Wireless
Access Point (WAP). The RG is typically manageable and support
auto-configuration, and may support various type services, as well
as Quality-of-Service (QoS). All the interconnections described
herein may be achieved by direct connection of components or by
indirect coupling through a suitable connector, interface or other
hardware and/or software components enabling the exchange of
signals between the coupled components.
[0034] There is a growing widespread use of the Internet for
carrying multimedia, such as video and audio. Various audio
services include Internet-radio stations and VoIP (Voice-over-IP).
Video services over the Internet include video conferencing and
IPTV (IP Television). In most cases, the multimedia service is a
real-time (or near real-time) application, and thus sensitive to
delays over the Internet. In particular, two-way services such a
VoIP or other telephony services and video-conferencing are delay
sensitive. In some cases, the delays induced by the encryption
process, as well as the hardware/software costs associated with the
encryption, render encryption as non-practical. Therefore, it is
not easy to secure enough capacity of the Internet accessible by
users to endure real-time communication applications such as
Internet games, chatting, VoIP, MoIP (Multimedia-over-IP), etc. In
this case, there may be a data loss, delay or severe jitter in the
course of communication due to the property of an Internet
protocol, thereby causing inappropriate real-time video
communication. The following chapters of the publication number
1-587005-001-3 by Cisco Systems, Inc. (7/99) entitled:
"Internetworking Technologies Handbook", relate to multimedia
carried over the Internet, and are all incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein: Chapter 18:
"Multiservice Access Technologies" (pages 18-1 to 18-10), and
Chapter 19: "Voice/Data Integration Technologies" (pages 19-1 to
19-30).
[0035] VoIP systems in widespread use today fall into three groups:
systems using the ITU-T H.323 protocol, systems using the SIP
protocol, and systems that use proprietary protocols. H.323 is a
standard for teleconferencing that was developed by the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU). It supports full
multimedia audio, video and data transmission between groups of two
or more participants, and it is designed to support large networks.
H.323 is network-independent: it can be used over networks using
transport protocols other than TCP/IP. H.323 is still a very
important protocol, but it has fallen out of use for consumer VoIP
products due to the fact that it is difficult to make it work
through firewalls that are designed to protect computers running
many different applications. It is a system best suited to large
organizations that possess the technical skills to overcome these
problems.
[0036] SIP (for Session Initiation Protocol) is an Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard signaling protocol for
teleconferencing, telephony, presence and event notification and
instant messaging. It provides a mechanism for setting up and
managing connections, but not for transporting the audio or video
data. It is probably now the most widely used protocol for managing
Internet telephony. Like the IETF protocols, SIP is defined in a
number of RFCs, principally RFC 3261. A SIP-based VoIP
implementation may send the encoded voice data over the network in
a number of ways. Most implementations use Real-time Transport
Protocol (RTP), which is defined in RFC 3550. Both SIP and RTP are
implemented on UDP, which, as a connectionless protocol, can cause
difficulties with certain types of routers and firewalls. Usable
SIP phones therefore also need to use STUN (for Simple Traversal of
UDP over NAT), a protocol defined in RFC 3489 that allows a client
behind a NAT router to find out its external IP address and the
type of NAT device.
[0037] The connection of peripherals and memories to a processor
may be via a bus. A communication link (such as Ethernet, or any
other LAN, PAN or WAN communication link) may also be regarded as
bus herein. A bus may be an internal bus (a.k.a. local bus),
primarily designed to connect a processor or CPU to peripherals
inside a computer system enclosure, such as connecting components
over the motherboard or backplane. Alternatively, a bus may be an
external bus, primarily intended for connecting the processor or
the motherboard to devices and peripherals external to the computer
system enclosure. Some buses may be doubly used as internal or as
external buses. A bus may be of parallel type, where each word
(address or data) is carried in parallel over multiple electrical
conductors or wires; or alternatively, may be bit-serial, where
bits are carried sequentially, such as one bit at a time. A bus may
support multiple serial links or lanes, aggregated or bonded for
higher bit-rate transport. Non-limiting examples of internal
parallel buses include ISA (Industry Standard architecture); EISA
(Extended ISA); NuBus (IEEE 1196); PATA--Parallel ATA (Advanced
Technology Attachment) variants such as IDE, EIDE, ATAPI, SBus
(IEEE 1496), VESA Local Bus (VLB), PCI and PC/104 variants (PC/104,
PC/104 Plus, and PC/104 Express). Non-limiting examples of internal
serial buses include PCIe (PCI Express), Serial ATA (SATA), SMBus,
and Serial Peripheral Bus (SPI) bus. Non-limiting examples of
external parallel buses include HIPPI (HIgh Performance Parallel
Interface), IEEE-1284 (`Centronix`), IEEE-488 (a.k.a. GPIB--General
Purpose Interface Bus) and PC Card/PCMCIA. Non-limiting examples of
external serial buses include USB (Universal Serial Bus), eSATA and
IEEE 1394 (a.k.a. Firewire). Non-limiting examples of buses that
can be internal or external are Futurebus, InfiniBand, SCSI (Small
Computer System Interface), and SAS (Serial Attached SCSI). The bus
medium may be based on electrical conductors, commonly copper wires
based cable (may be arranged as twisted-pairs) or a fiber-optic
cable. The bus topology may use point-to-point, multi-drop
(electrical parallel) and daisy-chain, and may further be based on
hubs or switches. A point-to-point bus may be full-duplex,
providing simultaneous, two-way transmission (and sometimes
independent) in both directions, or alternatively a bus may be
half-duplex, where the transmission can be in either direction, but
only in one direction at a time. Buses are further commonly
characterized by their throughput (data bit-rate), signaling rate,
medium length, connectors and medium types, latency, scalability,
quality-of-service, devices per connection or channel, and
supported bus-width. A configuration of a bus for a specific
environment may be automatic (hardware or software based, or both),
or may involve user or installer activities such as software
settings or jumpers. Recent buses are self-repairable, where spare
connection (net) is provided which is used in the event of
malfunction in a connection. Some buses support hot-plugging
(sometimes known as hot swapping), where a connection or a
replacement can be made, without significant interruption to the
system or without the need to shut-off any power. A well-known
example of this functionality is the Universal Serial Bus (USB)
that allows users to add or remove peripheral components such as a
mouse, keyboard, or printer. A bus may be defined to carry a power
signal, either in separate dedicated cable (using separate and
dedicated connectors), or commonly over the same cable carrying the
digital data (using the same connector). Typically dedicated wires
in the cable are used for carrying a low-level DC power level, such
as 3.3 VDC, 5 VDC, 12 VDC and any combination thereof. A bus may
support master/slave configuration, where one connected node is
typically a bus master (e.g., the processor or the processor-side),
and other nodes (or node) are bussed slaves. A slave may not
connect or transmit to the bus until given permission by the bus
master. A bus timing, strobing, synchronization, or clocking
information may be carried as a separate signal (e.g., clock
signal) over a dedicated channel, such as separate and dedicated
wired in a cable, or alternatively may use embedded clocking
(a.k.a. self-clocking), where the timing information is encoded
with the data signal, commonly used in line codes such as
Manchester code, where the clock information occurs at the
transition points. Any bus or connection herein may use proprietary
specifications, or preferably be similar to, based on,
substantially according to, or fully compliant with, an industry
standard (or any variant thereof) such as those referred to as PCI
Express, SAS, SATA, SCSI, PATA, InfiniBand, USB, PCI, PCI-X, AGP,
Thunderbolt, IEEE 1394, FireWire and Fibre Channel.
[0038] In consideration of the foregoing, it would be an
advancement in the art to provide an improved networking or gateway
functionality method and system that is simple, secure,
cost-effective, reliable, easy to use or sanitize, has a minimum
part count, minimum hardware, and/or uses existing and available
components, protocols, programs and applications for providing
better security and additional functionalities, and provides a
better user experience.
SUMMARY
[0039] Environment control networks are networks of sensors and
controller which provide an optimized solution for an environment
control. The environment can be a house, agricultural farm, city
traffic systems etc. The sensors will provide information on the
environmental conditions and events. The controller will allow
automatic control or control by the user via the Internet.
Presently, a dedicated hardware gateway is required to control the
wireless network in each environment. The disclosure describes how
the dedicated gateway can be replaced by a cloud server, offering
much better cost, reliability and level of service.
[0040] Any communication or connection herein, such as the
connection of peripherals in general, and memories in particular to
a processor, may use a bus. A communication link (such as Ethernet,
or any other LAN, PAN or WAN communication links may also be
regarded as buses herein. A bus may be an internal bus, an external
bus or both. A bus may be a parallel or a bit-serial bus. A bus may
be based on a single or on multiple serial links or lanes. The bus
medium may electrical conductors based such as wires or cables, or
may be based on a fiber-optic cable. The bus topology may use
point-to-point, multi-drop (electrical parallel) and daisy-chain,
and may be based on hubs or switches. A point-to-point bus may be
full-duplex, or half-duplex. Further, a bus may use proprietary
specifications, or may be based on, similar to, substantially or
fully compliant to an industry standard (or any variant thereof),
and may be hot-pluggable. A bus may be defined to carry only
digital data signals, or may also defined to carry a power signal
(commonly DC voltages), either in separated and dedicated cables
and connectors, or may carry the power and digital data together
over the same cable. A bus may support master/slave configuration.
A bus may carry a separated and dedicated timing signal or may use
self-clocking line-code.
[0041] A sensor unit may include one or more sensors, each
providing an electrical output signal (such as voltage or current),
or changing a characteristic (such as resistance or impedance) in
response to a measured or detected phenomenon. The sensors may be
identical, similar or different from each other, and may measure or
detect the same or different phenomena. Two or more sensors may be
connected in series or in parallel. In the case of a changing
characteristic sensor or in the case of an active sensor, the unit
may include an excitation or measuring circuits (such as a bridge)
to generate the sensor electrical signal. The sensor output signal
may be conditioned by a signal conditioning circuit. The signal
conditioner may involve time, frequency, or magnitude related
manipulations. The signal conditioner may be linear or non-linear,
and may include an operation or an instrument amplifier, a
multiplexer, a frequency converter, a frequency-to-voltage
converter, a voltage-to-frequency converter, a current-to-voltage
converter, a current loop converter, a charge converter, an
attenuator, a sample-and-hold circuit, a peak-detector, a voltage
or current limiter, a delay line or circuit, a level translator, a
galvanic isolator, an impedance transformer, a linearization
circuit, a calibrator, a passive or active (or adaptive) filter, an
integrator, a deviator, an equalizer, a spectrum analyzer, a
compressor or a de-compressor, a coder (or decoder), a modulator
(or demodulator), a pattern recognizer, a smoother, a noise
remover, an average or RMS circuit, or any combination thereof. In
the case of analog sensor, an analog to digital (A/D) converter may
be used to convert the conditioned sensor output signal to a
digital sensor data. The unit may include a computer for
controlling and managing the unit operation, processing the digital
sensor data and handling the unit communication. The unit may
include a modem or transceiver coupled to a network port (such as a
connector or antenna), for interfacing and communicating over a
network.
[0042] The sensor may be a CCD or CMOS based image sensor, for
capturing still or video images. The image capturing hardware
integrated with the unit may contain a photographic lens (through a
lens opening) focusing the required image onto an image sensor. The
image may be converted into a digital format by an image sensor AFE
(Analog Front End) and an image processor. An image or video
compressor for compression of the image information may be used for
reducing the memory size and reducing the data rate required for
the transmission over the communication medium. Similarly, the
sensor may be a voice sensor such as a microphone, and may
similarly include a voice processor or a voice compressor (or
both). The image or voice compression may be standard or
proprietary, may be based on intraframe or interframe compression,
and may be lossy or non-lossy compression.
[0043] An actuator unit may include one or more actuators, each
affecting or generating a physical phenomenon in response to an
electrical command, which can be an electrical signal (such as
voltage or current), or by changing a characteristic (such as
resistance or impedance) of a device. The actuators may be
identical, similar or different from each other, and may affect or
generate the same or different phenomena. Two or more actuators may
be connected in series or in parallel. The actuator command signal
may be conditioned by a signal conditioning circuit. The signal
conditioner may involve time, frequency, or magnitude related
manipulations. The signal conditioner may be linear or non-linear,
and may include an amplifier, a voltage or current limiter, an
attenuator, a delay line or circuit, a level translator, a galvanic
isolator, an impedance transformer, a linearization circuit, a
calibrator, a passive or active (or adaptive) filter, an
integrator, a deviator, an equalizer, a spectrum analyzer, a
compressor or a de-compressor, a coder (or decoder), a modulator
(or demodulator), a pattern recognizer, a smoother, a noise
remover, an average or RMS circuit, or any combination thereof. In
the case of analog actuator, a digital to analog (D/A) converter
may be used to convert the digital command data to analog signals
for controlling the actuators. The unit may include a computer for
controlling and managing the unit operation, processing the
actuators commands and handling the unit communication. The unit
may include a modem or transceiver coupled to a communication port
(such as a connector or antenna), for interfacing and communicating
over a network.
[0044] A sensor/actuator unit is a device integrating a part or
whole of a sensor unit with part or whole of an actuator unit. For
a non-limiting example, such hardware integration may relate to
housing in the same enclosure, sharing the same connector (power,
communication or any other connector), sharing the same power
source or power supply, sharing PCB or other mechanical support,
sharing the same processor or computer, sharing the same modem or
transceiver, or sharing the same communication port. A sensor
actuator unit may include one or more sensors, each with its
associated signal conditioner and A/D (if required), and one or
more actuators, each with its associated signal conditioner and
D/A, if required. A sensor unit, an actuator unit, and a
sensor/actuator unit are collectively referred to as `field
units`.
[0045] A field unit may be powered in part or in whole from AC or
DC power source. A local powering scheme may be used, where the
power source may be integrated with field unit, such as within the
same enclosure, or a remote powering scheme may be used, where the
power source may be external to the field unit enclosure, and
connected via a power connector in the field unit. The power source
may power feed a power supply, which supplies the DC (and/or AC)
voltages required by the field units sensors. A sensor may be power
fed from the same power source or power supply powering the field
unit circuits, or may use a dedicated power source or power supply,
which may be internal or external to the field unit enclosure. An
actuator may be power fed from the same power source or power
supply powering the field unit circuits, or may use a dedicated
power source or power supply, which may be internal or external to
the field unit enclosure. The same element may serve as both a
power source and as a sensor, such as solar cell, a Peltier-effect
based device, and motion-based generators.
[0046] The power source may be a primary or rechargeable battery,
and the field unit may include a battery compartment for holding
the battery, and a connector for connecting to a battery charger.
Alternatively or in addition, the power source may be based
internal electrical power generator, such as a solar or
photovoltaic cell, or may use an electromechanical generator (e.g.,
a dynamo or an alternator) harvesting kinetic energy, such as from
the field unit motion. The power source may be the mains AC power,
and the power supply may include AC/DC converter. The same element
may double as a sensor and as a power source. For example, a solar
or photovoltaic cell may be used as a light sensor, simultaneously
with serving as a power source, and an electromechanical generator,
for example based on harvesting mechanical vibrations energy, may
at the same time be used to measure the mechanical vibrations
(e.g., frequency or magnitude).
[0047] A field unit may be remotely powered, in part or in whole,
from a power source via a cable simultaneously carrying another
signal. For example, the same cable may carry digital data used for
communication (e.g., with a router, a gateway, or another field
unit), and the same connector may be used for digital data
communication and for receiving power from a power source. The
powering via a connection (such as a connector) may use a dedicated
cable, where the cable may have power-dedicated wires or
conductors, or by using power and data carried over the same wires
such as by using FDM or phantom scheme. In the case of using FDM,
the field unit may include circuits for splitting the power signal
and the data signal, and may include filters, transformers or a
center-tap transformer. A field unit (or any part thereof) may be
used to supply power from a power source to a device connected to
it, such as a sensor, an actuator, a router, a gateway or another
field unit. Such powering may be via a connection that use a
dedicated cable, or by using the same cable and having
power-dedicated wires or conductors, or by using power and data
carried over the same wires such as by using FDM or phantom scheme.
A powering scheme may be based on the PoE standard.
[0048] A field unit (sensor, actuator, or sensor/actuator unit) may
be integrated, partially or in whole, with the router or gateway. A
router, a gateway, a sensor, an actuator, or a field unit may be
integrated, in whole or in part, in an electrically powered home,
commercial, or industrial appliance. The home appliance may be
major or small appliance, and its main function may be food storage
or preparation, cleaning (such as clothes cleaning), or temperature
control (environmental, food or water) such as heating or cooling.
Examples of appliances are water heaters, HVAC systems, air
conditioner, heaters, washing machines, clothes dryers, vacuum
cleaner, microwave oven, electric mixers, stoves, ovens,
refrigerators, freezers, food processors, dishwashers, food
blenders, beverage makers such as coffeemakers and iced-tea makers,
answering machines, telephone sets, home cinema systems, HiFi
systems, CD and DVD players, induction cookers, electric furnaces,
trash compactors, and dehumidifiers. The field unit may consist of,
or be integrated with, a battery-operated portable electronic
device such as a notebook/laptop computer, a media player (e.g.,
MP3 based or video player), a cellular phone, a Personal Digital
Assistant (PDA), an image processing device (e.g., a digital camera
or a video recorder), and/or any other handheld computing devices,
or a combination of any of these devices. Alternatively or in
addition, a router, a gateway, a sensor, an actuator, or a field
unit may be integrated, in whole or in part, in furniture or
clothes.
[0049] In one example, a sensor, an actuator, one or more field
units, or the router may be integrated with, or may be part of, an
outlet or a plug-in module. The outlet may be telephone, LAN (such
as Structured Wiring based on Category 5, 6 or 7 wiring), AC power
or CATV outlet. The field unit or the router may communicate over
the in-wall wiring connected to the outlet, such as telephone, AC
power, LAN or CATV wiring. The outlet associated sensor, actuator,
one or more field units, or router may be powered from a power
signal carried over the in-wall wiring, and may communicate using
the in-wall wiring as a network medium.
[0050] The router (or gateway) may include a communication port and
a modem (or transceiver) for connecting to the control server via
the Internet. The router may include one or more communication
ports, each associated with a modem (or transceiver), for
communicating with field units in the building (or vehicle). A
routing core may be connected to all modems (or transceivers) for
routing the digital data therebetween.
[0051] In one aspect, a control server may be used as part of
system implementing a control loop. The system may include one or
multiple field units in a building or in a vehicle. One or more
networks in the building (or vehicle) may be used for the
communication between two or more field units, and for allowing the
field units to communicate with a router (which may include some,
or whole of, gateway functionalities) in the building (or vehicle).
Each of the networks may be a wireless or wired network, and may be
a control network, a home network, a PAN, a WPAN, a LAN, a WLAN, or
a WAN. The router (or gateway) may communicate with a data units
(such as PC) over a network in the building (or vehicle). The
router (or the gateway) may serve as an intermediary device in a
control loop, and may communicate with the control server over the
Internet via an ISP using a network which may be wireless or wired
network, which may be a PAN, a WPAN, a LAN, a WLAN, a WAN, or a
cellular network.
[0052] The system may implement a control loop, which may be
arranged to control one or more physical phenomena, such as
regulating the phenomena to or at a setpoint (target value) or any
other reference value. One or more field units may transmit sensor
(or sensors) data to a controller via one or more networks. The
controller functionality may receive the sensors data, may
condition or process the received sensors data, and according to a
control logic determines the actuator (or actuators) commands. The
actuators commands may be sent via one or more networks to the
target actuators in the field units. The setpoint may be fixed, set
by a user, or may be time dependent. The setpoint may be dependent
upon an additional sensor that is responsive to another phenomenon
distinct from the controlled phenomenon, and the additional sensor
is part of, or is coupled to, the system.
[0053] The controller may implement open loop (such as feed-forward
control). Alternatively or in addition, a closed loop may be
implemented, which may be based on proportional-only, PI, Bistable,
hysteretic, PID, bang-bang, or fuzzy control based on fuzzy logic.
The controller may use sequential control, may be a PLC, or may
include PLC functionalities. The controller functionalities may be
implemented, in part or in full, in the control server, in the
router, in a computer in the building (or vehicle), or divided in
any combination thereof.
[0054] The system operation or the control logic may involve
randomness, and may be based on a random number generated by a
random number generator. The random number generator may be based
on a physical process (such as thermal noise, shot noise, nuclear
decaying radiation, photoelectric effect or other quantum
phenomena), or on an algorithm for generating pseudo-random
numbers, and may be integrated (in part or entirely) as part of one
or more of the field units, the router or gateway, or in the
control server.
[0055] In one aspect, one of the sensors is an image sensor, for
capturing an image (still or video). The controller responds to
characteristics or events extracted by image processing of the
captured image or video. For example, the image processing may be
face detection, face recognition, gesture recognition, compression
or de-compression, or motion sensing. The image processing
functionality may be in the field unit, in the router (or gateway),
in the control server, in a computer in the building (or vehicle),
or any combination thereof. In another aspect, one of the sensors
may be a microphone for capturing a human voice. The controller
responds to characteristics or events extracted by voice processing
of the captured audio. The voice processing functionality may
include compression or de-compression, and may be in the field
unit, in the router (or gateway), in the control server, in a
computer in the building (or vehicle), or any combination
thereof.
[0056] Any element capable of measuring or responding to a physical
phenomenon may be used as a sensor. An appropriate sensor may be
adapted for a specific physical phenomenon, such as a sensor
responsive to temperature, humidity, pressure, audio, vibration,
light, motion, sound, proximity, flow rate, electrical voltage, and
electrical current.
[0057] A sensor may be an analog sensor having an analog signal
output such as analog voltage or current, or may have continuously
variable impedance. Alternatively on in addition, a sensor may have
a digital signal output. A sensor may serve as a detector,
notifying only the presence of a phenomenon, such as by a switch,
and may use a fixed or settable threshold level. A sensor may
measure time-dependent or space-dependent parameters of a
phenomenon. A sensor may measure time-dependencies or a phenomenon
such as the rate of change, time-integrated or time-average,
duty-cycle, frequency or time period between events. A sensor may
be a passive sensor, or an active sensor requiring an external
source of excitation. The sensor may be semiconductor-based, and
may be based on MEMS technology.
[0058] A sensor may measure the amount of a property or of a
physical quantity or the magnitude relating to a physical
phenomenon, body or substance. Alternatively or in addition, a
sensor may be used to measure the time derivative thereof, such as
the rate of change of the amount, the quantity or the magnitude. In
the case of space related quantity or magnitude, a sensor may
measure the linear density, surface density, or volume density,
relating to the amount of property per volume. Alternatively or in
addition, a sensor may measure the flux (or flow) of a property
through a cross-section or surface boundary, the flux density, or
the current. In the case of a scalar field, a sensor may measure
the quantity gradient. A sensor may measure the amount of property
per unit mass or per mole of substance. A single sensor may be used
to measure two or more phenomena.
[0059] The sensor may be thermoelectric sensor, for measuring,
sensing or detecting the temperature (or the temperature gradient)
of an object, which may be solid, liquid or gas. Such sensor may be
a thermistor (either PTC or NTC), a thermocouple, a quartz
thermometer, or an RTD. The sensor may be based on a Geiger counter
for detecting and measuring radioactivity or any other nuclear
radiation. Light, photons, or other optical phenomena may be
measured or detected by a photosensor or photodetector, used for
measuring the intensity of visible or invisible light (such as
infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray or gamma rays). A photosensor may be
based on the photoelectric or the photovoltaic effect, such as a
photodiode, a phototransistor, solar cell or a photomultiplier
tube. A photosensor may be a photoresistor based on
photoconductivity, or a CCD where a charge is affected by the
light. The sensor may be an electrochemical sensor used to measure,
sense or detect a matter structure, properties, composition, and
reactions, such as pH meters, gas detector, or gas sensor. Using
semiconductors, oxidation, catalytic, infrared or other sensing or
detection mechanisms, gas detector may be used to detect the
presence of a gas (or gases) such as hydrogen, oxygen or CO. The
sensor may be a smoke detector for detecting smoke or fire,
typically by an optical detection (photoelectric) or by a physical
process (ionization).
[0060] The sensor may be a physiological sensor for measuring,
sensing or detecting parameters of a live body, such as animal or
human body. Such a sensor may involve measuring of body electrical
signals such as an EEG or ECG sensor, a gas saturation sensor such
as oxygen saturation sensor, mechanical or physical parameter
sensors such as a blood pressure meter. A sensor (or sensors) may
be external to the sensed body, implanted inside the body, or may
be wearable. The sensor may be an electracoustic sensor for
measuring, sensing or detecting sound, such as a microphone.
Typically microphones are based on converting audible or inaudible
(or both) incident sound to an electrical signal by measuring the
vibration of a diaphragm or a ribbon. The microphone may be a
condenser microphone, an electret microphone, a dynamic microphone,
a ribbon microphone, a carbon microphone, or a piezoelectric
microphone.
[0061] A sensor may be an image sensor for providing digital camera
functionality, allowing an image (either as still images or as a
video) to be captured, stored, manipulated and displayed. The image
capturing hardware integrated with the sensor unit may contain a
photographic lens (through a lens opening) focusing the required
image onto a photosensitive image sensor array disposed
approximately at an image focal point plane of the optical lens,
for capturing the image and producing electronic image information
representing the image. The image sensor may be based on
Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD) or Complementary
Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS). The image may be converted into a
digital format by an image sensor AFE (Analog Front End) and an
image processor, commonly including an analog to digital (A/D)
converter coupled to the image sensor for generating a digital data
representation of the image. The unit may contain a video
compressor, coupled between the analog to digital (A/D) converter
and the transmitter for compressing the digital data video before
transmission to the communication medium. The compressor may be
used for lossy or non-lossy compression of the image information,
for reducing the memory size and reducing the data rate required
for the transmission over the communication medium. The compression
may be based on a standard compression algorithm such as JPEG
(Joint Photographic Experts Group) and MPEG (Moving Picture Experts
Group), ITU-T H.261, ITU-T H.263, ITU-T H.264, or ITU-T CCIR
601.
[0062] The digital data video signal carrying a digital data video
according to a digital video format, and a transmitter coupled
between the port and the image processor for transmitting the
digital data video signal to the communication medium. The digital
video format may be based on one out of: TIFF (Tagged Image File
Format), RAW format, AVI (Audio Video Interleaved), DV, MOV, WMV,
MP4, DCF (Design Rule for Camera Format), ITU-T H.261, ITU-T H.263,
ITU-T H.264, ITU-T CCIR 601, ASF, Exif (Exchangeable Image File
Format), and DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) standards.
[0063] A sensor may be an electrical sensor used to measure
electrical quantities or electrical properties. The electrical
sensor may be conductively connected to the measured element.
Alternatively or in addition, the electrical sensor may use
non-conductive or non-contact coupling to the measured element,
such as measuring a phenomenon associated with the measured
quantity or property. The electric sensor may be a current sensor
or an ampmeter (a.k.a. ampermeter) for measuring DC or AC (or any
other waveform) electric current passing through a conductor or
wire. The current sensor may be connected such that part or entire
of the measured electric current may be passing through the
ampermeter, such as a galvanometer or a hot-wire ampermeter. An
ampermeter may be a current clamp or current probe, and may use the
`Hall effect` or a current transformer concept for non-contact or
non-conductive current measurement. The electrical sensor may be a
voltmeter for measuring the DC or AC (or any other waveform)
voltage, or any potential difference between two points. The
voltmeter may be based on the current passing a resistor using the
Ohm's law, may be based on a potentiometer, or may be based on a
bridge circuit.
[0064] A sensor may be a wattmeter measuring the magnitude of the
active AC or DC power (or the supply rate of electrical energy).
The wattmeter may be a bolometer, used for measuring the power of
incident electromagnetic radiation via the heating of a material
with a temperature-dependent electrical resistance. A sensor may be
an electricity AC (single or multi-phase) or DC type meter (or
electrical energy meter), that measures the amount of electrical
energy consumed by a load. The electricity meter may be based on a
wattmeter which accumulate or average the readings, may be based on
induction, or may be based on multiplying measured voltage and
current.
[0065] An electrical sensor may be an ohmmeter for measuring the
electrical resistance (or conductance), and may be a megohmmeter or
a microohmeter. The ohmmeter may use the Ohm's law to derive the
resistance from voltage and current measurements, or may use a
bridge such as a Wheatstone bridge. A sensor may be a capacitance
meter for measuring capacitance. A sensor may be an inductance
meter for measuring inductance. A sensor may be an impedance meter
for measuring an impedance of a device or a circuit. A sensor may
be an LCR meter, used to measure inductance (L), capacitance (C),
and resistance (R). A meter may use sourcing a DC or an AC voltage,
and use the ratio of the measured voltage and current (and their
phase difference) through the tested device according to Ohm's law
to calculate the resistance, the capacitance, the inductance, or
the impedance (R=V/I). Alternatively or in addition, a meter may
use a bridge circuit (such as Wheatstone bridge), where variable
calibrated elements are adjusted to detect a null. The measurement
may be using DC, using a single frequency or over a range of
frequencies.
[0066] The sensor may be a Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR) used to
characterize and locate faults in transmission-lines such as
conductive or metallic lines, based on checking the reflection of a
transmitted short rise time pulse. Similarly, an optical TDR may be
used to test optical fiber cables.
[0067] A sensor may be a scalar or a vector magnetometer for
measuring an H or B magnetic fields. The magnetometer may be based
on a Hall effect sensor, magneto-diode, magneto-transistor, AMR
magnetometer, GMR magnetometer, magnetic tunnel junction
magnetometer, magneto-optical sensor, Lorentz force based MEMS
sensor, Electron Tunneling based MEMS sensor, MEMS compass, Nuclear
precession magnetic field sensor (a.k.a. Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance--NMR), optically pumped magnetic field sensor, fluxgate
magnetometer, search coil magnetic field sensor, or Superconducting
Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometer.
[0068] A sensor may be a strain gauge, used to measure the strain,
or any other deformation, of an object. The sensor may be based on
deforming a metallic foil, semiconductor strain gauge (such as
piezoresistors), measuring the strain along an optical fiber,
capacitive strain gauge, and vibrating or resonating of a tensioned
wire. A sensor may be a tactile sensor, being sensitive to force or
pressure, or being sensitive to a touch by an object, typically a
human touch. A tactile sensor may be based on a conductive rubber,
a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) material, a polyvinylidene fluoride
(PVDF) material, a metallic capacitive element, or any combination
thereof. A tactile sensor may be a tactile switch, which may be
based on the human body conductance, using measurement of
conductance or capacitance.
[0069] A sensor may be a piezoelectric sensor, where the
piezoelectric effect is used to measure pressure, acceleration,
strain or force, and may use transverse, longitudinal, or shear
effect mode. A thin membrane may be used to transfer and measure
pressure, while mass may be used for acceleration measurement. A
piezoelectric sensor element material may be a piezoelectric
ceramics (such as PZT ceramic) or a single crystal material. A
single crystal material may be gallium phosphate, quartz,
tourmaline, or Lead Magnesium Niobate-Lead Titanate (PMN-PT).
[0070] A sensor may be a motion sensor, and may include one or more
accelerometers, which measures the absolute acceleration or the
acceleration relative to freefall. The accelerometer may be
piezoelectric, piezoresistive, capacitive, MEMS or
electromechanical switch accelerometer, measuring the magnitude and
the direction the device acceleration in a single-axis, 2-axis or
3-axis (omnidirectional). Alternatively or in addition, the motion
sensor may be based on electrical tilt and vibration switch or any
other electromechanical switch.
[0071] A sensor may be a force sensor, a load cell, or a force
gauge (a.k.a. force gage), used to measure a force magnitude and/or
direction, and may be based on a spring extension, a strain gauge
deformation, a piezoelectric effect, or a vibrating wire. A sensor
may be a driving or passive dynamometer, used to measure torque or
any moment of force.
[0072] A sensor may be a pressure sensor (a.k.a. pressure
transducer or pressure transmitter/sender) for measuring a pressure
of gases or liquids, and for indirectly measuring other parameters
such as fluid/gas flow, speed, water-level, and altitude. A
pressure sensor may be a pressure switch. A pressure sensor may be
an absolute pressure sensor, a gauge pressure sensor, a vacuum
pressure sensor, a differential pressure sensor, or a sealed
pressure sensor. The changes in pressure relative to altitude may
be used for an altimeter, and the Venturi effect may be used to
measure flow by a pressure sensor. Similarly, the depth of a
submerged body or the fluid level on contents in a tank may be
measured by a pressure sensor.
[0073] A pressure sensor may be of a force collector type, where a
force collector (such a diaphragm, piston, bourdon tube, or
bellows) is used to measure strain (or deflection) due to applied
force (pressure) over an area. Such sensor may be a based on the
piezoelectric effect (a piezoresistive strain gauge), may be of a
capacitive or of an electromagnetic type. A pressure sensor may be
based on a potentiometer, or may be based on using the changes in
resonant frequency or the thermal conductivity of a gas, or may use
the changes in the flow of charged gas particles (ions).
[0074] A sensor may be a position sensor for measuring linear or
angular position (or motion). A position sensor may be an absolute
position sensor, or may be a displacement (relative or incremental)
sensor, measuring a relative position, and may be an
electromechanical sensor. A position sensor may be mechanically
attached to the measured object, or alternatively may use a
non-contact measurement.
[0075] A position sensor may be an angular position sensor, for
measuring involving an angular position (or the rotation or motion)
of a shaft, an axle, or a disk. Absolute angular position sensor
output indicates the current position (angle) of the shaft, while
incremental or displacement sensor provides information about the
change, the angular speed or the motion of the shaft. An angular
position sensor may be of optical type, using reflective or
interruption schemes, or may be of magnetic type, such as based on
variable-reluctance (VR), Eddy-current killed oscillator (ECKO),
Wiegand sensing, or Hall-effect sensing, or may be based on a
rotary potentiometer. An angular position sensor may be transformer
based such as a RVDT, a resolver or a synchro. An angular position
sensor may be based on an absolute or incremental rotary encoder,
and may be a mechanical or optical rotary encoder, using binary or
gray encoding schemes.
[0076] A sensor may be an angular rate sensor, used to measure the
angular rate, or the rotation speed, of a shaft, an axle or a disc,
and may be electromechanical (such as centrifugal switch), MEMS
based, Laser based (such as Ring Laser Gyroscope--RLG), or a
gyroscope (such as fiber-optic gyro) based. Some gyroscopes use the
measurement of the Coriolis acceleration to determine the angular
rate. An angular rate sensor may be a tachometer, which may be
based on measuring the centrifugal force, or based on optical,
electric, or magnetic sensing a slotted disk.
[0077] A position sensor may be a linear position sensor, for
measuring a linear displacement or position typically in a straight
line, and may use a transformer principle such as such as LVDT, or
may be based on a resistive element such as linear potentiometer. A
linear position sensor may be an incremental or absolute linear
encoder, and may employ optical, magnetic, capacitive, inductive,
or eddy-current principles.
[0078] A sensor may be a mechanical or electrical motion detector
(or an occupancy sensor), for discrete (on/off) or magnitude-based
motion detection. A motion detector may be based on sound (acoustic
sensors), opacity (optical and infrared sensors and video image
processors), geomagnetism (magnetic sensors, magnetometers),
reflection of transmitted energy (infrared laser radar, ultrasonic
sensors, and microwave radar sensors), electromagnetic induction
(inductive-loop detectors), or vibration (triboelectric, seismic,
and inertia-switch sensors). Acoustic sensors may use electric
effect, inductive coupling, capacitive coupling, triboelectric
effect, piezoelectric effect, fiber optic transmission, or radar
intrusion sensing. An occupancy sensor is typically a motion
detector that may be integrated with hardware or software-based
timing device.
[0079] A motion sensor may be a mechanically-actuated switch or
trigger, or may use passive or active electronic sensors, such as
passive infrared sensors, ultrasonic sensors, microwave sensor or
tomographic detector. Alternatively or in addition, motion can be
electronically identified using infrared (PIR) or laser optical
detection or acoustical detection, or may use a combination of the
technologies disclosed herein.
[0080] A sensor may be a humidity sensor, such as a hygrometer or a
humidistat, and may respond to an absolute, relative, or specific
humidity. The measurement may be based on optically detecting
condensation, or may be based on changing the capacitance,
resistance, or thermal conductivity of materials subjected to the
measured humidity.
[0081] A sensor may be a clinometer for measuring angle (such as
pitch or roll) of an object, typically with respect to a plane such
as the earth ground plane. A clinometer may be based on an
accelerometer, a pendulum, or on a gas bubble in liquid, or may be
a tilt switch such as a mercury tilt switch for detecting
inclination or declination with respect to a determined tilt
angle.
[0082] A sensor may be a gas or liquid flow sensor, for measuring
the volumetric or mass flow rate via a defined area or a surface. A
liquid flow sensor typically involves measuring the flow in a pipe
or in an open conduit. A flow measurement may be based on a
mechanical flow meter, such as a turbine flow meter, a Woltmann
meter, a single jet meter, or a paddle wheel meter. Pressure-based
meters may be based on measuring a pressure or a pressure
differential based on Bernoulli's principle, such as a Venturi
meter. The sensor may be an optical flow meter or be based on the
Doppler-effect.
[0083] A flow sensor may be an air flow sensor, for measuring the
air or gas flow, such as through a surface (e.g., through a tube)
or a volume, by actually measuring the air volume passing, or by
measuring the actual speed or air flow. In some cases, a pressure,
typically differential pressure, may be measured as an indicator
for the air flow measurements. An anemometer is an air flow sensor
primarily for measuring wind speed, and may be cup anemometer, a
windmill anemometer, hot-wire anemometer such as CCA
(Constant-Current Anemometer), CVA (Constant-Voltage Anemometer)
and CTA (Constant-Temperature Anemometer). Sonic anemometers use
ultrasonic sound waves to measure wind velocity. Air flow may be
measured by a pressure anemometer that may be a plate or tube
class.
[0084] A sensor may be a gyroscope, for measuring orientation in
space, such as the conventional mechanical type, a MEMS gyroscope,
a piezoelectric gyroscope, a FOG, or a VSG type. A sensor may be a
nanosensor, a solid-state, or an ultrasonic based sensor. A sensor
may be an eddy-current sensor, where the measurement may be based
on producing and/or measuring eddy-currents. Sensor may be a
proximity sensor, such as metal detector. A sensor may be a bulk or
surface acoustic sensor, or may be an atmospheric sensor.
[0085] In one example, multiple sensors may be used arranged as a
sensor array (such as linear sensor array), for improving the
sensitivity, accuracy, resolution, and other parameters of the
sensed phenomenon. The sensor array may be directional, and better
measure the parameters of the impinging signal to the array, such
as the number, magnitudes, frequencies, Direction-Of-Arrival (DOA),
distances, and speeds of the signals. The processing of the entire
sensor array outputs, such as to obtain a single measurement or a
single parameter, may be performed by a dedicated processor, which
may be part of the sensor array assembly, may be performed in the
processor of the field unit, may be performed by the processor in
the router, may be performed as part of the controller
functionality (e.g., in the control server), or any combination
thereof. The same component may serve both as a sensor and as
actuator, such as during different times, and may be associated
with the same or different phenomenon. A sensor operation may be
based on an external or integral mechanism for generating a
stimulus or an excitation to generate influence or create a
phenomenon. The mechanism may be controlled as an actuator or as
part of the sensor.
[0086] Any element designed for or capable of directly or
indirectly affecting, changing, producing, or creating a physical
phenomenon under an electric signal control may be used as an
actuator. An appropriate actuator may be adapted for a specific
physical phenomenon, such as an actuator responsive to temperature,
humidity, pressure, audio, vibration, light, motion, sound,
proximity, flow rate, electrical voltage, and electrical current.
Typically a sensor may be used to measure a phenomenon affected by
an actuator.
[0087] An actuator may be an analog actuator having an analog
signal input such as analog voltage or current, or may have
continuously variable impedance. Alternatively on in addition, an
actuator may have a digital signal input. An actuator may affect
time-dependent or space-dependent parameters of a phenomenon. An
actuator may affect time-dependencies or a phenomenon such as the
rate of change, time-integrated or time-average, duty-cycle,
frequency or time period between events. The actuator may be
semiconductor-based, and may be based on MEMS technology.
[0088] An actuator may affect the amount of a property or of a
physical quantity or the magnitude relating to a physical
phenomenon, body or substance. Alternatively or in addition, an
actuator may be used to affect the time derivative thereof, such as
the rate of change of the amount, the quantity or the magnitude. In
the case of space related quantity or magnitude, an actuator may
affect the linear density, surface density, or volume density,
relating to the amount of property per volume. Alternatively or in
addition, an actuator may affect the flux (or flow) of a property
through a cross-section or surface boundary, the flux density, or
the current. In the case of a scalar field, an actuator may affect
the quantity gradient. An actuator may affect the amount of
property per unit mass or per mole of substance. A single actuator
may be used to measure two or more phenomena.
[0089] An actuator may be a light source used to emit light by
converting electrical energy into light, and where the luminous
intensity may be fixed or may be controlled, commonly for
illumination or indication purposes. An actuator may be used to
activate or control the light emitted by a light source, being
based on converting electrical energy or another energy to a light.
The light emitted may be a visible light, or invisible light such
as infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray or gamma rays. A shade, reflector,
enclosing globe, housing, lens, and other accessories may be used,
typically as part of a light fixture, in order to control the
illumination intensity, shape or direction. Electrical sources of
illumination commonly use a gas, a plasma (such as in arc and
fluorescent lamps), an electrical filament, or Solid-State Lighting
(SSL), where semiconductors are used. An SSL may be a
Light-Emitting Diode (LED), an Organic LED (OLED), Polymer LED
(PLED), or a laser diode.
[0090] A light source may consists of, or comprises, a lamp which
may be an arc lamp, a fluorescent lamp, a gas-discharge lamp (such
as a fluorescent lamp), or an incandescent light (such as a halogen
lamp). An arc lamp is the general term for a class of lamps that
produce light by an electric arc voltaic arc. Such a lamp consists
of two electrodes, first made from carbon but typically made today
of tungsten, which are separated by a noble gas.
[0091] A motion actuator may be a rotary actuator that produces a
rotary motion or torque, commonly to a shaft or axle. The motion
produced by a rotary motion actuator may be either continuous
rotation, such as in common electric motors, or movement to a fixed
angular position as for servos and stepper motors. A motion
actuator may be a linear actuator that creates motion in a straight
line. A linear actuator may be based on an intrinsically rotary
actuator, by converting from a rotary motion created by a rotary
actuator, using a screw, a wheel and axle, or a cam. A screw
actuator may be a leadscrew, a screw jack, a ball screw or roller
screw. A wheel-and-axle actuator operates on the principle of the
wheel and axle, and may be hoist, winch, rack and pinion, chain
drive, belt drive, rigid chain, or rigid belt actuator. Similarly,
a rotary actuator may be based on an intrinsically linear actuator,
by converting from a linear motion to a rotary motion, using the
above or other mechanisms. Motion actuators may include a wide
variety of mechanical elements and/or prime movers to change the
nature of the motion such as provided by the actuating/transducing
elements, such as levers, ramps, screws, cams, crankshafts, gears,
pulleys, constant-velocity joints, or ratchets. A motion actuator
may be part of a servomotor system.
[0092] A motion actuator may be a pneumatic actuator that converts
compressed air into rotary or linear motion, and may comprises a
piston, a cylinder, valves or ports. Motion actuators are commonly
controlled by an input pressure to a control valve, and may be
based on moving a piston in a cylinder. A motion actuator may a
hydraulic actuator using a pressure of the liquid in a hydraulic
cylinder to provide force or motion. A hydraulic actuator may be a
hydraulic pump, such as a vane pump, a gear pump, or a piston pump.
A motion actuator may be an electric actuator where electrical
energy may be converted into motion, such as an electric motor. A
motion actuator may be a vacuum actuator producing a motion based
on vacuum pressure.
[0093] An electric motor may be a DC motor, which may be a brushed,
brushless, or uncommutated type. An electric motor may be a stepper
motor, and may be a Permanent Magnet (PM) motor, a Variable
reluctance (VR) motor, or a hybrid synchronous stepper. An electric
motor may be an AC motor, which may be an induction motor, a
synchronous motor, or an eddy current motors. An AC motor may be a
two-phase AC servo motor, a three-phase AC synchronous motor, or a
single-phase AC induction motor, such as a split-phase motor, a
capacitor start motor, or a Permanent-Split Capacitor (PSC) motor.
Alternatively or in addition, an electric motor may be an
electrostatic motor, and may be MEMS based.
[0094] A rotary actuator may be a fluid power actuator, and a
linear actuator may be a linear hydraulic actuator or a pneumatic
actuator. A linear actuator may be a piezoelectric actuator, based
on the piezoelectric effect, may be a wax motor, or may be a linear
electrical motor, which may be a DC brush, a DC brushless, a
stepper, or an induction motor type. A linear actuator may be a
telescoping linear actuator. A linear actuator may be a linear
electric motor, such as a linear induction motor (LIM), or a Linear
Synchronous Motor (LSM).
[0095] A motion actuator may be a linear or rotary piezoelectric
motor based on acoustic or ultrasonic vibrations. A piezoelectric
motor may use piezoelectric ceramics such as Inchworm or PiezoWalk
motors, may use Surface Acoustic Waves (SAW) to generate the linear
or the rotary motion, or may be a Squiggle motor. Alternatively or
in addition, an electric motor may be an ultrasonic motor. A linear
actuator may be a micro- or nanometer comb-drive capacitive
actuator. Alternatively or in addition, a motion actuator may be a
Dielectric or Ionic based Electroactive Polymers (EAPs) actuator. A
motion actuator may also be a solenoid, thermal bimorph, or a
piezoelectric unimorph actuator.
[0096] An actuator may be a pump, typically used to move (or
compress) fluids or liquids, gasses, or slurries, commonly by
pressure or suction actions, and the activating mechanism is often
reciprocating or rotary. A pump may be a direct lift, impulse,
displacement, valveless, velocity, centrifugal, vacuum pump, or
gravity pump. A pump may be a positive displacement pump, such as a
rotary-type positive displacement type such as internal gear,
screw, shuttle block, flexible vane or sliding vane,
circumferential piston, helical twisted roots or liquid ring vacuum
pumps, a reciprocating-type positive displacement type, such as
piston or diaphragm pumps, and a linear-type positive displacement
type, such as rope pumps and chain pumps, a rotary lobe pump, a
progressive cavity pump, a rotary gear pump, a piston pump, a
diaphragm pump, a screw pump, a gear pump, a hydraulic pump, and a
vane pump. A rotary positive displacement pumps may be a gear pump,
a screw pump, or a rotary vane pumps. Reciprocating positive
displacement pumps may be plunger pumps type, diaphragm pumps type,
diaphragm valves type, or radial piston pumps type.
[0097] A pump may be an impulse pump such as hydraulic ram pumps
type, pulser pumps type, or airlift pumps type. A pump may be a
rotodynamic pump such as a velocity pump or a centrifugal pump. A
centrifugal pump may be a radial flow pump type, an axial flow pump
type, or a mixed flow pump.
[0098] An actuator may be an electrochemical or chemical actuator,
used to produce, change, or otherwise affect a matter structure,
properties, composition, process, or reactions, such as
oxidation/reduction or an electrolysis process.
[0099] An actuator may be a sounder which converts electrical
energy to sound waves transmitted through the air, an elastic solid
material, or a liquid, usually by means of a vibrating or moving
ribbon or diaphragm. The sound may be audible or inaudible (or
both), and may be omnidirectional, unidirectional, bidirectional,
or provide other directionality or polar patterns. A sounder may be
an electromagnetic loudspeaker, a piezoelectric speaker, an
electrostatic loudspeaker (ESL), a ribbon or planar magnetic
loudspeaker, or a bending wave loudspeaker.
[0100] A sounder may an electromechanical type, such as an electric
bell, a buzzer (or beeper), a chime, a whistle or a ringer and may
be either electromechanical or ceramic-based piezoelectric
sounders. The sounder may emit a single or multiple tones, and can
be in continuous or intermittent operation.
[0101] The system may use the sounder to play digital audio
content, either stored in, or received by, the sounder, the
actuator unit, the router, the control server, or any combination
thereof. The audio content stored may be either pre-recorded or
using a synthesizer. Few digital audio files may be stored,
selected by the control logic. Alternatively or in addition, the
source of the digital audio may a microphone serving as a sensor.
In another example, the system uses the sounder for simulating the
voice of a human being or generates music. The music produced can
emulate the sounds of a conventional acoustical music instrument,
such as a piano, tuba, harp, violin, flute, guitar and so forth. A
talking human voice may be played by the sounder, either
pre-recorded or using human voice synthesizer, and the sound may be
a syllable, a word, a phrase, a sentence, a short story or a long
story, and can be based on speech synthesis or pre-recorded, using
male or female voice.
[0102] A human speech may be produced using a hardware, software
(or both) speech synthesizer, which may be Text-To-Speech (TTS)
based. The speech synthesizer may be a concatenative type, using
unit selection, diphone synthesis, or domain-specific synthesis.
Alternatively or in addition, the speech synthesizer may be a
formant type, and may be based on articulatory synthesis or hidden
Markov models (HMM) based.
[0103] An actuator may be used to generate an electric or magnetic
field, and may be an electromagnetic coil or an electromagnet.
[0104] An actuator may be a display for presentation of visual data
or information, commonly on a screen, and may consist of an array
(e.g., matrix) of light emitters or light reflectors, and may
present text, graphics, image or video. A display may be a
monochrome, gray-scale, or color type, and may be a video display.
The display may be a projector (commonly by using multiple
reflectors), or alternatively (or in addition) have the screen
integrated. A projector may be based on an Eidophor, Liquid Crystal
on Silicon (LCoS or LCOS), or LCD, or may use Digital Light
Processing (DLP.TM.) technology, and may be MEMS based or be a
virtual retinal display. A video display may support
Standard-Definition (SD) or High-Definition (HD) standards, and may
support 3D. The display may present the information as scrolling,
static, bold or flashing. The display may be an analog display,
such as having NTSC, PAL or SECAM formats. Similarly, analog RGB,
VGA (Video Graphics Array), SVGA (Super Video Graphics Array),
SCART or S-video interface, or may be a digital display, such as
having IEEE1394 interface (a.k.a. FireWire.TM.), may be used. Other
digital interfaces that can be used are USB, SDI (Serial Digital
Interface), HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), DVI
(Digital Visual Interface), UDI (Unified Display Interface),
DisplayPort, Digital Component Video or DVB (Digital Video
Broadcast) interface. Various user controls may include an on/off
switch, a reset button and others. Other exemplary controls involve
display associated settings such as contrast, brightness and
zoom.
[0105] A display may be a Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) display, or a
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display. The LCD display may be
passive (such as CSTN or DSTN based) or active matrix, and may be
Thin Film Transistor (TFT) or LED-backlit LCD display. A display
may be a Field Emission Display (FED), Electroluminescent Display
(ELD), Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD), or may be an Organic
Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display, based on passive-matrix
(PMOLED) or active-matrix OLEDs (AMOLED).
[0106] A display may be based on an Electronic Paper Display (EPD),
and be based on Gyricon technology, Electro-Wetting Display (EWD),
or Electrofluidic display technology. A display may be a laser
video display or a laser video projector, and may be based on a
Vertical-External-Cavity Surface-Emitting-Laser (VECSEL) or a
Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL).
[0107] A display may be a segment display, such as a numerical or
an alphanumerical display that can show only digits or alphanumeric
characters, words, characters, arrows, symbols, ASCII and non-ASCII
characters. Examples are Seven-segment display (digits only),
Fourteen-segment display, and Sixteen-segment display, and a dot
matrix display.
[0108] An actuator may be a thermoelectric actuator such as a
cooler or a heater for changing the temperature of a solid, liquid
or gas object, and may use conduction, convection, thermal
radiation, or by the transfer of energy by phase changes. A heater
may be a radiator using radiative heating, a convector using
convection, or a forced convection heater. A thermoelectric
actuator may be a heating or cooling heat pump, and may be
electrically powered, compression-based cooler using an electric
motor to drive a refrigeration cycle. A thermoelectric actuator may
be an electric heater, converting electrical energy into heat,
using resistance, or a dielectric heater. A thermoelectric actuator
may be a solid-state active heat pump device based on the Peltier
effect. A thermoelectric actuator may be an air cooler, using a
compressor-based refrigeration cycle of a heat pump. An electric
heater may be an induction heater.
[0109] An actuator unit may include a signal generator serving as
an actuator for providing an electrical signal (such as a voltage
or current), or may be coupled between the processor and the
actuator for controlling the actuator. A signal generator an analog
or digital signal generator, and may be based on software (or
firmware) or may be a separated circuit or component. A signal may
generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals, and may
include a digital to analog converter (DAC) to produce an analog
output. Common waveforms are a sine wave, a saw-tooth, a step
(pulse), a square, and a triangular waveforms. The generator may
include some sort of modulation functionality such as Amplitude
Modulation (AM), Frequency Modulation (FM), or Phase Modulation
(PM). A signal generator may be an Arbitrary Waveform Generators
(AWGs) or a logic signal generator.
[0110] An actuator unit may include an electrical switch (or
multiple switches) coupled between the processor and the actuator
for activating the actuator. Two or more switches may be used,
connected in series or in parallel. The switch may be integrated
with the actuator (if separated from the actuator unit), with the
actuator unit, or any combination thereof. In the above examples, a
controller can affect the actuator (or load) activation by sending
the actuator unit a message to activate the actuator by powering
it, or to deactivate the actuator operation by breaking the current
floe thereto, or shifting the actuator between states. A switch is
typically designed to open (breaking, interrupting), close
(making), or change one or more electric circuits under some type
of external control, and may be an electromechanical device with
one or more sets of electrical contacts having two or more states.
The switch may be a `normally open`, `normally closed` type, or a
changeover switch, that may be either a `make-before-break` or
`break-before-make` type. The switch contacts may have one or more
poles and one or more throws, such as Single-Pole-Single-Throw
(SPST), Single-Pole-Double-Throw (SPDT), Double-Pole-Double-Throw
(DPDT), Double-Pole-Single-Throw (DPST), and Single-Pole-Changeover
(SPCO). The switch may be an electrically operated switch such as
an electromagnetic relay, which may be a non-latching or a latching
type. The relay may be a reed relay, or a solid-state or
semiconductor based relay, such as a Solid State Relay (SSR). A
switch may be implemented using an electrical circuit, such as an
open collector or open drain based circuit, a thyristor, a TRIAC or
an opto-isolator.
[0111] The image processing may include video enhancement such as
video denoising, image stabilization, unsharp masking, and
super-resolution. The image processing may include a Video Content
Analysis (VCA), such as Video Motion Detection (VMD), video
tracking, and egomotion estimation, as well as identification,
behavior analysis and other forms of situation awareness, dynamic
masking, motion detection, object detection, face recognition,
automatic number plate recognition, tamper detection, video
tracking, and pattern recognition.
[0112] The image processing may be used for non-verbal human
control of the system, such as by hand posture or gesture
recognition. The recognized hand posture or gesture may be used as
input by the control logic in the controller, and thus enables
humans to interface with the machine in ways sometimes described as
Man-Machine Interfaces (MMI) or Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) and
interact naturally without any mechanical devices, and thus to
impact the system operation and the actuators commands and
operation. An image-based recognition may use a single camera or
3-D camera. A gesture recognition may be based on 3-D information
of key elements of the body parts or may be 2-D appearance-based. A
3-D model approach can use volumetric or skeletal models, or a
combination of the two.
[0113] A redundancy may be used in order to improve the accuracy,
reliability, or availability. The redundancy may be implemented
where two or more components may be used for the same
functionality. The components may be similar, substantially or
fully the same, identical, different, substantially different, or
distinct from each other, or any combination thereof. The redundant
components may be concurrently operated, allowing for improved
robustness and allowing for overcoming a single point of failure
(SPOF), or alternatively one or more of the components serves as a
backup. The redundancy may be a standby redundancy, which may be
`Cold Standby` and `Hot Standby`. In the case three redundant
components are used, Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) may be used,
and Quadruple Modular Redundancy (QMR) may be used in the case of
four components. A 1:N Redundancy logic may be used for three or
more components.
[0114] A sensor redundancy involves using two or more sensors
sensing the same phenomenon. One of the two may be used, or all the
sensors may be used together such as for averaging measurements for
improved accuracy. Two or more data path may be available in the
system between the system elements, where one of the may be only
used, or alternatively all the data paths may be used together such
as for improving the available bandwidth, throughput and delay. In
one example two or more sensor may be used for sensing the same (or
substantially the same) phenomenon. The two (or more) sensors may
be part of, associated with, or connected to the same field unit.
Alternatively or in addition, each sensor may be connected to, or
be part of, a distinct field unit. Similarly, two or more actuators
may be used for generating or affecting the same (or substantially
the same) phenomenon. The two (or more) actuators may be part of,
associated with, or connected to the same field unit. Alternatively
or in addition, each actuator may be connected to, or be part of, a
distinct field unit.
[0115] The field units and the router may be located in the same
building (or vehicle), in different buildings (or vehicles) or
external (adjacent or remote) to the building (or vehicle) or the
user premises. A field unit may communicate (such as send sensor
info or receive actuator commands) with the router (or gateway) or
the control server using the same or different WANs used by the
router, and may be associated by the controller and its control
logic by communication with the router or the control server.
[0116] The memory may be a random-accessed or a sequential-accessed
memory, and may be location-based, randomly-accessed, and can be
written multiple times. The memory may be volatile and based on
semiconductor storage medium, such as: RAM, SRAM, DRAM, TTRAIVI and
Z-RAM. The memory may be non-volatile and based on semiconductor
storage medium, such as ROM, PROM, EPROM or EEROM, and may be
Flash-based, such as SSD drive or USB `Thumb` drive. The memory may
be based on non-volatile magnetic storage medium, such as HDD. The
memory may be based on an optical storage medium that is recordable
and removable, and may include an optical disk drive. The storage
medium may be: CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM BD-RE, CD-ROM, BD-ROM
or DVD-ROM. The memory form factor may be an IC, a PCB on which one
or more ICs are mounted, or a box-shaped enclosure.
[0117] The communication may be based on a PAN, a LAN or a WAN
communication link, may use private or public networks, and may be
packet-based or circuit-switched. The first bus or the second bus
(or both) may each be based on Ethernet and may be substantially
compliant with IEEE 802.3 standard, and be based on one out of:
100BaseT/TX, 1000BaseT/TX, 10 gigabit Ethernet substantially (or in
full) according to IEEE Std 802.3ae-2002as standard, 40 Gigabit
Ethernet, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet substantially according to IEEE
P802.3ba standard. The first bus or the second bus (or both) may
each be based on a multi-drop, a daisy-chain topology, or a
point-to-point connection, use half-duplex or full-duplex, and may
employs a master/slave scheme. The first bus or the second bus (or
both) may each be a wired-based, point-to-point, and bit-serial
bus, where a timing, clocking or strobing signal is carried over
dedicated wires, or using a self-clocking scheme. Each of the buses
(or both) may use a fiber-optic cable as the bus medium, and the
adapter may comprise a fiber-optic connector for connecting to the
fiber-optic cable.
[0118] The communication between two devices in the building (or
vehicle), external to the building (or vehicle), or between a
device in the building (or vehicle) to a device external to the
building (or vehicle), such as the communication between field
units, between routers, between home devices, between field unit
and a router, between field unit and a server, or between a router
and a server, may use multiple communication routes over the same
or different networks, which may be used separately as redundant
data paths or cooperatively such as aggregated communication links.
A device in the system may include multiple network interfaces for
communicating the multiple data routes or for communication over
the multiple networks. A network interface may include a
transceiver or modem and a communication port for coupling to the
network, such as a connector for connecting to a wired or
conductive network and an antenna for coupling to a wireless
network. A physical, software, or logical (or a combination
thereof) based interface selector in the device receives the packet
to be sent and under a dedicated or general computer or processor
control directs it to one or more of the network interfaces, to be
sent over the multiple networks or data routes. A packet to be sent
may be received by the interface selector, and when the interfaces
that are available for transmission of the received packet are
identified, and then an interface to be used (or multiple
interfaces) may be selected out of the available interfaces, and
the packet may be directed and sent to the selected interface for
being transmitted over the associated network.
[0119] The network interfaces may be (in part or in whole) similar,
identical or different from each other. The networks or the data
paths may be similar, identical or different from each other, and
may use different, similar or same medium, protocol, or
connections. The networks may be wired (or otherwise conductive)
and may be using coaxial cable, twisted-pair, power lines
(powerlines) or telephone lines, or wireless (or otherwise using
non-conductive propagation), using over the air or guided Radio
Frequency (RF), light or sound propagation, and the network
interfaces may include antennas, fiber-optics connectors, light
emitters or light detectors, or speakers and microphones, or any
combination thereof.
[0120] The networks or the data paths may be similar, identical or
different geographical scale or coverage types and data rates, such
as NFCs, PANs, LANs, MANs, or WANs, or any combination thereof. The
networks or the data paths may be similar, identical or different
types of modulation, such as Amplitude Modulation (AM), a Frequency
Modulation (FM), or a Phase Modulation (PM), or any combination
thereof. The networks or the data paths may be similar, identical
or different types of duplexing such half- or full-duplex, or any
combination thereof. The networks or the data paths may be based on
similar, identical or different types of switching such as
circuit-switched or packet-switched, or any combination thereof.
The networks or the data paths may have similar, identical or
different ownership or operation, such as private or public
networks, or any combination thereof.
[0121] Two or more network interfaces may communicate over the same
network or connected to same network medium simultaneously or at
different times, and may use FDM technique, where filters passing
different, same, or overlapping frequency bands may be connected
between the modems and the respective communication ports.
Alternatively or in addition, distinct modulation or coding schemes
may be used in order to carry two or more signals over the same
medium or over the same frequency band. Two or more network
interfaces may share the same network port such as the same antenna
or the same connector.
[0122] A packet may be sent via one, part of, or all of the
available interfaces. A packet may be sent via one of the available
interfaces, selected by using a cyclic assigning mechanism, or may
otherwise form an aggregated stream such as by using a
Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) scheme. A packet may be sent via
randomly selected one of the available interfaces, or using a
priority that may be assigned to each network interface. The
priorities may be pre-set, fixed or adaptive and changing in time.
The selection of the interface to be used, or the priorities
assigned to the network interfaces, may be based on the available
networks attributes or history, such as cost of network usage,
quality of the communication via the interface or network,
available bandwidth or throughput, communication errors or packets
loss, number of hops to destination, last receive packet, or
transfer delay time.
[0123] The selection of the interface to be used, or the priorities
assigned to the network interfaces, may be based on routing tables
(fixed or dynamic) associating the network interfaces to the
attributes of the packet, such as destination or source address, or
may be based on the type of information carried in the packet.
[0124] The field units and the router may be located in the same
building (or vehicle), in different buildings (or vehicles) or
external (adjacent or remote) to the building (or vehicle) or the
user premises. A field unit may communicate (such as send sensor
info or receive actuator commands) with the router (or gateway) or
the control server using the same or different WANs used by the
router, and may be associated by the controller and its control
logic by communication with the router or the control server.
[0125] The system may include computers, routers, and field units
including, or connected to, sensors and actuators, in a vehicle,
and may be communicating via a router or routers to a server
external to the vehicle. The vehicle may communicate with other
vehicles, or with the server, via other vehicle or via (or to) a
roadside unit or other stationary devices. The vehicle may be
designed for use on land, on or in fluids, or be airborne, such as
bicycle, car, automobile, motorcycle, train, ship, boat, submarine,
airplane, scooter, bus, subway, train, or spacecraft. The sensors
may sense a phenomenon in the vehicle or external to the vehicle.
The actuators may affect the vehicle speed, direction, or route, or
may be affecting the in-vehicle systems or environment. The system
may be used for improving safety, traffic management, driver
assisting, pricing management, and navigation. The in-vehicle
networks may be based on standard or vehicle specific buses, such
as CAN or LIN.
[0126] Any device in the system, such as a router, a field unit, a
home computer, a server, or any other device or computer, may be
addressable in any of the system, networks (such as the in-building
or in-vehicle network, or any external network such as the the
Internet) using a digital address which may be stored in a volatile
or non-volatile memory. The same address or different addresses may
be used when communicating over the various networks in the system,
and the address may be or locally administered addresses
universally administered addresses, where the address is uniquely
assigned to a device by its manufacturer (such as programmed during
manufacturing) or by its installer or user. The address may be a
permanent and globally unique identification, and may be
software-based or hardware-based. The address may be layer 2
address such as MAC address (e.g., MAC-48, EUI-48, or EUI-64), or
alternatively (or in addition) may be IP address such as IPv4 or
IPv6. The address may be static or dynamic IP address. The address
may be assigned by another device in the network via a
communication port or interface over the network, and may use DHCP.
For example, the control server, the home computer, or the router
may assign addresses to the router or to the field units. A device
may be associated with, or be identified, by multiple addresses,
which may relate to different OSI model layers (such as MAC and IP
address), or to be used by different networks, such as multiple
addressable network interfaces. The sensors and the actuators in
the systems, or their respective connections or ports, may be
individually addressable added to the related field unit other
addresses, and may serve for source or destination addresses in the
system. The sensors or actuators addresses, or the related
connections or ports, may be uniquely assigned to during
manufacturing, or may be assigned by the associated field unit, or
a device communicating with the associated field unit.
[0127] In one aspect, a vehicle control system is disclosed such as
for commanding an actuator operation according to a control logic,
in response to a sensor response associated with a phenomenon, for
example for use with one or more in-vehicle networks for
communication in a vehicle, and an external network for
communicating with an Internet-connected control server via another
vehicle or a roadside unit external to the vehicle. The system may
comprise a router in the vehicle, connected to the one or more
in-vehicle networks and to the external network, and may be
operative to pass digital data between the in-vehicle and one or
more external networks; a first device in the vehicle that may
comprise of, or connectable to, a sensor that responds to the
phenomenon, the first device may be operative to transmit a sensor
digital data corresponding to the phenomenon to the router over the
one or more in-vehicle networks; a second device in the vehicle
that may comprise of, or connectable to, an actuator that affects
the phenomenon, the second device may be operative to execute
actuator commands received from the router over the one or more
in-vehicle networks; and an Internet-connected control server
external to the vehicle storing the control logic, and
communicatively coupled to the router over the Internet via the one
or more external networks. The control server may be operative to
receive the sensor digital data from the router, may produce
actuator commands in response to the received sensor digital data
according to the control logic, and may transmit the actuator
commands to the second device via the router.
[0128] One of the external networks may be a vehicle-to-vehicle
network for communicating with the Internet-connected control
server via another vehicle, or may be communicating with a
stationary device that may be a roadside unit. The router, the
first device, or the second device may be mechanical attached to
the vehicle that may be adapted for travelling on land, water, or
may be airborne. The vehicle may be a bicycle, a car, a motorcycle,
a train, a ship, an aircraft, a boat, a spacecraft, a boat, a
submarine, a dirigible, an electric scooter, a subway, a train, a
trolleybus, a tram, a sailboat, a yacht, or an airplane. The sensor
may be operative to sense a phenomenon in the vehicle, external to
the vehicle, or in the surroundings around the vehicle, and the
actuator may be operative to affect a phenomenon in the vehicle,
external to the vehicle, or in the surroundings around the vehicle.
The system may be coupled to monitor or control the Engine Control
Unit (ECU), the Transmission Control Unit (TCU), the Anti-Lock
Braking System (ABS), or the Body Control Modules (BCM), and may be
integrated with or being part of a vehicular communication system
used to improved safety, traffic flow control, traffic reporting,
traffic management, parking help, cruise control, lane keeping,
road sign recognition, surveillance, speed limit warning,
restricted entries, pull-over commands, travel information,
cooperative adaptive cruise control, cooperative forward collision
warning, intersection collision avoidance, approaching emergency
vehicle warning, vehicle safety inspection, transit or emergency
vehicle signal priority, electronic parking payments, commercial
vehicle clearance and safety inspections, in-vehicle signing,
rollover warning, probe data collection, highway-rail intersection
warning, or electronic toll collection.
[0129] One or more of the in-vehicle networks may be according to,
or based on, SAE J1962, SAE J1850, SAE J1979, ISO 15765, or ISO
9141 standard, or may be a vehicle bus that may be according to, or
based on, Control Area Network (CAN) or Local Interconnect Network
(LIN), and may use the vehicle DC power lines as a communication
medium. The system may be coupled to or integrated with the vehicle
On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) system that may be according to, or
based on, OBD-II or EOBD (European On-Board Diagnostics) standards.
The router, the first device, or the second device may be coupled
to the OBD diagnostics connector, and may be at least in part
powered via the OBD diagnostics connector. The router may be
operative to communicate to the control server information
regarding fuel and air metering, ignition system, misfire,
auxiliary emission control, vehicle speed and idle control,
transmission, on-board computer, fuel level, relative throttle
position, ambient air temperature, accelerator pedal position, air
flow rate, fuel type, oxygen level, fuel rail pressure, engine oil
temperature, fuel injection timing, engine torque, engine coolant
temperature, intake air temperature, exhaust gas temperature, fuel
pressure, injection pressure, turbocharger pressure, boost
pressure, exhaust pressure, exhaust gas temperature, engine run
time, NOx sensor, manifold surface temperature, or the Vehicle
Identification Number (VIN).
[0130] In one aspect, a control system is disclosed, for example
for commanding an actuator operation according to a control logic,
in response to processing of an image, such as for use with one or
more in-building (or in-vehicle) networks for communication in the
building (or vehicle), and an external network at least in part
external to the building (or vehicle). The system may comprise a
router in the building (or vehicle), connected to the one or more
in-building (or in-vehicle) networks and to the external network,
and may be operative to pass digital data between the in-building
(or in-vehicle) and external networks; a first device in the
building (or vehicle) comprising an image sensor for capturing
still or video image, the first device may be operative to transmit
a digital data corresponding to the captured still or video image
to the router over the one or more in-building (or in vehicle)
network; a second device in the building (or vehicle) comprising an
actuator that affects the phenomenon, the second device may be
operative to execute actuator commands received from the router
over the one or more in-building (or in-vehicle) networks; an
Internet-connected control server (referred herein also as `cloud
server` and `gateway server`) external to the building (or vehicle)
storing the control logic, and communicatively coupled to the
router over the Internet via the external network; and an image
processor having an output for processing the captured still or
video image; and the control server may be operative to produce
actuator commands in response to the image processor output
according to the control logic, and may be operative to transmit
the actuator commands to the second device via the router, and the
image processor may be entirely or in part in the first device, the
router, the control server, or any combination thereof.
[0131] In one aspect, a control system is disclosed such as for
commanding an actuator operation according to a control logic, in
response to processing of a voice, for example for use with one or
more in-building (or in-vehicle) networks for communication in the
building (or vehicle), and an external network at least in part
external to the building (or vehicle). The system may comprise a
router in the building (or vehicle), connected to the one or more
in-building (or in-vehicle) networks and to the external network,
and may be operative to pass digital data between the in-building
(or in-vehicle) and external networks; a first device in the
building (or vehicle) comprising a microphone for sensing voice,
the first device may be operative to transmit a digital data
corresponding to the sensed voice to the router over the one or
more in-building (or in vehicle) network; a second device in the
building (or vehicle) comprising an actuator that affects the
phenomenon, the second device may be operative to execute actuator
commands received from the router over the one or more in-building
(or in-vehicle) networks; an Internet-connected control server
external to the building (or vehicle) storing the control logic,
and communicatively coupled to the router over the Internet via the
external network; and a voice processor having an output for
processing the voice. The control server may be operative to
produce actuator commands in response to the voice processor output
according to the control logic, and may be operative to transmit
the actuator commands to the second device via the router, and the
voice processor may be entirely or in part in the first device, the
router, the control server, or any combination thereof.
[0132] In one aspect, a control system is disclosed, for example
for use with, or including, one or more in-building (or in-vehicle)
networks for communication in the building (or vehicle), and for
example for use with, or including, an external network at least in
part external to the building (or vehicle), and may be used for
commanding an actuator operation according to a control logic in
response to a sensor response associated with a phenomenon. The
system may comprise a router in the building (or vehicle),
connected to the one or more in-building (or in-vehicle) networks
and to the external network, and may be operative to pass digital
data between the in-building (or in-vehicle) and external networks;
a first device in the building (or vehicle) comprising of, or
connectable to, a sensor that responds to the phenomenon, the first
device may be operative to transmit a sensor digital data
corresponding to the phenomenon to the router over the one or more
in-building (or in-vehicle) networks; a second device in the
building (or vehicle) comprising of, or connectable to, an actuator
that affects the phenomenon, the second device may be operative to
execute actuator commands received from the router over the one or
more in-building (or in-vehicle) networks; and an
Internet-connected control server external to the building (or
vehicle) storing the control logic, and communicatively coupled to
the router over the Internet via the external network. The control
server may be operative to receive the sensor digital data from the
router, to produce actuator commands in response to the received
sensor digital data according to the control logic, and to transmit
the actuator commands to the second device via the router. The
router may be a gateway or may comprise one or more gateway
functionalities. The phenomenon may be associated with an object,
and the object may be gas, air, liquid or solid.
[0133] The sensor may provide a digital output, and the sensor
output may include an electrical switch, and the electrical switch
state may be responsive to the phenomenon magnitude measured versus
a threshold, which may be set by the actuator. The sensor may
provide an analog output, and the first device may comprise an
analog to digital converter coupled to the analog output, for
converting the sensor output to a digital data. The first device
may comprise a signal conditioning circuit coupled to the sensor
output, and the signal conditioning circuit may comprise an
amplifier, a voltage or current limiter, an attenuator, a delay
line or circuit, a level translator, a galvanic isolator, an
impedance transformer, a linearization circuit, a calibrator, a
passive filter, an active filter, an adaptive filter, an
integrator, a deviator, an equalizer, a spectrum analyzer, a
compressor or a de-compressor, a coder, a decoder, a modulator, a
demodulator, a pattern recognizer, a smoother, a noise remover, an
average circuit, or an RMS circuit. The sensor may be operative to
sense time-dependent characteristic of the sensed phenomenon, and
may be operative to respond to a time-integrated, an average, an
RMS (Root Mean Square) value, a frequency, a period, a duty-cycle,
a time-integrated, or a time-derivative, of the sensed phenomenon.
The first device, the router, or the control server may be
operative to calculate or provide a time-dependent characteristic
such as time-integrated, an average, an RMS (Root Mean Square)
value, a frequency, a period, a duty-cycle, a time-integrated, or a
time-derivative, of the sensed phenomenon. The sensor may be
operative to sense space-dependent characteristic of the sensed
phenomenon, such as to a pattern, a linear density, a surface
density, a volume density, a flux density, a current, a direction,
a rate of change in a direction, or a flow, of the sensed
phenomenon. The first device, the router, or the control server may
be operative to calculate or provide a space-dependent
characteristic of the sensed phenomenon, such as a pattern, a
linear density, a surface density, a volume density, a flux
density, a current, a direction, a rate of change in a direction,
or a flow, of the sensed phenomenon.
[0134] The actuator may affect, create, or change a phenomenon
associated with an object, and the object may be gas, air, liquid,
or solid. The actuator may be controlled by a digital input, and
may be electrical actuator powered by an electrical energy. The
actuator may be controlled by an analog input, and the second
device may comprise a digital to analog converter coupled to the
analog input, for converting a digital data to an actuator input
signal. The second device may comprise a signal conditioning
circuit coupled to the actuator input, the signal conditioning
circuit may comprise an amplifier, a voltage or current limiter, an
attenuator, a delay line or circuit, a level translator, a galvanic
isolator, an impedance transformer, a linearization circuit, a
calibrator, a passive filter, an active filter, an adaptive filter,
an integrator, a deviator, an equalizer, a spectrum analyzer, a
compressor or a de-compressor, a coder, a decoder, a modulator, a
demodulator, a pattern recognizer, a smoother, a noise remover, an
average circuit, or an RMS circuit. The actuator may be operative
to affect time-dependent characteristic such as a time-integrated,
an average, an RMS (Root Mean Square) value, a frequency, a period,
a duty-cycle, a time-integrated, or a time-derivative, of the
sensed phenomenon. The actuator may be operative to affect or
change space-dependent characteristic of the phenomenon, such as a
pattern, a linear density, a surface density, a volume density, a
flux density, a current, a direction, a rate of change in a
direction, or a flow, of the sensed phenomenon. The second device,
the router, or the control server may be operative to affect a
space-dependent characteristic such as a pattern, a linear density,
a surface density, a volume density, a flux density, a current, a
direction, a rate of change in a direction, or a flow, of the
phenomenon.
[0135] The system may comprise a third device external to the
building (or vehicle) comprising an additional sensor that responds
to a distinct or same phenomenon, the third device may be operative
to transmit an additional sensor digital data corresponding to the
distinct phenomenon to the control server, and the control server
may be operative to receive the additional sensor digital data, to
produce actuator commands in response to the received additional
sensor digital data according to the control logic. The third
device may communicate with the control server over the external
network, over a network distinct from the external network, or
both.
[0136] Alternatively or in addition, the system may comprise a
fourth device external to the building (or vehicle) comprising an
additional actuator that responds to received additional actuator
commands, the fourth device may be operative to receive an
additional actuator commands from the control server, and the
control server may be operative to transmit the additional actuator
commands to the fourth device. The fourth device may communicate
with the control server over the external network, over a network
distinct from the external network, or both.
[0137] The control loop may involve randomness, and the system may
comprise a random number generator for generating random numbers.
The random number generator may be hardware based, and may based on
thermal noise, shot noise, nuclear decaying radiation,
photoelectric effect, or quantum phenomena. Alternatively or in
addition, the random number generator may be software based, and
the system may execute an algorithm for generating pseudo-random
numbers.
[0138] The sensor, the actuator, the first device, the second
device, or the router may comprise, or may be integrated with, an
outlet or an outlet plug-in module for connecting to in-wall
wiring. The outlet may be a telephone, LAN, AC power, or CATV
outlet, and the in-wall wiring may be a telephone wire pair, a LAN
cable, an AC power cable, or a CATV coaxial cable. The in-wall
wiring may be carrying a power signal to power part or whole of the
sensor, the actuator, the first device, the second device, or the
router. The in-wall wiring may serve as the in-building (or
in-vehicle) network medium for communication associated with the
first device, the second device, or the router.
[0139] The system may comprise multiple sensors arranged as a
directional sensor array, and the system may be operative to
estimate the number, magnitude, frequency, Direction-Of-Arrival
(DOA), distance, or speed of the signal impinging the sensor array.
The control logic may include processing of the sensor array
outputs. A single component may consist of, or may be part of, the
sensor and the actuator. The sensor may be a piezoelectric sensor
that uses the transverse, longitudinal, or shear effect mode of the
piezoelectric effect. Alternatively or in addition, the sensor may
be based on ultrasonic-waves propagation, sensing eddy-currents,
based on proximity sensor. The sensor may be a bulk or surface
acoustic sensor, or may be an atmospheric or an environmental
sensor.
[0140] The sensor may be a thermoelectric sensor that senses or
responds to a temperature or a temperature gradient of an object
using conduction, convection, or radiation, and may consist of, or
comprise, a Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) thermistor, a
Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) thermistor, a thermocouple,
a quartz crystal, or a Resistance Temperature Detector (RTD). A
radiation-based sensor may respond to radioactivity, nuclear
radiation, alpha particles, beta particles, or gamma rays, and may
be based on gas ionization.
[0141] The sensor may be a photoelectric sensor that responds to a
visible or an invisible light or both, such as infrared,
ultraviolet, X-rays, or gamma rays. The photoelectric sensor may be
based on the photoelectric or photovoltaic effect, and consists of,
or comprises, a semiconductor component such as a photodiode, a
phototransistor, or a solar cell. The photoelectric sensor may be
based on Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) or a Complementary Metal-Oxide
Semiconductor (CMOS) element. The sensor may be a photosensitive
image sensor array comprising multiple photoelectric sensors, and
may be operative for capturing an image and producing an electronic
image information representing the image, and may comprise one or
more optical lens for focusing the received light and mechanically
oriented to guide the image, and the image sensor may be disposed
approximately at an image focal point plane of the one or more
optical lens for properly capturing the image. An image processor
may be coupled to the image sensor for providing a digital data
video signal according to a digital video format, the digital video
signal carrying digital data video based on the captured images,
and the digital video format may be according to, or based on, one
out of: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), RAW format, AVI, DV, MOV,
WMV, MP4, DCF (Design Rule for Camera Format), ITU-T H.261, ITU-T
H.263, ITU-T H.264, ITU-T CCIR 601, ASF, Exif (Exchangeable Image
File Format) and DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) standards. A
video compressor may be coupled to the image sensor for lossy or
non-lossy compressing of the digital data video, and may be based
on a standard compression algorithm such as JPEG (Joint
Photographic Experts Group) and MPEG (Moving Picture Experts
Group), ITU-T H.261, ITU-T H.263, ITU-T H.264, or ITU-T CCIR
601.
[0142] The sensor may be an electrochemical sensor and may respond
to an object chemical structure, properties, composition, or
reactions. The electrochemical sensor may be a pH meter or may be a
gas sensor responding to the presence of radon, hydrogen, oxygen,
or Carbon-Monoxide (CO). The electrochemical sensor may be a smoke,
a flame, or a fire detector, and may be based on optical detection
or on ionization for responding to combustible, flammable, or toxic
gas.
[0143] The sensor may be a physiological sensor and may respond to
parameters associated with a live body, and may be external to the
sensed body, implanted inside the sensed body, attached to the
sensed body, or wearable on the sensed body. The physiological
sensor may be responding to body electrical signals such as an EEG
Electroencephalography (EEG) or an Electrocardiography (ECG)
sensor, or may be responding to oxygen saturation, gas saturation,
or blood pressure.
[0144] The sensor may be an electroacoustic sensor and may respond
to a sound, such as inaudible or audible audio. The electroacoustic
sensor may be a an omnidirectional, unidirectional, or
bidirectional microphone, may be based on the sensing the incident
sound based motion of a diaphragm or a ribbon, and may consist of,
or comprise, a condenser, an electret, a dynamic, a ribbon, a
carbon, or a piezoelectric microphone.
[0145] The sensor may be an electric sensor and may respond to or
measure an electrical characteristics or electrical phenomenon
quantity, and may be conductively, non-conductively, or non-contact
couplable to the sensed element. The electrical sensor may be
responsive to Alternating Current (AC) or Direct Current (DC), and
may be an ampermeter and respond to an electrical current passing
through a conductor or wire. The ampermeter may consist of, or
comprises, a galvanometer, a hot-wire ampermeter, a current clamp,
or a current probe. Alternatively or in addition, the electrical
sensor may be a voltmeter and may respond to or measure an
electrical voltage. The voltmeter may consist of, or comprise, an
electrometer, a resistor, a potentiometer, or a bridge circuit. The
electrical sensor may be a wattmeter such as an electricity meter
that responds to electrical energy, and may measure or respond to
active electrical power. The wattmeter may be based on induction,
or may be based on multiplying measured voltage and current.
[0146] The electrical sensor may be an impedance meter and may
respond to the impedance of the sensed element such as bridge
circuit or an ohmmeter, and may be based on supplying a current or
a voltage and respectively measuring a voltage or a current. The
impedance meter may be a capacitance or an inductance meter (or
both) and may respond to the capacitance or the inductance of the
sensed element, being measuring in a single frequency or in
multiple frequencies. The electrical sensor may be a Time-Domain
Reflectometer (TDR) and may respond to the impedance changes along
a conductive transmission line, such as an optical TDR that may
respond to the changes along an optical transmission line.
[0147] The sensor may be a magnetic sensor and may respond to an H
or B magnetic field, and may consists of, or may be based on, a
Hall effect sensor, a MEMS, a magneto-diode, a magneto-transistor,
an AMR magnetometer, a GMR magnetometer, a magnetic tunnel junction
magnetometer, a Nuclear precession magnetic field sensor, an
optically pumped magnetic field sensor, a fluxgate magnetometer, a
search coil magnetic field sensor, or a Superconducting Quantum
Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometer. The magnetic sensor may
be MEMS based, and may be a Lorentz force based MEMS sensor or may
be an Electron Tunneling based MEMS.
[0148] The sensor may be a tactile sensor and may respond to a
human body touch, and may be based on a conductive rubber, a lead
zirconate titanate (PZT) material, a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)
material, a metallic capacitive element, or any combination
thereof.
[0149] The sensor may be a single-axis, 2-axis, or 3-axis motion
sensor and may respond to the magnitude, direction, or both, of the
sensor motion. The motion sensor may be a piezoelectric, a
piezoresistive, a capacitive, or a MEMS accelerometer and may
respond to the absolute acceleration or the acceleration relative
to freefall. The motion sensor may be an electromechanical switch
and may consist of, or comprises, an electrical tilt, or a
vibration switch.
[0150] The sensor may be a force sensor and may respond to the
magnitude, direction, or both, of a force, and may be based on a
spring extension, a strain gauge deformation, a piezoelectric
effect, or a vibrating wire. The force sensor may be a dynamometer
that responds to a torque or to a moment of the force.
[0151] The sensor may be a pressure sensor and may respond to a
pressure of a gas or a liquid, and may consist of, or comprise, an
absolute pressure sensor, a gauge pressure sensor, a vacuum
pressure sensor, a differential pressure sensor, or a sealed
pressure sensor. The pressure sensor may be based on a force
collector, the piezoelectric effect, a capacitive sensor, an
electromagnetic sensor, or a frequency resonator sensor.
[0152] The sensor may be an absolute, a relative displacement, or
an incremental position sensor, and may respond to a linear or
angular position, or motion, of a sensed element. The position
sensor may be an optical type or a magnetic type angular position
sensor, and may respond to an angular position or the rotation of a
shaft, an axle, or a disk. The angular position sensor may be based
on a variable-reluctance (VR), an Eddy-current killed oscillator
(ECKO), a Wiegand sensing, or a Hall-effect sensing, and may be
transformer based such as an RVDT, a resolver or a synchro. The
angular position sensor may be an electromechanical type such as an
absolute or an incremental, mechanical or optical, rotary encoder.
The angular position sensor may be an angular rate sensor and may
respond to the angular rate, or the rotation speed, of a shaft, an
axle, or a disc, and may consist of, or comprise, a gyroscope, a
tachometer, a centrifugal switch, a Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG), or
a fiber-optic gyro. The position sensor may be a linear position
sensor and may respond to a linear displacement or position along a
line, and may consist of, or comprise, a transformer, an LVDT, a
linear potentiometer, or an incremental or absolute linear
encoder.
[0153] The sensor may be a motion detector and may respond to a
motion of an element, and may based on sound, geomagnetism,
reflection of a transmitted energy, electromagnetic induction, or
vibration. The motion detector may consist of, or comprise, a
mechanically-actuated switch.
[0154] The sensor may be a strain gauge and may respond to the
deformation of an object, and may be based on a metallic foil, a
semiconductor, an optical fiber, vibrating or resonating of a
tensioned wire, or a capacitance meter. The sensor may be a
hygrometer and may respond to an absolute, relative, or specific
humidity, and may be based on optically detecting condensation, or
based on changing the capacitance, resistance, or thermal
conductivity of materials subjected to the measured humidity. The
sensor may be a clinometer and may respond to inclination or
declination, and may be based on an accelerometer, a pendulum, a
gas bubble in liquid, or a tilt switch.
[0155] The sensor may be a flow sensor and may measure the
volumetric or mass flow rate via a defined area, volume or surface.
The flow sensor may be a liquid flow sensor and may be measuring
the liquid flow in a pipe or in an open conduit. The liquid flow
sensor may be a mechanical flow meter and may consist of, or
comprise, a turbine flow meter, a Woltmann meter, a single jet
meter, or a paddle wheel meter. The liquid flow sensor may be a
pressure flow meter based on measuring an absolute pressure or a
pressure differential. The flow sensor may be a gas or an air flow
sensor such as anemometer for measuring wind or air speed, and may
measure the flow through a surface, a tube, or a volume, and may be
based on measuring the air volume passing in a time period. The
anemometer may consist of, or comprise, cup anemometer, a windmill
anemometer, a pressure anemometer, a hot-wire anemometer, or a
sonic anemometer.
[0156] The sensor may be a gyroscope for measuring orientation in
space, and may consist of, or comprise, a MEMS, a piezoelectric, a
FOG, or a VSG gyroscope, and may be based on a conventional
mechanical type, a nanosensor, a crystal, or a semiconductor.
[0157] The sensor may be an image sensor for capturing an image or
video, and the system may include an image processor for
recognition of a pattern, and the control logic may be operative to
respond to the recognized pattern such as appearance-based analysis
of hand posture or gesture recognition. The system may comprise an
additional image sensor, and the control logic may be operative to
respond to the additional image sensor such as to cooperatively
capture a 3-D image and for identifying the gesture recognition
from the 3-D image, based on volumetric or skeletal models, or a
combination thereof.
[0158] The sensor may be an image sensor for capturing still or
video image, and the sensor or the system may comprise an image
processor having an output for processing the captured image (still
or video). The image processor (hardware or software based, or a
hardware/software combination) may be encased entirely or in part
in the first device, the router, the control server, or any
combination thereof, and the control logic may respond to the image
processor output. The image sensor may be a digital video sensor
for capturing digital video content, and the image processor may be
operative for enhancing the video content such as by image
stabilization, unsharp masking, or super-resolution, or for Video
Content Analysis (VCA) such as Video Motion Detection (VMD), video
tracking, egomotion estimation, identification, behavior analysis,
situation awareness, dynamic masking, motion detection, object
detection, face recognition, automatic number plate recognition,
tamper detection, video tracking, or pattern recognition. The image
processor may be operative for detecting a location of an element,
and may be operative for detecting and counting the number of
elements in the captured image, such as a human body parts (such as
human face or a human hand) in the captured image. An example of
image processing for counting people is described in U.S. Pat. No.
7,466,844 to Arun Ramaswamy et al., entitled: "Methods and
Apparatus to Count People Appearing in an Image", which is
incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth
herein.
[0159] The actuator may be a light source that emits visible or
non-visible light (infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, or gamma rays)
such as for illumination or indication. The actuator may comprise a
shade, a reflector, an enclosing globe, or a lens, for manipulating
the emitted light. The light source may be an electric light source
for converting electrical energy into light, and may consist of, or
comprise, a lamp, such as an incandescent, a fluorescent, or a gas
discharge lamp. The electric light source may be based on
Solid-State Lighting (SSL) such as a Light Emitting Diode (LED)
which may be Organic LED (OLED), a polymer LED (PLED), or a laser
diode. The actuator may be a chemical or electrochemical actuator,
and may be operative for producing, changing, or affecting a matter
structure, properties, composition, process, or reactions, such as
producing, changing, or affecting an oxidation/reduction or an
electrolysis reaction.
[0160] The actuator may be a motion actuator and may cause linear
or rotary motion or may comprise a conversion mechanism (may be
based on a screw, a wheel and axle, or a cam) for converting to
rotary or linear motion. The conversion mechanism may be based on a
screw, and the system may include a leadscrew, a screw jack, a ball
screw or a roller screw, or may be based on a wheel and axle, and
the system may include a hoist, a winch, a rack and pinion, a chain
drive, a belt drive, a rigid chain, or a rigid belt. The motion
actuator may comprise a lever, a ramp, a screw, a cam, a
crankshaft, a gear, a pulley, a constant-velocity joint, or a
ratchet, for affecting the produced motion. The motion actuator may
be a pneumatic actuator, a hydraulic actuator, or an electrical
actuator. The motion actuator may be an electrical motor such as
brushed, a brushless, or an uncommutated DC motor, or a Permanent
Magnet (PM) motor, a Variable reluctance (VR) motor, or a hybrid
synchronous stepper DC motor. The electrical motor may be an
induction motor, a synchronous motor, or an eddy current AC motor.
The AC motor may be a single-phase AC induction motor, a two-phase
AC servo motor, or a three-phase AC synchronous motor, and may be a
split-phase motor, a capacitor-start motor, or a Permanent-Split
Capacitor (PSC) motor. The electrical motor may be an electrostatic
motor, a piezoelectric actuator, or a MEMS-based motor.
[0161] The motion actuator may be a linear hydraulic actuator, a
linear pneumatic actuator, or a linear electric motor such as
linear induction motor (LIM) or a Linear Synchronous Motor (LSM).
The motion actuator may be a piezoelectric motor, a Surface
Acoustic Wave (SAW) motor, a Squiggle motor, an ultrasonic motor,
or a micro- or nanometer comb-drive capacitive actuator, a
Dielectric or Ionic based Electroactive Polymers (EAPs) actuator, a
solenoid, a thermal bimorph, or a piezoelectric unimorph
actuator.
[0162] The actuator may be operative to move, force, or compress
liquid, gas or slurry, and may be a compressor or a pump. The pump
may be a direct lift, an impulse, a displacement, a valveless, a
velocity, a centrifugal, a vacuum, or a gravity pump. The pump may
be a positive displacement pump such as a rotary lobe, a
progressive cavity, a rotary gear, a piston, a diaphragm, a screw,
a gear, a hydraulic, or a vane pump. The positive displacement pump
may be a rotary-type positive displacement pump such as an internal
gear, a screw, a shuttle block, a flexible vane, a sliding vane, a
rotary vane, a circumferential piston, a helical twisted roots, or
a liquid ring vacuum pump. The positive displacement pump may be a
reciprocating-type positive displacement type such as a piston, a
diaphragm, a plunger, a diaphragm valve, or a radial piston pump.
The positive displacement pump may be a linear-type positive
displacement type such as rope-and-chain pump. The pump may be an
impulse pump such as a hydraulic ram, a pulser, or an airlift pump.
The pump may be a rotodynamic pump, such as a velocity pump or a
centrifugal pump, that may be a radial flow, an axial flow, or a
mixed flow pump.
[0163] The actuator may be a sounder for converting an electrical
energy to emitted audible or inaudible sound waves, emitted as
omnidirectional, unidirectional, or bidirectional pattern. The
sound may be audible, and the sounder may be an electromagnetic
loudspeaker, a piezoelectric speaker, an electrostatic loudspeaker
(ESL), a ribbon or a planar magnetic loudspeaker, or a bending wave
loudspeaker. The sounder may be electromechanical or ceramic based,
and may be operative to emit a single or multiple tones, and may be
operative to continuous or intermittent operation. The sounder may
be an electric bell, a buzzer (or beeper), a chime, a whistle or a
ringer. The sounder may be a loudspeaker, and the system may be
operative to play one or more digital audio content files (which
may include a pre-recorded audio) stored entirely or in part in the
second device, the router, or the control server. The system may
comprise a synthesizer for producing the digital audio content. The
sensor may be a microphone for capturing the digital audio content
to play by the sounder. The control logic or the system may be
operative to select one of the digital audio content files, and may
be operative for playing the selected file by the sounder. The
digital audio content may be music, and may include the sound of an
acoustical musical instrument such as a piano, a tuba, a harp, a
violin, a flute, or a guitar. The digital audio content may be a
male or female human voice saying a syllable, a word, a phrase, a
sentence, a short story or a long story. The system may comprise a
speech synthesizer (such as a Text-To-Speech (TTS) based) for
producing a human speech, being part of the second device, the
router, the control server, or any combination thereof. The speech
synthesizer may be a concatenative type, and may use unit
selection, diphone synthesis, or domain-specific synthesis.
Alternatively or in addition, the speech synthesizer may be a
formant type, articulatory synthesis based, or hidden Markov models
(HMM) based.
[0164] The actuator may be a monochrome, grayscale or color display
for visually presenting information, and may consist of an array of
light emitters or light reflectors. Alternatively or in addition,
the display may be a visual retinal display or a projector based on
an Eidophor, Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS or LCOS), LCD, MEMS or
Digital Light Processing (DLP.TM.) technology. The display may be a
video display that may support Standard-Definition (SD) or
High-Definition (HD) standards, and may be 3D video display. The
display may be capable of scrolling, static, bold or flashing the
presented information. The display may be an analog display having
an analog input interface such as NTSC, PAL or SECAM formats, or
analog input interface such as RGB, VGA (Video Graphics Array),
SVGA (Super Video Graphics Array), SCART or S-video interface.
Alternatively or in addition, the display may be a digital display
having a digital input interface such as IEEE1394, FireWire.TM.,
USB, SDI (Serial Digital Interface), HDMI (High-Definition
Multimedia Interface), DVI (Digital Visual Interface), UDI (Unified
Display Interface), DisplayPort, Digital Component Video, or DVB
(Digital Video Broadcast) interface. The display may be a Liquid
Crystal Display (LCD) display, a Thin Film Transistor (TFT), or an
LED-backlit LCD display, and may be based on a passive or an active
matrix. The display may be a Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT), a Field
Emission Display (FED), Electronic Paper Display (EPD) display
(based on Gyricon technology, Electro-Wetting Display (EWD), or
Electrofluidic display technology), a laser video display (based on
a Vertical-External-Cavity Surface-Emitting-Laser (VECSEL) or a
Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL)), an
Electroluminescent Display (ELD), a Vacuum Fluorescent Display
(VFD), or a passive-matrix (PMOLED) or active-matrix OLEDs (AMOLED)
Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display. The display may be a
segment display (such as Seven-segment display, a fourteen-segment
display, a sixteen-segment display, or a dot matrix display), and
may be operative to only display digits, alphanumeric characters,
words, characters, arrows, symbols, ASCII, non-ASCII characters, or
any combination thereof.
[0165] The actuator may be a thermoelectric actuator (such as an
electric thermoelectric actuator) and may be a heater or a cooler,
and may be operative for affecting or changing the temperature of a
solid, a liquid, or a gas object. The thermoelectric actuator may
be coupled to the object by conduction, convection, force
convention, thermal radiation, or by the transfer of energy by
phase changes. The thermoelectric actuator may include a heat pump,
or may be a cooler based on an electric motor based compressor for
driving a refrigeration cycle. The thermoelectric actuator may be
an induction heater, may be an electric heater such as a resistance
heater or a dielectric heater, or may be solid-state based such as
an active heat pump device based on the Peltier effect. The
actuator may be an electromagnetic coil or an electromagnet and may
be operative for generating magnetic or electric field.
[0166] The second device may comprise a signal generator that may
signals, and may output or provide repeating or non-repeating
electrical signal or signals. The actuator may consist of the
signal generator. Alternatively or in addition, the signal
generator may be coupled to control the actuator. The signal
generator may be an analog signal generator and the analog signal
generator output may be an analog voltage or an analog current,
such as a sine wave, a sawtooth, a step (pulse), a square, or a
triangular waveform. The analog signal generator output may be an
Amplitude Modulation (AM), a Frequency Modulation (FM), or a Phase
Modulation (PM) signal. The signal generator may be an Arbitrary
Waveform Generator (AWG) or a logic signal generator. The signal
generator may have a digital output for providing a digital pattern
signal.
[0167] The system may implement redundancy, and the system may
include one or more additional identical, similar, or different
sensors that respond to or measure the phenomenon, one or more
additional identical, similar, or different actuators that affect
the phenomenon, one or more redundant identical to, similar to, or
different from each other additional data paths, or any combination
thereof. The redundancy may be based on Dual Modula redundancy
(DMR), Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR), Quadruple Modular
Redundancy (QMR), 1:N Redundancy, `Cold Standby`, or `Hot Standby`.
The system may include an additional sensor that respond to the
phenomenon, and the control server may be operative to receive the
additional sensor data, and to produce actuator commands in
response to the received additional sensor digital data, and the
control logic may at one time produce actuator commands in response
only to the received additional sensor digital data. The system may
include a fifth device in the building (or vehicle) comprising the
additional sensor that responds to the same phenomenon, and the
fifth device may be operative to transmit the additional sensor
digital data to the router over one or more of the in-building (or
in-vehicle) networks in the building (or vehicle). The system may
include an additional actuator that affects the phenomenon, and the
control server may be operative to transmit the additional actuator
commands to the additional actuator. The control server may at one
time be operative to transmit the additional actuator commands only
to the additional actuator. The system may include a seventh device
in the building (or vehicle) comprising the additional actuator
that affects the phenomenon, the seventh device may be operative to
receive and execute the additional actuator commands received from
the router.
[0168] The system may comprise an eighth device that comprises a
sensor that responds to a second phenomenon, the eighth device may
be operative to transmit a sensor digital data corresponding to the
second phenomenon to the router over the one or more in-building
(or in-vehicle) networks. The second phenomenon may be of the same,
or distinct from, the phenomenon above. The sensor of the eighth
device may be of the same type, or distinct type, of the sensor of
the first device. The eighth device may communicate with the router
over the same, or distinct from, the in-building (or in-vehicle)
network used by the first device.
[0169] The system may comprise a ninth device that comprises an
actuator that affects a third phenomenon; the ninth device may be
operative to receive actuator commands corresponding to the third
phenomenon from the router over the one or more in-building (or in
vehicle) networks. The third phenomenon may be of the same, or
distinct from, the phenomenon above. The actuator of the ninth
device may be of the same type, or distinct type, of the sensor of
the second device. The ninth device may communicate with the router
over the same, or distinct from, the in-building (or in-vehicle)
network used by the second device.
[0170] The router, the first device, or the second device may be
connectable to be powered from a power source, and may comprise a
power supply couplable to the power source, such as a DC or AC
power source. The power source may be external to, or housed with,
the enclosure of the router, the first device, or the second
device, and may be a primary or rechargeable battery, an electrical
power generator for generating power from the phenomenon or from a
distinct another phenomenon, an electromechanical generator for
harvesting kinetic energy, a solar cell, or a Peltier-effect based
thermoelectric device. The AC power source may be mains AC power,
and the respective device may comprise an AC power connector
connectable to an AC power outlet.
[0171] One or more of the in-building (or in-vehicle) networks may
be a wired network having a cable carrying a communication signal,
and the router, the first device, or the second device may comprise
a connector for coupling to the cable. The cable may be connectable
to simultaneously carry a DC or AC power signal, and the router,
the first device, or the second device may be operative to supply
at least in part of the power signal, or at least in part be
powered from the power signal. The power signal may be carried over
dedicated wires in the cable, and the wires may be distinct from
the wires in the cable carrying the communication signal.
Alternatively or in addition, the power signal and the
communication signal may be carried over the same wires in the
cable, and the connected device or devices may comprise a
power/data splitter arrangement having first, second and third
ports, and only the digital data signal may be passed between the
first and second ports, and only power signal may be passed between
the first and third ports, and the first port may be coupled to the
connector. The power and digital data signals may be carried using
Frequency Division/Domain Multiplexing (FDM), where the
communication signal may be carried over a frequency band above and
distinct from the power signal frequency or frequency band, and the
power/data splitter may be comprising an HPF between the first and
second ports and a LPF between the first and third ports.
Alternatively or in addition, the power/data splitter may comprise
a transformer and a capacitor connected to the transformer
windings. The power and digital data signals may be carried using a
phantom scheme, and the power/data splitter may comprise at least
two transformers having a center-tap connection. The power and
digital data signals may be carried substantially according to IEEE
802.3af-2003 or IEEE 802.3at-2009 standards.
[0172] Two devices out of the router, the first device, the second
device, and the Internet-connected control server may be operative
for communicating with each other using two, three or more multiple
data paths. Two, three or more multiple data paths may be in part
or fully distinct from each other, or of the same type. The
multiple data paths may be using multiple networks, and at least
two out of the multiple networks may be similar, identical, or
different from each other. At least two out of the multiple
networks may use similar, identical, or different network mediums,
and at least two out of the multiple networks may use similar,
identical, or different protocols, or at least two out of the
multiple networks may be coupled to using similar, identical, or
different physical layers. In one example, one network may be a
wired network and at least one other network may be a wireless
network. In one example, one network may be based on conductive
medium and at least one other network may be based on
non-conductive medium. The conductive medium may be coaxial cable,
twisted-pair, powerlines, or telephone lines, and the
non-conductive medium may be using RF, light or sound guided or
over-the-air propagation. Two networks may be of different types
selected from NFC, PAN, LAN, MAN, and WAN. Two networks may use
different modulation schemes selected from AM, FM, and PM. Two
networks may use different duplexing schemes selected from
half-duplex, full-duplex, and unidirectional. Two networks may use
different line codes or provide different data-rates. One network
may be packet-based and at least one other network may be
circuit-switched. One network may be a private network and at least
one network may be public.
[0173] The router, the first device, the second device, or the
Internet-connected control server, may be operative for
communicating with another device in the system over multiple data
paths. The router, the first device, the second device, or the
Internet-connected control server, may comprise multiple network
interfaces each associated with a respective data path and an
associated data path network coupled to the network interface, and
each of the network interface may comprise a transceiver or a modem
for transmitting digital data to, and receiving digital data from,
the respective network, and a network port for coupling to the
respective network. Two or all out of the network interfaces may be
of the same type, two or all out of the network interfaces may use
similar, identical, or different transceivers or modems, and two or
all out of the network interfaces may use similar, identical, or
different network ports or connectors. Each of the connectors may
be a coaxial connector, a twisted-pair connector, an AC power
connector, a telephone connector.
[0174] One or more out of the data path networks may be based on a
non-conductive medium, and each of the respective network ports may
be non-conductive coupler such as an antenna, a light emitter, a
light detector, a microphone, a speaker, and a fiber-optics
connector. One or more of the data path networks may be based on a
conductive medium, and each of the respective network port may be a
connector, and one out of the data path networks may be based on a
non-conductive medium, and the respective network port may be a
non-conductive coupler. Two or more out of the modems may be of
different scales such as NFC, PAN, LAN, MAN or WAN modems, may use
different modulation schemes such as AM, FM, or PM, or may use
different duplexing schemes such as half-duplex, full-duplex, or
unidirectional. One of the modems may be packet-based and at least
other one may be circuit-switched. One (or more) network port may
be used by two distinct network interfaces, designated as first and
second network interfaces, and the first and second network
interfaces may be operative to communicate over the same network
using FDM, where a first network interface may be using a first
frequency band and the second network interface may be using a
second frequency band, and the first and second frequency bands may
be distinct from each other or in part or in whole overlapping over
each other. The first and second network interfaces may comprise a
first and a second filters for substantially passing only signals
in the first and second frequency bands respectively.
[0175] The router, the first device, the second device, or the
Internet-connected control server, may be operative to send a
packet to another device via the one or more the network interfaces
to be carried over the one or more data paths, the packet
comprising a source address, a destination address, an information
type, and an information content. The same packet may be sent via
two or more, or via all of the network interfaces. The packet may
be sent via one of the network interfaces selected by a fixed,
adaptive, or dynamic selection mechanism, which may use, or be
based on, distinct number that may be assigned to each of the
network interfaces. The selection mechanism may be based on a
cyclic selection, the network interfaces may be randomly selected,
or the network interfaces may be selected based on the packet
source or destination address. Alternatively or in addition, the
assigned numbers may represent priority levels associated with the
network interfaces, and the network interface having the highest
priority level may be selected. The assigned numbers may be based
on the associated networks types or attributes or the performance
history, or on the current or past associated networks data rates,
transfer delays, networks mediums or networks mediums types,
qualities, duplexing schemes, line codes using, modulation schemes,
switching mechanisms, throughputs, or usages. The one or more
network interfaces may be selected based on the packet information
type or based on the packet information content
[0176] The second device may comprise a first electrically actuated
switch coupled for connecting an electric signal to the actuator,
and the electrically actuated switch may be actuated in response to
the control commands. The electric signal may be a power signal
from a power source, and the first electrically actuated switch
(`normally open` type, `normally closed` type, or a changeover
type) may be coupled between the power source and the actuator. The
first electrically actuated switch may be `make-before-break` or
`break-before-make` type, may have two or more poles or two or more
throws, and the switch contacts may be arranged as a
Single-Pole-Double-Throw (SPDT), Double-Pole-Double-Throw (DPDT),
Double-Pole-Single-Throw (DPST), or Single-Pole-Changeover (SPCO).
The first electrically actuated switch may be a latching or
non-latching type, solenoid-based electromagnetic relay such as a
reed relay. The relay may be solid-state or semiconductor based,
such as Solid State Relay (SSR), or may be based on an electrical
circuit such as an open collector transistor, an open drain
transistor, a thyristor, a TRIAC or an opto-isolator. The second
device may comprise a second electrically actuated switch which may
be connected in parallel or in series with the first electrically
actuated switch.
[0177] The first device, the second device, or the router, may be
integrated in part or entirely in an appliance. The appliance
primary function may be associated with food storage, handling, or
preparation, such as microwave oven, an electric mixer, a stove, an
oven, or an induction cooker for heating food, or the appliance may
be a refrigerator, a freezer, a food processor, a dishwashers, a
food blender, a beverage maker, a coffeemaker, or a iced-tea maker.
The appliance primary function may be associated with environmental
control such as temperature control, and the appliance may consist
of, or may be part of, an HVAC system, an air conditioner or a
heater. The appliance primary function may be associated with
cleaning, such as washing machine or clothes dryer for clothes
cleaning, or a vacuum cleaner. The appliance primary function may
be associated with water control or water heating. The appliance
may be an answering machine, a telephone set, a home cinema system,
a HiFi system, a CD or DVD player, an electric furnace, a trash
compactor, a smoke detector, a light fixture, or a dehumidifier.
The appliance may be a handheld computing device or a
battery-operated portable electronic device, such as a notebook or
laptop computer, a media player, a cellular phone, a Personal
Digital Assistant (PDA), an image processing device, a digital
camera, or a video recorder. The integration with the appliance may
involve sharing a component such as housing in the same enclosure,
sharing the same connector such as sharing a power connector for
connecting to a power source, where the integration involves
sharing the same connector for being powered from the same power
source. The integration with the appliance may involve sharing the
same power supply, sharing the same processor, mounting onto the
same surface. The first device or the second device may be
integrated with the router, such as being enclosed in the router
housing.
[0178] One or more of the in-building (or in-vehicle) networks may
be a Body Area Network (BAN) according to, or based on, IEEE
802.15.6 standard, and the router, the first device, or the second
device may comprise a BAN interface that may include a BAN port and
a BAN transceiver. The BAN may be a Wireless BAN (WBAN), and the
BAN port may be an antenna and the BAN transceiver may be a WBAN
modem. Alternatively or in addition, the external network or one or
more of the in-building (or in-vehicle) networks may be a Personal
Area Network (PAN) according to, or based on, Bluetooth.TM. or IEEE
802.15.1-2005 standards, and the router, the first device, or the
second device may comprise a PAN interface, and the PAN interface
may include a PAN port and a PAN transceiver. The PAN may be a
Wireless PAN (WPAN), and the PAN port may be an antenna and the PAN
transceiver may be a WPAN modem. The WPAN may be a wireless control
network according to, or based on, Zigbee.TM. or Z-Wave.TM.
standards, such as IEEE 802.15.4-2003.
[0179] The external network or one or more of the in-building (or
in-vehicle) networks may be a Local Area Network (LAN), and the
router, the first device, or the second device may comprise a LAN
interface, and the LAN interface may include a LAN port and a LAN
transceiver. The LAN may be an Ethernet-based wired LAN such as
according to, or based on, IEEE 802.3-2008 standard, and the LAN
port may be a LAN connector and the LAN transceiver may be a LAN
modem. The wired LAN medium may be based on twisted-pair copper
cables, and the LAN interface may be according to, or based on,
10Base-T, 100Base-T, 100Base-TX, 100Base-T2, 100Base-T4,
1000Base-T, 1000Base-TX, 10GBase-CX4, or 10GBase-T, and the LAN
connector may be according to, or based on, RJ-45 type. The wired
LAN medium may be based on an optical fiber, and the LAN interface
may be according to, or based on, 10Base-FX, 100Base-SX,
100Base-BX, 100Base-LX10, 1000Base-CX, 1000Base-SX, 1000Base-LX,
1000Base-LX10, 1000Base-ZX, 1000Base-BX10, 10GBase-SR, 10GBase-LR,
10GBase-LRM, 10GBase-ER, 10GBase-ZR, or 10GBase-LX4, and the LAN
connector may be according to, or based on, a fiber-optic
connector. The LAN may be a Wireless LAN (WLAN) such as according
to, or base on, IEEE 802.11-2012, and the WLAN port may be a WLAN
antenna and the WLAN transceiver may be a WLAN modem. The WLAN may
be according to, or base on, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE
802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, or IEEE 802.11ac.
[0180] The external network or one or more of the in-building (or
in-vehicle) networks may be a Home Network (HN), and the router,
the first device, or the second device may comprise a HN interface
that may includes a HN port and a HN transceiver. The HN may be a
wired HN using a wired HN medium, and the HN port may be an HN
connector, and the HN transceiver may be an HN modem. The wired HN
medium may comprise a wiring primarily installed for carrying a
service signal, and the wiring may be an in-wall wiring connected
to by a wiring connector at a service outlet. The HN may be
according to, or based on, a standard such as ITU-T Recommendation
G.9954, ITU-T Recommendation G.9960, ITU-T Recommendation G.9970,
IEEE 1901-2010, ITU-T Recommendation G.9961, or ITU-T
Recommendation G.9972. The wiring may be a telephone wire pair, the
service signal may be an analog telephone signal (POTS), the wiring
connector may be a telephone connector, and the HN may be according
to, or based on, HomePNA standard. Alternatively or in addition,
the wiring may be a coaxial cable, the service signal may be a
Cable Television (CATV) signal, the wiring connector may be a
coaxial connector, and the HN may be according to, or based on,
Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) standard. The wiring may be an
AC power wires, the service signal may be an AC power signal, the
wiring connector may be an AC power connector, and the HN may be
according to, or based on, HomePlug.TM., HD-PLC, or Universal
Powerline Association (UPA) standards.
[0181] The external network or one or more of the in-building (or
in-vehicle) networks may be a Wide Area Network (WAN), and the
router, the first device, or the second device may comprise a WAN
interface that may include a WAN port and a WAN transceiver. The
WAN may be a wired WAN, the WAN port may be a WAN connector, and
the WAN transceiver may be a WAN modem. The wired WAN medium may
comprise a wiring primarily installed for carrying a service signal
to or within the building or vehicle. The wired WAN medium may
comprise one or more telephone wire pairs primarily designed for
carrying an analog telephone signal, and the external network or
one or more of the in-building (or in-vehicle) networks may be
based on Digital Subscriber Line/Loop (DSL) technology, such as
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) that may be according to,
or based on, ANSI T1.413, ITU-T Recommendation G.992.1, or ITU-T
Recommendation G.992.2, or ADSL2 that may be according to, or based
on, ITU-T Recommendation G.992.3 or ITU-T Recommendation G.992.4.
The external network or one or more of the in-building (or
in-vehicle) networks may be based on Digital Subscriber Line/Loop
(DSL) technology, such as ADSL2+ that may be according to, or based
on, ITU-T Recommendation G.992.5, or Very-high-bit-rate Digital
Subscriber Line (VDSL) that may be according to, or based on, ITU-T
Recommendation G.993.1 or ITU-T Recommendation G.993.2.
[0182] The wired WAN medium may comprise AC power wires primarily
designed for carrying an AC power signal to, or within, the
building (or vehicle), and the external network or one or more of
the in-building (or in-vehicle) networks may be using Broadband
over Power Lines (BPL) that may be according to, or based on, IEEE
1675-2008 or IEEE 1901-2010. The wired WAN medium may comprise
coaxial cable primarily designed for carrying a CATV to, or within,
the building (or vehicle), and the network may be using
Data-Over-Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), that may
be according to, or based on, ITU-T Recommendation J.112, ITU-T
Recommendation J.122, or ITU-T Recommendation J.222. The wired WAN
medium may comprise an optical fiber, and the WAN connector may be
a fiber-optic connector, and the WAN may be based on
Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH), Fiber-To-The-Building (FTTB),
Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP), Fiber-To-The-Curb (FTTC), or
Fiber-To-The-Node (FTTN).
[0183] The WAN may be a wireless broadband network, and the WAN
port may be an antenna and the WAN transceiver may be a wireless
modem. The wireless network may be a satellite network, the antenna
may be a satellite antenna, and the wireless modem may be a
satellite modem. The wireless network may be a WiMAX network such
as according to, or based on, IEEE 802.16-2009, the antenna may be
a WiMAX antenna, and the wireless modem may be a WiMAX modem. The
wireless network may be a cellular telephone network, the antenna
may be a cellular antenna, and the wireless modem may be a cellular
modem. The cellular telephone network may be a Third Generation
(3G) network and may use UMTS W-CDMA, UMTS HSPA, UMTS TDD, CDMA2000
1.times.RTT, CDMA2000 EV-DO, or GSM EDGE-Evolution. The cellular
telephone network may be a Fourth Generation (4G) network and may
use HSPA+, Mobile WiMAX, LTE, LTE-Advanced, MBWA, or may be based
on IEEE 802.20-2008.
[0184] The external network or one or more of the in-building (or
in-vehicle) networks may be a wireless network and may use a
licensed or an unlicensed radio frequency band, such as the
Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio band. The external
network or one or more of the in-building (or in-vehicle) networks
may use unlicensed radio frequency band that may be about 60 GHz,
may be used for in-room (or in-vehicle) communication, may be based
on beamforming, and may supports a data rate of above 7 Gb/s, and
may be according to, or based on, WiGig.TM., IEEE 802.11ad,
WirelessHD.TM. or IEEE 80215.3c-2009, may be operative to carry
uncompressed video data, and may be according to, or based on,
WHDI.TM.. The wireless network may use a white space spectrum that
may be an analog television channel consisting of a 6 MHz, 7 MHz or
8 MHz frequency band, and allocated in the 54-806 MHz band. The
wireless network may be operative for channel bonding, and may use
two or more analog television channels, and may be based on
Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN) standard, and the wireless
communication may couple a Base Station (BS) and one or more CPEs,
and the wireless communication may be based on OFDMA modulation.
The router, the first device, the second device, or the external
server may serve as BS. Alternatively or in addition, the router,
the first device, the second device, or the external server may
serve as a CPE. The wireless communication may be based on
geographically-based cognitive radio, and may be according to, or
based on, IEEE 802.22 or IEEE 802.11af standards.
[0185] The wireless network may be based on, or according to, Near
Field Communication (NFC) using passive or active communication
mode, may use the 13.56 MHz frequency band, and data rate may be
106 Kb/s, 212 Kb/s, or 424 Kb/s, and the modulation may be
Amplitude-Shift-Keying (ASK). The communication may be based on an
NFC standard, and the wireless communication may couple an
initiator and a target, and the router may serve as an initiator,
and the first or second device may serve as a target or
transponder. Alternatively or in addition, the first or second
device, or the external server may serve as initiator or as a
target or both, and the wireless communication may be according to,
or based on, ISO/IEC 18092, ECMA-340, ISO/IEC 21481, or ECMA-352.
The external network or one or more of the in-building networks may
be packet-based or circuit switched network.
[0186] The router, the first device, the second device, the router,
the control server, the sensor, the actuator, or any combination
thereof, or any network interface, port, or any component or
sub-system of the devices, may be addressable in a digital data
network, such as the in-building (or in-vehicle) network, one or
more of the external networks, a WAN, a LAN, a PAN, a BAN, a home
network, or the Internet. The devices may be addressable using a
digital address stored in a volatile or non-volatile memory in the
respective device, uniquely identifying in the digital data
network. The digital address may be a MAC layer address such as
MAC-48, EUI-48, or EUI-64, or may be a layer 3 address such as
static or dynamic IP address such as Pv4 or IPv6 type address. The
digital address may be locally administered addresses or a
universally administered address that is assigned during
manufacturing. The digital address may be autonomously assigned by
the addressed device or the address may be assigned by another
device (e.g., using DHCP mechanism) via a communication interface
over the in-building (or in-vehicle) networks or the external
networks. The router, the first device, or the second device may
addressable in one or more digital data networks using multiple
digital addresses, each associated with a respective network
interface.
[0187] The control logic may be affecting a control loop for
controlling the phenomenon. The control loop may be a closed
control loop, and the sensor data may serve as a feedback to
command the actuator. The control loop may be a linear closed
control loop and may be using proportional, integral, or derivative
(or Proportional, Integral, and Derivative (PID)) of the loop
deviation from a set-point or a reference. The control loop may use
feed-forward, Bistable, fuzzy, Bang-Bang, or Hysteretic control, or
may use fuzzy control based on fuzzy logic.
[0188] In one aspect, an apparatus for coupling between an internal
network extending substantially within an enclosed environment
(such as a building or a vehicle) and an external network, coupled
to the Internet for communication with a control server and
extending substantially outside the enclosed environment is
disclosed. The apparatus may be used with (or include) a sensor
disposed in the enclosed environment that senses a first condition
in the enclosed environment and provides sensor data corresponding
to the condition, and may be used with (or include) an actuator
disposed to affect the first condition in the enclosed environment
in response to received actuator commands. The apparatus may
comprise in a single enclosure a first port for coupling to the
internal network; a first modem coupled to the first port for
communication over the internal network; a second port for coupling
to the external network; a second modem coupled to the second port
for communication over the external network; and a router coupled
between the first and second modems so as to pass information
between the internal and external networks, the router may be
configured to deliver the sensor data from the internal network to
the control server over the external networks and to deliver the
actuator commands from the control server to the actuator over the
internal network.
[0189] The apparatus may be a gateway, or may be operative for IP
routing, NAT, DHCP, firewalling, parental control, rate converting,
fault isolating, protocol converting or translating, or proxy
serving. The apparatus may comprise in the single enclosure an
additional sensor that senses a second condition that may be
distinct from, or same as, the first condition, and may provide
additional sensor data corresponding to the second condition, and
the apparatus may transmit the additional sensor data to the
control server over the external network, or over a network
distinct from the external network. The apparatus may comprise in
the single enclosure an additional actuator that affects a second
condition that may be distinct from, or same as, the first
condition, in response to received additional actuator commands,
and the apparatus may receive the additional actuator commands from
the control server over the external network or over a network
distinct from the external network.
[0190] The apparatus may produce actuator commands in response to
the sensor data according to control logic, and may deliver the
actuator commands to the actuator over the internal network. The
control logic may affect a control loop for controlling the
condition, and the control loop may be a closed linear control loop
where the sensor data serve as a feedback to command the actuator
based on the loop deviation from a setpoint or a reference value
that may be fixed, set by a user, or may be time dependent. The
closed control loop may be a proportional-based, an integral-based,
a derivative-based, or a Proportional, Integral, and Derivative
(PID) based control loop, and the control loop may use
feed-forward, Bistable, Bang-Bang, Hysteretic, or fuzzy logic based
control. The control loop may be based on, or associated with,
randomness based on random numbers; and the apparatus may comprise
a random number generator for generating random numbers that may be
hardware-based using thermal noise, shot noise, nuclear decaying
radiation, photoelectric effect, or quantum phenomena.
Alternatively or in addition, the random number generator may be
software-based and may execute an algorithm for generating
pseudo-random numbers. The apparatus may couple to, or comprise in
the single enclosure, an additional sensor responsive to a third
condition distinct from the first or second conditions, and the
setpoint may be dependent upon the output of the additional
sensor.
[0191] The apparatus may communicate over an outlet connected
in-wall wiring used by the internal or the external network as a
network medium. The single enclosure may consist of, comprise, or
may be integrated with, the outlet or a plug-in module pluggable to
the outlet. The outlet may be a telephone, LAN, AC power, or CATV
outlet, and the in-wall wiring may respectively be a telephone wire
pair, a LAN cable, an AC power cable, or a CATV coaxial cable, and
the first or second modem may be operative to respectively
communicate over the telephone wire pair, the LAN cable, the AC
power cable, or the CATV coaxial cable. The in-wall wiring may
carry a power signal, and the apparatus may at least in part be
powered from the power signal. The sensor may be a photosensitive
image sensor array comprising multiple photoelectric sensors, for
capturing an image and producing electronic image information
representing the image, and the apparatus may comprise an image
processor coupled to the image sensor for providing a digital video
data signal that may carry digital video data based on the captured
images, and may use a digital video format that may be based on one
out of: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), RAW format, AVI, DV, MOV,
WMV, MP4, DCF (Design Rule for Camera Format), ITU-T H.261, ITU-T
H.263, ITU-T H.264, ITU-T CCIR 601, ASF, Exif (Exchangeable Image
File Format), and DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) standards. The
apparatus may comprise an intraframe or interframe compression
based video compressor coupled to the image sensor for lossy or
non-lossy compressing the digital video data, and the compression
may be based on a standard compression algorithm which may be JPEG
(Joint Photographic Experts Group) and MPEG (Moving Picture Experts
Group), ITU-T H.261, ITU-T H.263, ITU-T H.264, or ITU-T CCIR 601.
The apparatus may calculate or provide a space-dependent
characteristic of the sensed condition, such as a pattern, a linear
density, a surface density, a volume density, a flux density, a
current, a direction, a rate of change in a direction, or a flow,
of the condition.
[0192] The internal or external network may use a cable carrying a
communication signal, and the first or second port may consist of a
connector for connecting to the cable, and the cable may be
connectable to simultaneously carry a DC or AC power signal and the
communication signal. The apparatus may supply at least in part of
the power signal or may be at least in part powered from the power
signal. The power signal may be carried over dedicated wires in the
cable, and the wires may distinct from the wires in the cable
carrying the communication signal. Alternatively or in addition,
the power signal and the communication signal may be concurrently
carried over the same wires in the cable, and the apparatus may
comprise a power/data splitter arrangement having first, second and
third ports, where only the communication signal may be passed
between the first and second ports, and only the power signal may
be passed between the first and third ports, and the first port may
be coupled to the connector. The power and communication signals
may be carried using Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), where
the power signal may be carried over a power signal frequency or a
power frequency band, and the communication signal may be carried
over a frequency band above and distinct from the power signal
frequency or the power frequency band, and the power/data splitter
may consist or comprise an HPF between the first and second ports
and a LPF between the first and third ports. Alternatively or in
addition, the power/data splitter may comprise a transformer and a
capacitor connected to the transformer windings. Alternatively or
in addition, the power and digital data signals may be carried
using a phantom scheme and the power/data splitter may comprise at
least two transformers having a center-tap connection.
Alternatively or in addition, the power and digital data signals
may be carried substantially or entirely according to IEEE
802.3af-2003 or IEEE 802.3at-2009 standards.
[0193] The second port and the second modem may consist of (or be
part of) a first network interface, for use with an additional
external network and for communicating with the control server over
multiple data paths. The apparatus may comprise a second network
interface consisting of a third port for coupling to the additional
external network, and a third modem coupled to the third port for
communication over the additional external network. The first and
second network interfaces may be of a same type, the external
network interface may be based on a conductive medium, and the
second port may be a connector that may be a coaxial connector, a
twisted-pair connector, an AC power connector, or a telephone
connector. Alternatively or in addition, the external network may
use a non-conductive medium, and the second port may be a
non-conductive coupler that may be an antenna, a light emitter, a
light detector, a microphone, a speaker, or a fiber-optics
connector. Alternatively or in addition, the external network may
be based on conductive medium, the second port may be a connector,
the additional external network may be based on a non-conductive
medium, and the third port may be a non-conductive coupler. The
second and third modems may be of different scales such as NFC,
PAN, LAN, MAN or WAN modems, the second and third modems may use
different modulation schemes such as AM, FM, or PM, the second and
third modems may use different duplexing schemes such as
half-duplex, full-duplex, or unidirectional, the second modem may
be packet-based and the third modem may be circuit-switched, or the
second port and the third port may be the same port used by both
the first and second network interfaces. Alternatively or in
addition, the first and second network interfaces may be operative
to communicate over a same network using FDM, where the first
network interface may be using a first frequency band and the
second network interface may be using a second frequency band, that
may be overlapping or non-overlapping with the first frequency
band.
[0194] The first port and the first modem may consist of (or be
part of) a third network interface, for use with an additional
internal network and for communicating with the control server over
multiple data paths. The apparatus may comprise a fourth network
interface consisting of a fourth port for coupling to the
additional external network, and a fourth modem coupled to the
fourth port for communication over the additional internal network.
The third and fourth network interfaces may be of a same type, the
external network interface may be based on a conductive medium, and
the second port may be a connector that may be a coaxial connector,
a twisted-pair connector, an AC power connector, or a telephone
connector. Alternatively or in addition, the external network may
use a non-conductive medium, and the second port may be a
non-conductive coupler that may be an antenna, a light emitter, a
light detector, a microphone, a speaker, or a fiber-optics
connector. Alternatively or in addition, the internal network may
be based on conductive medium, the first port may be a connector,
the additional internal network may be based on a non-conductive
medium, and the fourth port may be a non-conductive coupler. The
first and fourth modems may be NFC, PAN, LAN, MAN or WAN modems,
the first and fourth modems may use different modulation schemes
such as AM, FM, or PM, the first and fourth modems may use
different duplexing schemes such as half-duplex, full-duplex, or
unidirectional, the first modem may be packet-based and the fourth
modem may be circuit-switched, or the first port and the fourth
port may be the same port used by both the third and fourth network
interfaces. Alternatively or in addition, the third and fourth
network interfaces may be operative to communicate over a same
network using FDM, where the third network interface may be using a
first frequency band and the fourth network interface may be using
a second frequency band, that may be overlapping or non-overlapping
with the first frequency band.
[0195] The apparatus may send a packet to the control server via
the network interfaces carried over two distinct data paths. The
packet may comprise a source address, a destination address, an
information type, and information content. The packet may be sent
via the network interfaces (or both) selected by a fixed, adaptive,
or dynamic selection mechanism. A distinct number may be assigned
to each of the network interfaces, and the selection mechanism may
use, or be based on, the assigned numbers that may represent
priority levels associated with the network interfaces, and the
network interface having the highest priority level may be
selected. The network interfaces may be alternately or randomly
selected. The assigned numbers may be based on the associated
network types, attributes, or their performance history.
Alternatively or in addition, the assigned numbers may be based on
the current or past associated network data rates, transfer delays,
networks mediums or network medium types, qualities, duplexing
schemes, line codes, modulation schemes, switching mechanisms,
throughputs, or usages. Alternatively or in addition, a network
interface may be selected based on the packet source address, based
on the packet destination address, based on the packet information
type, or based on the packet information content.
[0196] The sensor transfer function may be characterized as S(s),
the actuator transfer function may be characterized as C(s), the
actuator command may be characterized as A(s), and the sensor data
may be characterized as F(s). The apparatus may analyze the sensor
data versus the actuator commands, such as calculating of
F(s)/[S(s)*A(s)*C(s)], and may use the analysis to estimate or to
determine a condition characteristic or parameter. The apparatus
may periodically initiate and transmit actuator commands, and
analyzes the sensor data versus the transmitted actuator commands.
The apparatus may be integrated in part or entirely in an
appliance.
[0197] The internal network may be a Body Area Network (BAN), a
Personal Area Network (PAN), or a Local Area Network (LAN), the
first port may respectively be a BAN, PAN, or LAN port, and the
first modem may respectively be a BAN, PAN, or LAN modem. The LAN
may be a wired LAN using a wired LAN medium; the LAN port may be a
LAN connector; and the LAN transceiver may be a LAN modem. The LAN
may be Ethernet based; and the wired LAN may be according to, or
based on, IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. The external network may be a
packet-based or a circuit-switched-based Wide Area Network (WAN),
the second port may be a WAN port, and the second modem may be a
WAN transceiver.
[0198] The enclosed environment may be a vehicle and the single
enclosure may be attachable to the vehicle body. The apparatus may
communicate with another vehicle or with a roadside unit external
to the vehicle over the external network, and the condition may be
in the vehicle, external to the vehicle, or associated with
surroundings around the vehicle. The vehicle may be a bicycle, a
car, a motorcycle, a train, a ship, an aircraft, a boat, a
spacecraft, a boat, a submarine, a dirigible, an electric scooter,
a subway, a train, a trolleybus, a tram, a sailboat, a yacht, or an
airplane. The apparatus may be coupled to monitor or control an
Engine Control Unit (ECU), a Transmission Control Unit (TCU), an
Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), or Body Control Modules (BCM) of an
automobile. The internal network may be a vehicle bus that may be
according to, or based on, Control Area Network (CAN) or Local
Interconnect Network (LIN). The vehicle may comprise an On-Board
Diagnostics (OBD) system, and the apparatus may be coupled to or
integrated with the OBD system, and may communicate to the control
server an information regarding fuel and air metering, ignition
system, misfire, auxiliary emission control, vehicle speed and idle
control, transmission, on-board computer, fuel level, relative
throttle position, ambient air temperature, accelerator pedal
position, air flow rate, fuel type, oxygen level, fuel rail
pressure, engine oil temperature, fuel injection timing, engine
torque, engine coolant temperature, intake air temperature, exhaust
gas temperature, fuel pressure, injection pressure, turbocharger
pressure, boost pressure, exhaust pressure, exhaust gas
temperature, engine run time, NOx sensor, manifold surface
temperature, or a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).
[0199] The system may be used to measure, sense, or analyze the
changes over time of an environment, a phenomenon, or any
controlled item. The measured item may be characterized by a
transfer function P(s) impacted by an actuator (characterized as
C(s)) and sensed by a sensor S(s). By generating or excitation of
an actuator command A(s) and measuring the resulting sensor output
F(s), the control logic or the system in general may measure,
sense, estimate, or analyze the behavior or characteristic by
analyzing or calculating P(s)=F(s)/[S(s)*A(s)*C(s)]. The
calculation may be used to sense or measure a phenomenon that is
not (or cannot be) directly measured or sensed by using a dedicated
corresponding sensor, or as a sensor data for other control loops
in the system, for setpoint adjustment of other control loop, or
used for user notification. The control logic may initiate such
measurement cycle periodically, upon power up, upon a user control
(for example via a user device), or as part of a regular
control.
[0200] In one aspect, a control system is disclosed, comprising a
sensor disposed in an enclosed environment such as a building or a
vehicle, that senses a condition in the enclosed environment and
provides sensor response signals corresponding to the condition; an
internal network extending substantially within the enclosed
environment; an external network, coupled to the Internet,
extending substantially outside the enclosed environment; a control
server, disposed outside the enclosed environment, coupled to the
Internet, the server receiving sensor data corresponding to the
sensor response signals and executing control logic therein so as
to generate actuator commands responsive to the received sensor
data; a router coupled to the internal and external networks so as
to pass information between the internal and external networks, and
configured to deliver the sensor data from the internal to the
external networks and to deliver the actuator commands from the
external to the internal networks; and an actuator disposed within
the enclosed environment, receiving the actuator commands from the
router, the actuator operative to affect the condition in the
enclosed environment.
[0201] The sensor transfer function may be characterized as S(s),
the actuator transfer function may be characterized as C(s), the
actuator command may be characterized as A(s), and the sensor data
may be characterized as F(s). The control server is operative to
analyze the sensor data versus the transmitted actuator commands,
such as the calculating of F(s)/[S(s)*A(s)*C(s)]. The analysis may
be used to estimate or determine a phenomenon characteristics or
parameter, and may be used as an additional sensor data by the
system or the control logic. The control logic may be operative for
periodically initiating actuator commands and analyzing the sensor
data versus the transmitted actuator commands.
[0202] The above summary is not an exhaustive list of all aspects
of the present invention. Indeed, the inventor contemplates that
his invention includes all systems and methods that can be
practiced from all suitable combinations and derivatives of the
various aspects summarized above, as well as those disclosed in the
detailed description below and particularly pointed out in the
claims filed with the application. Such combinations have
particular advantages not specifically recited in the above
summary.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0203] The invention is herein described, by way of non-limiting
examples only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein
like designations denote like elements. Understanding that these
drawings only provide information concerning typical embodiments of
the invention and are not therefore to be considered limiting in
scope:
[0204] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a home
network system with a dedicated hardware-based gateway;
[0205] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
system with a cloud based gateway;
[0206] FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of
multiple cloud gateways serving several houses;
[0207] FIG. 3a illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
single cloud gateway serving several houses;
[0208] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
router connected to a cloud-based gateway;
[0209] FIG. 4a illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
router connected to multiple cloud-based gateways;
[0210] FIG. 4b illustrates the data paths and a schematic
electrical diagram of a router connected to multiple cloud-based
gateways;
[0211] FIG. 4c illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
router connected to a cloud-based gateway via multiple ISPs;
[0212] FIG. 4d illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
router connected to a cloud-based gateway via an ISP;
[0213] FIG. 4e illustrates the data paths and a schematic
electrical diagram of multiple routers connected to multiple
cloud-based gateways via multiple data paths;
[0214] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
sensor unit;
[0215] FIG. 5a illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
current measuring sensor unit;
[0216] FIG. 5b illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of an AC
current measuring sensor unit;
[0217] FIG. 5c illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of
multiple sensor units for sensing the same phenomenon;
[0218] FIG. 5d illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
sensor unit having multiple sensors for sensing the same
phenomenon;
[0219] FIG. 5e illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
sensor unit having multiple AC current sensors for sensing the same
AC current;
[0220] FIG. 5f illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of an
image sensor based sensor unit;
[0221] FIG. 5g illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
sensor unit having two communication ports;
[0222] FIG. 5h illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
system including a field unit having two communication ports;
[0223] FIG. 5i illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
system including a field unit having two communication ports and
coupled to two networks;
[0224] FIG. 5j illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of data
paths in a system including a field unit having two communication
ports and coupled to two networks;
[0225] FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of an
actuator unit;
[0226] FIG. 6a illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of an
electrical switch actuator unit;
[0227] FIG. 6b illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of an AC
electrical switch actuator unit;
[0228] FIG. 6c illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of
multiple actuator units affecting the same phenomenon;
[0229] FIG. 6d illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of an
actuator unit having multiple actuators affecting the same
phenomenon;
[0230] FIG. 6e illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of an
actuator unit having multiple AC power switches connected in
series;
[0231] FIG. 6f illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of an
actuator unit having multiple AC power switches connected in
parallel;
[0232] FIG. 6g illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of an
actuator unit having two communication ports;
[0233] FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
sensor/actuator unit;
[0234] FIG. 7a illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
power control field unit;
[0235] FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of remote
powering scheme of a field unit;
[0236] FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of FDM
power/data signals combining/splitting circuit;
[0237] FIG. 10 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of FDM
power/data signals combining/splitting circuit using capacitor and
transformer;
[0238] FIG. 11 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of
phantom scheme power/data signals combining/splitting circuit;
[0239] FIG. 12 depicts schematically a few food-related home
appliances;
[0240] FIG. 12a depicts schematically a few cleaning-related home
appliances and digital cameras;
[0241] FIG. 13 illustrates schematically a general computer system
connected to the Internet;
[0242] FIG. 14 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
controller integrated with a router;
[0243] FIG. 14a illustrates the data paths and a schematic
electrical diagram of a controller integrated with a router;
[0244] FIG. 15 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
controller integrated with a server;
[0245] FIG. 15a illustrates the data paths and a schematic
electrical diagram of a controller integrated with a server;
[0246] FIG. 16 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
controller integrated with a personal computer;
[0247] FIG. 16a illustrates the data paths and a schematic
electrical diagram of a controller integrated with a personal
computer;
[0248] FIG. 17 illustrates a schematic flow-chart diagram of a
general controller;
[0249] FIG. 18 illustrates a schematic flow-chart diagram of a
controller involving image processing; and
[0250] FIG. 19 illustrates a schematic flow-chart diagram of a
controller involving voice processing;
[0251] FIG. 20 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
system including field units external to a building;
[0252] FIG. 20a illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
data path between a field unit external to a building and a router
in the building;
[0253] FIG. 20b illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
data path between a field unit located external to a building and a
control or gateway server;
[0254] FIG. 20c illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
data path over the Internet between a field unit external to a
building and a router in the building;
[0255] FIG. 20d illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
data path over the Internet between a field unit located external
to a building and a control or gateway server;
[0256] FIG. 21 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of part
of a device having multiple network interfaces;
[0257] FIG. 22 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of part
of a device having wired and wireless network interfaces;
[0258] FIG. 22a illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of part
of a device having a wireless network interfaces and two wired
interfaces connected to the same network;
[0259] FIG. 22b illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of part
of a device having a wireless network interfaces and two wired
interfaces connected to the same network using FDM;
[0260] FIG. 23 illustrates a schematic flow-chart diagram of packet
handling in a device having multiple network interfaces;
[0261] FIG. 24 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a
vehicle-based system communicating with a cloud based gateway;
[0262] FIG. 25 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a control
system;
[0263] FIG. 25a illustrates a schematic block diagram of a closed
loop control system; and
[0264] FIG. 26 illustrates a timing diagram relating to a closed
loop control system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0265] The principles and operation of an apparatus according to
the present invention may be understood with reference to the
figures and the accompanying description wherein similar components
appearing in different figures are denoted by identical reference
numerals. The drawings and descriptions are conceptual only. In
actual practice, a single component can implement one or more
functions; alternatively or in addition, each function can be
implemented by a plurality of components and devices. In the
figures and descriptions, identical reference numerals indicate
those components that are common to different embodiments or
configurations. Identical numerical references (even in the case of
using different suffix, such as 5, 5a, 5b and 5c) refer to
functions or actual devices that are either identical,
substantially similar, or having similar functionality. It will be
readily understood that the components of the present invention, as
generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, could be
arranged and designed in a wide variety of different
configurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of
the embodiments of the apparatus, system, and method of the present
invention, as represented in the figures herein, is not intended to
limit the scope of the invention, as claimed, but is merely
representative of embodiments of the invention. It is to be
understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" herein
include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates
otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "a component surface"
includes reference to one or more of such surfaces. By the term
"substantially" it is meant that the recited characteristic,
parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that
deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances,
measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other
factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts
that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to
provide.
[0266] Environment control networks are networks of sensors and
controller which provide an optimized solution for an environment
control. The environment can be a house, agricultural farm, city
traffic systems etc. The sensors will provide information on the
environmental conditions and events. The controller will allow
automatic control or control by the user via the Internet. The
system can allow automatic control upon detection of certain
conditions or events. The lights can be turned on when a motion is
detected in a room. The electricity may be turned off upon a fire
and the water off upon a flood. The heating may be adjusted based
on internet information on the weather or information on neighbor
behavior. Users may be warned of problems in neighboring homes. The
motion sensors can be adjusted to be more sensitive upon a
detection of a security problem in a home nearby.
[0267] For an agricultural farm there can be a field network and
cattle handling network. In the field, there can be a temperature
sensor, ground humidity sensor. The irrigation system may be
adjusted accordingly. It can also be impacted by cloud server
information of last week rainfall and weather forecast. The cattle
feeding system can use measurements of the cow weight, food left
and cloud server information on weather forecast and cattle
diseases. For the system, a network can be used for the
transportation system of traffic lights and road sign.
[0268] FIG. 2 shows an arrangement 20 including a residence 19
which may be connected via the Internet 16 to many multiple
servers. For non-limiting example, the gateway server 24
(corresponding to gateway server 48 described below) may be
associated with a specific premises 19. In the premises 19 there
may be multiple internal networks, such as home network 14a
connecting the desktop computer 18a and a home device 15a, and
other connected equipment may as well be connected. Similarly, home
network 14b is shown connecting desktop computer 18b and a home
device 15b, and other connected equipment may as well be connected.
A control network 22 may be used, connecting field units 23a, 23b
and 23c. Each of the field units 23 may correspond to a sensor unit
50, actuator unit 60, or a sensor/actuator unit 70 described below.
The control network may be a ZigBee based sensor network. A router
21, corresponding with router 49 described below, is connected, via
suitable ports, to the various networks in the residence 19, and
allows communication between devices in one or all of the networks,
between the networks in the residence 19, and provides external
connection to the Internet 16, typically via a WAN network. While
three internal networks 22, 14a and 14b are shown in arrangement
20, one, two, four, or any number of such internal networks may be
equally deployed. The various networks inside the premises 19 may
be the same, similar or different. For non-limiting example, the
same or different network mediums may be used, such as wired or
wireless networks, and the same or different network protocols may
be used. Further, each of the networks may be a LAN (Local Area
Network), a WLAN (Wireless LAN), a PAN (Personal Area Network), or
a WPAN (Wireless PAN).
[0269] In one non-limiting example, where multiple premises 19 are
involved, each of the premises 19 is associated with a single and
dedicated gateway server 24 (referred herein also as `cloud server`
and `control server`). Such scenario is exampled in an arrangement
35 shown in FIG. 3. Three premises 19a, 19b, and 19c, each
respectively having routers 21a, 21b, and 21c, are connected via
the Internet 16 to be served by three respective gateway servers
24a, 24b, and 24c. While three houses 19 are exampled in FIG. 3,
any number of premises 19 may be equally employed.
[0270] Alternatively or in addition, two, three or more premises 19
may share a single gateway server 24, as exampled in arrangement 30
in FIG. 3a, where three premises 19a, 19b, and 19c, each
respectively having routers 21a, 21b, and 21c, are connected via
the Internet 16 to a single gateway server 24.
[0271] Part or the entire of gateway functionalities in general, or
part or the entire of Residential Gateway (RG) (a.k.a. home
gateway) functionalities in particular, may be implemented in the
router 21, serving as gateway 11 above, for example the gateway and
the functionalities described in U.S. Patent Application No.
2007/0112939 to Wilson et al., entitled: "System and Method for
Home Automation", and in U.S. Pat. No. 7,213,061 to Hite et al.,
entitled: "Internet Control System and Method", which are both
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein. Alternatively or in addition, part or the entire of
the gateway functionalities may be moved onto the gateway server
24. Further, part or the entire of the gateway functionalities may
be implemented by another entity in the building, such as the PC
18a, home device 15b, or a field unit 23. Furthermore, the gateway
functionalities may be distributed and implemented by a combination
of the gateway server 24, router 21, PC 18a, home device 15b, or a
field unit 23, where each of the devices implements none, one, or a
subset of the gateway functionalities, such as IP routing, VoIP,
NAT, DHCP, firewall, parental control, rate converter, fault
isolation, protocol conversion/translation/mapping, or proxy
server. The router 21 may further be according to, or based on, the
white paper entitled: "Home Gateway" by Wipro Technologies, or may
be according to, or based on, the Home Gateway Initiative (HGI)
documents entitled: "Home Gateway Technical Requirements:
Residential Profile", Version 1.0, HGI guideline paper entitled:
"Remote Access" Version 1.01, and HGI document entitled:
"Requirements for an energy efficient home gateway" HGI-RD009-R3,
which are all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if
fully set forth herein.
[0272] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an
arrangement 49 including a router 40. The router 40 serves an
intermediary device for allowing communication between the various
in home networks, such as wireless sensor network and a home
network, and between the in-home devices and one (or more) server
via the Internet 16. Coupling to each network commonly involves a
port and a transceiver (which may be a modem) adapted for
communication over the network medium. The connection to the
Internet or to any other network external to the premises may
include one or more WAN interfaces. A wired connection to the
Internet may include a connector 41a connected to a wired modem
42a. In case of a wireless interface, the connector 41a is
substituted with an antenna and the wired modem 42a is substituted
with a suitable wireless modem (or a transceiver). Similarly, each
connection to any premises internal network includes one or more
interfaces. A wired connection to an internal network (e.g., wired
home network) may include a connector 41b connected to a wired
modem 42b. A wireless connection to an internal network (e.g.,
wireless sensor network) may include an antenna 44 connected to a
wireless modem 43.
[0273] The router 40 commonly includes a microprocessor executing a
firmware embedded in the device. However, a router may include
whole or part of a computer such as the computer 130 shown in FIG.
13 below. The router 40 may include part or all of the
functionalities associated with a conventional router in general,
and home router in particular. The basic functionality of a packet
router is the act of moving information across an internetwork from
a source to a destination, based on the addresses embedded in the
packets, performed by the routing core 45. Commonly a router
supports OSI Layer 3 (the Network Layer), but may also support
bridging functionality at OSI Layer 2 (the Link Layer). The router
commonly uses headers and forwarding tables to determine the best
path for forwarding the data packets, and they also use protocols
such as ICMP to communicate with each other and configure the best
route between any two hosts. The router may also support NAT
(Network Address Translation), allowing multiple devices to share a
single IP address on the Internet. Internet connection sharing
routers may also support an SPI firewall and may serve as a DHCP
Server. The wireless router may also provide features relevant to
wireless security such as WiFi Protected Access (WPA) and wireless
MAC address filtering. Additionally, the wireless router may be
configured for "invisible mode" so that the internal wireless
network cannot be scanned by outside wireless clients. However, the
router 40 may support also part of, or whole of a gateway related
functionalities, and in particular a home gateway (`residential
gateway`) typical functionalities. The router 40 may convert
between different protocols of the interconnected networks, and
typically directs the packets between networks based on a routing
table or routing policy, which are built to offer the preferred
routes.
[0274] FIG. 4 further shows a typical connection of premises to a
gateway server 48a via the Internet 16. The router 40 connects via
a WAN port, such as the connector 41a to a WAN (Wide Area Network)
46a, to an ISP (Internet Service Provider) 47a. The ISP 47a
connects to the gateway server 48a via the Internet 16.
[0275] The ISP 47a is commonly a company that provides Internet
services, including personal and business access to the Internet.
For a monthly fee, the service provider usually provides a software
package, username, password and access phone number. Access ISPs
directly connect clients to the Internet using copper wires,
wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server
space for small businesses and other people (collocation). Hosting
ISPs routinely provide email, FTP, and web-hosting services. Other
services include virtual machines, clouds, or entire physical
servers where customers can run their own custom software. Transit
ISPs provide large amounts of bandwidth for connecting hosting ISPs
to access ISPs.
[0276] In order to increase reliability and availability of the
external system involving the connection of the premises to the
gateway server, a redundancy may be used, relating to the
duplication of critical components or functions of a system with
the intention of increasing reliability of the system, usually in
the case of a backup or fail-safe. A non-limiting example of
implementation of such redundancy is shown as arrangement 49a in
FIG. 4a. In addition to the router 40a connection to the gateway
server 48a via the ISP 47a and the WAN 46a, the router 40a is also
connected to another ISP 47b (or different systems of the same ISP)
via WAN 46b, connected via a wireless modem 43a and antenna 44a.
The ISP 47b in turn connects to the gateway server 48b via the
Internet 16. In one non-limiting example, the hardware and software
(or firmware), as well as the communication medium, associated with
the communication route relating to the connection to the gateway
server 48a are distinct and different from the hardware, software
(or firmware), and the communication medium of the communication
route used for connecting the router 40a to the gateway server 48b.
The two formed routes, designated as routes 400a and 400b in
arrangement 49b shown in FIG. 4b, are thus independent, hence in
the case of any failure in one of the communication routes, the
other route may still provide the required connection and the
system functionality is preserved, thus a single point of failure
(SPOF) therein renders the system fully functional. While two
independent routes are shown in FIG. 4a, three or more routes may
be equally used, further enhancing the reliability and availability
of the system. For each additional route, preferably a port and
associated modem is added to the router 40a, for communication with
a gateway server via additional WAN and additional ISP.
[0277] While router 40a was exampled in FIG. 4a to include one
wired WAN connection (connector 41a and wired modem 42a) and one
wireless WAN connection (antenna 44a and wireless modem 43a), any
two (or more) WAN connections may be used, and the WAN connections
may be identical, similar or different from each other. Further,
one or more of the WANs 46a and 46b may be replaced with a LAN,
WLAN, or any other network allowing for connection to a gateway
server 48 over the Internet 16, or over any other network.
[0278] In one non-limiting example, only part of the communication
routes and the associated hardware and/or software (such as routes
400a and 400b) are redundant, and part of the route is not
redundant, allowing for more economical solution, where the
reliability is increased only for part of the system. In one
non-limiting example shown as arrangement 49c in FIG. 4c, a single
gateway server 48a is used, connected to the router 40a via two
independent communication routes. In another non-limiting example
shown as arrangement 49d in FIG. 4d, a single gateway server 48a
connected via a single ISP 47a are used. The ISP 47a is connected
to the router 40a via two independent communication routes.
[0279] In one non-limiting example, two routers 40 are redundantly
used for improving reliability and availability. Such an
arrangement 49e in shown in FIG. 4e, showing a premises 19a
including two separated and independent routers 40a and 40b, each
connected via independent communication route. The router 40a is
connected via communication route 400d, corresponding to route 400b
in arrangement 49b shown in FIG. 4b, while the router 40b is
connected via communication route 400c, corresponding to route 400a
in arrangement 49b shown in FIG. 4b. In the case of malfunction of
one of the routers 40a and 40b, the other router is still available
through its route. Alternatively or in addition, a single gateway
server 48a may be used, similar to the arrangement 49c shown in
FIG. 4c, the two routers 40a and 40b may be connected via a
dedicated communication link (either wired or wireless), or may be
interconnected via one of the networks in the premises 19a.
Preferably, each of the routers 40a and 40b is able to communicate
with all internal networks and end-units in the premises.
Alternatively or in addition, each router is connected to separate
networks. Alternatively or in addition, some networks (and
associated end-units) may be connected to both routers 40a and 40b,
while other networks connect only to one of the routers. In the
case of an internal mesh network, each of the routers 40a and 40b
may be connected to a different point in the mesh, such as
communicating with different devices forming the mesh network.
[0280] The operation of the redundant communication routes may be
based on standby redundancy, (a.k.a. Backup Redundancy), where one
of the data paths or the associated hardware is considered as a
primary unit, and the other data path (or the associated hardware)
is considered as the secondary unit, serving as back up to the
primary unit. The secondary unit typically does not monitor the
system, but is there just as a spare. The standby unit is not
usually kept in sync with the primary unit, so it must reconcile
its input and output signals on the takeover of the communication.
This approach does lend itself to give a "bump" on transfer,
meaning the secondary operation may not be in sync with the last
system state of the primary unit. Such mechanism may require a
watchdog, which monitors the system to decide when a switchover
condition is met, and command the system to switch control to the
standby unit. Standby redundancy configurations commonly employ two
basic types, namely `Cold Standby` and `Hot Standby`.
[0281] In cold standby, the secondary unit is either powered off or
otherwise non-active in the system operation, thus preserving the
reliability of the unit. The drawback of this design is that the
downtime is greater than in hot standby, because the standby unit
needs to be powered up or activated, and brought online into a
known state.
[0282] In hot standby, the secondary unit is powered up or
otherwise kept operational, and can optionally monitor the system.
The secondary unit may serve as the watchdog and/or voter to decide
when to switch over, thus eliminating the need for an additional
hardware for this job. This design does not preserve the
reliability of the standby unit as well as the cold standby design.
However, it shortens the downtime, which in turn increases the
availability of the system. Some flavors of Hot Standby are similar
to Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) or Parallel Redundancy. The main
difference between Hot Standby and DMR is how tightly the primary
and the secondary are synchronized. DMR completely synchronizes the
primary and secondary units.
[0283] While a redundancy of two was exampled above, where two data
paths and two hardware devices were used, a redundancy involving
three or more data paths or systems may be equally used. The term
`N` Modular Redundancy, (a.k.a. Parallel Redundancy) refers to the
approach of having multiply units or data paths running in
parallel. All units are highly synchronized and receive the same
input information at the same time. Their output values are then
compared and a voter decides which output values should be used.
This model easily provides bumpless switchovers. This model
typically has faster switchover times than Hot Standby models, thus
the system availability is very high, but because all the units are
powered up and actively engaged with the system operation, the
system is at more risk of encountering a common mode failure across
all the units.
[0284] Deciding which unit is correct can be challenging if only
two units are used. If more than two units are used, the problem is
simpler, usually the majority wins or the two that agree win. In N
Modular Redundancy, there are three main typologies: Dual Modular
Redundancy, Triple Modular Redundancy, and Quadruple Redundancy.
Quadruple Modular Redundancy (QMR) is fundamentally similar to TMR
but using four units instead of three to increase the reliability.
The obvious drawback is the 4.times. increase in system cost.
[0285] Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) uses two functional equivalent
units, thus either can control or support the system operation. The
most challenging aspect of DMR is determining when to switch over
to the secondary unit. Because both units are monitoring the
application, a mechanism is needed to decide what to do if they
disagree. Either a tiebreaker vote or simply the secondary unit may
be designated as the default winner, assuming it is more
trustworthy than the primary unit. Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR)
uses three functionally equivalent units to provide a redundant
backup. This approach is very common in aerospace applications
where the cost of failure is extremely high. TMR is more reliable
than DMR due to two main aspects. The most obvious reason is that
two "standby" units are used instead of just one. The other reason
is that in a technique called diversity platforms or diversity
programming may be applied. In this technique, different software
or hardware platforms are used on the redundant systems to prevent
common mode failure. The voter decides which unit will actively
control the application. With TMR, the decision of which system to
trust is made democratically and the majority rules. If three
different answers are obtained, the voter must decide which system
to trust or shut down the entire system, thus the switchover
decision is straightforward and fast.
[0286] Another redundancy topology is 1:N Redundancy, where a
single backup is used for multiple systems, and this backup is able
to function in the place of any single one of the active systems.
This technique offers redundancy at a much lower cost than the
other models by using one standby unit for several primary units.
This approach only works well when the primary units all have very
similar functions, thus allowing the standby to back up any of the
primary units if one of them fails.
[0287] While the redundant data paths have been exampled with
regard to the added reliability and availability, redundant data
paths may as well be used in order to provide higher aggregated
data rate, allowing for faster response and faster transfer of data
over the multiple data paths.
[0288] Referring now to FIG. 5 where a non-limiting example of a
sensor unit 50 is shown. The sensor unit 50 includes two sensor
elements 51a and 51b. In the case of analog sensors having an
analog signal output, such as analog voltage, analog current or
continuously changing impedance, an analog to digital (A/D) is
disposed to the sensor element 51 output, which converts continuous
signals to discrete digital numbers, for converting the analog
output to a digital signal. The sensor 51a output is connected to
the input of A/D 52a, and the sensor 51b output is connected to the
input of A/D 52b. While two sensors 51a and 51b are shown, a sensor
unit may equally include a single sensor or any number of sensors,
where A/D may be connected to each analog sensor output. A computer
53, commonly a small size microprocessor, is connected to the A/D
52a and 52b, and receives the values representing the sensed
condition by the sensors 51a and 51b. The computer 53 further
control and manage the operation of the sensor unit 50. The sensor
unit wirelessly communicates via the antenna 55, connected to the
wireless modem 54 (or a wireless transceiver). The computer 53 may
thus communicate with any gateway, router, or other sensor unit via
the wireless communication. While exampled using wireless such as
over-the-air communication, the sensor unit 50 may equally use
wired communication such as using wires or a cable, where the modem
54 is replaced with a wired modem (or a transceiver) and the
antenna 55 is replaced with a connector for connecting to the cable
or wires. The sensor elements may be identical, similar or
different from each other. For non-limiting example, some sensors
may be analog while others are digital sensors. In another example,
different sensors may relate to different physical phenomena.
[0289] The sensor 51 provides an electrical output signal in
response to a physical, chemical, biological or any other
phenomenon, serving as a stimulus to the sensor. The sensor may
serve as, or be, a detector, for detecting the presence of the
phenomenon. Alternatively or in addition, a sensor may measure (or
respond to) a parameter of a phenomenon or a magnitude of the
physical quantity thereof. For example, the sensor 51 may be a
thermistor or a platinum resistance temperature detector, a light
sensor, a pH probe, a microphone for audio receiving, or a
piezoelectric bridge. Similarly, the sensor 51 may be used to
measure pressure, flow, force or other mechanical quantities. The
sensor output may be amplified by an amplifier connected to the
sensor output. Other signal conditioning may also be applied in
order to improve the handling of the sensor output or adapting it
to the next stage or manipulating, such as attenuation, delay,
current or voltage limiting, level translation, galvanic isolation,
impedance transformation, linearization, calibration, filtering,
amplifying, digitizing, integration, derivation, and any other
signal manipulation. Some sensors conditioning involves connecting
them in a bridge circuit. In the case of conditioning, the
conditioning circuit may added to manipulate the sensor output,
such as filter or equalizer for frequency related manipulation such
as filtering, spectrum analysis or noise removal, smoothing or
de-blurring in case of image enhancement, a compressor (or
de-compressor) or coder (or decoder) in the case of a compression
or a coding/decoding schemes, modulator or demodulator in case of
modulation, and extractor for extracting or detecting a feature or
parameter such as pattern recognition or correlation analysis. In
case of filtering, passive, active or adaptive (such as Wiener or
Kalman) filters may be used. The conditioning circuits may apply
linear or non-linear manipulations. Further, the manipulation may
be time-related such as analog or digital delay-lines, integrators,
or rate-based manipulation. A sensor 51 may have analog output,
requiring an A/D 52 to be connected thereto, or may have digital
output. Further, the conditioning may be based on the book
entitled: "Practical Design Techniques for Sensor Signal
Conditioning", by Analog Devices, Inc., 1999 (ISBN-0-916550-20-6),
which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein.
[0290] The sensor may directly or indirectly measure the rate of
change of the physical quantity (gradient) versus the direction
around a particular location, or between different locations. For
example, a temperature gradient may describe the differences in the
temperature between different locations. Further, a sensor may
measure time-dependent or time-manipulated values of the
phenomenon, such as time-integrated, average or Root Mean Square
(RMS or rms), relating to the square root of the mean of the
squares of a series of discrete values (or the equivalent square
root of the integral in a continuously varying value). Further, a
parameter relating to the time dependency of a repeating phenomenon
may be measured, such as the duty-cycle, the frequency (commonly
measured in Hertz--Hz) or the period. A sensor may be based on the
Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems--MEMS (a.k.a. Micro-mechanical
electrical systems) technology. A sensor may respond to
environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, noise,
vibration, fumes, odors, toxic conditions, dust, and
ventilation.
[0291] A sensor may be an active sensor, requiring an external
source of excitation. For example, resistor-based sensors such as
thermistors and strain gages are active sensors, requiring a
current to pass through them in order to determine the resistance
value, corresponding to the measured phenomenon. Similarly, a
bridge circuit based sensors are active sensors depending or
external electrical circuit for their operation. A sensor may be a
passive sensor, generating an electrical output without requiring
any external circuit or any external voltage or current.
Thermocouples and photodiodes are examples or passive sensors.
[0292] A sensor may measure the amount of a property or of a
physical quantity or the magnitude relating to a physical
phenomenon, body or substance. Alternatively or in addition, a
sensor may be used to measure the time derivative thereof, such as
the rate of change of the amount, the quantity or the magnitude. In
the case of space related quantity or magnitude, a sensor may
measure the linear density, relating to the amount of property per
length, a sensor may measure the surface density, relating to the
amount of property per area, or a sensor may measure the volume
density, relating to the amount of property per volume.
Alternatively or in addition, a sensor may measure the amount of
property per unit mass or per mole of substance. In the case of a
scalar field, a sensor may further measure the quantity gradient,
relating to the rate of change of property with respect to
position. Alternatively or in addition, a sensor may measure the
flux (or flow) of a property through a cross-section or surface
boundary. Alternatively or in addition, a sensor may measure the
flux density, relating to the flow of property through a
cross-section per unit of the cross-section, or through a surface
boundary per unit of the surface area. Alternatively or in
addition, a sensor may measure the current, relating to the rate of
flow of property through a cross-section or a surface boundary, or
the current density, relating to the rate of flow of property per
unit through a cross-section or a surface boundary. A sensor may
include or consists of a transducer, defined herein as a device for
converting energy from one form to another for the purpose of
measurement of a physical quantity or for information transfer.
Further, a single sensor may be used to measure two or more
phenomena. For example, two characteristics of the same element may
be measured, each characteristic corresponding to a different
phenomenon.
[0293] A sensor output may have multiple states, where the sensor
state is depending upon the measured parameter of the sensed
phenomenon. A sensor may be based on a two state output (such as
`0` or `1`, or `true` and `false`), such as an electric switch
having two contacts, where the contacts can be in one of two
states: either "closed" meaning the contacts are touching and
electricity can flow between them, or "open", meaning the contacts
are separated and the switch is non-conducting. The sensor may be a
threshold switch, where the switch changes its state upon sensing
that the magnitude of the measured parameter of a phenomenon
exceeds a certain threshold. For example, a sensor may be a
thermostat is a temperature-operated switch used to control a
heating process. Another example is a voice operated switch (a.k.a.
VOX), which is a switch that operates when sound over a certain
threshold is detected. It is usually used to turn on a transmitter
or recorder when someone speaks and turn it off when they stop
speaking. Another example is a mercury switch (also known as a
mercury tilt switch), which is a switch whose purpose is to allow
or interrupt the flow of electric current in an electrical circuit
in a manner that is dependent on the switch's physical position or
alignment relative to the direction of the "pull" of earth's
gravity, or other inertia. The threshold of a threshold based
switch may be fixed or settable. Further, an actuator may be used
in order to locally or remotely set the threshold level.
[0294] In some cases, a sensor operation is based on generating a
stimulus or an excitation to generate influence or create a
phenomenon. The entire or part of the generating or stimulating
mechanism may be in this case an integral part of the sensor, or
may be regarded as independent actuators, and thus may be
controlled by the controller. Further, a sensor and an actuator,
independent or integrated, may be cooperatively operating as a set,
for improving the sensing or the actuating functionality. For
example, a light source, treated as an independent actuator, may be
used to illuminate a location, in order to allow an image sensor to
faithfully and properly capture an image of that location. In
another example, where a bridge is used to measure impedance, the
excitation voltage of the bridge may be supplied from a power
supply treated and acting as an actuator.
[0295] A sensor may respond to chemical process or may be involved
in fluid handling, such as measuring flow or velocity. A sensor may
be responsive to the location or motion such as navigational
instrument, or be used to detect or measure position, angle,
displacement, distance, speed or acceleration. A sensor may be
responsive to mechanical phenomenon such as pressure, force,
density or level. The environmental related sensor may respond to
humidity, air pressure, and air temperature. Similarly, any sensor
used to detect or measure a measurable attribute and converts it
into an electrical signal may be used. Further, a sensor may be a
metal detector, which detects metallic objects by detecting their
conductivity.
[0296] In one example, the sensor is used to measure, sense or
detect the temperature of an object, that may be solid, liquid or
gas (such as the air temperature), in a location. Such sensor may
be based on a thermistor, which is a type of resistor whose
resistance varies significantly with temperature, and is commonly
made of ceramic or polymer material. A thermistor may be a PTC
(Positive Temperature Coefficient) type, where the resistance
increases with increasing temperatures, or may be an NTC (Negative
Temperature Coefficient) type, where the resistance decreases with
increasing temperatures. Alternatively (or in addition), a
thermoelectric sensor may be based on a thermocouple, consisting of
two different conductors (usually metal alloys), that produce a
voltage proportional to a temperature difference. For higher
accuracy and stability, an RTD (Resistance Temperature Detector)
may be used, typically consisting of a length of fine wire-wound or
coiled wire wrapped around a ceramic or glass core. The RTD is made
of a pure material whose resistance at various temperatures is
known (R vs. T). A common material used may be platinum, copper, or
nickel. A quartz thermometer may be used as well for high-precision
and high-accuracy temperature measurement, based on the frequency
of a quartz crystal oscillator. The temperature may be measured
using conduction, convection, thermal radiation, or by the transfer
of energy by phase changes. The temperature may be measured in
degrees Celsius (.degree. C.) (a.k.a. Centigrade), Fahrenheit
(.degree. F.), or Kelvin (.degree. K). In one example, the
temperature sensor (or its output) is used to measure a temperature
gradient, providing in which direction and at what rate the
temperature changes the most rapidly around a particular location.
The temperature gradient is a dimensional quantity expressed in
units of degrees (on a particular temperature scale) per unit
length, such as the SI (International System of Units) unit Kelvin
per meter (K/m).
[0297] A radioactivity may be measured using a sensor based on a
Geiger counter, measuring ionizing radiation. The emission of alpha
particles, beta particles or gamma rays are detected and counted by
the ionization produced in a low-pressure gas ion a Geiger-Muller
tube. The SI unit of radioactive activity is the Becquerel
(Bq).
[0298] In one example, a photoelectric sensor is used to measure,
sense or detect light or the luminous intensity, such as a
photosensor or a photodetector. The light sensed may be a visible
light, or invisible light such as infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray or
gamma rays. Such sensors may be based on the quantum mechanical
effects of light on electronic materials, typically semiconductors
such as silicon, germanium, and Indium gallium arsenide. A
photoelectric sensor may be based on the photoelectric or
photovoltaic effect, such as a photodiode, phototransistor and a
photomultiplier tube. The photodiode typically uses a reverse
biased p-n junction or PIN structure diode, and a phototransistor
is in essence a bipolar transistor enclosed in a transparent case
so that light can reach the base-collector junction, and the
electrons that are generated by photons in the base-collector
junction are injected into the base, and this photodiode current is
amplified by the transistor's current gain .beta. (or hfe). A
reverse-biased LED (Light Emitting Diode) may also act as a
photodiode. Alternatively or in addition, a photosensor may be
based on photoconductivity, where the radiation or light absorption
changes the conductivity of a photoconductive material, such as
selenium, lead sulfide, cadmium sulfide, or polyvinylcarbazole. In
such a case, the sensor may be based on photoresistor or LDR (Light
Dependent Resistor), which is a resistor whose resistance decreases
with increasing incident light intensity. In one example,
Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD) and CMOS (Complementary
Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) may be used as the light-sensitive
elements, where incoming photons are converted into electron
charges at the semiconductor-oxide interface. The sensor may be
based an Active Pixel Sensor (APS), for example as an element in an
image sensor, and may be according to, or based on, the sensor
described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,234 to Lee, entitled: "Pixel
Structure of Active Pixel Sensor (APS) with Electronic Shutter
Function", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,844,897 to Andersson, entitled:
"Active Pixel Sensor (APS) Readout Structure with Amplification",
in U.S. Pat. No. 7,342,212 to Mentzer et al., entitled: "Analog
Vertical Sub-Sampling in an Active Pixel Sensor (APS) Image
Sensor", or in U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,372 to Merrill et al., entitled:
"CMOS Active Pixel Sensor Using Native Transistors", which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0299] In one example, an electrochemical sensor is used to
measure, sense or detect a matter structure, properties,
composition, and reactions. In one example, the sensor is a pH
meter for measuring the pH (acidity or alkalinity) of a liquid.
Commonly such pH meter comprises a pH probe which measures pH as
the activity of the hydrogen cations at the tip of a thin-walled
glass bulb. In one example, the electrochemical sensor is a gas
detector, which detects the presence or various gases within an
area, usually as part of a safety system, such as for detecting gas
leak. Commonly gas detectors are used to detect combustible,
flammable, or toxic gases, as well as oxygen depletion, using
semiconductors, oxidation, catalytic, infrared or other detection
mechanisms, and capable to detect a single gas or several gases.
Further, an electrochemical sensor may be an electrochemical gas
sensor, used to measure the concentration of a target gas,
typically by oxidation or reducing the target gas at an electrode,
and measuring the resulting current. The gas sensor may be a
hydrogen sensor for measuring or detecting the presence of
hydrogen, commonly based on palladium based electrodes, or a
Carbon-Monoxide detector (CO Detector) used to detect the presence
of carbon-monoxide, commonly in order to prevent carbon monoxide
poisoning. A Carbon-Monoxide detector may be according to, or based
on, the sensor described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,016,205 to Drew,
entitled: "Thermostat with Replaceable Carbon Monoxide Sensor
Module", in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0201531 to
Pakravan et al., entitled: "Carbon Monoxide Detector", in U.S. Pat.
No. 6,474,138 to Chang et al., entitled: "Adsorption Based Carbon
Monoxide sensor and Method", or in U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,965 to
Upchurch, entitled: "Solid State Carbon Monoxide Sensor", which are
all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein. The gas sensor may be an oxygen sensor (a.k.a. lambda
sensor) for measuring the proportion of oxygen (O.sub.2) in a gas
or liquid.
[0300] In one example, one or more of the sensors is a smoke
detector, for detecting smoke which is typically an indication of
fire. The smoke detectors work either by optical detection
(photoelectric) or by physical process (ionization), while some use
both detection methods to increase sensitivity to smoke. An optical
based smoke detector is based on a light sensor, and includes a
light source (incandescent bulb or infrared LED), a lens to
collimate the light into a beam, and a photodiode or other
photoelectric sensor at an angle to the beam as a light detector.
In the absence of smoke, the light passes in front of the detector
in a straight line. When smoke enters the optical chamber across
the path of the light beam, some light is scattered by the smoke
particles, directing it at the sensor and thus triggering the
alarm. An ionization type smoke detector can detect particles of
smoke that are too small to be visible, and use a radioactive
element such as americium-241 (241Am). The radiation passes through
an ionization chamber, an air-filled space between two electrodes,
and permits a small, constant current between the electrodes. Any
smoke that enters the chamber absorbs the alpha particles, which
reduces the ionization and interrupts this current, setting off the
alarm. Some smoke alarms use a carbon-dioxide sensor or
carbon-monoxide sensor to detect extremely dangerous products of
combustion.
[0301] A sensor may include a physiological sensor, for monitoring
a live body such as a human body, for example as part of the
telemedicine concept. The sensors may be used to sense, log and
monitor vital signs, such as of patients suffering from chronic
diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and heart attack. The sensor may
be ECG (Electrocardiography), involving interpretation of the
electrical activity of the heart over a period of time, as detected
by electrodes attached to the outer surface of the skin. The sensor
may be used to measure oxygen saturation (SO2), involving the
measuring the percentage of hemoglobin binding sites in the
bloodstream occupied by oxygen. A pulse oximeter relies on the
light absorption characteristics of saturated hemoglobin to give an
indication of oxygen saturation. Venous oxygen saturation (SvO2) is
measured to see how much oxygen the body consumes, tissue oxygen
saturation (StO2) can be measured by near infrared spectroscopy,
and Saturation of peripheral oxygen (SpO2) is an estimation of the
oxygen saturation level usually measured with a pulse oximeter
device. Other sensors may be a blood pressure sensor, for measuring
is the pressure exerted by circulating blood upon the walls of
blood vessels, which is one of the principal vital signs, and may
be based on a sphygmomanometer measuring the arterial pressure. An
EEG (Electroencephalography) sensor may be used for the monitoring
of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage
fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons
of the brain. The sensors (or the sensor units) may be a small
bio-sensor implanted inside the human body, or may be worn at the
human body, or as wearable, near, on or around a live body.
Non-human applications may involve the monitoring of crops and
animals. Such networks involving biological sensors may be part of
a Body Area Network (BAN) or Body Sensor Network (BSN), and may be
in accordance to, or based on, IEEE 802.15.6. The sensor may be a
biosensor, and may be according to, or based on, the sensor
described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,160 to Schneider et al., entitled:
"Biosensors", in U.S. Patent Application Publication No.
2005/0247573 to Nakamura et al., entitled: "Biosensors", in U.S.
Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0249063 to Deshong et al.,
entitled: "Biosensors", or in U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,273 to Stewart,
entitled: "Biosensors", which are all incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0302] The sensor may be an electroacoustic sensor that responds to
sound waves (which are essentially vibrations transmitted through
an elastic solid or a liquid or gas), such as a microphone, which
converts sound into electrical energy, usually by means of a ribbon
or diaphragm set into motion by the sound waves. The sound may be
audio or audible, having frequencies in the approximate range of 20
to 20,000 hertz, capable of being detected by human organs of
hearing. Alternatively or in addition, the microphone may be used
to sense inaudible frequencies, such as ultrasonic (a.k.a.
ultrasound) acoustic frequencies that are above the range audible
to the human ear, or above approximately 20,000 Hz. A microphone
may be a condenser microphone (a.k.a. capacitor or electrostatic
microphone) where the diaphragm acts as one plate of a two plates
capacitor, and the vibrations changes the distance between plates,
hence changing the capacitance. An electret microphone is a
capacitor microphone based on a permanent charge of an electret or
a polarized ferroelectric material. A dynamic microphone is based
on electromagnetic induction, using a diaphragm attached to a small
movable induction coil that is positioned in a magnetic field of a
permanent magnet. The incident sound waves cause the diaphragm to
vibrate, and the coil to move in the magnetic field, producing a
current. Similarly, a ribbon microphone uses a thin, usually
corrugated metal ribbon suspended in a magnetic field, and its
vibration within the magnetic field generates the electrical
signal. A loudspeaker is commonly constructed similar to a dynamic
microphone, and thus may be used as a microphone as well. In a
carbon microphone, the diaphragm vibrations apply varying pressure
to a carbon, thus changing its electrical resistance. A
piezoelectric microphone (a.k.a. crystal or piezo microphone) is
based on the phenomenon of piezoelectricity in piezoelectric
crystals such as potassium sodium tartrate. A microphone may be
omnidirectional, unidirectional, bidirectional, or provide other
directionality or polar patterns.
[0303] A sensor may be used to measure electrical quantities. An
electrical sensor may be conductively connected to measure the
electrical parameter, or may be non-conductively coupled to measure
an electric-related phenomenon, such as magnetic field or heat.
Further, the average or RMS value may be measured. An ampermeter
(a.k.a. ammeter) is a current sensor that measures the magnitude of
the electric current in a circuit or in a conductor such as a wire.
Electric current is commonly measured in Amperes, milliampers,
microamperes, or kiloampers. The sensor may be an integrating
ammeter (a.k.a. watt-hour meter) where the current is summed over
time, providing a current/time product, which is proportional to
the energy transferred. The measured electric current may be an
Alternating Current (AC) such as a sinewave, a Direct Current (DC),
or an arbitrary waveform. A galvanometer is a type of ampermeter
for detecting or measuring low current, typically by producing a
rotary deflection of a coil in a magnetic field. Some ampermeters
use a resistor (shunt), whose voltage is directly proportional to
the current flowing through, requiring the current to pass through
the meter. A hot-wire ampermeter involves passing the current
through a wire which expands as it heats, and the expansion is
measured. A non-conductive or non-contact current sensor may be
based on `Hall effect` magnetic field sensor, measuring the
magnetic field generated by the current to be measured. Other
non-conductive current sensors involve a current clamp or current
probe, which has two jaws which open to allow clamping around an
electrical conductor, allowing for measuring of the electric
current properties (commonly AC), without making a physical contact
or disconnecting the circuit. Such current clamp commonly comprises
a wire coil wounded around a split ferrite ring, acting as the
secondary winding of a current transformer, with the
current-carrying conductor acting as the primary winding. Other
current sensors and related circuits are described in Zetex
Semiconductors PLC application note "AN39--Current measurement
application handbook" Issue 5, January 2008, which is incorporated
in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0304] A sensor may be a voltmeter, commonly used for measuring the
magnitude of the electric potential difference between two points.
Electric voltage is commonly measured in volts, millivolts,
microvolts, or kilovolts. The measured electric voltage may be an
Alternating Current (AC) such as a sinewave, a Direct Current (DC),
or an arbitrary waveform. Similarly, an electrometer may be used
for measuring electric charge (commonly in Coulomb units--C) or
electrical potential difference, with very low leakage current. The
voltmeter commonly works by measuring the current through a fixed
resistor, which, according to Ohm's Law, is proportional to the
voltage across the resistor. A potentiometer-based voltmeter works
by balancing the unknown voltage against a known voltage in a
bridge circuit. A multimeter (a.k.a. VOM--Volt-Ohm-Milliameter) as
well as Digital MultiMeter (DMM), typically includes a voltmeter,
an ampermeter and an ohmmeter.
[0305] A sensor may be a wattmeter measuring the magnitude of the
active power (or the supply rate of electrical energy), commonly
using watts (W), milliwatts, kilowatts, or megawatts units. A
wattmeter may be based on measuring the voltage and the current,
and multiplying to calculate the power P=VI. In AC measurement, the
true power is P=VIcos(.phi.). The wattmeter may be a bolometer,
used for measuring the power of incident electromagnetic radiation
via the heating of a material with a temperature-dependent
electrical resistance. A sensor may be an electricity meter (or
electrical energy meter) that measures the amount of electrical
energy consumed by a load. Commonly, an electricity meter is used
to measure the energy consumed by a single load, an appliance, a
residence, a business, or any electrically powered device, and may
provide or be the basis for the electricity cost or billing. The
electricity meter may be an AC (single or multi-phase) or DC type,
and the common unit of measurement is kilowatt-hour, however any
energy related unit may be used such as Joules. Some electricity
meters are based on wattmeters which accumulate or average the
readings, or may be based on induction.
[0306] A sensor may be an ohmmeter measuring the electrical
resistance, commonly measured in ohms (.OMEGA.), milliohms,
kiloohms or megohms, or conductance measured in Siemens (S) units.
Low-resistance measurements commonly use micro-ohmmeter, while
megohmmeter (a.k.a. Megger) measures large value of resistance.
Common ohmmeter passes a constant known current through the
measured unknown resistance (or conductance), while measuring the
voltage across the resistance, and deriving the resistance (or
conductance) value from Ohm's law (R=V/I). A Wheatstone bridge may
also be used as a resistance sensor, by balancing two legs of a
bridge circuit, where one leg includes the unknown resistance (or
conductance) component. Variations of Wheatstone bridge may be used
to measure capacitance, inductance, impedance and other electrical
or non-electrical quantities.
[0307] A sensor may be a capacitance meter for measuring
capacitance, commonly using units of picofarads, nanofarads,
microfarads, and Farads (F). A sensor may be an inductance meter
for measuring inductance, commonly using SI units of Henry (H),
such as microHenry, milliHenry, and Henry. Further, a sensor may be
an impedance meter for measuring an impedance of a device or a
circuit. A sensor may be an LCR meter, used to measure inductance
(L), capacitance (C), and resistance (R). A meter may use sourcing
an AC voltage, and use the ratio of the measured voltage and
current (and their phase difference) through the tested device
according to Ohm's law to calculate the impedance. Alternatively or
in addition, a meter may use a bridge circuit (Similar to
Wheatstone bridge concept), where variable calibrated elements are
adjusted to detect a null. The measurement may be in a single
frequency or over a range of frequencies.
[0308] The sensor may be a Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR) used to
characterize and locate faults in transmission-lines, typically
conductive or metallic lines, such as twisted wire pairs and
coaxial cables. Optical TDR is used to test optical fiber cables.
Typically, a TDR transmits a short rise time pulse along the
checked medium. If the medium is a uniformly impedance medium and
properly terminated, the entire transmitted pulse will be absorbed
in the far-end terminal and no signal will be reflected toward the
TDR. Any impedance discontinuities will cause some of the incident
signal to be sent back towards the source. Increases in the
impedance create a reflection that reinforces the original pulse
whilst decreases in the impedance create a reflection that opposes
the original pulse. The resulting reflected pulse that is measured
at the output/input to the TDR is measured as a function of time
and, because the speed of signal propagation is almost constant for
a given transmission medium, can be read as a function of cable
length. A TDR may be used to verify cable impedance
characteristics, splice and connector locations and associated
losses, and estimate cable lengths. The TDR may be according to, or
based on, the TDR described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,437,578 to Gumm,
entitled: "Cable Loss Correction of Distance to Fault and Time
Domain Reflectometer Measurements", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,714,021 to
Williams, entitled: "Integrated Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR)
Tester", or in U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,225 to Johnson et al., entitled:
"Network Test Instrument", which are all incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0309] A sensor may be a magnetometer for measuring a local H or B
magnetic fields. The B-field (a.k.a. magnetic flux density or
magnetic induction) is measured in Tesla (T) in SI units and Gauss
in cgs units, and magnetic flux is measured in Weber (Wb) units.
The H-field (a.k.a. magnetic field intensity or magnetic field
strength) is measured in ampere-turn per meter (A/m) in SI units,
and in Oersteds (Oe) in cgs units. Many Smartphones contain
magnetometers serving as compasses. A magnetometer may be a scalar
magnetometer, measuring the total strength, or may be a vector
magnetometer, providing both magnitude and direction (relative to
the spatial orientation) of the magnetic field. Common
magnetometers include Hall effect sensor, magneto-diode,
magneto-transistor, AMR magnetometer, GMR magnetometer, magnetic
tunnel junction magnetometer, magneto-optical sensor, Lorentz force
based MEMS sensor (a.k.a. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance--NMR),
Electron Tunneling based MEMS sensor, MEMS compasses, Nuclear
precession magnetic field sensor, optically pumped magnetic field
sensor, fluxgate magnetometer, search coil magnetic field sensor,
and Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID)
magnetometer. `Hall effect` magnetometers are based on Hall probe,
which contains an indium compound semiconductor crystal such as
indium antimonide, mounted on an aluminum backing plate, and
provides a voltage a voltage in response to the measured B-field. A
fluxgate magnetometer makes use of the non-linear magnetic
characteristics of a probe or sensing element that has a
ferromagnetic core. NMR and Proton Precession Magnetometers (PPM)
measure the resonance frequency of protons in the magnetic field to
be measured. SQUID meters are very sensitive vector magnetometers,
based on superconducting loops containing Josephson junctions. The
magnetometer may be Lorentz-force-based MEMS sensor, relying on the
mechanical motion of the MEMS structure due to the Lorentz force
acting on the current-carrying conductor in the magnetic field.
[0310] A sensor may be a strain gauge, used to measure the strain,
or any other deformation, of an object. A strain gauge commonly
comprises a metallic foil pattern supported by an insulating
flexible backing. As the object is deformed, the foil is deformed
(due to the object tension or the compression), causing its
electrical resistance to change. Some strain gauges are based on
semiconductor strain gauge (such as piezoresistors), while others
are using fiber optic sensors measuring the strain along an optical
fiber. Capacitive strain gauges use a variable capacitor to
indicate the level of mechanical deformation. Vibrating wire
strains are based on vibrating tensioned wire, where the strain is
calculated by measuring the resonant frequency of the wire. A
sensor may be a strain gauge rosette, comprising multiple strain
gauges, and can detect or sense force or torque in a particular
direction, or to determine the pattern of forces or torques.
[0311] A sensor may be a tactile sensor, being sensitive to force
or pressure, or being sensitive to a touch by an object, typically
a human touch. A tactile sensor is commonly based on
piezoresistive, piezoelectric, capacitive, or elastoresistive
sensor. Further, a tactile sensor may be based on a conductive
rubber, a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) material, a polyvinylidene
fluoride (PVDF) material, or a metallic capacitive element. A
sensor may include an array of tactile sensor elements, and may
provide an `image` of a contact surface, distribution of pressures,
or pattern of forces. A tactile sensor may be a tactile switch
where the touch sensing is used to trigger a switch, which may be a
capacitance touch switch, where the human body capacitance
increases a sensed capacitance, or may be a resistance touch
switch, where the human body part such as a finger (or any other
conductive object) conductivity is sensed between two conductors
(e.g., two pieces of metal).
[0312] A sensor may be a piezoelectric sensor, where the
piezoelectric effect is used to measure pressure, acceleration,
strain or force. Depending on how the piezoelectric material is
cut, there are three main modes of operation: transverse
longitudinal and shear. In the transverse effect mode, a force
applied along an axis generates charges in a direction
perpendicular to the line of force, and in the longitudinal effect
mode, the amount of charge produced is proportional to the applied
force and is independent of size and shape of the piezoelectric
element. When using as a pressure sensor, commonly a thin membrane
is used to transfer the force to the piezoelectric element, while
in accelerometer use, a mass is attached to the element, and the
load of the mass is measured. A piezoelectric sensor element
material may be a piezoelectric ceramics (such as PZT ceramic) or a
single crystal material. A single crystal material may be gallium
phosphate, quartz, tourmaline, or Lead Magnesium Niobate-Lead
Titanate (PMN-PT).
[0313] In one example, the sensor is a motion sensor, and may
include one or more accelerometers, which measures the absolute
acceleration or the acceleration relative to freefall. For example,
one single-axis accelerometer per axis may be used, requiring three
such accelerometers for three-axis sensing. The motion sensor may
be a single or multi-axis sensor, detecting the magnitude and
direction of the acceleration as a vector quantity, and thus can be
used to sense orientation, acceleration, vibration, shock and
falling. The motion sensor output may be analog or digital signals,
representing the measured values. The motion sensor may be based on
a piezoelectric accelerometer that utilizes the piezoelectric
effect of certain materials to measure dynamic changes in
mechanical variables (e.g., acceleration, vibration, and mechanical
shock). Piezoelectric accelerometers commonly rely on piezoceramics
(e.g., lead zirconate titanate) or single crystals (e.g., Quartz,
tourmaline). A piezoelectric quartz accelerometer is disclosed in
U.S. Pat. No. 7,716,985 to Zhang et al. entitled: "Piezoelectric
Quartz Accelerometer", U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,755 to Offenberg
entitled: "Accelerometer Sensor of Crystalline Material and Method
for Manufacturing the Same" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,786 to Le Traon
et al. entitled: "Monolithic Accelerometric Transducer", which are
all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein. Alternatively or in addition, the motion sensor may
be based on the Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS, a.k.a.
Micro-mechanical electrical system) technology. A MEMS based motion
sensor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,729 to Axelrod et al.
entitled: "Accelerometer", U.S. Pat. No. 6,670,212 to McNie et al.
entitled: "Micro-Machining" and in U.S. Pat. No. 7,892,876 to
Mehregany entitled: "Three-axis Accelerometers and Fabrication
Methods", which are all incorporated in their entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein. An example of MEMS motion
sensor is LIS302DL manufactured by STMicroelectronics NV and
described in Data-sheet LIS302DL STMicroelectronics NV, `MEMS
motion sensor 3-axis-.+-.2 g/.+-.8 g smart digital output "piccolo"
accelerometer`, Rev. 4, October 2008, which is incorporated in its
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0314] Alternatively or in addition, the motion sensor may be based
on electrical tilt and vibration switch or any other
electromechanical switch, such as the sensor described in U.S. Pat.
No. 7,326,866 to Whitmore et al. entitled: "Omnidirectional Tilt
and vibration sensor", which is incorporated in its entirety for
all purposes as if fully set forth herein. An example of an
electromechanical switch is SQ-SEN-200 available from SignalQuest,
Inc. of Lebanon, N.H., USA, described in the data-sheet `DATASHEET
SQ-SEN-200 Omnidirectional Tilt and Vibration Sensor` Updated 2009
Aug. 3, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as
if fully set forth herein. Other types of motion sensors may be
equally used, such as devices based on piezoelectric,
piezoresistive and capacitive components to convert the mechanical
motion into an electrical signal. Using an accelerometer to control
is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,774,155 to Sato et al. entitled:
"Accelerometer-Based Controller", which is incorporated in its
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0315] A sensor may be a force sensor, a load cell, or a force
gauge (a.k.a. force gage), used to measure a force magnitude
commonly using Newton (N) units, and typically during a push or
pull action. A force sensor may be based on measured spring
displacement or extension according to Hooke's law. A load cell may
be based on the deformation of a strain gauge, or may be a
hydraulic or hydrostatic, a piezoelectric, or a vibrating wire load
cell. A sensor may be a dynamometer for measuring torque or moment
or force. A dynamometer may be a motoring type or a driving type,
measuring the torque or power required to operate a device, or may
be an absorption or passive dynamometer, designed to be driven. The
SI unit for torque is the Newton-meter (Nm). The force sensor may
be according to, or based on, the sensor described in U.S. Pat. No.
4,594,898 to Kirman et al., entitled: "Force Sensors", in U.S. Pat.
No. 7,047,826 to Peshkin, entitled: "Force Sensors", in U.S. Pat.
No. 6,865,953 to Tsukada et al., entitled: "Force Sensors", or in
U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,146 to Murray et al., entitled: "Fingerpad
Force Sensing System", which are all incorporated in their entirety
for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0316] A sensor may be a pressure sensor (a.k.a. pressure
transducer or pressure transmitter/sender) for measuring a pressure
of gases or liquids, commonly using units of Pascal (Pa), Bar (b)
(such as millibar), Atmosphere (atm), Millimeter of Mercury (mmHg),
or Torr, or in terms of force per unit area such as Barye--dyne per
square centimeter (Ba). Pressure sensor may indirectly measure
other variable such as fluid/gas flow, speed, water-level, and
altitude. A pressure sensor may be a pressure switch, acting to
complete or break an electric circuit in response to measured
pressure magnitude. A pressure sensor may be an absolute pressure
sensor, where the pressure is measured relative to a perfect
vacuum, may be a gauge pressure sensor where the pressure is
measured relative to an atmospheric pressure, may be a vacuum
pressure sensor where a pressure below atmospheric pressure is
measured, may be a differential pressure sensor where the
difference between two pressures is measured, or may be a sealed
pressure sensor where the pressure is measured relative to some
fixed pressure. The changes in pressure relative to altitude may
serve to use a pressure sensor for altitude sensing, and the
Venturi effect may be used to measure flow by a pressure sensor.
Similarly, the depth of a submerged body or the fluid level on
contents in a tank may be measured by a pressure sensor.
[0317] A pressure sensor may be of a force collector type, where a
force collector (such a diaphragm, piston, bourdon tube, or
bellows) is used to measure strain (or deflection) due to applied
force (pressure) over an area. Such sensor may be a based on the
piezoelectric effect (a piezoresistive strain gauge), and may use
Silicon (Monocrystalline), Polysilicon Thin Film, Bonded Metal
Foil, Thick Film, or Sputtered Thin Film. Alternatively or in
addition, such force collector type sensor may be of a capacitive
type, which uses a metal, a ceramic, or a silicon diaphragm in a
pressure cavity to create a variable capacitor to detect strain due
to applied pressure. Alternatively or in addition, such force
collector type sensor may be of an electromagnetic type, where the
displacement of a diaphragm by means of changes in inductance is
measured. Further, in optical type the physical change of an
optical fiber, such as strain, due to applied pressure is sensed.
Further, a potentiometric type may be used, where the motion of a
wiper along a resistive mechanism is used to measure the strain
caused by the applied pressure. A pressure sensor may measure the
stress or the changes in gas density, caused by the applied
pressure, by using the changes in resonant frequency in a sensing
mechanism, by using the changes in thermal conductivity of a gas,
or by using the changes in the flow of charged gas particles
(ions). An air pressure sensor may be a barometer, typically used
to measure the atmospheric pressure, commonly used for weather
forecast applications.
[0318] A pressure sensor may be according to, or based on, the
sensor described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,943 to Welles, II et al.,
entitled: "Pressure Sensors", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,606,911 to Akiyama
et al., entitled: "Pressure Sensors", in U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,451 to
Delatorre, entitled: "Pressure Sensors", or in U.S. Pat. No.
5,134,887 to Bell, entitled: "Pressure Sensors", which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0319] A sensor may be a position sensor for measuring linear or
angular position (or motion). A position sensor may be an absolute
position sensor, or may be a displacement (relative or incremental)
sensor, measuring a relative position, and may further be an
electromechanical sensor. A position sensor may be mechanically
attached to the measured object, or alternatively may use a
non-contact measurement.
[0320] A position sensor may be an angular position sensor, for
measuring involving an angular position (or the rotation or motion)
of a shaft, an axle, or a disk. Angles are commonly expressed in
radians (rad), or in degrees (.degree.), minutes ('), and seconds
(''), and angular velocity commonly uses units of radian per second
(rad/s). Absolute angular position sensor output indicates the
current position (angle) of the shaft, while incremental or
displacement sensor provides information about the change, the
angular speed or the motion of the shaft. An angular position
sensor may be of optical type, using reflective or interruption
schemes. A reflective sensor is based on a light-detector that
senses a reflected beam from a light emitter, while an interruptive
sensor is based on interrupting the light path between the emitter
and the detector. An angular position sensor may be of magnetic
type, relying on detection based on the changes in the magnetic
field. A magnetic-based angular position sensor may be based on a
variable-reluctance (VR), Eddy-Current Killed Oscillator (ECKO),
Wiegand sensing, or Hall-effect sensing, used to detect a pattern
in the rotating disc. A rotary potentiometer may serve as an
angular position sensor.
[0321] An angular position sensor may be based on a Rotary Variable
Differential Transformer (RVDT), used for measuring the angular
displacement by using a type of an electrical transformer. An RVDT
is commonly composed of a salient two-pole rotor and a stator
consisting of a primary excitation coil and a pair of secondary
output coils, electromagnetically coupled to the excitation coil.
The coupling is proportional to the angle of the measured shaft;
hence the AC output voltage is proportional to the angular shaft
displacement. A resolver and a synchro are similar transformer
based angular position sensors.
[0322] An angular position sensor may be based on a rotary encoder
(a.k.a. shaft encoder), used for measuring angular position
commonly by using a disc, which is rigidly fixed to the measured
shaft, and contain conductive, optical, or magnetic tracks. A
rotary encoder may be an absolute encoder, or may be an incremental
rotary encoder, where output is provided only when the encoder is
rotating. A mechanical rotary encoder use an insulating disc and
sliding contacts, which close electrical circuits upon rotation of
the disc. An optical rotary encoder uses a disc having transparent
and opaque areas, and a light source and a photo detector to sense
the optical pattern on the disc. Both mechanical and optical rotary
encoders, and may use binary or gray encoding schemes.
[0323] A sensor may be an angular rate sensor, used to measure the
angular rate, or the rotation speed, of a shaft, an axle or a disk.
An angular rate sensor may be electromechanical, MEMS based, Laser
based (such as Ring Laser Gyroscope--RLG), or a gyroscope (such as
fiber-optic gyro) based. Some gyroscopes use the measurement of the
Coriolis acceleration to determine the angular rate.
[0324] An angular rate sensor may be a tachometer (a.k.a. RPM gauge
and revolution-counter), used to measure the rotation speed of a
shaft, an axle or a disk, commonly by units of RPM (Revolutions per
Minute) annotating the number of full rotations completed in one
minute around the axis. A tachometer may be based on any angular
position sensor, for example sensors that are described herein,
using further conditioning or processing to obtain the rotation
speed. A tachometer may be based on measuring the centrifugal
force, or based on sensing a slotted disk, using optical means
where an optical beam is interrupted, electrical means where
electrical contacts sense the disk, or by using magnetic sensors,
such as based on Hall-effect. Further, an angular rate sensor may
be a centrifugal switch, which is an electric switch that operates
using the centrifugal force created from a rotating shaft, most
commonly that of an electric motor or a gasoline engine. The switch
is designed to activate or de-activate as a function of the
rotational speed of the shaft.
[0325] A position sensor may be a linear position sensor, for
measuring a linear displacement or position typically in a straight
line. The SI unit for length is meter (m), and prefixes may be used
such as nanometer (nm), micrometer, centimeter (cm), millimeter
(mm), and kilometer (Km). A linear position sensor may be based on
a resistance changing element such as linear potentiometer.
[0326] A linear position sensor may be a Linear Variable
Differential Transformer (LVDT) used for measuring linear
displacement based on the transformer concept. An LVDT has three
coils placed in a tube, where the center coil serves as the primary
winding coil, and the two outer coils serve as the transformer
secondary windings. The position of a sliding cylindrical
ferromagnetic core is measured by changing the mutual magnetic
coupling between the windings.
[0327] A linear position sensor may be a linear encoder, which may
be similar to the rotary encoder counterpart, and may be based on
the same principles. A linear encoder may be either incremental or
absolute, and may be of optical, magnetic, capacitive, inductive,
or eddy-current type. Optical linear encoder typically uses a light
source such as an LED or laser diode, and may employ shuttering,
diffraction, or holographic principles. A magnetic linear encoder
may employ an active (magnetized) or passive (variable reluctance)
scheme, and the position may be sensed using a sense coil, `Hall
effect` or magneto-resistive read-head. A capacitive or inductive
linear encoder respectively measures the changes of capacitance or
the inductance. Eddy-current linear encoder may be based on U.S.
Pat. No. 3,820,110 to Henrich et al. entitled: "Eddy Current Type
Digital Encoder and Position Reference".
[0328] In one example, one or more of the sensor elements 51 is a
motion detector or an occupancy sensor. A motion detector is a
device for motion detection, that contains a physical mechanism or
electronic sensor that quantifies motion commonly in order alert
the user of the presence of a moving object within the field of
view, or in general confirming a change in the position of an
object relative to its surroundings or the change in the
surroundings relative to an object. This detection can be achieved
by both mechanical and electronic methods. In addition to discrete,
on or off motion detection, it can also consist of magnitude
detection that can measure and quantify the strength or speed of
this motion or the object that created it. Motion can be typically
detected by sound (acoustic sensors), opacity (optical and infrared
sensors and video image processors), geomagnetism (magnetic
sensors, magnetometers), reflection of the transmitted energy
(infrared laser radar, ultrasonic sensors, and microwave radar
sensors), electromagnetic induction (inductive-loop detectors), and
vibration (triboelectric, seismic, and inertia-switch sensors).
Acoustic sensors are based on: Electret effect, inductive coupling,
capacitive coupling, triboelectric effect, piezoelectric effect,
and fiber optic transmission. Radar intrusion sensors usually have
the lowest rate of false alarms. In one example, an electronic
motion detector contains a motion sensor that transforms the
detection of motion into an electrical signal. This can be achieved
by measuring optical or acoustical changes in the field of view.
Most motion detectors can detect up to 15-25 meters (50-80 ft). An
occupancy sensor is typically a motion detector that is integrated
with hardware or software-based timing device. For example, it can
be used for preventing illumination of unoccupied spaces, by
sensing when motion has stopped for a specified time period, in
order to trigger a light extinguishing signal.
[0329] One basic form of mechanical motion detection is in the form
of a mechanically-actuated switch or trigger. For electronic motion
detection, passive or active sensors may be used, where four types
of sensors commonly used in motion detectors spectrum: Passive
infrared sensors (passive) which looks for body heat, while no
energy is emitted from the sensor, ultrasonic (active) sensors that
send out pulses of ultrasonic waves and measures the reflection off
a moving object, microwave (active) sensor that sends out microwave
pulses and measures the reflection off a moving object, and
tomographic detector (active) which senses disturbances to radio
waves as they travel through an area surrounded by mesh network
nodes. Alternatively or in addition, motion can be electronically
identified using optical detection or acoustical detection Infrared
light or laser technology may be used for optical detection. Motion
detection devices, such as PIR (Passive Infrared Sensor) motion
detectors, have a sensor that detects a disturbance in the infrared
spectrum, such as a person or an animal.
[0330] Many motion detectors use a combination of different
technologies. These dual-technology detectors benefit with each
type of sensor, and false alarms are reduced. Placement of the
sensors can be strategically mounted so as to lessen the chance of
pets activating alarms. Often, PIR technology will be paired with
another model to maximize accuracy and reduce energy usage. PIR
draws less energy than microwave detection, and so many sensors are
calibrated so that when the PIR sensor is tripped, it activates a
microwave sensor. If the latter also picks up an intruder, then the
alarm is sounded. As interior motion detectors do not `see` through
windows or walls, motion-sensitive outdoor lighting is often
recommended to enhance comprehensive efforts to protect a property.
Some application for motion detection are (a) detection of
unauthorized entry, (b) detection of cessation of occupancy of an
area to extinguish lights and (c) detection of a moving object
which triggers a camera to record subsequent events.
[0331] A sensor may be a humidity sensor, such as a hygrometer,
used for measuring the humidity in the environmental air or other
gas, relating to the water vapors or the moisture content, or any
water content in a gas-vapor mixture. The hygrometer may be a
humidistat, which is a switch that responds to a relative humidity
level, and commonly used to control humidifying or dehumidifying
equipment. The measured humidity may be an absolute humidity,
corresponding to the amount of water vapor, commonly expressed in
water mass per unit of volume. Alternatively or in addition, the
humidity may be relative humidity, defined as the ratio of the
partial pressure of water vapor in an air-water mixture to the
saturated vapor pressure of water at those conditions, commonly
expressed in percents (%), or may be specific humidity (a.k.a.
humidity ratio), which is the ratio of water vapor to dry air in a
particular mass. The humidity may be measured with a dew-point
hygrometer, where condensation is detected by optical means. In
capacitive humidity sensors, the effect of humidity on the
dielectric constant of a polymer or metal oxide material is
measured. In resistive humidity sensors, the resistance of salts or
conductive polymers is measured. In thermal conductivity humidity
sensors, the change in thermal conductivity of air due to the
humidity is checked, providing indication of absolute humidity. The
humidity sensor may be a humidistat, which is a switch that
responds to a relative humidity level, and commonly used to control
humidifying or dehumidifying equipment. The humidity sensor may be
according to, or based on, the sensor described in U.S. Pat. No.
5,001,453 to Ikejiri et al., entitled: "Humidity Sensor", in U.S.
Pat. No. 6,840,103 to Lee at al., entitled: "Absolute Humidity
Sensor", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,806,722 to Shon et al., entitled:
"Polymer-Type Humidity Sensor", or in U.S. Pat. No. 6,895,803 to
Seakins et al., entitled: "Humidity Sensor", which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0332] A sensor may be an atmospheric sensor, and may be according
to, or based on, the sensor described in U.S. Patent Application
Publication No. 2004/0182167 to Orth et al., entitled: "Gage
Pressure Output From an Absolute Pressure Measurement Device", in
U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,481 to Nelson et al., entitled: "Microwave
Radiometer and Methods for Sensing Atmospheric Moisture and
Temperature", in U.S. Pat. No. 3,213,010 to Saunders et al.,
entitled: "Vertical Drop Atmospheric Sensor", or in U.S. Pat. No.
5,604,595 to Schoen, entitled: "Long Stand-Off Range Differential
Absorption Tomographic Atmospheric Trace Substances Sensor Systems
Utilizing Bistatic Configurations of Airborne and Satellite Laser
Source and Detector Reflector Platforms", which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0333] A sensor may be a bulk or surface acoustic wave sensor, and
may be according to, or based on, the sensor described in U.S.
Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0162815 to Lee, entitled:
"Manufacturing Method for Acoustic Wave Sensor Realizing Dual Mode
in Single Chip and Biosensor Using the Same", in U.S. Patent
Application Publication No. 2009/0272193 to Okaguchi et al.,
entitled: "Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor", in U.S. Pat. No.
7,219,536 to Liu et al., entitled: "System and Method to Determine
Oil Quality Utilizing a Single Multi-Function Surface Acoustic Wave
Sensor", or in U.S. Pat. No. 7,482,732 to Kalantar-Zadeh, entitled:
"Layered Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor", which are all incorporated
in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth
herein.
[0334] A sensor may be a clinometer (a.k.a. inclinometer, tilt
sensor, slope gauge, and pitch/roll indicator) for measuring angle
(or slope or tilt), elevation or depression of an object, or pitch
or roll (commonly with respect to gravity), with respect to the
earth ground plane, or with respect to the horizon, commonly
expressed in degrees. The clinometers may measure inclination
(positive slope), declination (negative slope), or both. A
clinometer may be based on an accelerometer, a pendulum, or on a
gas bubble in liquid. The inclinometer may be a tilt switch, such
as a mercury tilt switch, commonly based on a sealed glass envelope
which contains a bead or mercury. When tilted in the appropriate
direction, the bead touches a set (or multiple sets) of contacts,
thus completing an electrical circuit.
[0335] The sensor may be an angular rate sensor, and may be
according to, or based on, the sensor described in U.S. Pat. No.
4,759,220 to Burdess et al., entitled: "Angular Rate Sensors", in
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0041604 to Kano et
al., entitled: "Angular Rate Sensor", in U.S. Patent Application
Publication No. 2011/0061460 to Seeger et al., entitled:
"Extension-Mode Angular Velocity Sensor", or in U.S. Patent
Application Publication No. 2011/0219873 to OHTA et al., entitled:
"Angular Rate Sensor", which are all incorporated in their entirety
for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0336] A sensor may be a proximity sensor for detecting the
presence of nearby objects without any physical contact. A
proximity sensor may be of ultrasonic, capacitive, inductive,
magnetic, eddy-current or infrared (IR) type. A typical proximity
sensor emits a field or a signal, and senses the changes in the
field due to the object. An inductive type emits magnetic field,
and may be used with a metal or conductive object. An optical type
emits a beam (commonly infrared), and measures the reflected
optical signal. A proximity sensor may be a capacitive displacement
sensor, based on the capacitance change due to the proximity of
conductive and non-conductive materials. A metal detector is one
type of a proximity sensor using inductive sensing, responding to
conductive material such as metal. Commonly a coil produces an
alternating magnetic field, and measuring eddy-currents or the
changes in the magnetic fields.
[0337] A sensor may be a flow sensor, for measuring the volumetric
or mass flow rate (or flow velocity) of gas or liquid such as via a
defined area or a surface, commonly expressed in liters per second,
kilogram per second, gallons per minute, or cubic-meter per second.
A liquid flow sensor typically involves measuring the flow in a
pipe or in an open conduit. A flow measurement may be based on a
mechanical flow meter, where the flow affects a motion to be
sensed. Such meter may be a turbine flow meter, based on measuring
the rotation of a turbine, such as axial turbine, in the liquid (or
gas) flow around an axis. A mechanical flow meter may be based on a
rotor with helical blades inserted axially in the flow (Woltmann
meter), or a single jet meter based on a simple impeller with
radial vanes, impinged upon by a single jet (such as a paddle wheel
meter). Pressure-based meters may be based on measuring a pressure
or a pressure differential, caused by the flow, commonly based on
Bernoulli's principle. A Venturi meter is based on constricting the
flow (e.g., by an orifice), and measuring the pressure differential
before and within the constriction. Commonly a concentric,
eccentric, or segmental orifice plate may be used, including a
plate with a hole. An optical flow meter use light to determine the
flow-rate, commonly by measuring the actual speed of particles in
the gas (or liquid) flow, by using a light emitter (e.g., laser)
and a photo-detector. Similarly, the Doppler-effect may be used
with sound, such as an ultrasonic sound, or with light, such as a
laser Doppler. The sensor may be based on an acoustic velocity
sensor, and may be according to, or based on, the sensor described
in U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,201 to Cray, entitled: "Acoustic Vector
Sensing Sonar System", in U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,192 to Toda et al.,
entitled: "Fluid Flow Velocity Sensor Using a Piezoelectric
Element", or in U.S. Pat. No. 7,239,577 to Tenghamn et al.,
entitled: "Apparatus and Methods for Multicomponent Marine
Geophysical Data Gathering", which are all incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0338] A flow sensor may be an air flow sensor, for measuring the
air flow, such as through a surface (e.g., through a tube) or a
volume. The sensor may actually measure the air volume passing
(such as in vane/flap air flow meter), or may measure the actual
speed or air flow. In some cases, a pressure, typically
differential pressure, is measured as an indicator for the air flow
measurements.
[0339] An anemometer is an air flow sensor primarily for measuring
wind speed. Air or wind flow may use cup anemometer, which
typically consists of hemispherical cups mounted on the ends of
horizontal arms. The air flow past the cups in any horizontal
direction turns the cups proportional to the wind speed. A windmill
anemometer combines a propeller and a tail on the same axis, to
obtain wind speed and direction measurements. Hot-wire anemometer
commonly uses a fine (several micrometers) tungsten (or other
metal) wire, heated to some temperature above the ambient, and uses
the cooling effect of the air flowing past the wire. Hot-wire
devices can be further classified as CCA (Constant-Current
Anemometer), CVA (Constant-Voltage Anemometer) and CTA
(Constant-Temperature Anemometer). The voltage output from these
anemometers is thus the result of some sort of circuit within the
device trying to maintain the specific variable (current, voltage
or temperature) constant. Laser Doppler anemometers use a beam of
light from a laser that is divided into two beams, with one
propagated out of the anemometer. Particulates (or deliberately
introduced seed material) flowing along with air molecules near
where the beam exits reflect, or backscatter, the light back into a
detector, where it is measured relative to the original laser beam.
When the particles are in great motion, they produce a Doppler
shift for measuring wind speed in the laser light, which is used to
calculate the speed of the particles, and therefore the air around
the anemometer. Sonic anemometers use ultrasonic sound waves to
measure wind velocity. They measure wind speed based on the time of
flight of sonic pulses between pairs of transducers. Measurements
from pairs of transducers can be combined to yield a measurement of
velocity in 1-, 2-, or 3-dimensional flow. The spatial resolution
is given by the path length between transducers, which is typically
10 to 20 cm. Sonic anemometers can take measurements with very fine
temporal resolution, 20 Hz or better, which makes them well suited
for turbulence measurements. Air flow may be further measured by
pressure anemometers, which may be a plate or a tube type. Plate
anemometer uses a flat plate suspended from the top so that the
wind deflects the plate, or by balancing a spring compressed by the
pressure of the wind on its face. Tube anemometer comprises a glass
U tube containing a liquid manometer serving as a pressure gauge,
with one end bent in a horizontal direction to face the wind and
the other vertical end remains parallel to the wind flow.
[0340] An inductive sensor may be eddy-current (a.k.a. Foucault
currents) based sensor, used for high-resolution non-contact
measurement or a position, or a change in the position, of a
conductive object (such as a metal). Eddy-Current sensors operate
with magnetic fields, where a driver creates an alternating current
in a coil at the end of the probe. This creates an alternating
magnetic field with induces small currents (eddy currents) in the
target material. The eddy currents create an opposing magnetic
field which resists the field being generated by the probe coil and
the interaction of the magnetic fields is dependent on the distance
between the probe and the target, providing a displacement
measurement. Such sensors may be used to sense the vibration and
position measurements, such as measurements of a rotating shaft,
and to detect flaws in conductive materials, as well as in a
proximity and metal detectors.
[0341] A sensor may be an ultrasound (or ultrasonic) sensor, based
on transmitting and receiving ultrasound energy, and may be
according to, or based on, the sensor described in U.S. Patent
Application Publication No. 2011/0265572 to Hoenes, entitled:
"Ultrasound Transducer, Ultrasound Sensor and Method for Operating
an Ultrasound Sensor", in U.S. Pat. No. 7,614,305 to Yoshioka et
al., entitled: "Ultrasonic Sensor", in U.S. Patent Application
Publication No. 2008/0257050 to Watanabe, entitled: "Ultrasonic
Sensor", or in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0242611
to Terazawa, entitled: "Ultrasonic Sensor", which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0342] A sensor may be a solid state sensor, which is typically a
semiconductor device and which have no mobile parts, and commonly
enclosed as a chip. The sensor may be according to, or based on,
the sensor described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,547 to Markle,
entitled: "Solid State Sensors", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,747,258 to Benz
et al., entitled: "Intensified Hybrid Solid-State Sensor with an
Insulating Layer", in U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,087 to Jagielinski,
entitled: "Large Solid State Sensor Assembly Formed from Smaller
Sensors", or in U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,631 to Ryerson, entitled:
"Solid State Sensor", which are all incorporated in their entirety
for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0343] A sensor may be a nanosensor, which is a biological,
chemical or physical sensor constructed using nanoscale components,
usually microscopic or submicroscopic in size. A nanosensor may be
according to, or based on, the sensor described in U.S. Pat. No.
7,256,466 to Lieber et al., entitled: "Nanosensors", in U.S. Patent
Application Publication No. 2007/0264623 to Wang et al., entitled:
"Nanosensors", in U.S. Patent Application Publication No.
2011/0045523 to Strano et al., entitled: "Optical Nenosensors
Comprising Photoluminescent Nanostructures", or in U.S. Patent
Application Publication No. 2011/0275544 to Zhou et al., entitled:
"Microfluidic Integration with Nanosensor Platform", which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0344] A sensor may consist of, or be based on, a gyroscope, for
measuring orientation is space. A conventional gyroscope is a
mechanical type, consisting of a wheel or disk mounted so that it
can spin rapidly about an axis that is itself free to alter in
direction. The orientation of the axis is not affected by tilting
of the mounting; so gyroscopes are commonly used to provide
stability or maintain a reference direction in navigation systems,
automatic pilots, and stabilizers. A MEMS gyroscope may be based on
vibrating element based on the Foucault pendulum concept. A Fiber
Optic Gyroscope (FOG) uses the interference or light to detect
mechanical rotation. A Vibrating structure Gyroscope (VSG, a.k.a.
Coriolis Vibratory Gyroscope--CVG), is based on a metal alloy
resonator, and may be a piezoelectric gyroscope type where a
piezoelectric material is vibrating and the lateral motion due to
centrifugal force is measured.
[0345] In one example, the same component serves as both a sensor
and as an actuator. For example, a loudspeaker may serve as a
microphone, as some speakers are structured similar to a dynamic or
magnetic microphone. In another example, a reverse-biased LED
(Light Emitting Diode) may serve as a photodiode. Further, a coil
may be used to produce a magnetic field by excitation electrical
current through it, or may be used as a sensor generating an
electrical signal when subjected to a changing magnetic field. In
another example, the piezoelectric effect may be used, converting
between mechanical phenomenon and electrical signal. A transducer
is a device that converts one form of energy to another. Energy
types include (but are not limited to) electrical, mechanical,
electromagnetic (including light), chemical, acoustic or thermal
energy. Transducers that convert to an electrical signal may serve
as sensors, while transducers that convert electrical energy to
another form of energy may serve as actuators. Reversible
transducers, that are able to convert energy both ways, may serve
as both sensors and actuators. In one example, the same component
(e.g., transducer) serves at one time as a sensor, and at another
time as an actuator. Further, the phenomenon sensed when serving as
a sensor may be the same or different phenomena affected when
serving as an actuator.
[0346] In one example, multiple sensors are used arranged as a
sensor array, where a set of several sensors, typically identical
or similar, is used to gather information that cannot be gathered
from a single sensor, or improve the measurement or sensing
relating to a single sensor. A sensor array commonly improves the
sensitivity, accuracy, resolution, and other parameters of the
sensed phenomenon, and may be arranged as a linear sensor array.
The sensor array may be directional, and better measure the
parameters of the impinging signal to the array. Parameters that
may be identified include the number, magnitudes, frequencies,
Direction-Of-Arrival (DOA), distances and speeds of the signals.
Estimation of the DOA may be improved in far-field signal
applications, and may be based on Spectral-based (Non-parametric)
that is based on maximizing the power of the beamforming output for
a given input signal (such as Barlett beamformer, Capon beamformer
and MUSIC beamformer), or may be based on Parametric approaches
that is based on minimizing quadratic penalty functions. The
processing of the entire sensor array outputs, such as to obtain a
single measurement or a single parameter, may be performed by a
dedicated processor, which may be part of the sensor array
assembly, may be performed in the processor of the field unit, may
be performed by the processor in the router, may be performed as
part of the controller functionality (e.g., in the control server),
or any combination thereof. Further, sensor array may be used to
sense a phenomenon pattern in a surface or in space, as well as the
phenomenon motion or distribution in a location.
[0347] Alternatively or in addition, a sensor, a sensor technology,
a sensor conditioning or handling circuits, or a sensor
application, may be according to the book entitled: "Sensors and
Control Systems in manufacturing", Second Edition 2010, by Sabrie
Soloman, The McGraw-Hill Companies, ISBN: 978-0-07-160573-1, or
according to the book entitled: "Fundamentals of Industrial
Instrumentation and Process Control", by William C. Dunn, 2005, The
McGraw-Hill Companies, ISBN: 0-07-145735-6, or according to the
book entitled: "Sensor technology Handbook", Edited by Jon Wilson,
by Newnes-Elsevier 2005, ISBN:0-7506-7729-5, which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0348] In one example, the sensor 51 is used for measuring magnetic
or electrical quantities such as voltage (e.g., voltmeter), current
(e.g., ampermeter), resistance (e.g., ohmmeter), conductance,
reactance, magnetic flux, electrical charge, magnetic field (e.g.,
Hall sensor), electric field, electric power (e.g., electricity
meter), S-matrix (e.g., network analyzer), power spectrum (e.g.,
spectrum analyzer), inductance, capacitance, impedance, phase,
noise (amplitude or phase), transconductance, transimpedance, and
frequency. In one example shown in arrangement 500a in FIG. 5a,
part of a sensor unit 50a is shown, including an ampermeter 57
which is corresponding to the sensor 51, connected between a power
source 56a and a power consuming circuit or load 58. In such
arrangement, the current consumed by the load 58 is measured. The
power source 56a may be any type of power source or power supply,
and may provide AC or DC voltage or current. The power source 56a
connects via a cable ending with connector 59a to a mating
connector 59b that is part of the sensor unit 50a. The load 58 is
connected via a cable terminating with a connector 59d to a mating
connector 59c that is part of the sensor unit 50a. The load 58 may
be any power consuming circuit, such as an actuator 61, a home
appliance or any other type of equipment. The power source 56a (or
power supply) may be the same power source used to power the
circuits of the sensor unit 50a, or may be a separate power source
used for powering the load 58 where the sensor unit 50a uses a
separate power source.
[0349] While the power source 56a was exampled in FIG. 5a as
separated from the sensor unit 50a and connected thereto via a
cable, the power source 56a may equally be integrated with the
sensor unit 50a. Such integration may take the form of sharing the
same enclosure, or where the power source 56a is also used to power
at least part of the sensor unit 50a circuits. While the load 58
was exampled in FIG. 5a as separated from the sensor unit 50a and
connected thereto via a cable, the load 58 may equally be
integrated with the sensor unit 50a. Such integration may take the
form of sharing the same enclosure, or where the power source of
the load 58 is also used to power at least part of the sensor unit
50a circuits. Other types of integration may involve sharing the
computer 53 or sharing any other circuits or functionalities.
[0350] Referring now to FIG. 5b, showing an arrangement 500b where
a sensor unit 50b is used for sensing the power consumed by an
AC-powered appliance 58a. The appliance 58a corresponds to load 58,
and is connected via cable and AC power connectors 59h and 59g to
the sensor unit 50b. The appliance 58a is power fed from an AC
power via the AC power plug 68, connected via AC power cable 67 to
the sensor unit 50b via AC power connectors 59e and 59f. The
ampermeter 57a (corresponding to ampermeter 57) is operative for
measuring the AC current flowing through it, and thus measure the
power consumed by the appliance 58a. The appliance 58a may be a
major appliance (white goods) and may be an air conditioner,
dishwasher, clothes dryer, drying cabinet, freezer, refrigerator,
kitchen stove, water heater, washing machine, trash compactor,
microwave oven and induction cooker. The appliance 58a may
similarly be a `small` appliance such as television (TV) set, CD or
DVD player, camcorder, still camera, clock, alarm clock, video game
console, HiFi or home cinema, telephone or answering machine.
[0351] In one example, the sensor element includes a solar cell or
photovoltaic cell, for sensing or measuring light intensity. The
luminance is commonly measured in Lux (lx) units, the luminous flux
is measured in Lumens (lm), and the luminous intensity is commonly
measured in Candela (cd) units. A solar cell (also called
photovoltaic cell or photoelectric cell) is a solid state
electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into
electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Assemblies of solar cells
are used to make solar modules which are used to capture energy
from sunlight. Cells are described as photovoltaic cells when the
light source is not necessarily sunlight. These are used for
detecting light or other electromagnetic radiation near the visible
range, for example infrared detectors, or measurement of light
intensity. The solar cell works in three steps: Photons in sunlight
hit the solar panel and are absorbed by semiconducting materials,
such as silicon, electrons (negatively charged) are knocked loose
from their atoms, causing an electric potential difference, and
current starts flowing through the material to cancel the potential
and this electricity is captured. Due to the special composition of
solar cells, the electrons are only allowed to move in a single
direction. An array of solar cells converts solar energy into a
usable amount of direct current (DC) electricity.
[0352] Materials for efficient solar cells must have
characteristics matched to the spectrum of available light. Some
cells are designed to efficiently convert wavelengths of solar
light that reach the Earth's surface. However, some solar cells are
optimized for light absorption beyond Earth's atmosphere as well.
Light absorbing materials can often be used in multiple physical
configurations to take advantage of different light absorption and
charge separation mechanisms. Materials presently used for
photovoltaic solar cells include monocrystalline silicon,
polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and
copper indium selenide/sulfide. Many currently available solar
cells are made from bulk materials that are cut into wafers between
180 to 240 micrometers thick that are then processed like other
semiconductors. Other materials are made as thin-film layers,
organic dyes, and organic polymers that are deposited on supporting
substrates. A third group is made of nanocrystals and used as
quantum dots (electron-confined nanoparticles). Silicon remains the
only material that is well-researched in both bulk and thin-film
forms. The most prevalent bulk material for solar cells is
crystalline silicon (abbreviated as a group as c-Si), also known as
"solar grade silicon". Bulk silicon is separated into multiple
categories according to crystallinity and crystal size in the
resulting ingot, ribbon, or wafer.
[0353] A sensor redundancy may be used in order to improve
availability and reliability. In such arrangement, two or more
sensor elements 51 are used in parallel, allowing for improved
robustness and allowing for overcoming a single point of failure
(SPOF). Two or more sensor elements 51 may be used, all sensing or
measuring the same physical phenomenon. An example of a redundant
arrangement 500c is shown in FIG. 5c, showing two sensor units 50c
and 50d. The sensor unit 50c includes a sensor element 51c,
connected to A/D converter 52c, which in turn is connected to
computer 53c. The measured value (or any representation thereof) is
transmitted via the wireless modem 54c and antenna 55c, and the
sensor unit 50c is powered from a power source 56c. Similarly, the
sensor unit 50d includes a sensor element 51d, connected to A/D
converter 52d, which in turn is connected to computer 53d. The
measured value (or any representation thereof) is transmitted via
the wireless modem 54d and antenna 55d, and the sensor unit 50d is
powered from a power source 56d. The two sensor elements 51c and
51d are located, installed, oriented, or otherwise arranged to
sense or measure the same physical phenomenon 501. The sensor
elements 51c and 51d may be different, similar, substantially the
same, or of the same type. For example, both sensor elements 51c
and 51d may be temperature sensors, and may be adjacently located
to sense the temperature at the same place, or may be both attached
to a surface to measure the surface temperature. While two sensor
units 50c and 50d are described in FIG. 5c, three, four or any
other number of sensor units may be equally used. In such
configuration, a single failure in one of the sensor units 50c and
50d, the monitored phenomenon 501 may still be sensed or
measured.
[0354] While the two sensor units 50c and 50d were described as
having the same structure, other arrangement may be equally used,
and the two (or more) sensor units may be different, similar,
substantially or fully the same. While both sensor units 50c and
50d were exampled as having a wireless interface via the wireless
modem 54 and antenna 55, other configurations may equally be used,
for example where one sensor unit 50 use wireless communication and
the other use a wired communication. Further, one sensor element
may be of analog output type while the other may be a digital
sensor element, where the use of A/D converter 52 is obviated.
[0355] While two separated sensor units 50c and 50d were described
in FIG. 5c, the two devices may be partially or fully integrated
with each other. For example, both sensor units 50 may share the
same enclosure, same power source 56, same computer 53, or any
other hardware, software or any other functionality. Such
integration provides economical benefit due to the saving of the
non-duplicated part. In one example, the two sensor elements are
part of a single sensor unit 50d, as shown in arrangement 500d in
FIG. 5d. The sensor unit 50e corresponds to the sensor unit 50
shown in FIG. 5, where the two sensors 51a and 51b are used to
sense the same phenomenon. Applying such a concept to current
measurement facility shown in FIG. 5b above is described in
arrangement 500e shown in FIG. 5e. The sensor unit 50f shown
corresponds to sensor unit 50e shown in FIG. 5d, where the two
sensors are the two ampermeters 57a and 57b, connected in series
such that both ampermeters 57a and 57b measure the current flow
from the AC power source via the power plug 68 to the appliance
58a. While the redundant sensors have been exampled with regard to
the added reliability and availability, other benefits may as well
be provided. For example, the average of the two (or more) sensors
may be calculated and used, providing higher accuracy. Further, the
multiple sensors may serve as sensor array as disclosed herein.
[0356] In one example, redundancy is employed in the communication
of a sensor unit (or a field unit) with the router 21 or with
another field unit. An example of a sensor unit 50g having two
communication ports is shown in FIG. 5g. The sensor unit 50g
corresponds to the sensor unit 50 shown in FIG. 5 above, with an
additional communication port. The added communication port is a
wired port including a wired modem 64 coupled to the connector 65b,
for connecting to a cable 69 connected via the mating connector
65a, similar to the wired communication port described for actuator
unit 60 shown in FIG. 6 below. While sensor unit 50g is exampled as
having two communication ports, three or more ports may be equally
used. Further, while sensor unit 50g is exampled having different
and distinct communication ports, the wired communication port
(comprising connector 65b and wired modem 64) and the wireless
communication port (comprising wireless modem 54 and antenna 55),
the two (or more) ports may as well similar or identical, and may
be communicating over the same network or via two (or more)
distinct networks). For example, the two ports may be wireless
based, or alternately the two ports may be wired based.
[0357] A system employing two ports unit is shown as arrangement
500g in FIG. 5h. The arrangement 500g corresponds to the system 20
shown in FIG. 2, where the field unit 23d (replacing the one-port
field unit 23a) is shown, and may correspond to the sensor unit 50g
having two communication ports. In arrangement 500g, the two ports
are identical (or similar), and the field unit 23d communicates
using its two communication ports over the same control network 22,
over the two communication routes 500a and 500b, each corresponds
to a respective communication port. Arrangement 500h shown in FIG.
5i describes the case where the field unit uses two distinct ports,
for communication over two distinct networks 22a and 22b,
respectively via connections 500c and 500d. As shown in the
arrangement 500h, the control networks 22a and 22b may be connected
to two distinct communication ports in the router 21 via the
connections 500e and 500f. For example, the field unit 23d may
correspond to the sensor unit 50g, where the control network 22a
may be a wired network using the cable 69, and connected to the
wired port of the unit 50g, such as using connector 65b and wired
modem 64. Similarly, the field unit 23d may correspond to the
sensor unit 50g, where the control network 22b may be a wireless
network, and coupled to the wireless port of the unit 50g, such as
using antenna 55 and wireless modem 54. Further, the router 21 may
correspond to the router 40a shown in FIG. 4a, where the wired
control network 22a is connected to the wired port of the router
40a, that may comprise connector 41 and wired modem 42b, while the
wireless control network 22b is connected to the wireless port of
the router 40a, that may comprise antenna 44 and wireless modem 43.
Such an arrangement allows for two redundant data paths 500g and
500h between the field unit 23d and the router 21, as shown in
arrangement 500i in FIG. 5j.
[0358] The operation of the redundant communication routes 500g and
500h between the field unit 23d and the router 21 may be based on
standby redundancy, (a.k.a. Backup Redundancy), where one of the
data paths or the associated hardware is considered as a primary
unit, and the other data path (or the associated hardware) is
considered as the secondary unit, serving as back up to the primary
unit. The secondary unit typically does not monitor the system, but
is there just as a spare. The standby unit is not usually kept in
sync with the primary unit, so it must reconcile its input and
output signals on the takeover of the communication. This approach
does lend itself to give a "bump" on transfer, meaning the
secondary operation may not be in sync with the last system state
of the primary unit. Such mechanism may require a watchdog, which
monitors the system to decide when a switchover condition is met,
and command the system to switch control to the standby unit.
Standby redundancy configurations commonly employ two basic types,
namely `Cold Standby` and `Hot Standby`.
[0359] In cold standby state, the secondary unit is either powered
off or otherwise non-active in the system operation, thus
preserving the reliability of the unit. The drawback of this design
is that the downtime is greater than in hot standby, because the
standby unit needs to be powered up or activated, and brought
online into a known state.
[0360] On hot standby state, the secondary unit is powered up or
otherwise kept operational, and can optionally monitor the system.
The secondary unit may serve as the watchdog and/or voter to decide
when to switch over, thus eliminating the need for an additional
hardware for this job. This design does not preserve the
reliability of the standby unit as well as the cold standby design.
However, it shortens the downtime, which in turn increases the
availability of the system. Some flavors of Hot Standby are similar
to Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) or Parallel Redundancy. The main
difference between Hot Standby and DMR is how tightly the primary
and the secondary are synchronized. DMR completely synchronizes the
primary and secondary units.
[0361] While a redundancy of two was exampled above, where two data
paths and two hardware devices were used, a redundancy involving
three or more data paths or systems may be equally used. The term
`N` Modular Redundancy, (a.k.a. Parallel Redundancy) refers to the
approach of having multiply units or data paths running in
parallel. All units are highly synchronized and receive the same
input information at the same time. Their output values are then
compared and a voter decides which output values should be used.
This model easily provides `bumpless` switchovers. This model
typically has faster switchover times than Hot Standby models, thus
the system availability is very high, but because all the units are
powered up and actively engaged with the system operation, the
system is at more risk of encountering a common mode failure across
all the units.
[0362] Deciding which unit is correct may be challenging if only
two units are used. If more than two units are used, the problem is
simpler, usually the majority wins or the two that agree win. In N
Modular Redundancy, there are three main typologies: Dual Modular
Redundancy, Triple Modular Redundancy, and Quadruple Redundancy.
Quadruple Modular Redundancy (QMR) is fundamentally similar to TMR
but using four units instead of three to increase the reliability.
The obvious drawback is the 4.times. increase in system cost.
[0363] Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) uses two functional equivalent
units, thus either can control or support the system operation. The
most challenging aspect of DMR is determining when to switch over
to the secondary unit. Because both units are monitoring the
application, a mechanism is needed to decide what to do if they
disagree. Either a tiebreaker vote or simply the secondary unit may
be designated as the default winner, assuming it is more
trustworthy than the primary unit. Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR)
uses three functional equivalent units to provide a redundant
backup. This approach is very common in aerospace applications
where the cost of failure is extremely high. TMR is more reliable
than DMR due to two main aspects. The most obvious reason is that
two "standby" units are used instead of just one. The other reason
is that in a technique called diversity platforms or diversity
programming may be applied. In this technique, different software
or hardware platforms are used on the redundant systems to prevent
common mode failure. The voter decides which unit will actively
control the application. With TMR, the decision of which system to
trust is made democratically and the majority rules. If three
different answers are obtained, the voter must decide which system
to trust or shut down the entire system, thus the switchover
decision is straightforward and fast.
[0364] Another redundancy topology is 1:N Redundancy, where a
single backup is used for multiple systems, and this backup is able
to function in the place of any single one of the active systems.
This technique offers redundancy at a much lower cost than the
other models by using one standby unit for several primary units.
This approach only works well when the primary units all have very
similar functions, thus allowing the standby to back up any of the
primary units if one of them fails.
[0365] While the redundant data paths have been exampled with
regard to the added reliability and availability, redundant data
paths may as well be used in order to provide higher aggregated
data rate, allowing for faster response and faster transfer of data
over the multiple data paths.
[0366] A sensor may be an image sensor, for converting an optical
image into an electrical signal, as exampled in sensor unit 50f
shown in FIG. 5f. In one example, a sensor unit 50f may consist,
may include, or may be integrated with, a digital still camera or a
video camera. The sensor unit 50f may include lens 502 (one or few
lenses) for focusing the received light onto a small semiconductor
sensor, serving as the image sensor 503. The image sensor 503
commonly includes a panel with a matrix of tiny light-sensitive
diodes (photocells), converting the image light to electric charges
and then to electric signals, thus creating a video picture or a
still image by recording the light intensity. Charge-Coupled
Devices (CCD) and CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor)
are commonly used as the light-sensitive diodes. Linear or area
arrays of light-sensitive elements may be used, and the light
sensitive sensors may support monochrome (black & white), color
or both. For example, the CCD sensor KAI-2093 Image Sensor 1920
(H).times.1080 (V) Interline CCD Image Sensor or KAF-50100 Image
Sensor 8176 (H).times.6132 (V) Full-Frame CCD Image Sensor can be
used, available from Image Sensor Solutions, Eastman Kodak Company,
Rochester, N.Y.
[0367] The sensor unit 50f may further include an image processor
block 504 comprising an AFE, connected to receive the analog signal
from the image sensor 503. The Analog Front End (AFE) in the image
processor block 504 filters, amplifies and digitizes the signal,
using an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. The AFE further
provides correlated double sampling (CDS), and provides a gain
control to accommodate varying illumination conditions. In the case
of a CCD sensor, a CCD AFE (Analog Front End) component may be used
between the digital image processor and the image sensor. Such an
AFE may be based on VSP2560 `CCD Analog Front End for Digital
Cameras` from Texas Instruments Incorporated of Dallas Tex., U.S.A.
The image processor block 504 may further contain a digital image
processor, which receives the digital data from the AFE, and
processes this digital representation of the image to handle
various industry-standards, and to execute various computations and
algorithms. Preferably, additional image enhancements may be
performed by the block 504 such as generating greater pixel density
or adjusting color balance, contrast and luminance. Further, the
block 504 may perform other data management functions and
processing on the raw digital image data. Commonly, the timing
relationship of the vertical/horizontal reference signals and the
pixel clock are also handled in this block. Digital Media
System-on-Chip device TMS320DM357 from Texas Instruments
Incorporated of Dallas Tex., U.S.A. is an example of a device
implementing in a single chip (and associated circuitry) part or
entire of the image processor 504, part or entire of the video
compressor 505 and part or entire of a transceiver. In addition to
a lens 502 or lens system, color filters may be placed between the
imaging optics and the photosensor array 503 to achieve desired
color manipulation. The block 504 may further convert the raw data
received from the photosensor array 503 into a color-corrected
image in a standard image file format. While the image processor
504 may be a separate and dedicated processor, the image processor
functionality in the block 504 may be integrated, in whole or in
part, in the computer 53 functions or its software/firmware, such
that a single processor executes both the image processing relating
functionalities and other required functionalities (e.g.,
communication control) associated with the sensor unit 50f
operations.
[0368] The block 504 may convert the raw data received from the
photosensor array serving as the image sensor 503 into a
color-corrected image in a standard image file format. Examples of
formats that can be used to represent the original or compressed
captured image are TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), RAW format, AVI
(Audio Video Interleaved), DV (such as based on IEC 61834), MOV,
WMV (Windows Media Video), MP4 (Such as ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003), DCF
(Design Rule for Camera Format), ITU-T H.261, ITU-T H.263, ITU-T
H.264, ITU-T CCIR 601, ASF, Exif (Exchangeable Image File Format),
and DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) standards. In many cases,
video data is compressed before transmission, in order to allow its
transmission over a reduced bandwidth transmission system. A video
compressor 505 (or video encoder) is shown as part of the sensor
unit 50f in FIG. 5f coupled between the image processor 504 and the
computer 53, allowing for compression of the digital video signal
before its transmission over a communication medium. In some cases
compression will not be required, hence obviating the need for such
a compressor 505. Such compression can be lossy or lossless types.
Common compression algorithms are JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts
Group) and MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group). For example, the
compression can be based on ADV212 JPEG 2000 Video Codec, available
from Analog Devices, Inc., from Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. The above
and other image or video compression techniques can make use of
intraframe compression commonly based on registering the
differences between part of single frame or a single image. An
interframe compression can further be used for video streams, based
on registering differences between frames. Other examples of image
processing include run length encoding and delta modulation.
Further, the image can be dynamically dithered to allow the
displayed image to appear to have higher resolution and quality.
While the video compressor 505 may be a separate and dedicated
processor, the compression functionality in the block 505 may be
integrated, in whole or in part, in the computer 53 functions or
its software/firmware, such that a single processor executes both
the image processing relating functionalities and other required
functionalities (e.g., communication control) associated with the
sensor unit 50f operations. Further, the compression functionality
in the block 505 may be integrated, in whole or in part, with the
image processor 504 functions or its software/firmware, such that a
single processor executes both the image processing and image
compressing relating functionalities.
[0369] Referring now to FIG. 6 where an example of an actuator unit
60 is shown. The actuator unit 60 includes two actuator elements
61a and 61b. In the case of analog actuators having an analog
signal input, such as analog voltage, analog current or
continuously changing impedance, a Digital to Analog (D/A)
converter is coupled to the actuator element 61 input, that
converts a digital (usually binary) code to an analog signal
(current, voltage or electric charge), for converting the digital
control signal to an analog signal. The actuator 61a input is
connected to the output of D/A 62a, and the actuator 61b input is
connected to the output of D/A 62b. While two actuator elements 61a
and 61b are shown, an actuator unit may equally include a single
actuator element or any number of actuators, where D/A may be
connected to each analog actuator input. A computer 63, commonly a
small size microprocessor, is connected to the D/A 62a and 62b, and
provides the values representing the actuator operation by the
actuators 61a and 61b. The computer 63 further controls and manages
the sensor unit 60 operation. The actuator unit communicates via
the cable 69 terminated with a connector 65a, connected to by
connector 65 which mates the cable connector 65a. The connector 65a
connects to the wired modem 64 (or a wired transceiver). The
computer 63 may thus communicate with any gateway, router, or other
sensor unit via the cable 69. While exampled using a wired
communication such as a cable, the actuator unit 60 may equally use
a wireless (e.g., over-the-air) communication, where the modem 64
is replaced with a wireless modem (or transceiver), and the
connector 65 is replaced with an antenna. The actuator elements may
be identical, similar or different from each other. For example,
some actuators may be analog while others are digital actuators. In
another example, different actuators may relate to different
physical phenomena. An actuator unit may be in accordance with, or
base on, U.S. Pat. No. 7,898,147 to Grabinger et al. entitled:
"Wireless Actuator Interface", which is incorporated in its
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0370] An analog actuator element such as an actuator 61 produces a
physical, chemical, or biological action, stimulation or
phenomenon, such as a changing or generating temperature, humidity,
pressure, audio, vibration, light, motion, sound, proximity, flow
rate, electrical voltage, and electrical current, in response to
the electrical input (current or voltage). For example, an actuator
may provide visual or audible signaling, or physical movement. An
actuator may include motors, winches, fans, reciprocating elements,
extending or retracting, and energy conversion elements, as well as
a heater or a cooler. In the case of an analog actuator having an
analog input, a Digital-to-Analog (D/A) converter 52, that converts
a digital (usually binary) code to an analog signal (current,
voltage or electric charge), is coupled to the actuator input. A
signal conditioning circuit may be used to adapt between the D/A
converter 52 output and the input of analog actuator 61. In the
case the actuator is a digital actuator having a digital input, the
actuator may be coupled to the computer 63 directly or via a
communication link, thus obviating the need for any signal
conditioning. For example, an actuator 61 may include motors,
winches, fans, reciprocating elements, extending or retracting, and
energy conversion elements. In addition, heaters or coolers may be
used. Further, an actuator 61 may include an indicator for
indicating free-form, shape, form, amorphous, abstract, conceptual,
representational, organic, biomorphic, partially geometric,
conventional, unconventional, multi-sided, natural, figurative,
recognizable concept, geometric, amorphous, abstract, organic,
virtual, irregular, regular, biomorphic, conventional,
unconventional, symmetric, asymmetric, man-made, composite,
geometric, letter, number, code, and symbol.
[0371] The actuator 61 may be or may include a visual or audible
signaling device, or any other device that indicates a status to
the person. In one example, the device illuminates a visible light,
such as a Light-Emitting-Diode (LED). However, any type of visible
electric light emitter such as a flashlight, an incandescent lamp
and compact fluorescent lamps can be used. Multiple light emitters
may be used, and the illumination may be steady, blinking or
flashing. Further, the illumination can be directed for lighting a
surface, such as a surface including an image or a picture.
Further, a single single-state visual indicator may be used to
provide multiple indications, for example by using different colors
(of the same visual indicator), different intensity levels,
variable duty-cycle and so forth.
[0372] In one example, the actuator 61 includes a solenoid, which
is typically a coil wound into a packed helix, and used to convert
electrical energy into a magnetic field. Commonly, an
electromechanical solenoid is used to convert energy into linear
motion. Such electromagnetic solenoid commonly consists of an
electromagnetically inductive coil, wound around a movable steel or
iron slug (the armature), and shaped such that the armature can be
moved along the coil center. In one example, the actuator 61 may
include a solenoid valve, used to actuate a pneumatic valve, where
the air is routed to a pneumatic device, or a hydraulic valve, used
to control the flow of a hydraulic fluid. In another example, the
electromechanical solenoid is used to operate an electrical switch.
Similarly, a rotary solenoid may be used, where the solenoid is
used to rotate a ratcheting mechanism when power is applied.
[0373] In one example, the actuator 61 is used for effecting or
changing magnetic or electrical quantities such as voltage,
current, resistance, conductance, reactance, magnetic flux,
electrical charge, magnetic field, electric field, electric power,
S-matrix, power spectrum, inductance, capacitance, impedance,
phase, noise (amplitude or phase), trans-conductance,
trans-impedance, and frequency. In one example shown in arrangement
600a in FIG. 6a, part of an actuator unit 60a is shown, including a
controlled switch 601 which is corresponding to the actuator 61,
connected between a power source 56a and a power consuming circuit
or load 58. The switch 601 may be implemented by a relay, an
optocoupler, a solid state circuitry or any other controlled
switches known in the art.
[0374] In such arrangement, the power to the load 58 may be turned
on and off under the control of the actuator unit 60a. The power
source 56a may be any type of power source or power supply, and may
provide AC or DC voltage or current. The power source 56a connects
via a cable ending with connector 59a to a mating connector 59b
that is part of the actuator unit 60a. The load 58 is connected via
a cable terminating with a connector 59d to a mating connector 59c
that is part of the actuator unit 60a. The load 58 may be any power
consuming circuit, such as an actuator 61, a home appliance or any
other type of equipment. The power source 56a (or power supply) may
be the same power source used to power the circuits of the actuator
unit 60a, or may be a separate power source used for powering the
load 58 while the actuator unit 60a uses a separate power
source.
[0375] While the power source 56a was exampled in FIG. 6a as
separated from the actuator unit 60a and connected thereto via a
cable, the power source 56a may equally be integrated with the
actuator unit 60a. Such integration may take the form of sharing
the same enclosure, or where the power source 56a is also used to
power at least part of the actuator unit 60a circuits. While the
load 58 was exampled in FIG. 6a as separated from the actuator unit
60a and connected thereto via a cable, the load 58 may equally be
integrated with the actuator unit 60a. Such integration may take
the form of sharing the same enclosure, or where the power source
of the load 58 is also used to power at least part of the actuator
unit 60a circuits. Other types of integration may involve sharing
the computer 53 or sharing any other circuits or
functionalities.
[0376] Referring now to FIG. 6b showing an arrangement 600b where
an actuator unit 60b is used, for controlling the power that is
supplied to an AC-powered appliance 58a. The appliance 58a
corresponds to load 58, and is connected via cable and AC power
connectors 59h and 59g to the actuator unit 60b. The appliance 58a
is power fed from an AC power via the AC power plug 68, connected
via AC power cable 67 to the actuator unit 60b via AC power
connectors 59e and 59f. The AC power switch 601a (corresponding to
switch 601) is operative for enabling the AC current flowing
through it, and thus control the power supplied to the appliance
58a. The appliance 58a may be a major appliance (white goods) and
may be an air conditioner, dishwasher, clothes dryer, drying
cabinet, freezer, refrigerator, kitchen stove, water heater,
washing machine, trash compactor, microwave oven and induction
cooker. The appliance 58a may similarly be a `small` appliance such
as TV set, CD or DVD player, camcorder, still camera, clock, alarm
clock, video game console, HiFi or home cinema, telephone or
answering machine.
[0377] An actuator redundancy may be used in order to improve
availability and reliability. In such arrangement, two or more
actuator elements 61 are used, allowing for improved robustness and
allowing for overcoming a Single Point of Failure (SPOF). Two or
more actuator elements 61 may be used, all creating, affecting or
changing the same physical phenomenon. An example of a redundant
arrangement 600c is shown in FIG. 6c, showing two actuator units
60c and 60d. The actuator unit 60c includes an actuator element
61c, connected to D/A converter 62c, which in turn is connected to
computer 63c. The value to actuate (or any representation thereof)
is received via the wireless modem Mc and antenna 55c, and the
actuator unit 60c is powered from a power source 56c. Similarly,
the actuator unit 60d includes an actuator element 61d, connected
to D/A converter 62d, which in turn is connected to computer 63d.
The actuator control information (or any representation thereof) is
received via the wireless modem 54d and antenna 55d, and the
actuator unit 60d is powered from a power source 56d. The two
actuator elements 61c and 61d are located, installed, oriented, or
otherwise arranged to affect, generate, create or change the same
physical phenomenon 601. The actuator elements 61c and 61d may be
different, similar, substantially the same, or of the same type or
functionality. For example, both actuator elements 61c and 61d may
be temperature actuators such as heaters, and may be adjacently
located to provide heating at the same place, or both may be
attached to a surface to change the surface temperature. In such
configuration, a single failure in one of the actuator units 60c
and 60d, the affected phenomenon 601 may still be actuated. While
two actuator units 60c and 60d are described in FIG. 6c, three,
four or any other number of actuator units may be equally used.
[0378] While the two actuator units 60c and 60d were described as
having the same structure, other arrangement may be equally used,
and the two (or more) actuator units may be different, similar,
substantially or fully the same type or functionality. While both
actuator units 60c and 60d were exampled as having a wireless
interface via the wireless modem 54 and antenna 55, other
configurations may equally be used, for example where one actuator
unit 60 use wireless communication and the other use a wired
communication. Further, one actuator element may be of analog
control input type while the other may be a digital actuator
element, where the use of D/A converter 62 is obviated.
[0379] While two separated actuator units 60c and 60d were
described in FIG. 6c, the two devices may be partially or fully
integrated with each other. For example, both actuator units 60 may
share the same enclosure, same power source 56, same computer 63,
or any other hardware, software or any other functionality. Such
integration provides economical benefit due to the saving of the
non-duplicated part. In one example, the two actuator elements are
part of a single actuator unit 60e, as shown in the arrangement
600d in FIG. 6d. The actuator unit 60e corresponds to the actuator
unit 60 shown in FIG. 5, where the two actuators 61a and 61b are
used to affect the same phenomenon. Applying such a concept to
power switching facility shown in FIG. 6b above is described in
arrangement 600e which is shown in FIG. 6e. The shown actuator unit
60f corresponds to actuator unit 60e that is shown in FIG. 6d,
where the two actuators are the two power switches 601a and 601b,
connected in series such that both power switches 601a and 601b are
required to operate in order to allow the current flow from the AC
power source via the power plug 68 to the appliance 58a. Hence, in
case of malfunction where only one power switch 601 is activated,
the appliance 58a will not be turned on. Alternatively or in
addition, applying such a concept to power switching facility shown
in FIG. 6b above is described in arrangement 600f shown in FIG. 6f.
The actuator unit 60g shown corresponds to actuator unit 60e that
is shown in FIG. 6d, where the two actuators are the two power
switches 601a and 601b, connected in parallel such that one of the
power switches 601a and 601b is required to operate in order to
allow the current flow from the AC power source via the power plug
68 to the appliance 58a. Hence, in case of malfunction where only
one power switch 601 is activated, the appliance 58a will be turned
on.
[0380] In one example, redundancy is employed in the communication
of an actuator unit (or a field unit) with the router 21 or with
another field unit. An example of an actuator unit 60h having two
communication ports is shown in FIG. 6g. The actuator unit 60h
corresponds to the actuator unit 60 shown in FIG. 6 above, with an
additional communication port. The added communication port is a
wireless port including a wireless modem 44 coupled to an antenna
55, similar to the wireless communication port described for sensor
unit 50 shown in FIG. 5 above. While actuator unit 60h is exampled
as having two communication ports, three or more ports may be
equally used. Further, while actuator unit 60h is exampled having
different and distinct communication ports, the wired communication
port (comprising the connector 65b and the wired modem 64) and the
wireless communication port (comprising the wireless modem 54 and
the antenna 55), the two (or more) ports may as well similar or
identical, and may be used for communicating over the same network
or via two (or more) distinct networks. For example, the two ports
may be wireless based, or alternately the two ports may be wired
based. While the arrangements 500g, 500h and 500i shown in the
respective FIG. 5h, FIG. 5i and FIG. 5j above were exampled where
the field unit 23d in a sensor unit, it may equally be any field
unit, and further may be an actuator unit, such as the actuator
unit 50g shown in FIG. 5g.
[0381] The actuator 61 is a mechanism, system, or device that
creates, produces, changes, stimulates, or affects a phenomenon, in
response to an electrical signal or an electrical power. An
actuator may affect a physical, chemical, biological or any other
phenomenon, serving as a stimulus to the sensor. Alternatively or
in addition, the actuator may affect the magnitude of the
phenomenon, or any parameter or quantity thereof. For example, the
actuator may be used to affect or change pressure, flow, force or
other mechanical quantities. The actuator may be an electrical
actuator, where electrical energy is supplied to affect the
phenomenon, or may be controlled by an electrical signal (e.g.,
voltage or current). A signal conditioning may be used in order to
adapt the actuator operation, or in order to improve the handling
of the actuator input or adapting it to the former stage or
manipulating, such as attenuation, delay, current or voltage
limiting, level translation, galvanic isolation, impedance
transformation, linearization, calibration, filtering, amplifying,
digitizing, integration, derivation, and any other signal
manipulation. Further, in the case of conditioning, the
conditioning circuit may involve time related manipulation, such as
filter or equalizer for frequency related manipulation such as
filtering, spectrum analysis or noise removal, smoothing or
de-blurring in case of image enhancement, a compressor (or
de-compressor) or coder (or decoder) in the case of a compression
or a coding/decoding schemes, modulator or demodulator in case of
modulation, and extractor for extracting or detecting a feature or
parameter such as pattern recognition or correlation analysis. In
case of filtering, passive, active or adaptive (such as Wiener or
Kalman) filters may be used. The conditioning circuits may apply
linear or non-linear manipulations. Further, the manipulation may
be time-related such as using analog or digital delay-lines or
integrators, or any rate-based manipulation. An actuator 61 may
have an analog input, requiring a D/A 62 to be connected thereto,
or may have a digital input.
[0382] The actuator may directly or indirectly create, change or
otherwise affect the rate of change of the physical quantity
(gradient) versus the direction around a particular location, or
between different locations. For example, a temperature gradient
may describe the differences in the temperature between different
locations. Further, an actuator may affect time-dependent or
time-manipulated values of the phenomenon, such as time-integrated,
average or Root Mean Square (RMS or rms), relating to the square
root of the mean of the squares of a series of discrete values (or
the equivalent square root of the integral in a continuously
varying value). Further, a parameter relating to the time
dependency of a repeating phenomenon may be affected, such as the
duty-cycle, the frequency (commonly measured in Hertz--Hz) or the
period. An actuator may be based on the Micro Electro-Mechanical
Systems--MEMS (a.k.a. Micro-mechanical electrical systems)
technology. An actuator may affect environmental conditions such as
temperature, humidity, noise, vibration, fumes, odors, toxic
conditions, dust, and ventilation.
[0383] An actuator may change, increase, reduce, or otherwise
affect the amount of a property or of a physical quantity or the
magnitude relating to a physical phenomenon, body or substance.
[0384] Alternatively or in addition, an actuator may be used to
affect the time derivative thereof, such as the rate of change of
the amount, the quantity or the magnitude. In the case of space
related quantity or magnitude, an actuator may affect the linear
density, relating to the amount of property per length, an actuator
may affect the surface density, relating to the amount of property
per area, or an actuator may affect the volume density, relating to
the amount of property per volume. In the case of a scalar field,
an actuator may further affect the quantity gradient, relating to
the rate of change of property with respect to position.
Alternatively or in addition, an actuator may affect the flux (or
flow) of a property through a cross-section or surface boundary.
Alternatively or in addition, an actuator may affect the flux
density, relating to the flow of property through a cross-section
per unit of the cross-section, or through a surface boundary per
unit of the surface area. Alternatively or in addition, an actuator
may affect the current, relating to the rate of flow of property
through a cross-section or a surface boundary, or the current
density, relating to the rate of flow of property per unit through
a cross-section or a surface boundary. An actuator may include or
consists of a transducer, defined herein as a device for converting
energy from one form to another for the purpose of measurement of a
physical quantity or for information transfer. Further, a single
actuator may be used to affect two or more phenomena. For example,
two characteristics of the same element may be affected, each
characteristic corresponding to a different phenomenon. An actuator
may have multiple states, where the actuator state is depending
upon the control signal input. An actuator may have a two state
operation such as `on` (active) and `off` (non active), based on a
binary input such as `0` or `1`, or `true` and `false`. In such a
case, it can be activated by controlling an electrical power
supplied or switched to it, such as by an electric switch.
[0385] An actuator may be a light source used to emit light by
converting electrical energy into light, and where the luminous
intensity is fixed or may be controlled, commonly for illumination
or indicating purposes. Further, an actuator may be used to
activate or control the light emitted by a light source, being
based on converting electrical energy or other energy to a light.
The light emitted may be a visible light, or invisible light such
as infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray or gamma rays. A shade, reflector,
enclosing globe, housing, lens, and other accessories may be used,
typically as part of a light fixture, in order to control the
illumination intensity, shape or direction. The illumination (or
the indication) may be steady, blinking or flashing. Further, the
illumination can be directed for lighting a surface, such as a
surface including an image or a picture. Further, a single
single-state visual indicator may be used to provide multiple
indications, for example by using different colors (of the same
visual indicator), different intensity levels, variable duty-cycle
and so forth.
[0386] Electrical sources of illumination commonly use a gas, a
plasma (such as in an arc and fluorescent lamps), an electrical
filament, or Solid-State Lighting (SSL), where semiconductors are
used. An SSL may be a Light-Emitting Diode (LED), an Organic LED
(OLED), or Polymer LED (PLED). Further, an SSL may be a laser
diode, which is a laser whose active medium is a semiconductor,
commonly based on a diode formed from a p-n junction and powered by
the injected electric current.
[0387] A light source may consist of, or comprise, a lamp, which is
typically replaceable and is commonly radiating a visible light. A
lamp, sometimes referred to as `bulb`, may be an arc lamp, a
Fluorescent lamp, a gas-discharge lamp, or an incandescent light.
An arc lamp (a.k.a. arc light) is the general term for a class of
lamps that produce light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic
arc). Such a lamp consists of two electrodes, first made from
carbon but typically made today of tungsten, which are separated by
a gas. The type of lamp is often named by the gas contained in the
bulb; including Neon, Argon, Xenon, Krypton, Sodium, metal Halide,
and Mercury, or by the type of electrode as in carbon-arc lamps.
The common fluorescent lamp may be regarded as a low-pressure
mercury arc lamp.
[0388] Gas-discharge lamps are a family of artificial light sources
that generate light by sending an electrical discharge through an
ionized gas (plasma). Typically, such lamps use a noble gas (argon,
neon, krypton and xenon) or a mixture of these gases and most lamps
are filled with additional materials, like mercury, sodium, and
metal halides. In operation the gas is ionized, and free electrons,
accelerated by the electrical field in the tube, collide with gas
and metal atoms. Some electrons in the atomic orbitals of these
atoms are excited by these collisions to a higher energy state.
When the excited atom falls back to a lower energy state, it emits
a photon of a characteristic energy, resulting in infrared, visible
light, or ultraviolet radiation. Some lamps convert the ultraviolet
radiation to visible light with a fluorescent coating on the inside
of the lamp's glass surface. The fluorescent lamp is perhaps the
best known gas-discharge lamp.
[0389] A fluorescent lamp (a.k.a. fluorescent tube) is a
gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite mercury vapor,
and is commonly constructed as a tube coated with phosphor
containing low pressure mercury vapor that produces white light.
The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that
then causes a phosphor to fluoresce, producing visible light. A
fluorescent lamp converts electrical power into useful light more
efficiently than an incandescent lamp. Lower energy cost typically
offsets the higher initial cost of the lamp. A neon lamp (a.k.a.
Neon glow lamp) is a gas discharge lamp that typically contains
neon gas at a low pressure in a glass capsule. Only a thin region
adjacent to the electrodes glows in these lamps, which
distinguishes them from the much longer and brighter neon tubes
used for public signage.
[0390] An incandescent light bulb (a.k.a. incandescent lamp or
incandescent light globe) produces light by heating a filament wire
to a high temperature until it glows. The hot filament is protected
from oxidation in the air commonly with a glass enclosure that is
filled with inert gas or evacuated. In a halogen lamp, filament
evaporation is prevented by a chemical process that redeposits
metal vapor onto the filament, extending its life. The light bulb
is supplied with electrical current by feed-through terminals or
wires embedded in the glass. Most bulbs are used in a socket which
provides mechanical support and electrical connections. A halogen
lamp (a.k.a. Tungsten halogen lamp or quartz iodine lamp) is an
incandescent lamp that has a small amount of a halogen such as
iodine or bromine added. The combination of the halogen gas and the
tungsten filament produces a halogen cycle chemical reaction which
redeposits evaporated tungsten back to the filament, increasing its
life and maintaining the clarity of the envelope. Because of this,
a halogen lamp can be operated at a higher temperature than a
standard gas-filled lamp of similar power and operating life,
producing light of a higher luminous efficacy and color
temperature. The small size of halogen lamps permits their use in
compact optical systems for projectors and illumination.
[0391] A Light-Emitting Diode (LED) is a semiconductor light
source, based on the principle that when a diode is forward-biased
(switched on), electrons are able to recombine with electron holes
within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This
effect is called electroluminescence and the color of the light
(corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by the
energy gap of the semiconductor. Conventional LEDs are made from a
variety of inorganic semiconductor materials, such as Aluminium
gallium arsenide (AlGaAs), Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP)
Aluminium gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP), Gallium (III)
phosphide (GaP), Zinc selenide (ZnSe), Indium gallium nitride
(InGaN), and Silicon carbide (SiC) as substrate.
[0392] In an Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) the
electroluminescent material comprising the emissive layer of the
diode, is an organic compound. The organic material is electrically
conductive due to the delocalization of pi electrons caused by
conjugation over all or part of the molecule, and the material
therefore functions as an organic semiconductor. The organic
materials can be small organic molecules in a crystalline phase, or
polymers.
[0393] High-power LEDs (HPLED) can be driven at currents from
hundreds of mAs to more than an amper, compared with the tens of
mAs for other LEDs. Some can emit over a thousand Lumens. Since
overheating is destructive, the HPLEDs are commonly mounted on a
heat sink to allow for heat dissipation.
[0394] LEDs are efficient, and emit more light per watt than
incandescent light bulbs. They can emit light of an intended color
without using any color filters as traditional lighting methods
need. LEDs can be very small (smaller than 2 mm.sup.2) and are
easily populated onto printed circuit boards. LEDs light up very
quickly. A typical red indicator LED will achieve full brightness
in under a microsecond. LEDs are ideal for uses subject to frequent
on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that fail faster when
cycled often, or HID lamps that require a long time before
restarting and can very easily be dimmed either by pulse-width
modulation or lowering the forward current. Further, in contrast to
most light sources, LEDs radiate very little heat in the form of IR
that can cause damage to sensitive objects or fabrics, and
typically have a relatively long useful life.
[0395] An actuator may be a thermoelectric actuator such as a
cooler or a heater for changing the temperature of an object, that
may be solid, liquid or gas (such as the air temperature), using
conduction, convection, thermal radiation, or by the transfer of
energy by phase changes. Radiative heaters contain a heating
element that reaches a high temperature. The element is usually
packaged inside a glass envelope resembling a light bulb and with a
reflector to direct the energy output away from the body of the
heater. The element emits infrared radiation that travels through
air or space until it hits an absorbing surface, where it is
partially converted to heat and partially reflected. In a
convection heater, the heating element heats the air next to it by
convection. Hot air is less dense than cool air, so it rises due to
buoyancy, allowing more cool air to flow in to take its place. This
sets up a constant current of hot air that leaves the appliance
through vent holes and heats up the surrounding space. These are
generally filled with oil, in an oil heater, due to oil functioning
as an effective heat reservoir. They are ideally suited for heating
a closed space. They operate silently and have a lower risk of
ignition hazard in the event that they make unintended contact with
furnishings compared to radiant electric heaters. This is a good
choice for long periods of time or if left unattended. A fan
heater, also called a forced convection heater, is a variety of
convection heater that includes an electric fan to speed up the
airflow. This reduces the thermal resistance between the heating
element and the surroundings faster than passive convection,
allowing heat to be transferred more quickly.
[0396] A thermoelectric actuator may be a heat pump, which is a
machine or device that transfers thermal energy from one location,
called the "source," which is at a lower temperature, to another
location called the "sink" or "heat sink", which is at a higher
temperature. Heat pumps may be used for cooling or for heating.
Thus, heat pumps move thermal energy opposite to the direction that
it normally flows, and may be electrically driven such as
compressor-driven air conditioners and freezers. A heat pump may
use an electric motor to drive a refrigeration cycle, drawing
energy from a source such as the ground or outside air and
directing it into the space to be warmed. Some systems can be
reversed so that the interior space is cooled and the warm air is
discharged outside or into the ground.
[0397] A thermoelectric actuator may be an electric heater,
converting electrical energy into heat, such as for space heating,
cooking, water heating, and industrial processes. Commonly, the
heating element inside every electric heater is simply an
electrical resistor, and works on the principle of Joule heating:
an electric current through a resistor converts electrical energy
into heat energy. In a dielectric heater, high-frequency
alternating electric field, or radio wave or microwave
electromagnetic radiation heats a dielectric material, and is based
on heating caused by molecular dipole rotation within the
dielectric. Microwave heaters, as distinct from RF heating, is a
sub-category of dielectric heating at frequencies above 100 MHz,
where an electromagnetic wave can be launched from a small
dimension emitter and conveyed through space to the target. Modern
microwave ovens make use of electromagnetic waves (microwaves) with
electric fields of much higher frequency and shorter wavelength
than RF heaters. Typical domestic microwave ovens operate at 2.45
GHz, but 0.915 GHz ovens also exist, thus the wavelengths employed
in microwave heating are 12 or 33 cm, providing for highly
efficient, but less penetrative, dielectric heating.
[0398] A thermoelectric actuator may be a thermoelectric cooler or
a heater (or a heat pump) based on the Peltier effect, where heat
flux in the junction of two different types of materials is
created. When direct current is supplied to this solid-state active
heat pump device (a.k.a. Peltier device, Peltier heat pump, solid
state refrigerator, or ThermoElectric Cooler--TEC), heat is moved
from one side to the other, building up a difference in temperature
between the two sides, and hence can be used for either heating or
cooling. A Peltier cooler can also be used as a thermoelectric
generator, such that when one side of the device is heated to a
temperature greater than the other side, a difference in voltage
will build up between the two sides.
[0399] A thermoelectric actuator may be an air cooler, sometimes
referred to as an air conditioner. Common air coolers, such as in
refrigerators, are based on a refrigeration cycle of a heat pump.
This cycle takes advantage of the way phase changes work, where
latent heat is released at a constant temperature during a
liquid/gas phase change, and where varying the pressure of a pure
substance also varies its condensation/boiling point. The most
common refrigeration cycle uses an electric motor to drive a
compressor.
[0400] An electric heater may be an induction heater, producing the
process of heating an electrically conducting object (usually a
metal) by electromagnetic induction, where eddy currents (also
called Foucault currents) are generated within the metal and
resistance leads to Joule heating of the metal. An induction heater
(for any process) consists of an electromagnet, through which a
high-frequency Alternating Current (AC) is passed. Heat may also be
generated by magnetic hysteresis losses in materials that have
significant relative permeability.
[0401] An actuator may use pneumatics, involving the application of
pressurized gas to affect mechanical motion. A motion actuator may
be a pneumatic actuator that converts energy (typically in the form
of compressed air) into rotary or linear motion. In some
arrangements, a motion actuator may be used to provide force or
torque. Similarly, force or torque actuators may be used as motion
actuators. A pneumatic actuator mainly consists of a piston, a
cylinder, and valves or ports. The piston is covered by a
diaphragm, or seal, which keeps the air in the upper portion of the
cylinder, allowing air pressure to force the diaphragm downward,
moving the piston underneath, which in turn moves the valve stem,
which is linked to the internal parts of the actuator. Pneumatic
actuators may only have one spot for a signal input, top or bottom,
depending on the action required. Valves input pressure is the
"control signal", where each different pressure is a different set
point for a valve. Valves typically require little pressure to
operate and usually double or triple the input force. The larger
the size of the piston, the larger the output pressure can be.
Having a larger piston can also be good if air supply is low,
allowing the same forces with less input.
[0402] An actuator may use hydraulics, involving the application of
a fluid to affect mechanical motion. Common hydraulics systems are
based on Pascal's famous theory, which states that the pressure of
the liquid produced in an enclosed structure has the capacity of
releasing a force up to ten times the pressure that was produced
earlier. A hydraulic actuator may be a hydraulic cylinder, where
pressure is applied to the fluids (oil), to get the desired force.
The force acquired is used to power the hydraulic machine. These
cylinders typically include the pistons of different sizes, used to
push down the fluids in the other cylinder, which in turn exerts
the pressure and pushes it back again. A hydraulic actuator may be
a hydraulic pump, is responsible for supplying the fluids to the
other essential parts of the hydraulic system. The power generated
by a hydraulic pump is about ten times more than the capacity of an
electrical motor. There are different types of hydraulic pumps such
as the vane pumps, gear pumps, piston pumps, etc. Among them, the
piston pumps are relatively more costly, but they have a guaranteed
long life and are even able to pump thick, difficult fluids.
Further, a hydraulic actuator may be a hydraulic motor, where the
power is achieved with the help of exerting pressure on the
hydraulic fluids, which is normally oil. The benefit of using
hydraulic motors is that when the power source is mechanical, the
motor develops a tendency to rotate in the opposite direction, thus
acting like a hydraulic pump.
[0403] A motion actuator may further be a vacuum actuator,
producing a motion based on vacuum pressure, commonly controlled by
a Vacuum Switching Valve (VSV), which controls the vacuum supply to
the actuator. A motion actuator may be a rotary actuator that
produces a rotary motion or torque, commonly to a shaft or axle.
The simplest rotary actuator is a purely mechanical linear
actuator, where linear motion in one direction is converted to a
rotation. A rotary actuator may be electrically powered, or may be
powered by pneumatic or hydraulic power, or may use energy stored
internally by springs. The motion produced by a rotary motion
actuator may be either continuous rotation, such as in common
electric motors, or movement to a fixed angular position as for
servos and stepper motors. A further form, the torque motor, does
not necessarily produce any rotation but merely generates a precise
torque which then either cause rotation, or is balanced by some
opposing torque. Some motion actuators may be intrinsically linear,
such as those using linear motors. Motion actuators may include, or
coupled with, a wide variety of mechanical elements to change the
nature of the motion such as provided by the actuating/transducing
elements, such as levers, ramps, limit switches, screws, cams,
crankshafts, gears, pulleys, wheels, constant-velocity joints,
shock absorbers or dampers, or ratchets.
[0404] A stepper motor (a.k.a. step motor) is a brushless DC
electric motor that divides a full rotation into a number of equal
steps, commonly of a fixed size. The motor position can then be
commanded to move and hold on one of these steps without any
feedback sensor (an open-loop controller), or may be combined with
either a position encoder or at least a single datum sensor at the
zero position. The stepper motor may be a switched reluctance
motor, which is a very large stepping motor with a reduced pole
count, and generally is closed-loop commutated. A stepper motor may
be a permanent magnet stepper type, using a Permanent Magnet (PM)
in the rotor and operate on the attraction or repulsion between the
rotor PM and the stator electromagnets. Further, a stepper motor
may be a variable reluctance stepper using a Variable Reluctance
(VR) motor that has a plain iron rotor and operate based on the
principle that minimum reluctance occurs with minimum gap, hence
the rotor points are attracted toward the stator magnet poles.
Further, a stepper motor may be a hybrid synchronous stepper, where
a combination of the PM and VR techniques are used to achieve
maximum power in a small package size. Furthermore, a stepper motor
may be a Lavet type stepping motor using a single-phase stepping
motor, where the rotor is a permanent magnet and the motor is built
with a strong magnet and large stator to deliver high torque.
[0405] A rotary actuator may be a servomotor (a.k.a. servo), which
is a packaged combination of a motor (usually electric, although
fluid power motors may also be used), a gear train to reduce the
many rotations of the motor to a higher torque rotation, and a
position encoder that identifies the position of the output shaft
and an inbuilt control system. The input control signal to the
servo indicates the desired output position. Any difference between
the position commanded and the position of the encoder gives rise
to an error signal that causes the motor and geartrain to rotate
until the encoder reflects a position matching that commanded.
Further, a rotary actuator may be a memory wire type, which uses
applying current such that the wire is heated above its transition
temperature and so changes shape, applying a torque to the output
shaft. When power is removed, the wire cools and returns to its
earlier shape.
[0406] A rotary actuator may be a fluid power actuator, where
hydraulic or pneumatic power may be used to drive a shaft or an
axle. Such fluid power actuators may be based on driving a linear
piston, to where a cylinder mechanism is geared to produce
rotation, or may be based on a rotating asymmetrical vane that
swings through a cylinder of two different radii. The differential
pressure between the two sides of the vane gives rise to an
unbalanced force and thus a torque on the output shaft. Such vane
actuators require a number of sliding seals and the joins between
these seals have tended to cause more problems with leakage than
for the piston and cylinder type.
[0407] Alternatively or in addition, a motion actuator may be a
linear actuator that creates motion in a straight line. Such linear
actuator may use hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders which inherently
produce linear motion, or may provide a linear motion by converting
from a rotary motion created by a rotary actuator, such as electric
motors. Rotary-based linear actuators may be a screw, a wheel and
axle, or a cam type. A screw actuator operates on the screw machine
principle, whereby rotating the actuator nut, the screw shaft moves
in a line, such as a lead-screw, a screw jack, a ball screw or
roller screw. A wheel-and-axle actuator operates on the principle
of the wheel and axle, where a rotating wheel moves a cable, rack,
chain or belt to produce linear motion. Examples are hoist, winch,
rack and pinion, chain drive, belt drive, rigid chain, and rigid
belt actuators. Cam actuator includes a wheel-like cam, which upon
rotation, provides thrust at the base of a shaft due to its
eccentric shape. Mechanical linear actuators may only pull, such as
hoists, chain drive and belt drives, while others only push (such
as a cam actuator). Some pneumatic and hydraulic cylinder based
actuators may provide force in both directions.
[0408] A linear hydraulic actuator (a.k.a. hydraulic cylinder)
commonly involves a hollow cylinder having a piston inserted in it.
An unbalanced pressure applied to the piston provides a force that
can move an external object, and since liquids are nearly
incompressible, a hydraulic cylinder can provide controlled precise
linear displacement of the piston. The displacement is only along
the axis of the piston. Pneumatic actuators, or pneumatic
cylinders, are similar to hydraulic actuators except they use
compressed gas to provide pressure instead of a liquid. A linear
pneumatic actuator (a.k.a. pneumatic cylinder) is similar to
hydraulic actuator, except that it uses compressed gas to provide
pressure instead of a liquid.
[0409] A linear actuator may be a piezoelectric actuator, based on
the piezoelectric effect in which application of a voltage to the
piezoelectric material causes it to expand. Very high voltages
correspond to only tiny expansions. As a result, piezoelectric
actuators can achieve extremely fine positioning resolution, but
also have a very short range of motion.
[0410] A linear actuator may be a linear electrical motor. Such a
motor may be based on a conventional rotary electrical motor,
connected to rotate a lead screw, that has a continuous helical
thread machined on its circumference running along the length
(similar to the thread on a bolt). Threaded onto the lead screw is
a lead nut or ball nut with corresponding helical threads, used for
preventing from rotating with the lead screw (typically the nut
interlocks with a non-rotating part of the actuator body). The
electrical motor may be a DC brush, a DC brushless, a stepper, or
an induction motor type.
[0411] Telescoping linear actuators are specialized linear
actuators used where space restrictions or other requirements
require, where their range of motion is many times greater than the
unextended length of the actuating member. A common form is made of
concentric tubes of approximately equal length that extend and
retract like sleeves, one inside the other, such as the telescopic
cylinder. Other more specialized telescoping actuators use
actuating members that act as rigid linear shafts when extended,
but break that line by folding, separating into pieces and/or
uncoiling when refracted. Examples of telescoping linear actuators
include a helical band actuator, a rigid belt actuator, a rigid
chain actuator, and a segmented spindle.
[0412] A linear actuator may be a linear electric motor, that has
had its stator and rotor "unrolled" so that instead of producing a
torque (rotation) it produces a linear force along its length. The
most common mode of operation is as a Lorentz-type actuator, in
which the applied force is linearly proportional to the current and
the magnetic field. A linear electric motor may be a Linear
Induction Motor (LIM), which is an AC (commonly 3-phase)
asynchronous linear motor that works with the same general
principles as other induction motors but which has been designed to
directly produce motion in a straight line. In such motor type, the
force is produced by a moving linear magnetic field acting on
conductors in the field, such that any conductor, be it a loop, a
coil or simply a piece of plate metal, that is placed in this
field, will have eddy currents induced in it thus creating an
opposing magnetic field, in accordance with Lenz's law. The two
opposing fields will repel each other, thus creating motion as the
magnetic field sweeps through the metal. The primary of a linear
electric motor typically consists of a flat magnetic core
(generally laminated) with transverse slots which are often
straight cut with coils laid into the slots, while the secondary is
frequently a sheet of aluminum, often with an iron backing plate.
Some LIMs are double sided, with one primary either side of the
secondary, and in this case no iron backing is needed. A LIM may be
based on a synchronous motor, where the rate of movement of the
magnetic field is controlled, usually electronically, to track the
motion of the rotor. A linear electric motor may be a Linear
Synchronous Motor (LSM), in which the rate of movement of the
magnetic field is controlled, usually electronically, to track the
motion of the rotor. Synchronous linear motors may use commutators,
or preferably the rotor may contain permanent magnets, or soft
iron.
[0413] A motion actuator may be a piezoelectric motor (a.k.a. piezo
motor), which is based upon the change in shape of a piezoelectric
material when an electric field is applied. Piezoelectric motors
make use of the converse piezoelectric effect whereby the material
produces acoustic or ultrasonic vibrations in order to produce a
linear or rotary motion. In one mechanism, the elongation in a
single plane is used to make a series stretches and position holds,
similar to the way a caterpillar moves. Piezoelectric motors may be
made in both linear and rotary types.
[0414] One drive technique is to use piezoelectric ceramics to push
a stator. Commonly known as Inchworm or PiezoWalk motors, these
piezoelectric motors use three groups of crystals: two of which are
Locking and one Motive, permanently connected to either the motor's
casing or stator (not both) and sandwiched between the other two,
which provides the motion. These piezoelectric motors are
fundamentally stepping motors, with each step comprising either two
or three actions, based on the locking type. Another mechanism
employs the use of Surface Acoustic Waves (SAW) to generate linear
or rotary motion. An alternative drive technique is known as
Squiggle motor, in which piezoelectric elements are bonded
orthogonally to a nut and their ultrasonic vibrations rotate and
translate a central lead screw, providing a direct drive mechanism.
The piezoelectric motor may be according to, or based on, the motor
described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,842 to Maropis, entitled: "Method
and Apparatus for Delivering Vibratory Energy", in U.S. Pat. No.
4,019,073 to Vishnevsky et al., entitled: "Piezoelectric Motor
Structures", or in U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,837 to Vasiliev et al.,
entitled: "Piezoelectrically Driven Torsional Vibration Motor",
which are all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if
fully set forth herein.
[0415] A linear actuator may be a comb-drive capacitive actuator
utilizing electrostatic forces that act between two electrically
conductive combs. The attractive electrostatic forces are created
when a voltage is applied between the static and moving combs
causing them to be drawn together. The force developed by the
actuator is proportional to the change in capacitance between the
two combs, increasing with driving voltage, the number of comb
teeth, and the gap between the teeth. The combs are arranged so
that they never touch (because then there would be no voltage
difference). Typically the teeth are arranged so that they can
slide past one another until each tooth occupies the slot in the
opposite comb. Comb drive actuators typically operate at the micro-
or nanometer scale and are generally manufactured by bulk
micromachining or surface micromachining a silicon wafer
substrate.
[0416] An electric motor may be an ultrasonic motor, which is
powered by the ultrasonic vibration of a component, the stator,
placed against another component, the rotor or slider depending on
the scheme of operation (rotation or linear translation).
Ultrasonic motors and piezoelectric actuators typically use some
form of piezoelectric material, most often lead zirconate titanate
and occasionally lithium niobate or other single-crystal materials.
In ultrasonic motors, resonance is commonly used in order to
amplify the vibration of the stator in contact with the rotor.
[0417] A motion actuator may consist of, or based on, Electroactive
Polymers (EAPs), which are polymers that exhibit a change in size
or shape when stimulated by an electric field, and may use as
actuators and sensors. A typical characteristic property of an EAP
is that they will undergo a large amount of deformation while
sustaining large forces. EAPs are generally divided into two
principal classes: Dielectric and Ionic. Dielectric EAPs, are
materials in which actuation is caused by electrostatic forces
between two electrodes which squeeze the polymer. Dielectric
elastomers are capable of very high strains and are fundamentally a
capacitor that changes its capacitance when a voltage is applied,
by allowing the polymer to compress in thickness and expand in the
area due to the electric field. This type of EAP typically requires
a large actuation voltage to produce high electric fields (hundreds
to thousands of volts), but very low electrical power consumption.
Dielectric EAPs require no power to keep the actuator at a given
position. Examples are electrostrictive polymers and dielectric
elastomers. In Ionic EAPs actuation is caused by the displacement
of ions inside the polymer. Only a few volts are needed for
actuation, but the ionic flow implies a higher electrical power
needed for actuation, and energy is needed to keep the actuator at
a given position. Examples of ionic EAPS are conductive polymers,
ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs), and responsive gels.
[0418] A linear motion actuator may be a wax motor, typically
providing smooth and gentle motion. Such a motor a heater that when
energized, heats a block of wax causing it to expand and to drive a
plunger outwards. When the electric current is removed, the wax
block cools and contracts, causing the plunger to withdraw, usually
by spring force applied externally or by a spring incorporated
directly into the wax motor.
[0419] A motion actuator may be a thermal bimorph, which is a
cantilever that consists of two active layers: piezoelectric and
metal. These layers produce a displacement via thermal activation
where a temperature change causes one layer to expand more than the
other. A piezoelectric unimorph is a cantilever that consists of
one active layer and one inactive layer. In the case where active
layer is piezoelectric, deformation in that layer may be induced by
the application of an electric field. This deformation induces a
bending displacement in the cantilever. The inactive layer may be
fabricated from a non-piezoelectric material.
[0420] An electric motor may be an electrostatic motor (a.k.a.
capacitor motor) which is based on the attraction and repulsion of
electric charge. Often, electrostatic motors are the dual of
conventional coil-based motors. They typically require a high
voltage power supply, although very small motors employ lower
voltages. The electrostatic motor may be used in micro-mechanical
(MEMS) systems where their drive voltages are below 100 volts, and
where moving charged plates are far easier to fabricate than coils
and iron cores. An alternative type of electrostatic motor is the
spacecraft electrostatic ion drive thruster where forces and motion
are created by electrostatically accelerating ions. The
electrostatic motor may be according to, or based on, the motor
described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,433,981 to Bollee, entitled:
"Electrostatic Motor", in U.S. Pat. No. 3,436,630 to Bollee,
entitled: "Electrostatic Motor", in U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,968 to
Robert et al. entitled: "Electrostatic Motor", or in U.S. Pat. No.
5,552,654 to Konno et al., entitled: "Electrostatic actuator",
which are all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if
fully set forth herein.
[0421] An electric motor may be an AC motor, which is driven by an
Alternating Current (AC). Such a motor commonly consists of two
basic parts, an outside stationary stator having coils supplied
with alternating current to produce a rotating magnetic field, and
an inside rotor attached to the output shaft that is given a torque
by the rotating field. An AC motor may be an induction motor, which
runs slightly slower than the supply frequency, where the magnetic
field on the rotor of this motor is created by an induced current.
Alternatively, an AC motor may be a synchronous motor, which does
not rely on induction and as a result, can rotate exactly at the
supply frequency or a sub-multiple of the supply frequency. The
magnetic field on the rotor is either generated by current
delivered through slip rings or by a permanent magnet. Other types
of AC motors include eddy current motors, and also AC/DC
mechanically commutated machines in which speed is dependent on
voltage and winding connection.
[0422] An AC motor may be a two-phase AC servo motor, typically
having a squirrel cage rotor and a field consisting of two
windings: a constant-voltage (AC) main winding and a
control-voltage (AC) winding in quadrature (i.e., 90 degrees phase
shifted) with the main winding, so as to produce a rotating
magnetic field. Reversing phase makes the motor reverse. The
control winding is commonly controlled and fed from an AC servo
amplifier and a linear power amplifier.
[0423] An AC motor may be a single-phase AC induction motor; where
the rotating magnetic field must be produced using other means,
such as shaded-pole motor, commonly including a small single-turn
copper "shading coil" creates the moving magnetic field. Part of
each pole is encircled by a copper coil or strap; the induced
current in the strap opposes the change of flux through the coil.
Another type is a split-phase motor, having a startup winding
separate from the main winding. When the motor is started, the
startup winding is connected to the power source via a centrifugal
switch, which is closed at low speed. Another type is a capacitor
start motor, including a split-phase induction motor with a
starting capacitor inserted in series with the startup winding,
creating an LC circuit which is capable of a much greater phase
shift (and so, a much greater starting torque). The capacitor
naturally adds expense to such motors. Similarly, a
resistance-start motor is a split-phase induction motor with a
starter inserted in series with the startup winding, creating a
reactance. This added starter provides assistance in the starting
and the initial direction of rotation. Another variation is the
Permanent-Split Capacitor (PSC) motor (also known as a capacitor
start and run motor), which operates similarly to the
capacitor-start motor described above, but there is no centrifugal
starting switch, and what correspond to the start windings (second
windings) are permanently connected to the power source (through a
capacitor), along with the run windings. PSC motors are frequently
used in air handlers, blowers, and fans (including ceiling fans)
and other cases where a variable speed is desired.
[0424] An AC motor may be a three-phase AC synchronous motor, where
the connections to the rotor coils of a three-phase motor are taken
out on slip-rings and fed a separate field current to create a
continuous magnetic field (or if the rotor consists of a permanent
magnet), the result is called a synchronous motor because the rotor
will rotate synchronously with the rotating magnetic field produced
by the polyphase electrical supply.
[0425] An electric motor may be a DC motor, which is driven by a
Direct Current (DC), and is, similarly based on a torque that is
produced by the principle of Lorentz force. Such a motor may be a
brushed, a brushless, or an uncommutated type. A brushed DC
electric motor generates torque directly from DC power supplied to
the motor by using internal commutation, stationary magnets
(permanent or electromagnets), and rotating electrical magnets.
Brushless DC motors use a rotating permanent magnet or soft
magnetic core in the rotor, and stationary electrical magnets on
the motor housing, and use a motor controller that converts DC to
AC. Other types of DC motors require no commutation, such as a
homopolar motor that has a magnetic field along the axis of
rotation and an electric current that at some point is not parallel
to the magnetic field, and a ball bearing motor that consists of
two ball bearing-type bearings, with the inner races mounted on a
common conductive shaft, and the outer races connected to a high
current, low voltage power supply. An alternative construction fits
the outer races inside a metal tube, while the inner races are
mounted on a shaft with a non-conductive section (e.g., two sleeves
on an insulating rod). This method has the advantage that the tube
will act as a flywheel. The direction of rotation is determined by
the initial spin which is usually required to get it going.
[0426] An actuator may be a pump, typically used to move (or
compress) fluids or liquids, gasses, or slurries, commonly by
pressure or suction actions. Pumps commonly consume energy to
perform mechanical work by moving the fluid or the gas, where the
activating mechanism is often reciprocating or rotary. Pumps may be
operated in many ways, including manual operation, electricity, a
combustion engine of some type, and wind action. An air pump moves
air either into, or out of, something, and a sump pump used for the
removal of liquid from a sump or sump pit. A fuel pump is commonly
used to move transport the fuel through a pipe, and a vacuum pump
is a device that removes gas molecules from a sealed volume in
order to leave behind a partial vacuum. A gas compressor is a
mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing
its volume. A pump may be a valveless pump, where no valves are
present to regulate the flow direction, and are commonly used in
biomedical and engineering systems. Pumps can be classified into
many major groups, for example according to their energy source or
according to the method they use to move the fluid, such as direct
lift, impulse, displacement, velocity, centrifugal, and gravity
pumps.
[0427] A positive displacement pump causes a fluid to move by
trapping a fixed amount of it and then forcing (displacing) that
trapped volume into the discharge pipe. Some positive displacement
pumps work using an expanding cavity on the suction side and a
decreasing cavity on the discharge side. The liquid flows into the
pump as the cavity on the suction side expands, and the liquid
flows out of the discharge as the cavity collapses. The volume is
constant given each cycle of operation. A positive displacement
pump can be further classified according to the mechanism used to
move the fluid: A rotary-type positive displacement type such as
internal gear, screw, shuttle block, flexible vane or sliding vane,
circumferential piston, helical twisted roots (e.g., Wendelkolben
pump) or liquid ring vacuum pumps, a reciprocating-type positive
displacement type, such as a piston or diaphragm pumps, and a
linear-type positive displacement type, such as rope pumps and
chain pumps. The positive displacement principle applies also to a
rotary lobe pump, a progressive cavity pump, a rotary gear pump, a
piston pump, a diaphragm pump, a screw pump, a gear pump, a
hydraulic pump, and a vane pump.
[0428] A rotary positive displacement pumps can be grouped into
three main types: Gear pumps where the liquid is pushed between two
gears, Screw pumps where the shape of the pump internals usually
two screws turning against each other pump the liquid, and Rotary
vane pumps, which are similar to scroll compressors, and are
consisting of a cylindrical rotor enclosed in a similarly shaped
housing. As the rotor turns, the vanes trap fluid between the rotor
and the casing, drawing the fluid through the pump.
[0429] Reciprocating positive displacement pumps cause the fluid to
move using one or more oscillating pistons, plungers or membranes
(diaphragms). Typical reciprocating pumps include plunger pumps
type, which are based on a reciprocating plunger that pushes the
fluid through one or two open valves, closed by suction on the way
back, diaphragm pumps type which are similar to plunger pumps,
where the plunger pressurizes hydraulic oil which is used to flex a
diaphragm in the pumping cylinder, diaphragm valves type that are
used to pump hazardous and toxic fluids, piston displacement pumps
type that are usually simple devices for pumping small amounts of
liquid or gel manually, and radial piston pumps type.
[0430] A pump may be an impulse pump which uses pressure created by
gas (usually air). In some impulse pumps the gas trapped in the
liquid (usually water), is released and accumulated somewhere in
the pump, creating a pressure which can push part of the liquid
upwards. Impulse pump types include: a hydraulic ram pump type,
which use a pressure built up internally from a released gas in a
liquid flow; a pulser pump type which runs with natural resources
by kinetic energy only; and an airlift pump type which runs on air
inserted into a pipe, pushing up the water, when bubbles move
upward, or on a pressure inside the pipe pushing the water up.
[0431] A velocity pump may be a rotodynamic pump (a.k.a. dynamic
pump) which is a type of velocity pump in which kinetic energy is
added to the fluid by increasing the flow velocity. This increase
in energy is converted to a gain in potential energy (pressure)
when the velocity is reduced prior to or as the flow exits the pump
into the discharge pipe. This conversion of kinetic energy to
pressure is based on the First law of thermodynamics or more
specifically by Bernoulli's principle.
[0432] A pump may be a centrifugal pump which is a rotodynamic pump
that uses a rotating impeller to increase the pressure and flow
rate of a fluid. Centrifugal pumps are the most common type of pump
used to move liquids through a piping system. The fluid enters the
pump impeller along or near to the rotating axis and is accelerated
by the impeller, flowing radially outward or axially into a
diffuser or volute chamber, from where it exits into the downstream
piping system. A centrifugal pump may be a radial flow pump type,
where the fluid exits at right angles to the shaft, an axial flow
pump type where the fluid enters and exits along the same direction
parallel to the rotating shaft, or may be a mixed flow pump, where
the fluid experiences both radial acceleration and lift and exits
the impeller somewhere between 0-90 degrees from the axial
direction.
[0433] An actuator may be an electrochemical or chemical actuator,
used to produce, change, or otherwise affect a matter structure,
properties, composition, process, or reactions. An electrochemical
actuator may affect or generate a chemical reaction or an
oxidation/reduction (redox) reaction, such as an electrolysis
process.
[0434] An actuator may be an electroacoustic actuator, such as a
sounder which converts electrical energy to sound waves transmitted
through the air, an elastic solid material, or a liquid, usually by
means of a vibrating or moving ribbon or diaphragm. The sound may
be audio or audible, having frequencies in the approximate range of
20 to 20,000 hertz, capable of being detected by human organs of
hearing. Alternatively or in addition, the sounder may be used to
emit inaudible frequencies, such as ultrasonic (a.k.a. ultrasound)
acoustic frequencies that are above the range audible to the human
ear, or above approximately 20,000 Hz. A sounder may be
omnidirectional, unidirectional, bidirectional, or provide other
directionality or polar patterns.
[0435] A loudspeaker (a.k.a. speaker) is a sounder that produces
sound in response to an electrical audio signal input, typically
audible sound. The most common form of loudspeaker is the
electromagnetic (or dynamic) type, uses a paper cone supporting a
moving voice coil electromagnet acting on a permanent magnet. Where
accurate reproduction of sound is required, multiple loudspeakers
may be used, each reproducing a part of the audible frequency
range. A loudspeaker is commonly optimized for middle frequencies;
tweeters for high frequencies; and sometimes supertweeter is used
which is optimized for the highest audible frequencies.
[0436] A loudspeaker may be a piezo (or piezoelectric) speaker
contains a piezoelectric crystal coupled to a mechanical diaphragm
and is based on the piezoelectric effect. An audio signal is
applied to the crystal, which responds by flexing in proportion to
the voltage applied across the crystal surfaces, thus converting
electrical energy into mechanical. Piezoelectric speakers are
frequently used as beepers in watches and other electronic devices,
and are sometimes used as tweeters in less-expensive speaker
systems, such as computer speakers and portable radios. A
loudspeaker may be a magnetostrictive transducers, based on
magnetostriction, have been predominantly used as sonar ultrasonic
sound wave radiators, but their usage has spread also to audio
speaker systems.
[0437] A loudspeaker may be an electrostatic loudspeaker (ESL), in
which sound is generated by the force exerted on a membrane
suspended in an electrostatic field. Such speakers use a thin flat
diaphragm usually consisting of a plastic sheet coated with a
conductive material such as graphite sandwiched between two
electrically conductive grids, with a small air gap between the
diaphragm and grids. The diaphragm is usually made from a polyester
film (thickness 2-20 .mu.m) with exceptional mechanical properties,
such as PET film. By means of the conductive coating and an
external high voltage supply the diaphragm is held at a DC
potential of several kilovolts with respect to the grids. The grids
are driven by the audio signal; and the front and rear grids are
driven in antiphase. As a result a uniform electrostatic field
proportional to the audio signal is produced between both grids.
This causes a force to be exerted on the charged diaphragm, and its
resulting movement drives the air on either side of it.
[0438] A loudspeaker may be a magnetic loudspeaker, and may be a
ribbon or planar type, is based on a magnetic field. A ribbon
speaker consists of a thin metal-film ribbon suspended in a
magnetic field. The electrical signal is applied to the ribbon,
which moves with it to create the sound. Planar magnetic speakers
are speakers with roughly rectangular flat surfaces that radiate in
a bipolar (i.e., front and back) manner, and may be having printed
or embedded conductors on a flat diaphragm. Planar magnetic
speakers consist of a flexible membrane with a voice coil printed
or mounted on it. The current flowing through the coil interacts
with the magnetic field of carefully placed magnets on either side
of the diaphragm, causing the membrane to vibrate more uniformly
and without much bending or wrinkling A loudspeaker may be a
bending wave loudspeaker, which uses a diaphragm that is
intentionally flexible.
[0439] A sounder may an electromechanical type, such as an electric
bell, which may be based on an electromagnet, causing a metal ball
to clap on cup or half-sphere bell. A sounder may be a buzzer (or
beeper), a chime, a whistle or a ringer. Buzzers may be either
electromechanical or ceramic-based piezoelectric sounders which
make a high-pitch noise, and may be used for alerting. The sounder
may emit a single or multiple tones, and can be in continuous or
intermittent operation.
[0440] In one example, the sounder is used to play a stored digital
audio. The digital audio content can be stored in the sounder, the
actuator unit, the router, the control server, or any combination
thereof. Further, few files may be stored (e.g., representing
different announcements or songs), selected by the control logic.
Alternatively or in addition, the digital audio data may be
received by the sounder, the actuator unit, the router, the control
server, or any combination thereof, from external sources via the
above networks. Furthermore, the source of the digital audio may a
microphone serving as a sensor, either after processing, storing,
delaying, or any other manipulation, or as originally received
resulting `doorphone` or `intercom` functionality between a
microphone and a sounder in the building.
[0441] In another example, the sounder simulates the voice of a
human being or generates music, typically by using an electronic
circuit having a memory for storing the sounds (e.g., music, song,
voice message, etc.), a digital to analog converter 62 to
reconstruct the electrical representation of the sound, and a
driver for driving a loudspeaker, which is an electro-acoustic
transducer that converts an electrical signal to sound. An example
of a greeting card providing music and mechanical movement is
disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0256337 to Segan
entitled: "User Interactive Greeting Card", which is incorporated
in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0442] In one example, the system is used for sound or music
generation. For example, the sound produced can emulate the sounds
of a conventional acoustical music instrument, such as a piano,
tuba, harp, violin, flute, guitar and so forth. In one example, the
sounder is an audible signaling device, emitting audible sounds
that can be heard (having frequency components in the 20-20,000 Hz
band). In one example the sound generated is music or song. The
elements of the music such as pitch (which governs melody and
harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and
articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and
texture, may be associated with the shape theme. For example, if a
musical instrument shown in the picture, the music generated by
that instrument will be played, e.g., drumming sound of drums and
playing of a flute or guitar. In one example, a talking human voice
is played by the sounder. The sound may be a syllable, a word, a
phrase, a sentence, a short story or a long story, and can be based
on speech synthesis or pre-recorded. Male or female voice can be
used, further being young or old.
[0443] Some examples of toys that include generation of an audio
signal such as music are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,149 to
Schwartzberg entitled: "Game Apparatus Utilizing Controllable Audio
Signals", in U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,260 to Breedlove et al. entitled:
"Electronic Learning Aid or Game having Synthesized Speech", in
U.S. Pat. No. 7,414,186 to Scarpa et al. entitled: "System and
Method for Teaching Musical Notes", in U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,255 to
Lee et al., entitled: "Electronic Instructional Apparatus", in U.S.
Pat. No. 4,248,123 to Bunger et al., entitled: "Electronic Piano"
and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,891 to Milner entitled: "Musical Puzzle
Using Sliding Tiles", and toys with means for synthesizing human
voice are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,611 to Cummings
entitled: "Place and Find Toy", and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,602 to
Rose entitled: "Talking Doll Responsive to External Signal", which
are all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein. A music toy kit combining music toy instrument
with a set of construction toy blocks is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
6,132,281 to Klitsner et al. entitled: "Music Toy Kit" and in U.S.
Pat. No. 5,349,129 to Wisniewski et al. entitled: "Electronic Sound
Generating Toy", which are incorporated in their entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0444] A speech synthesizer used to produce natural and
intelligible artificial human speech may be implemented in
hardware, in software, or combination thereof. A speech synthesizer
may be Text-To-Speech (TTS) based, that converts normal language
text to speech, or alternatively (or in addition) may be based on
rendering symbolic linguistic representation like phonetic
transcription. A TTS typically involves two steps, the front-end
where the raw input text is pre-processed to fully write-out words
replacing numbers and abbreviations, followed by assigning phonetic
transcriptions to each word (text-to-phoneme), and the back-end (or
synthesizer) where the symbolic linguistic representation is
converted to output sound.
[0445] The generating of synthetic speech waveform typically uses a
concatenative or formant synthesis. The concatenative synthesis
commonly produces the most natural-sounding synthesized speech, and
is based on the concatenation (or stringing together) of segments
of recorded speech. There are three main types of concatenative
synthesis: Unit selection, diphone synthesis, and domain-specific
synthesis. Unit selection synthesis is based on large databases of
recorded speech including individual phones, diphones, half-phones,
syllables, morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences, indexed based
on the segmentation and acoustic parameters like the fundamental
frequency (pitch), duration, position in the syllable, and
neighboring phones. At run time, the desired target utterance is
created by determining (typically using a specially weighted
decision tree) the best chain of candidate units from the database
(unit selection). Diphone synthesis uses a minimal speech database
containing all the diphones (sound-to-sound transitions) occurring
in a language, and at runtime, the target prosody of a sentence is
superimposed on these minimal units by means of digital signal
processing techniques such as linear predictive coding.
Domain-specific synthesis is used where the output is limited to a
particular domain, using concatenates prerecorded words and phrases
to create complete utterances. In formant synthesis the synthesized
speech output is created using additive synthesis and an acoustic
model (physical modeling synthesis), rather than on using human
speech samples. Parameters such as fundamental frequency, voicing,
and noise levels are varied over time to create a waveform of
artificial speech. The synthesis may further be based on
articulatory synthesis where computational techniques for
synthesizing speech are based on models of the human vocal tract
and the articulation processes occurring there, or may be HMM-based
synthesis which is based on hidden Markov models, where the
frequency spectrum (vocal tract), fundamental frequency (vocal
source), and duration (prosody) of speech are modeled
simultaneously by HMMs and generated based on the maximum
likelihood criterion. The speech synthesizer may further be based
on the book entitled: "Development in Speech Synthesis", by Mark
Tatham and Katherine Morton, published 2005 by John Wiley &
Sons Ltd., ISBN: 0-470-85538-X, and on the book entitled: "Speech
Synthesis and Recognition" by John Holmes and Wendy Holmes,
2.sup.nd Edition, published 2001 ISBN: 0-7484-0856-8, which are
both incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein.
[0446] A speech synthesizer may be software based such as Apple
VoiceOver utility which uses speech synthesis for accessibility,
and is part of the Apple iOS operating system used on the iPhone,
iPad and iPod Touch. Similarly, Microsoft uses SAPI 4.0 and SAPI
5.0 as part of Windows operating system. Similarly, hardware may be
used, and may be based on an IC. A tone, voice, melody, or song
hardware-based sounder typically contains a memory storing a
digital representation of the pre-recorder or synthesized voice or
music, a Digital to Analog (D/A) converter for creating an analog
signal, a speaker and a driver for feeding the speaker. A sounder
may be based on Holtek HT3834 CMOS VLSI Integrated Circuit (IC)
named `36 Melody Music Generator` available from Holtek
Semiconductor Inc., headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and described
with application circuits in a data sheet Rev. 1.00 dated Nov. 2,
2006, on EPSON 7910 series `Multi-Melody IC` available from
Seiko-Epson Corporation, Electronic Devices Marketing Division
located in Tokyo, Japan, and described with application circuits in
a data sheet PF226-04 dated 1998, on Magnevation SpeakJet chip
available from Magnevation LLC and described in `Natural Speech
& Complex Sound Synthesizer`, described in User's Manual
Revision 1.0 Jul. 27, 2004, on Sensory Inc. NLP-5x described in the
Data sheet "Natural Language Processor with Motor, Sensor and
Display Control", P/N 80-0317-K, published 2010 by Sensory, Inc. of
Santa-Clara, Calif., U.S.A., or on OPTi 82C931 `Plug and Play
Integrated Audio Controller` described in Data Book 912-3000-035
Revision: 2.1 published on Aug. 1, 1997, which are all incorporated
herein in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth
herein. Similarly, a music synthesizer may be based on YMF721
OPL4-ML2 FM+Wavetable Synthesizer LSI available from Yamaha
Corporation described in YMF721 Catalog No. LSI-4MF721A20, which is
incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth
herein.
[0447] An actuator may be used to generate an electric or magnetic
field. An electromagnetic coil (sometimes referred to simply as a
"coil") is formed when a conductor (usually an insulated solid
copper wire) is wound around a core or form to create an inductor
or electromagnet. One loop of wire is usually referred to as a
turn, and a coil consists of one or more turns. Coils are often
coated with varnish or wrapped with insulating tape to provide
additional insulation and secure them in place. A completed coil
assembly with taps is often called a winding. An electromagnet is a
type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by the flow
of electric current, and disappears when the current is turned off.
A simple electromagnet consisting of a coil of insulated wire
wrapped around an iron core. The strength of the magnetic field
generated is proportional to the amount of current.
[0448] An actuator may be a display for presentation of visual data
or information, commonly on a screen. A display is typically
consists of an array of light emitters (typically in a matrix
form), and commonly provides a visual depiction of a single,
integrated, or organized set of information, such as text,
graphics, image or video. A display may be a monochrome (a.k.a.
black-and-white) type, which typically displays two colors, one for
the background and one for the foreground. Old computer monitor
displays commonly use black and white, green and black, or amber
and black. A display may be a gray-scale type, which is capable of
displaying different shades of gray, or may be a color type,
capable of displaying multiple colors, anywhere from 16 to over
many millions different colors, and may be based on Red, Green, and
Blue (RGB) separate signals. A video display is designed for
presenting video content. The screen is the actual location where
the information is actually optically visualized by humans. The
screen may be an integral part of the display. Alternatively or in
addition, the display may be an image or video projector, that
projects an image (or a video consisting of moving images) onto a
screen surface, which is a separate component and is not
mechanically enclosed with the display housing. Most projectors
create an image by shining a light through a small transparent
image, but some newer types of projectors can project the image
directly, by using lasers. A projector may be based on an Eidophor,
Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS or LCOS), or LCD, or may use
Digital Light Processing (DLP.TM.) technology, and may further be
MEMS based. A virtual retinal display, or retinal projector, is a
projector that projects an image directly on the retina instead of
using an external projection screen. Common display resolutions
used today include SVGA (800.times.600 pixels), XGA (1024.times.768
pixels), 720p (1280.times.720 pixels), and 1080p (1920.times.1080
pixels). Standard-Definition (SD) standards, such as used in SD
Television (SDTV), are referred to as 576i, derived from the
European-developed PAL and SECAM systems with 576 interlaced lines
of resolution; and 480i, based on the American National Television
System Committee (ANTSC) NTSC system. High-Definition (HD) video
refers to any video system of higher resolution than
standard-definition (SD) video, and most commonly involves display
resolutions of 1,280.times.720 pixels (720p) or 1,920.times.1,080
pixels (1080i/1080p). A display may be a 3D (3-Dimensions) display,
which is the display device capable of conveying a stereoscopic
perception of 3-D depth to the viewer. The basic technique is to
present offset images that are displayed separately to the left and
right eye. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the
brain to give the perception of 3-D depth. The display may present
the information as scrolling, static, bold or flashing.
[0449] The display may be an analog display having an analog signal
input. Analog displays are commonly using interfaces such as
composite video such as NTSC, PAL or SECAM formats. Similarly,
analog RGB, VGA (Video Graphics Array), SVGA (Super Video Graphics
Array), SCART, S-video and other standard analog interfaces can be
used. Alternatively or in addition, a display may be a digital
display, having a digital input interface. Standard digital
interfaces such as an IEEE1394 interface (a.k.a. FireWire.TM.), may
be used. Other digital interfaces that can be used are USB, SDI
(Serial Digital Interface), HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia
Interface), DVI (Digital Visual Interface), UDI (Unified Display
Interface), DisplayPort, Digital Component Video and DVB (Digital
Video Broadcast). In some cases, an adaptor is required in order to
connect an analog display to the digital data. For example, the
adaptor may convert between composite video (PAL, NTSC) or S-Video
and DVI or HDTV signal. Various user controls can be available to
allow the user to control and effect the display operations, such
as an on/off switch, a reset button and others. Other exemplary
controls involve display associated settings such as contrast,
brightness and zoom.
[0450] A display may be a Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) display, which is
based on moving an electron beam back and forth across the back of
the screen. Such a display commonly comprises a vacuum tube
containing an electron gun (a source of electrons), and a
fluorescent screen used to view images. It further has a means to
accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent
screen to create the images Each time the beam makes a pass across
the screen, it lights up phosphor dots on the inside of the glass
tube, thereby illuminating the active portions of the screen. By
drawing many such lines from the top to the bottom of the screen,
it creates an entire image. A CRT display may be a shadow mask or
an aperture grille type.
[0451] A display may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display,
which utilize two sheets of polarizing material with a liquid
crystal solution between them. An electric current passed through
the liquid causes the crystals to align so that light cannot pass
through them. Each crystal, therefore, is like a shutter, either
allowing a backlit light to pass through or blocking the light. In
monochrome LCD images usually appear as blue or dark gray images on
top of a grayish-white background. Color LCD displays commonly use
passive matrix and Thin Film Transistor (TFT) (or active-matrix)
for producing color. Recent passive-matrix displays are using new
CSTN and DSTN technologies to produce sharp colors rivaling
active-matrix displays.
[0452] Some LCD displays use Cold-Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFLs)
for backlight illumination. An LED-backlit LCD is a flat panel
display that uses LED backlighting instead of the cold cathode
fluorescent (CCFL) backlighting, allowing for a thinner panel,
lower power consumption, better heat dissipation, a brighter
display, and better contrast levels. Three forms of LED may be
used: White edge-LEDs around the rim of the screen, using a special
diffusion panel to spread the light evenly behind the screen (the
most usual form currently), an array of LEDs arranged behind the
screen whose brightness are not controlled individually, and a
dynamic "local dimming" array of LEDs that are controlled
individually or in clusters to achieve a modulated backlight light
pattern. A Blue Phase Mode LCD is an LCD technology that uses
highly twisted cholesteric phases in a blue phase, in order to
improve the temporal response of liquid crystal displays (LCDs). A
Field Emission Display (FED) is a display technology that uses
large-area field electron emission sources to provide the electrons
that strike colored phosphor, to produce a color image as an
electronic visual display. In a general sense, a FED consists of a
matrix of cathode ray tubes, each tube producing a single
sub-pixel, grouped in threes to form red-green-blue (RGB) pixels.
FEDs combine the advantages of CRTs, namely their high contrast
levels and very fast response times, with the packaging advantages
of LCD and other flat panel technologies. They also offer the
possibility of requiring less power, about half that of an LCD
system. FED display operates like a conventional cathode ray tube
(CRT) with an electron gun that uses high voltage (10 kV) to
accelerate electrons which in turn excite the phosphors, but
instead of a single electron gun, a FED display contains a grid of
individual nanoscopic electron guns. A FED screen is constructed by
laying down a series of metal stripes onto a glass plate to form a
series of cathode lines.
[0453] A display may be an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED)
display, a display device that sandwiches carbon-based films
between two charged electrodes, one a metallic cathode and one a
transparent anode, usually being glass. The organic films consist
of a hole-injection layer, a hole-transport layer, an emissive
layer and an electron-transport layer. When voltage is applied to
the OLED cell, the injected positive and negative charges recombine
in the emissive layer and create electro luminescent light. Unlike
LCDs, which require backlighting, OLED displays are emissive
devices--they emit light rather than modulate transmitted or
reflected light. There are two main families of OLEDs: those based
on small molecules and those employing polymers. Adding mobile ions
to an OLED creates a light-emitting electrochemical cell or LEC,
which has a slightly different mode of operation. OLED displays can
use either Passive-Matrix (PMOLED) or active-matrix addressing
schemes. Active-Matrix OLEDs (AMOLED) require a thin-film
transistor backplane to switch each individual pixel on or off, but
allow for higher resolution and larger display sizes.
[0454] A display may be an Electroluminescent Displays (ELDs) type,
which is a flat panel display created by sandwiching a layer of
electroluminescent material such as GaAs between two layers of
conductors. When current flows, the layer of material emits
radiation in the form of visible light. Electroluminescence (EL) is
an optical and electrical phenomenon where a material emits light
in response to an electric current passed through it, or to a
strong electric field.
[0455] A display may be based on an Electronic Paper Display (EPD)
(a.k.a. e-paper and electronic ink) display technology which is
designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike
conventional backlit flat panel displays which emit light,
electronic paper displays reflect light like ordinary paper. Many
of the technologies can hold static text and images indefinitely
without using electricity, while allowing images to be changed
later. Flexible electronic paper uses plastic substrates and
plastic electronics for the display backplane.
[0456] An EPD may be based on Gyricon technology, using
polyethylene spheres between 75 and 106 micrometres across. Each
sphere is a janus particle composed of negatively charged black
plastic on one side and positively charged white plastic on the
other (each bead is thus a dipole). The spheres are embedded in a
transparent silicone sheet, with each sphere suspended in a bubble
of oil so that they can rotate freely. The polarity of the voltage
applied to each pair of electrodes then determines whether the
white or black side is face-up, thus giving the pixel a white or
black appearance. Alternatively or in addition, an EPD may be based
on an electrophoretic display, where titanium dioxide (Titania)
particles approximately one micrometer in diameter are dispersed in
hydrocarbon oil. A dark-colored dye is also added to the oil, along
with surfactants and charging agents that cause the particles to
take on an electric charge. This mixture is placed between two
parallel, conductive plates separated by a gap of 10 to 100
micrometers. When a voltage is applied across the two plates, the
particles will migrate electrophoretically to the plate bearing the
opposite charge from that on the particles.
[0457] Further, an EPD may be based on Electro-Wetting Display
(EWD), which is based on controlling the shape of a confined
water/oil interface by an applied voltage. With no voltage applied,
the (colored) oil forms a flat film between the water and a
hydrophobic (water-repellent) insulating coating of an electrode,
resulting in a colored pixel. When a voltage is applied between the
electrode and the water, it changes the interfacial tension between
the water and the coating. As a result the stacked state is no
longer stable, causing the water to move the oil aside.
Electrofluidic displays are a variation of an electrowetting
display, involving the placing of aqueous pigment dispersion inside
a tiny reservoir. Voltage is used to electromechanically pull the
pigment out of the reservoir and spread it as a film directly
behind the viewing substrate. As a result, the display takes on
color and brightness similar to that of conventional pigments
printed on paper. When voltage is removed liquid surface tension
causes the pigment dispersion to rapidly recoil into the
reservoir.
[0458] A display may be a Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD) that
emits a very bright light with high contrast and can support
display elements of various colors. VFDs can display seven-segment
numerals, multi-segment alphanumeric characters or can be made in a
dot-matrix to display different alphanumeric characters and
symbols.
[0459] A display may be a laser video display or a laser video
projector. A Laser display requires lasers in three distinct
wavelengths--red, green, and blue. Frequency doubling can be used
to provide the green wavelengths, and a small semiconductor laser
such as Vertical-External-Cavity Surface-Emitting-Laser (VECSEL) or
a Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) may be used.
Several types of lasers can be used as the frequency doubled
sources: fiber lasers, inter cavity doubled lasers, external cavity
doubled lasers, eVCSELs, and OPSLs (Optically Pumped Semiconductor
Lasers). Among the inter-cavity doubled lasers VCSELs have shown
much promise and potential to be the basis for a mass produced
frequency doubled laser. A VECSEL is a vertical cavity, and is
composed of two mirrors. On top of one of them is a diode as the
active medium. These lasers combine high overall efficiency with
good beam quality. The light from the high power IR-laser diodes is
converted into visible light by means of extra-cavity waveguided
second harmonic generation. Laser-pulses with about 10 KHz
repetition rate and various lengths are sent to a Digital
Micromirror Device where each mirror directs the pulse either onto
the screen or into the dump.
[0460] A display may be a segment display, such as a numerical or
an alphanumerical display that can show only digits or alphanumeric
characters, commonly composed of several segments that switch on
and off to give the appearance of desired glyph, The segments are
usually single LEDs or liquid crystals, and may further display
visual display material beyond words and characters, such as
arrows, symbols, ASCII and non-ASCII characters. Non-limiting
examples are Seven-segment display (digits only), Fourteen-segment
display, and Sixteen-segment display. A display may be a dot matrix
display, used to display information on machines, clocks, railway
departure indicators and many other devices requiring a simple
display device of limited resolution. The display consists of a
matrix of lights or mechanical indicators arranged in a rectangular
configuration (other shapes are also possible, although not common)
such that by switching on or off selected lights, text or graphics
can be displayed. A dot matrix controller converts instructions
from a processor into signals which turns on or off the lights in
the matrix so that the required display is produced.
[0461] In one non-limiting example, the display is a video display
used to play a stored digital video, or an image display used to
present stored digital images, such as photos. The digital video
(or image) content can be stored in the display, the actuator unit,
the router, the control server, or any combination thereof.
Further, few video (or still image) files may be stored (e.g.,
representing different announcements or songs), selected by the
control logic. Alternatively or in addition, the digital video data
may be received by the display, the actuator unit, the router, the
control server, or any combination thereof, from external sources
via any one of the networks. Furthermore, the source of the digital
video or image may an image sensor (or video camera) serving as a
sensor, either after processing, storing, delaying, or any other
manipulation, or as originally received, resulting Closed-Circuit
Television (CCTV) functionality between an image sensor or camera
and a display in the building, which may be used for surveillance
in areas that may need monitoring such as banks, casinos, airports,
military installations, and convenience stores.
[0462] In one non-limiting example, an actuator unit further
includes a signal generator coupled between the processor and the
actuator. The signal generator may be used to control the actuator,
for example by providing an electrical signal affecting the
actuator operation, such as changing the magnitude of the actuator
affect or operation. Such a signal generator may be a digital
signal generator, or may be an analog signal generator, having an
analog electrical signal output. Analog signal generator may be a
digital signal generator, which digital output is converted to
analog signal using a digital to analog converter, as shown in
actuator unit 60 shown in FIG. 6, where two D/A converters 62a and
62b are connected to the computer 63 outputs, and where the analog
outputs are coupled to respectively control the actuators 61a and
61b. The signal generator may be based on software (or firmware)
stored in the unit and executed by the computer 63, or may be a
separated circuit or component connected between the computer 63
and the D/A converters 62a and 62b. In such an arrangement, the
computer may be used to activate the signal generator, or to select
a waveform or signal to be generated. In one non-limiting example,
the signal generator serves as the actuator, for generating an
electrical signal, such as voltage and current.
[0463] A signal generator (a.k.a. frequency generator) is an
electronic device or circuit devices that can generate repeating or
non-repeating electronic signals (typically voltage or current),
having an analog output (analog signal generator) or a digital
output (digital signal generator). The output signal may be based
on an electrical circuit, or may be based on a generated or stored
digital data. A function generator is typically a signal generator
which produces simple repetitive waveforms. Such devices contain an
electronic oscillator, a circuit that is capable of creating a
repetitive waveform, or may use digital signal processing to
synthesize waveforms, followed by a digital to analog converter, or
DAC, to produce an analog output. Common waveforms are a sine wave,
a sawtooth, a step (pulse), a square, and a triangular waveforms.
The generator may include some sort of modulation functionality
such as Amplitude Modulation (AM), Frequency Modulation (FM), or
Phase Modulation (PM). An Arbitrary Waveform Generators (AWGs) are
sophisticated signal generators which allow the user to generate
arbitrary waveforms, within published limits of frequency range,
accuracy, and output level. Unlike function generators, which are
limited to a simple set of waveforms; an AWG allows the user to
specify a source waveform in a variety of different ways. Logic
signal generator (a.k.a. data pattern generator and digital pattern
generator) is a digital signal generator that produces logic types
of signals--that is logic l's and 0's in the form of conventional
voltage levels. The usual voltage standards are: LVTTL, LVCMOS.
[0464] In one non-limiting example, an actuator unit further
includes an electrical switch (or multiple switches) coupled
between the processor and the actuator. The electric switch may be
used to activate the actuator, for example by completing an
electrical circuit allowing current to flow to the actuator. Such
arrangement is exampled regarding the actuator units 60a, 60b, 60f
and 60g, respectively shown in FIGS. 6a, 6b, 6e, and 6f, connecting
an electrical power source to a load. The load may be an actuator,
and may be internal or external to the actuator unit, and may
further be power fed from the same power source (and same power
supply) of the actuator unit, or alternatively or in addition, a
separate power source may be used to power the load or the
actuator. The switch may be integrated with the actuator (if
separated from the actuator unit), with the actuator unit, or any
combination thereof. In the above examples, a controller can affect
the actuator (or load) activation by sending the actuator unit a
message to activate the actuator by powering it, or to deactivate
the actuator operation by breaking the current floe thereto. In
another non-limiting example, the actuator may be in two (or more)
states, and the switch activates one or more of the states, or
shifts the actuator between states. For example, an electric motor
may have two speeds, controlled by a connected switch, which is
under the controller control.
[0465] Any component that is designed to open (breaking,
interrupting), close (making), or change one or more electrical
circuits may serve as a switch, preferably under some type of
external control. Preferably, the switch is an electromechanical
device with one or more sets of electrical contacts having two or
more states. The switch may be a `normally open` type, requiring
actuation for closing the contacts, may be `normally closed` type,
where actuation affects breaking the circuit, or may be a
changeover switch, having both types of contacts arrangements. A
changeover switch may be either a `make-before-break` or
`break-before-make` types. The switch contacts may have one or more
poles and one or more throws. Common switches contacts arrangements
include Single-Pole-Single-Throw (SPST), Single-Pole-Double-Throw
(SPDT), Double-Pole-Double-Throw (DPDT), Double-Pole-Single-Throw
(DPST), and Single-Pole-Changeover (SPCO). A switch may be
electrically or mechanically actuated.
[0466] A relay is a non-limiting example of an electrically
operated switch. A relay may be a latching relay, that has two
relaxed states (bistable), and when the current is switched off,
the relay remains in its last state. This is achieved with a
solenoid operating a ratchet and cam mechanism, or by having two
opposing coils with an over-center spring or permanent magnet to
hold the armature and contacts in position while the coil is
relaxed, or with a permanent core. A relay may be an
electromagnetic relay, that typically consists of a coil of wire
wrapped around a soft iron core, an iron yoke which provides a low
reluctance path for magnetic flux, a movable iron armature, and one
or more sets of contacts. The armature is hinged to the yoke and
mechanically linked to one or more sets of moving contacts. It is
held in place by a spring so that when the relay is de-energized
there is an air gap in the magnetic circuit. In this condition, one
of the two sets of contacts in the relay pictured is closed, and
the other set is open. A reed relay is a reed switch enclosed in a
solenoid, and the switch has a set of contacts inside an evacuated
or inert gas-filled glass tube, which protects the contacts against
atmospheric corrosion.
[0467] Alternatively or in addition, a relay may be a Solid State
Relay (SSR), where a solid-state based component functioning as a
relay, without having any moving parts. Alternatively or in
addition, a switch may be implemented using an electrical circuit.
For example, an open collector (or open drain) based circuit may be
used. Further, an opto-isolator (a.k.a. optocoupler, photocoupler,
or optical isolator) may be used to provide isolated signal
transfer to the actuator. Further, a thyristor such as a Triode for
Alternating Current (TRIAC) may be used for triggering power to an
actuator.
[0468] A field unit may be a sensor unit such as sensor unit 50
shown above in FIG. 5, including one or more sensors, or may be an
actuator unit such as actuator unit 60 shown above in FIG. 6,
including one or more actuators, or may be a sensor/actuator unit
such as sensor actuator unit 70 shown in FIG. 7. Such a
sensor/actuator 70 includes an analog sensor Ma connected via A/D
converter 52a. Any number of sensors 51 of any type may be equally
used. The sensor/actuator 70 further includes an analog actuator
61a connected via D/A converter 62a. Any number of actuators 61 of
any type may be equally used. The sensors 51 and the actuators 61
are connected to a computer 71, which communicates over the network
medium via a suitable modem, such as wired modem (or transceiver)
72, suitable for communication over the cable 79 terminated by
connector 78, which connects to the mating connector 77 in the
sensor/actuator unit 70. Similarly, sensor and actuator units or
their functionalities may be integrated, and thus may share any
resources. For example, both circuits may share a power source, a
power supply or a power connector. Similarly, other electronic
circuits mat be shared and used for both functionalities. Further,
the same connector or connectors, as well as interfaces and other
support circuits may be used by both functionalities. Furthermore,
the associated components implementing these functionalities may be
housed in the same enclosure, or may be mounted to the same
surface. In one non-limiting example, the hardware relating to both
functionalities may be integrated onto a single substrate (e.g.,
Silicon "die"), or as components mounted on the same PCB.
[0469] A non-limiting example of a power control field unit 70a is
shown as part of arrangement 700a shown in FIG. 7a. Similar to
arrangement 600a shown in FIG. 6a, a load 58 is powered from a
power source 56a and can be turned on and off by the controlled
switch 601 controlled by computer 71a. In addition, a current meter
57 is connected in series to measure the current or the power
consumption of the load 58.
[0470] A field unit may be powered, in whole or in part, from an AC
or DC power source, which may be integrated with the unit
enclosure, may be external to the unit enclosure, or any
combination thereof. Typically, a power supply is connected to the
power source to be power fed therefrom, and provides a single (or
multiple) voltage as required by the field unit. Commonly, one or
more regulated DC voltage is supplied by the power supply, which
may be a linear or a switching type. The power supply outputs are
commonly regulated to provide stable voltages (and/or currents, if
applicable), under varying power source and load conditions. The
power supply outputs are commonly protected against overload, for
example by a fuse or a current limiter, and are commonly protected
against overvoltage, over-current, or other instabilities and
abnormal condition of the power source. Further, a power supply may
also serve to provide electrical isolation, and further commonly
filters an electrical noise between its inputs and outputs. A
sensor may be power fed from the same power source or power supply
powering the field unit circuits, or may use a dedicated power
source or power supply, which may be internal or external to the
field unit enclosure. An actuator may be power fed from the same
power source or power supply powering the field unit circuits, or
may use a dedicated power source or power supply, which may be
internal or external to the field unit enclosure.
[0471] A field unit may be locally electrically powered from a
power source integrated within the unit. Such a power source 56 is
shown as part of the sensor unit 50 in FIG. 5. Such power source 56
may be based on a battery. The battery may be a primary battery or
cell, in which an irreversible chemical reaction generates the
electricity, and thus the cell is disposable and cannot be
recharged, and need to be replaced after the battery is drained.
Such battery replacement may be expensive and cumbersome.
Alternatively or in addition, a rechargeable (secondary) battery
may be used, such as a nickel-cadmium based battery. In such a
case, a battery charger is employed for charging the battery while
it is in use or not in use. Various types of such battery chargers
are known in the art, such as trickle chargers, pulse chargers and
the like. The battery charger may be integrated with the field unit
or be external to it. The battery may be a primary or a
rechargeable (secondary) type, may include a single or few
batteries, and may use various chemicals for the electro-chemical
cells, such as lithium, alkaline and nickel-cadmium. Common
batteries are manufactured in pre-defined standard output voltages
(1.5, 3, 4.5, 9 Volts, for example), as well as defined standard
mechanical enclosures (usually defined by letters such as "A",
"AA", "B", "C" sizes), and `coin` type. In one embodiment the
battery (or batteries) is held in a battery holder or compartment,
and thus can be easily replaced.
[0472] In one non-limiting example, the field unit is locally
energized using an electrical energy generator to locally generate
electrical power for charging the rechargeable battery via a
battery charger. Preferably, the generator is integrated within the
field unit enclosure. Alternatively or in addition, the generator
may directly feed the power consuming components in the field unit
without using any electrical energy storage device such as a
rechargeable battery. Such generator may be based on converting
kinetic energy harvested from the field unit motion, which may be
caused by a human or animal activity, to electrical energy. Such a
generator is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,692,320 to Lemieux
entitled: "Electrical Energy Generator", in U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,877
to Tiemann entitled: "Apparatus for Converting Vibratory Motion to
Electrical Energy", in U.S. Pat. No. 7,847,421 to Gardner et al.
entitled: "System for Generating Electrical Energy from Ambient
Motion" and in U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0210580 to Roberts
et al. entitled: "Electromechanical Generator for, and Method of,
Converting Mechanical Vibrational Energy into Electrical Energy",
as well as a battery-shaped generator described in U.S. Pat. No.
7,688,036 to Yarger et al. entitled: "System and Method for Storing
Energy", which are all incorporated in their entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein. Using kinetic energy
harvesting as an electrical power source may be useful in cased
wherein the sensor in a field unit is involved in measuring motion
(e.g., speed or acceleration). Another type of power source may use
a solar or photovoltaic cell described above. In one non-limiting
example, the same element may double as a sensor and as a power
source. For example, a solar or photovoltaic cell may be used as a
light sensor, simultaneously with serving as a power source, and an
electromechanical generator, for example based on harvesting
mechanical vibration energy, may at the same time be used to
measure the mechanical vibrations (e.g., frequency or magnitude).
Similarly, a thermoelectric device based on the Peltier effect may
be used as a thermoelectric generator, in addition to being a
temperature sensor, heater or a cooler.
[0473] In another non-limiting example, a field unit is powered
from an external power source. Such implementation is exampled in
the actuator unit 60 shown in FIG. 6. The unit 60 is powered from a
power supply 66 which is power fed from the common AC power supply
via AC plug connector 68 and a power cord 67, using the mains AC
power (commonly 115 VAC/60 Hz in North America or 220 VAC/50 Hz in
Europe) as the power source. The power supply commonly includes an
AC/DC converter, for converting the AC voltage into the required
low-level stabilized DC voltage or voltages, commonly suitable for
power the digital circuits, such as 3.3 VDC, 5 VDC or 12 VDC. Power
supplies commonly include voltage stabilizers for ensuring that the
output remains within certain limits under various load conditions,
and typically employs a transformer, silicon diode bridge
rectifier, reservoir capacitor and voltage regulator IC. Switched
mode regulator supplies also include an inductor. In one
embodiment, the power supply 66 is integrated into a single device
or circuit, in order to share common circuits. Further, the power
supply 66 may include a boost converter, such as a buck boost
converter, charge pump, inverter and regulators as known in the
art, as required for conversion of one form of electrical power to
another desired form and voltage. While power supply 66 (either
separated or integrated) can be an integral part and housed within
the unit enclosure (together with the computer 63), it may be
enclosed as a separate housing connected via cable to the computer
system enclosure. For example, a small outlet plug-in step-down
transformer shape can be used (also known as wall-wart, "power
brick", "plug pack", "plug-in adapter", "adapter block", "domestic
mains adapter", "power adapter", or AC adapter). Further, power
supply 66 may be a linear or switching type.
[0474] In one example, a field unit is powered by a power signal
carried over the same wires or over the same cable used also for
communication. For example, in the case of wired communication with
a router, a gateway or another field unit, the same cable may be
used for simultaneously carrying the digital data communication and
the power signal. In one non-limiting example, the power is carried
over dedicated and distinct wires, thus the power signal is carried
separated from any other signals carried over the cable. Such
configuration further requires the use of a cable and connectors
having at least four contacts, where two (or more) are used for the
power and at least two are used for the digital data signal (or for
any other signal carried in the system).
[0475] In an alternative remote powering scheme, the power signal
and the data signal (e.g., serial digital data signal) are
concurrently carried together over the same wires, as exampled in
the sensor/actuator unit 70 shown in FIG. 7. This scheme makes use
of a power/data splitter (PDS) 76 and a power/data combiner (PDC)
circuit 86, where the latter combines the power and data signals to
a combined signal, and the first split a combined signal into its
power and data signal components, as described in arrangement 80 in
FIG. 8. Such PDS or PDC circuits (e.g., PDC 86 and PDS 76 in FIG.
8) commonly employ three ports designated as `PD` 761 (stands for
Power+Data), `13` 763 (stands for Data only) and `P` 762 (stands
for Power only). The PDC 77 may be part of another device 81 such
as a switch, a router or a gateway. In the PDS 76, the cable 79
(carrying both power and data) is connected to port `PD` 761a,
which passes the a data signal received from, or transmitted to,
the port `D` 763a to or from the modem 72, while the power signal
carried over the cable 79 is split and supplied to port P 762a and
connected to via the connection 75 to the power supply 73, which in
turn feeds power to the unit 70 electrical circuits. Similarly, the
power signal fed by connection 82 to the power port P 762b, and the
digital data signal carried over the connection 83 are combined in
PDC 77 and connected via port `PD` 761b to cable 79 via connectors
84 and its mating connector 85. Thus, power signal transparently
passes between ports `PD` 761 and P 762, while data signal (e.g.,
serial digital data signal) is transparently passed between ports
`PD` 761 and `D` 763. The power signal may be AC or DC, and the PDC
86 or the PDS 76 may each contain only passive components or
alternatively may contain both active and passive electronic
circuits.
[0476] In an alternative arrangement, the power and communication
signals are carried over the wires in the cable using Frequency
Division Multiplexing (FDM, a.k.a. Frequency Domain Multiplexing).
In such an implementation, the power and the communications signals
are carried each in its frequency band (or a single frequency)
distinct from each other. For example, the power signal can be a DC
(Direct Current) power (effectively 0 Hz), while the communication
signal is carried over the 100 Hz-10 MHz (or 4-30 MHz) frequency
band, which is distinct and above the DC power frequency. In this
case, the component on each side may further include a low pass
filter coupled between the connector and the transceiver
(transmitter/receiver) for substantially passing only the power
frequency, for powering the device from the power signal, or for
injecting the power signal. Such device may also further include a
high pass filter coupled between the connector and the transceiver
for substantially passing only the communication frequency band,
for passing the communication signal between the connector and the
transceiver. Another technique for carrying power and data signals
over the same conductors is known as Power-over-Ethernet (PoE)
(i.e., Power over LAN--PoL) and standardized under IEEE 802.3af and
IEEE 802.3at, also explained in U.S. Pat. No. 6,473,608 to Lehr et
al. entitled: "Structure Cabling System", which is incorporated in
its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein, which
describes a method to carry power over LAN wiring, using the spare
pairs and the phantom mechanism. The latter makes use of center-tap
transformers. The powering scheme may use the standards above, as
well as using non-standard and proprietary powering schemes.
[0477] In one non-limiting example, the data and power signals are
carried over the same wires using Frequency Division Multiplexing
(FDM), where each signal is using a different frequency band, and
wherein the frequency bands are spaced in frequency. For example,
the power signal can be a DC signal (0 Hz), while the data signal
will be carried over a band excluding the DC frequency. Similarly,
the power signal can be an AC power signal, using a frequency above
the frequency band used by the data signal. Separation or combining
the power and data signals makes use of filters, passing or
stopping the respective bands. A non-limiting example of a circuit
90 that may serve as a PDS 76 or as PDC 77 is shown in FIG. 9,
corresponding to the case wherein the power signal is a DC signal
(0 Hz), while the data signal is an AC signal carried over a band
excluding the DC frequency. A capacitor 91a, which may be
supplemented with another capacitor 91b is connected between the PD
port 761 and the D port 763, implementing a High Pass Filter (HPF)
92. The HPF 92 substantially stops the DC power signal and
substantially passes the data signal (or any AC signal) between the
connected corresponding ports. An inductor 94a, which may be
supplemented with another inductor 94b is connected between the PD
port 761 and the P port 762, implementing a Low Pass Filter (LPF)
93. The LPF 93 substantially stops the data signal and
substantially passes the DC power signal between the connected
corresponding ports. Other passive or active implementations of the
HPF 92 and LPF 93 can be equally used. Similarly, the power signal
may be low-frequency power voltage, such as 50 Hz or 60 Hz.
[0478] Alternatively or in addition, the data and power signals are
carried over the same wires using a split-tap transformer, as
commonly known for powering an analog telephone set known as POTS
(Plain Old Telephone Service and ISDN). A non-limiting example of a
circuit 100 that may serve as a PDS 76 or as PDC 86 is shown in
FIG. 8, corresponding for example to the case wherein the power
signal is a DC signal (0 Hz), while the data signal is an AC signal
carried over a band excluding the DC frequency. A transformer 101
is connected between the PD port 761 and the D port 763, where the
primary side windings 103a and 103b connected to the PD port 761,
and the secondary winding 103c is connected to the D port 763. The
primary side is split to be formed of two windings 103a and 103b,
connected together with capacitor 102. The transformer
substantially passes the data signal between PD port 761 and the D
port 763, while the DC power signal (or a low frequency AC signal)
is blocked by the capacitor 102. Any DC signal such as the DC power
signal is substantially passed between the PD port 761 and the P
port 762.
[0479] In another alternative, the power signal is carried over a
phantom channel between two pairs carrying the data signal or other
signals. A non-limiting example of a of a circuit 110 that may
serve as a PDS 76 or as PDC 86 is shown in FIG. 11, corresponding
for example to the case wherein the power signal is a DC signal (0
Hz), while the data signal is an AC signal carried over a band
excluding the DC frequency. The transformers 111a and 111b are
connected between the PD port 761 and the D port 763, substantially
passing data signals there between. The split-tap 122b (of the
winding 122a of transformer 111a) and the split-tap 122e (of the
winding 122d of transformer 111b) are connected to the P port 762,
allowing for DC power flow between the PD port 761 and the P port
762. Such a phantom arrangement is used in communication based on
IEEE802.3af or IEEE802.3at standards. Using the phantom channel for
carrying power may be used in the case wherein at least four
conductors are used as a connecting medium between modules.
[0480] In one non-limiting example, the same element is
simultaneously used as both a sensor and as a power source. For
example, a solar or photovoltaic cell may be doubly used as a
sensor measuring the light intensity, for example by measuring the
voltage or current output of the cell, and further the voltage or
current generated are used to power in whole or part of the sensor
unit or the field unit. Similarly, a dynamo, an alternator, an
electric generator, or any other device that converts mechanical
energy to electrical energy may be used, where the output power,
voltage or current is used both as the sensor indicating the
magnitude of the mechanical phenomenon, and also as the power
source to power entire or part of the unit.
[0481] In one non-limiting example, the bus connecting to the field
unit or to the processor is based on a LAN communication, such as
Ethernet, and may be partly or in full in accordance with the
IEEE802.3 standard. For example, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE or 1 GigE)
may be used, describing various technologies for transmitting
Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second (1,000,000,000
bits per second), as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. There
are five physical layer standards for gigabit Ethernet using
optical fiber (1000BASE-X), twisted pair cable (1000BASE-T), or
balanced copper cable (1000BASE-CX). The IEEE 802.3z standard
includes 1000BASE-SX for transmission over multi-mode fiber,
1000BASE-LX for transmission over single-mode fiber, and the nearly
obsolete 1000BASE-CX for transmission over balanced copper cabling.
These standards use 8b/10b encoding, which inflates the line rate
by 25%, from 1000 Mbit/s to 1250 Mbit/s, to ensure a DC balanced
signal. The symbols are then sent using NRZ. The IEEE 802.3ab,
which defines the widely used 1000BASE-T interface type, uses a
different encoding scheme in order to keep the symbol rate as low
as possible, allowing transmission over twisted pair. Similarly,
The 10 gigabit Ethernet (LOG E or 10 GbE or 10 GigE may be used,
which is a version of Ethernet with a nominal data rate of 10
Gbit/s (billion bits per second), ten times faster than gigabit
Ethernet. The 10 gigabit Ethernet standard defines only full duplex
point to point links which are generally connected by network
switches. The 10 gigabit Ethernet standard encompasses a number of
different physical layers (PHY) standards. A networking device may
support different PHY types through pluggable PHY modules, such as
those based on SFP+.
[0482] The powering scheme may be based on Power-over-Ethernet
(PoE), which describes a system to pass electrical power safely,
along with data, on Ethernet cabling, and may use phantom
configuration for carrying the power. The PoE technology and
applications are described in the White Paper "All You Need To Know
About Power over Ethernet (PoE) and the IEEE 802.3af Standard", by
PowerDsine Ltd., 06-0002-082 20 May, 04, and in U.S. Pat. No.
6,473,609 to Lehr et al. entitled: "Structure Cabling System",
which are all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if
fully set forth herein. The IEEE standard for PoE requires category
5 cable or higher for high power levels, but can operate with
category 3 cable for low power levels. The power is supplied in
common mode over two or more of the differential pairs of wires
found in the Ethernet cables, and fed from a power supply within a
PoE-enabled networking device such as an Ethernet switch, or can be
injected into a cable run with a midspan power supply. The IEEE
802.3af-2003 PoE standard, which is incorporated in its entirety
for all purposes as if fully set forth herein, provides up to 15.4
Watts of DC power (minimum 44 V DC and 350 mA) to each device. Only
12.95 Watts is assured to be available to the powered device as
some power is dissipated in the cable. The updated IEEE
802.3at-2009 PoE standard, also known as PoE+ or PoE plus, and
which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein, provides up to 25.5 Watts of power. In PoE
environment, a powering unit (such as unit 81) which may be a
switch, a router or a gateway, may serve as a Power Sourcing
Equipment (PSE) that provides ("sources") power on the Ethernet
cable. A field unit (such as sensor/actuator unit 70) consuming
power from the LAN is referred to as a Powered Device (PD).
[0483] The controller functionality 147 may be integrated in the
router 143 (corresponding for example to router 12 in FIG. 2,
router 40 in FIG. 4, gateway 11 in FIG. 1, or router 40a in FIGS.
4a-4d), as shown in arrangement 145 in FIG. 14. The router 143 is
exampled having a port 146a for coupling to the control network 22
and a port 146b for connecting to control network 22a. The control
network 22 couples field units 23a, 23b and 23c to each other and
to the router 143. The control network 22a couples field units 23d,
23e and 23f to each other and to the router 143. A non-limiting
example of data flow used for implementing a control system is
shown in arrangement 145a in FIG. 14. Data from a sensor in the
field unit 23f is communicated to the router 143 over the
communication path 144d, referring to the data transmitted from the
field unit 23f, and carried (directly or via intervening devices)
over the control network 22a to the port 146b of the router 143.
Similarly, data from a sensor in the field unit 23c is communicated
to the router 143 over the communication path 144b, referring to
the data transmitted from the field unit 23c, and carried over the
control network 22 to the port 146a of the router 143. The data
received from the field units 23 in the router 143 is analyzed and
processed, and based on control logic that may be embedded in the
controller 147, may generate a command for activating or triggering
various actuators. For example, a command to an actuator in the
field unit 23a is communicated from the router 143 over the
communication path 144a, referring to the data transmitted from
router 143 via the port 146a, and carried over the control network
22 the field unit 23a. Similarly, a command to an actuator in the
field unit 23e is communicated from the router 143 over the
communication path 144c, referring to the data transmitted from
router 143 via the port 146b, and carried over the control network
22a the field unit 23e.
[0484] While a single sensor in a field unit is described, two or
more sensors may equally be used in the same field unit 23.
Further, while two field units are described to send data to the
router 143, one, three or more field units may be part of the
control system, each sending data from one or more sensors
associated with it. Further, while two field units 23c and 23f are
described, each communicating via the respective associated control
network 22 and 22a, a single control network or multiple (three or
more) control networks may be equally used. Further, while two
field units are described to send data to the router 143, one,
three or more field units may be part of the control system, each
sending data from one or more sensors associated with it. While a
single actuator in a field unit is described, two or more actuators
may equally be used in the same field unit 23, with or without
sensors associated with it. Further, while two field units are
described to receive data from the router 143, one, three or more
field units may be part of the control system, each receiving data
for activating or triggering one or more actuators associated with
it. Further, while two field units 23a and 23e are described, each
communicating via the respective associated control network 22 and
22a, a single control network or multiple (three or more) control
networks may be equally used. Further, while two field units are
described to receive data from the router 143, one, three or more
field units may be part of the control system, each receiving data
for activating or triggering one or more actuators associated with
it.
[0485] Alternatively or in addition, the controller 147 may be in
part or in whole located external to the controlled premises 19.
Such an arrangement 150 is shown in FIG. 15, where the controller
147 is integrated with the server 151, which may correspond to the
server 17 shown in FIG. 1, the gateway server 24 shown in FIGS.
2-3, or the gateway server 48 shown in FIGS. 4-4e. In such
configuration, the router 21 may serve for relaying sensor data
from the field units 23 to the controller 147, and for relaying
command data from the controller 147 to the field units 23 in the
premises 19. The router 21 may condition or otherwise manipulate
the data in one or both directions. Arrangement 150a in FIG. 15a
shows a non-limiting example of data paths in the arrangement 150.
The data path 152d describes the data flow from the field unit 23f
via control network 22a to port 146b of the router 21, which in
turn transmits the data to the server 151 via the Internet 16.
Similarly, the data path 152b describes the data flow from the
field unit 23c via control network 22 to port 146a of the router
21, which in turn transmits the data to the server 151 via the
Internet 16. The command data is sent over the data path 152c from
the server 151 via the Internet 16 to the field unit 23e, via the
router 21 and control network 22a. Similarly, a command data may be
sent over data path 152a from the server 151 via the Internet 16 to
the field unit 23a, via the router 21 and control network 22.
[0486] Alternatively or in addition, the controller functionality
147 may be in part or in whole located internal to the controlled
premises 19. In one non-limiting example, the controller 147 is
integrated in a computer located inside the premises 19, as shown
in arrangement 160 in FIG. 16. The controller 147 in shown
integrated with a personal computer 161. The computer 161 may be
connected to the router 21 directly or via a network, such as via
one of the control networks, or alternatively (or in addition) use
another network, such as home network 14a, as shown in FIG. 16,
where the router 21 includes a port 146a connected to the home
network 14a. Arrangement 160a shown in FIG. 16a shows example of
the various data paths that may be used, such as the data path 162d
coupling the field unit 23f to the computer 161 via the control
network 22a, router 21 and the home network 14a, the data path 162b
coupling the field unit 23c to the computer 161 via the control
network 22, router 21 and the home network 14a, the data path 162c
coupling the computer 161 to the field unit 23e via the control
network 22a, router 21 and the home network 14a, and the data path
162a coupling the computer 161 to the field unit 23a via the
control network 22, router 21 and the home network 14a.
[0487] The controller functionality 147 may consist of, or include
part or whole, of the flow chart 170 shown in FIG. 17. At step
`Receive Sensor Data` 171, data sent from one or more sensors
(which are part of one or more field units) is received at the
controller location. The sensor information is checked, processed,
conditioned, or otherwise manipulated in step `Sensor Conditioning`
172. Other signal conditioning functionalities may also be applied
in order to improve the handling of the sensor received data or for
adapting it to the next step or manipulating, such as attenuation,
delay, filtering, amplifying, digitizing, integration, derivation,
and any other signal manipulation. The conditioning may include
frequency related manipulation such as filtering, spectrum analysis
or noise removal, smoothing or de-blurring in case of image
enhancement, a compressor (or de-compressor) or a coder (or
decoder) in case of compression or coding/decoding, a modulator or
a demodulator in case or modulation, and an extractor for
extracting or detecting a feature or parameter such as pattern
recognition or correlation analysis. The `Sensor conditioning` step
172 may apply linear or non-linear manipulations, and the
manipulation may be time-related such as delaying, integration or
rate-based manipulation. The sensors conditioned data serves as
input to the step `Logic` 173, determining the output based on the
sensors input according to a pre-determined logic function or
algorithm. The control logic executed in step `Logic` 173 outputs
various actuators commands, which are conditioned in the `Actuator
Conditioning` step 174, for proper operation of the specific
actuators. The conditioning may include attenuation, delay,
filtering, amplifying, time integration, derivation, and any other
data manipulations as described above regarding the `Sensor
Conditioning` step 172. The conditioned control commands are sent
to the relevant actuators in the applicable field units in the step
`Send Actuator Command` 175. While the flowchart 170 is exampled
including both receiving data from sensors and activating
actuators, a controller 143 may only receive data from various
sensors in the field units (e.g., for logging purposes) while not
activating any actuators, or only transmit commands to various
actuators in the field units (e.g., according to time) regardless
of any sensing information, or any combination thereof. Further, a
controller 143 may use various control logic patterns at different
times, where at one time the controller only receives data from the
sensors, at another time the controller only transmit commands to
the actuators, and yet at another time the controller does both
functions.
[0488] In the `Send Notification` step 178, a message is sent to a
user device to notify or alert a user. The notification may be sent
periodically and include the system or any sub-system status, or
may be sent upon an event, based on a predetermined condition or
criteria. The message may be sent upon receiving a sensor data at
`Receive Sensor Data` step 171, may include a notification of the
event of receiving the sensor data, and may include the received
sensor data. Alternatively or in addition the message may be sent
before, in parallel to, or after the conditioning in step `Sensor
Conditioning` 172, may include a notification of the event of
conditioning the sensor data, and may include the sensor data
before or after the conditioning of step 172, or any other
conditioning. Alternatively or in addition the message may be sent
before, in parallel to, or after the control logic process
execution in step `Logic` 173, may include a notification of the
event of processing according to the logic of the sensor data, and
may include the logic input or the logic output such as the
actuator commands, or may use any other logic. Alternatively or in
addition the message may be sent before, in parallel to, or after
the conditioning and the generation of the actuator commands in
step `Actuator Conditioning` 174, may include a notification of the
event of the conditioning, and may include the actuator commands
before or after the conditioning. The conditioning, logic or
processing associated with the message sensing in step 178 may be
the same, based on, or may be different from, the condition and
logic used for the control itself, and may use the same of
different predetermined criteria. For example, a message may be
sent upon receiving sensor data above or below a threshold, or upon
an actuator command that is above or below a threshold. Any event,
notification, or alert may include a timestamp, which is a sequence
of characters or encoded information identifying when a certain
event occurred, usually giving date and time of day, sometimes
accurate to a small fraction of a second. A notification may
include a sensor data, such as the sensor or the associated field
unit address (e.g., IP address) and location (e.g., kitchen,
bedroom #1), the sensor type (e.g., temperature sensor) and make,
the measured value (e.g. 25.degree. C.), the sensor version or
part-number, and the notification reason (e.g., periodic, pre-set
time, above predetermined threshold). Similarly, a notification may
include an actuator status or commands, such as the actuator or the
associated field unit address (e.g., IP address) and location
(e.g., kitchen, bedroom #1), the actuator type (e.g., heater) and
make, the commanded value (e.g. 25.degree. C.), the actuator
version or part-number, and the notification reason (e.g.,
periodic, preset time, above predetermined threshold). Further, the
notification may include an audio such as from a microphone serving
as a sensor as in FIG. 19, or a video or images, such as from a
camera serving as a sensor as in FIG. 18.
[0489] The notification or alert to the user device may be text
based, such as an electronic mail (e-mail), website content, fax,
or a Short Message Service (SMS). Alternatively or in addition, the
notification or alert to the user device may be voice based, such
as a voicemail, a voice message to a telephone device.
Alternatively or in addition, the notification or the alert to the
user device may activate a vibrator, causing vibrations that are
felt by human body touching, or may be based on a Multimedia
Message Service (MMS) or Instant Messaging (IM). The messaging,
alerting, and notifications may be based on, include part of, or
may be according to U.S. Patent Application No. 2009/0024759 to
McKibben et al. entitled: "System and Method for Providing Alerting
Services", U.S. Pat. No. 7,653,573 to Hayes, Jr. et al. entitled:
"Customer Messaging Service", U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,316 to Langseth.
et al. entitled: "System and Method for a Subject-Based Channel
Distribution of Automatic, Real-Time Delivery of Personalized
Informational and Transactional Data", U.S. Pat. No. 7,334,001 to
Eichstaedt et al. entitled: "Method and System for Data Collection
for Alert Delivery", U.S. Pat. No. 7,136,482 to Wille entitled:
"Progressive Alert Indications in a Communication Device", U.S.
Patent Application No. 2007/0214095 to Adams et al. entitled:
"Monitoring and Notification System and Method", U.S. Patent
Application No. 2008/0258913 to Busey entitled: "Electronic
Personal Alert System", or U.S. Pat. No. 7,557,689 to Seddigh et
al. entitled: "Customer Messaging Service", which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0490] The information and the notification sent to the user device
in `Send Notification` step 178, may be further logged or recorded
in a data-base in `Log` step 176. The data base may be accessed or
sent in `Send Log Information` step 177. The logging and the
storing the data base may be in the same user device receiving the
notification in `Send Notification` step 178, or may be a distinct
user device, and may be part of, or integrated with, any other
device in the system.
[0491] The control logic 173 may be a Single-Input-Single-Output
(SISO) which is based a single sensor and operative to control a
single actuator. Alternatively or in addition, multiple sensors and
actuators may be part of the control loop, referred to as
Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO). Similarly, SIMO and MISO control
may be used as well. Further, the control may use linear or
non-linear control schemes.
[0492] The control logic 173 may implement a sequential control
(a.k.a. logic control), functioning much as a Programmable Logic
Controller (PLC). Such sequential controllers commonly respond to
various sensors by starting and stopping various operations, and
typically make use of Boolean logic. Typically the system operation
is based a state machine (or state diagram) and can be in various
states (one state active at a time), and may transition from one
state to another sequentially, or based on a transition condition,
which are based on timing and data from the sensors. The system
operation may be described or programmed graphically such as in a
Ladder diagram (LD) or in a Function block diagram (FBD), or
alternatively textually such as in Structured text (ST) and
Instruction list (IL), as described for example in IEC 61131-3.
[0493] Alternatively or in addition, the control logic 173
implements an open-loop control, a feed-forward control, a
closed-loop control or any combination thereof. In one non-limiting
example, the controller 143 is a non-feedback controller, where the
control logic 173 implemented as part of the controller flowchart
170 involves an open-loop control. In such a system, the control
logic 173 does not use any feedback, such as from the various
sensors, to determine the output commands to the actuators, but
rather employs a pre-defined control mechanism. Unlike
closed-control system, an open-loop system typically cannot engage
in machine learning, cannot correct errors and does not compensate
for any disturbances in the system. In some open-loop control
systems, a human operator is involved in order to provide a
`feedback` for the system operation.
[0494] Alternatively or in addition, a non-feedback control, such
as feed-forward control scheme may be used. In a typical
feed-forward system, a measured disturbance is responded to in a
pre-defined way, usually to maintain some desired state of the
system in a changing environment. The disturbance is measured and
fed forward to the control loop, so that corrective action can be
initiated (without an actual feedback from the controlled element)
in advance of the disturbance having an adverse effect on the
system. The control systems may combine both feed-forward and
feedback control, for better performance, such as the system
disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,499,239 to Chang entitled:
"Feedforward Controller and Methods for Use Therewith", which is
incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth
herein. Such system is also described and analyzed in Ben-Gurion
University Publication entitled: "Chapter 9--Feedforward Control"
(pages 221-240) downloaded from
http://www.bgu.ac.il/chem_eng/pages/Courses/oren%20courses/Chapter_9.pdf,
which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein.
[0495] Alternatively or in addition, a closed-loop control is
implemented by the controller 143. In such a system, a physical
phenomenon is sensed, measured, or detected by one or more sensors,
and the logic 173 responses to the data received by commanding the
activity of actuators, which directly or indirectly affects,
change, regulate, or otherwise associated with, the sensed physical
phenomenon. For example, the logic 173 may respond to a temperature
sensor data by activating a heater or a cooler to change the
measured temperature at that location. In one non-limiting example,
a set-point or a reference value is defined which is (directly or
indirectly) measured or sensed by one or more sensors, and the
control loop is active to command the actuators to reach the
set-point as measured by the sensors. The control loop may be a
linear proportional only control loop, wherein the amount of the
actuator control is proportional to the calculated deviation from a
set-point, a PI (Proportional Integral) control, a Bistable
control, a Hysteretic control, or a PID (Proportional, Integral and
Derivative) control loop wherein the amount of the actuator command
is calculated based on proportional, integral and derivative
computations of the calculated deviation. Alternatively or in
addition, the PID control loop may be based on the publication:
"PID Control System Analysis, Design, and Technology" by Kiam Heong
Ang, Gregory Chong, and Yun Li, published IEEE Transaction on
Control System Technology, Vol. 13 No. 4, July 2005 (pp. 559-576),
which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein.
[0496] Alternatively or in addition, the controller may employ a
bang-bang control (a.k.a. on-off control), where one or more of the
actuators may be only in two states, turned fully ON or turned
fully OFF. Further, a sensor may be a switch-based sensor, having
two states as well. For example, a thermostat is a simple
negative-feedback control: when the temperature (the "process
variable" or PV) goes below a set point (SP), the heater is
switched on. Another example could be a pressure switch on an air
compressor: when the pressure (PV) drops below the threshold (SP),
the pump is powered. Refrigerators and vacuum pumps contain similar
mechanisms operating in reverse, but still providing negative
feedback to correct errors. A practical on-off control system is
designed to include a hysteresis, usually in the form of an
adjustable or programmable deadband, a region around the setpoint
value in which no control action occurs.
[0497] The term `random` herein is intended to cover not only pure
random, non-deterministically generated signals, but also
pseudo-random, deterministic signals such as the output of a
shift-register arrangement provided with a feedback circuit as used
to generate pseudo-random binary signals or as scramblers, and
chaotic signals.
[0498] The system operation may involve randomness. For example,
the control logic may use randomness in order to avoid
predictability, or for having a statistical-based advantage.
Randomness is commonly implemented by using random numbers, defined
as a sequence of numbers or symbols that lack any pattern and thus
appear random, are often generated by a random number generator,
which may be included in one or more field units, in the router or
gateway, or in the control server. A random number generator
(having either analog or digital output) can be hardware based,
using a physical process such as thermal noise, shot noise, nuclear
decaying radiation, photoelectric effect or other quantum
phenomena. Alternatively, or in addition, the generation of the
random numbers can be software based, using a processor executing
an algorithm for generating pseudo-random numbers which
approximates the properties of random numbers. Such algorithm may
be executed by a dedicated processor and firmware (or software), or
may be integrated into one or more of the field units, in the
router or gateway, or in the control server. Non-limiting examples
of pseudo-random numbers generators are described in U.S. Pat. No.
6,285,761 to Patel et al. entitled: "Method for Generating
Pseudo-Random Numbers", in U.S. Pat. No. 7,512,645 to Pitz et al.
entitled: "System and Method for Generating Pseudorandom Numbers",
in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0044119 to
Langin-Hooper et al. entitled: "Pseudo-Random Number Generator",
and in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0263117 to Rose
et al. entitled: "Initial Seed Management for Pseudorandom Number
Generator", which are all incorporated in their entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0499] The random signal generator may be hardware based, using a
physical process such as thermal noise, shot noise, nuclear
decaying radiation, photoelectric effect or other quantum
phenomena, or can be software based, using a processor executing an
algorithm for generating pseudo-random numbers which approximates
the properties of random numbers. A non-limiting example of random
number generators is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,157 to Ikake
entitled: "Random Number Generator", in U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,176 to
Schulz entitled: "Random Number Generator Circuit", in U.S. Pat.
No. 4,853,884 to Brown et al. entitled: "Random Number Generator
with Digital Feedback", and in U.S. Pat. No. 7,145,933 to
Szajnowski entitled: "Method and Apparatus for generating Random
signals", which are all incorporated in their entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein. The digital random signal
generator may be based on `True Random Number Generation IC
RPG100/RPG100B` available from FDK Corporation and described in the
data sheet `Physical Random number generator RPG100.RPG100B` REV.
08 publication number HM-RAE106-0812, which is incorporated in its
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0500] The controller, the control logic, or the system operation
may be based on, or involves, a fuzzy control, which is typically
based on fuzzy logic. In fuzzy logic, the logical variables that
take on continuous values between 0 and 1, in contrast to classical
or digital logic, which operates on discrete values of either 1 or
0 (true or false respectively). The fuzzy logic has the advantage
that the solution to the problem can be cast in terms that human
operators can understand, so that their experience can be used in
the design of the controller. This makes it easier to mechanize
tasks that are already successfully performed by humans. Further,
fuzzy logic is able to process incomplete data and provide
approximate solutions to problems other methods find difficult to
solve. The fuzzy logic or the fuzzy control may be in accordance
with, or based on, the publication entitled: "Introduction to Fuzzy
Control" by Marcelo Godoy Simoes, or the publication entitled:
"Fuzzy Logic in Embedded Microcomputers and Control Systems" by
Walter Banks and Gordon Hayward, published by the Byte Craft
Limited, which are all incorporated in their entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0501] Alternatively or in addition, the control loop
implementation may be based on, or be according to, the book
entitled: "Sensors and Control Systems in manufacturing", Second
Edition 2010, by Sabrie Soloman, The McGraw-Hill Companies, ISBN:
978-0-07-160573-1, or according to the book entitled: "Fundamentals
of Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control", by William C.
Dunn, 2005, The McGraw-Hill Companies, ISBN: 0-07-145735-6, which
are incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0502] The control loop may use a single fixed-value setpoint.
Alternatively or addition, multiple setpoint values may be
available as continuous or discrete values, to be selected by a
human, which may be a tenant in the building. Further, a setpoint
may be automatically set, such as being changed according to a
pre-configured scheme. In one example, the value of the setpoint
may be time dependent. For example, a first value may be
automatically applied during day time, and a second value may be
used during the night time. Similarly, a value of a setpoint may be
dependent upon, and may be automatically changed or updated, based
on TOD (Time-of-Day), day of the week, the month, the year and so
forth. In such a case, the system may comprise hardware- or
software-based timer, or may use an external timing source or
signal for changing or selecting the setpoint value. Using multiple
setpoint values is described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 8,214,070
to Grossmann et al. entitled: "Method and Device for Controlling an
Actuator", which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes
as if fully set forth herein.
[0503] In one example, a setpoint affecting a control loop having a
sensor (or sensors) and actuator (or actuators) for controlling a
phenomenon, is selected by the control logic based on a sensor data
that is not part of the control loop, and is not directly sensing
or measuring the controlled phenomenon. For example, a temperature
control system may have a low setpoint value such as 15.degree. C.
where there is no person in the building (or in a room) in order to
preserve electricity or energy, and may have another setpoint value
such as 25.degree. C. when there is a person in the building (or in
the room). An occupancy sensor, which is not part HVAC control loop
including a thermostat and a heater, may be used to detect the
presence of a person in the house, and then the control logic may
automatically change the setpoint to the higher and more
comfortable temperature. An example of adjusting a setpoint based
on the state of occupancy is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,180,492
to Steinberg entitled: "System and Method for Using a Networked
Electronic Device as an Occupancy Sensor for an Energy Management
System", which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as
if fully set forth herein.
[0504] In one non-limiting example, one (or more) of the sensors in
one or more of the field units may be, or may include, an image
sensor, such as the sensor unit 50f shown in FIG. 5f. In such a
case, information in the captured image may be extracted and used
as part of the control loop. In one example, the field unit may
include, be part of, or be integrated with, a digital camera. The
digital camera may be a still camera primarily used to take
photographs, or may be a video camera where video (and commonly
audio) is captured and stored. Some digital cameras can capture and
store both still and video images. The digital camera may be
portable or may be fixed, such as in most surveillance
applications.
[0505] The digital camera (or the field unit including an image
sensor) may communicate the captured still image or video to the
router (or other field units) via wireless communication. Digital
cameras utilizing wireless communication are disclosed in U.S. Pat.
No. 6,535,243 to Tullis entitled: "Wireless Hand-Held Digital
Camera", U.S. Pat. No. 6,552,743 to Rissman entitled: "Digital
Camera-Ready Printer", U.S. Pat. No. 6,788,332 to Cook entitled:
"Wireless Imaging Device and System", and in U.S. Pat. No.
5,666,159 to Parulski et al. entitled: "Electronic Camera System
with Programmable Transmission Capability", which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein. A display system and method utilizing a cellular
telephone having digital camera capability and a television linked
directly over a UWB wireless signal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
7,327,385 to Yamaguchi entitled: "Home Picture/Video Display System
with Ultra Wide-Band Technology", which is incorporated in its
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. In one
embodiment, a WirelessHD standard based wireless communication is
employed, which is based on the 7 GHz of continuous bandwidth
around the 60 GHz radio frequency and allows for uncompressed,
digital transmission.
[0506] The digital camera (or the field unit including an image
sensor) may be connected via a conductive coupling (e.g., cable) to
the router or to other field units. A tethered portable electronic
camera connectable to a computer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
5,402,170 to Parulski et al. entitled: "Hand-Manipulated Electronic
Camera Tethered to a Personal Computer". A digital electronic
camera which can accept various types of input/output cards or
memory cards is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,432,952 to Fukuoka
entitled: "Digital Image Capturing Device having an Interface for
Receiving a Control Program", and the use of a disk drive assembly
for transferring images out of an electronic camera is disclosed in
U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,459 to Roberts et al., entitled: "Electronic
Still Video Camera with Direct Personal Computer (PC) Compatible
Digital Format Output", which are both incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0507] The connection of an image sensor unit (either a digital
camera or a field unit) may be based on a standard video
connection. In this case, the modem 64 and the associated connector
are adapted to output this standard video signal. Such analog
interfaces can be composite video such as NTSC, PAL or SECAM
formats. Similarly, analog RGB, VGA (Video Graphics Array), SVGA
(Super Video Graphics Array), SCART, S-video and other standard
analog interfaces can be used. In case of a cable connection, the
connector may be implemented as suitable standard analog video
connector. For example, F-Type, BNC (Bayonet Neill-Concelman), RCA,
and similar RF/coax connectors can be used. In one non-limiting
example, the modem 64 and the related connector 65b are adapted to
support the digital video interface. In one example, an IEEE1394
interface, also known as FireWire.TM., is used. Other digital
interfaces that may be used are USB, SDI (Serial Digital
Interface), FireWire, HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface),
DVI (Digital Visual Interface), UDI (Unified Display Interface),
DisplayPort, Digital Component Video and DVB (Digital Video
Broadcast).
[0508] In the case of image capturing application, the controller
functionality 147 may consist of, or include part or whole, of the
flow chart 180 shown in FIG. 18. At step `Receive Image Data` 181,
image data sent from one or more image sensors (which are part of
one or more field units) is received at the controller location.
The image sensor information is checked, processed, conditioned, or
otherwise manipulated in step `Image Processing` 182. The image
processing in this step may include frequency related manipulation
such as filtering, spectrum analysis or noise removal, smoothing or
de-blurring in case of image enhancement, a compressor (or
de-compressor) or a coder (or decoder) in case of compression or
coding/decoding, a modulator or a demodulator in case or
modulation, and an extractor for extracting or detecting a feature
or parameter such as pattern recognition or correlation analysis.
In one non-limiting example, a decompression is performed in order
to restore the original pre-compressed image, before the video
compression such as in the video compressor 505 in the field unit
50f shown in FIG. 5f.
[0509] Other image processing functions may include adjusting color
balance, gamma and luminance, filtering pattern noise, filtering
noise using Wiener filter, changing zoom factors, recropping,
applying enhancement filters, applying smoothing filters, applying
subject-dependent filters, and applying coordinate transformations.
Other enhancements in the image data may include applying
mathematical algorithms to generate greater pixel density or
adjusting color balance, contrast and/or luminance.
[0510] The `Image Processing` step 182 may further include a face
detection (also known as face localization), which includes an
algorithm for identifying a group of pixels within a
digitally-acquired image that relates to the existence, locations
and sizes of human faces. Common face-detection algorithms focused
on the detection of frontal human faces, and other algorithms
attempt to solve the more general and difficult problem of
multi-view face detection. That is, the detection of faces that are
either rotated along the axis from the face of the observer
(in-plane rotation), or rotated along the vertical or left-right
axis (out-of-plane rotation), or both. Various face-detection
techniques and devices (e.g., cameras) having face detection
features are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,870,138 to Smith et al.,
entitled: "Facial Image Processing", in U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,154 to
Gibbon et al., entitled: "Method and Means for Detecting People in
Image Sequences", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,397 to Baluja et al.,
entitled: "Method for Finding All Frontal Faces in Arbitrarily
Complex Visual Scenes", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,777 to Darrell et
al., entitled: "Method and Apparatus for Personnel Detection and
Tracking", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,317 to Luo et al., entitled:
"Method for Automatic Determination of Main Subjects in
Photographic Images", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,370 to Steffens et
al., entitled: "Face Recognition from Video Images", in U.S. Pat.
No. 6,332,033 to Qian entitled: "System for Detecting Skin-Tone
Regions within an Image", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,404,900 to Qian et
al., entitled: "Method for Robust Human Face Tracking in Presence
of Multiple Persons", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,407,777 to DeLuca
entitled: "Red-Eye Filter Method and Apparatus", in U.S. Pat. No.
7,508,961 to Chen et al., entitled: "Method and System for Face
Detection in Digital Images", in U.S. Pat. No. 7,317,815 to
Steinberg et al., entitled: "Digital Image Processing Composition
Using Face Detection Information", in U.S. Pat. No. 7,315,630 to
Steinberg et al., entitled: "Perfecting a Digital Image Rendering
Parameters within Rendering Devices using Face Detection", in U.S.
Pat. No. 7,110,575 to Chen et al., entitled: "Method for Locating
Faces in Digital Color Images", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,526,161 to Yan
entitled: "System and Method for Biometrics-Based Facial Feature
Extraction", in U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,154 to Parulski et al.,
entitled: "Image Revising Camera and Method", in U.S. Pat. No.
6,504,942 to Hong et al., entitled: "Method and Apparatus for
Detecting a Face-Like Region and Observer Tracking Display", in
U.S. Pat. No. 6,501,857 to Gotsman et al., entitled: "Method and
System for Detecting and Classifying Objects in an Image", and in
U.S. Pat. No. 6,473,199 to Gilman et al., entitled: "Correcting
Exposure and Tone Scale of Digital Images Captured by an Image
Capture Device", which are all incorporated in their entirety for
all purposes as if fully set forth herein. Another camera with
human face detection means is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,940,545
to Ray et al., entitled: "Face Detecting Camera and Method", which
is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein. The image processing may use algorithms and
techniques described in the book entitled: "The Image Processing
Handbook", Sixth Edition, by John C. Russ, from CRC Press ISBN:
978-1-4398-4063-4, as well as algorithms and techniques described
in U.S. Pat. Nos. RE 33,682, RE 31,370, 4,047,187, 4,317,991,
4,367,027, 4,638,364, 5,291,234, 5,386,103, 5,488,429, 5,638,136,
5,642,431, 5,710,833, 5,724,456, 5,781,650, 5,812,193, 5,818,975,
5,835,616, 5,870,138, 5,978,519, 5,991,456, 6,097,470, 6,101,271,
6,148,092, 6,151,073, 6,192,149, 6,249,315, 6,263,113, 6,268,939,
6,393,148, 6,421,468, 6,438,264, 6,456,732, 6,459,436, 6,504,951,
7,466,866 and 7,508,961, which are all incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0511] The `Image Processing` step 182 may further include an
algorithm for motion detection by comparing the current image with
a reference image and counting the number of different pixels,
where the image sensor or the digital camera are assumed to be in a
fixed location and thus assumed to capture the same image. Since
images will naturally differ due to factors such as varying
lighting, camera flicker, and CCD dark currents, pre-processing is
useful to reduce the number of false positive alarms. More complex
algorithms are necessary to detect motion when the camera itself is
moving, or when the motion of a specific object must be detected in
a field containing other movement which can be ignored.
[0512] The image processing may further include video enhancement
such as video denoising, image stabilization, unsharp masking, and
super-resolution. Further, the image processing may include a Video
Content Analysis (VCA), where the video content is analyzed to
detect and determine temporal events based on multiple images, and
is commonly used for entertainment, healthcare, retail, automotive,
transport, home automation, safety and security. VCA
functionalities include Video Motion Detection (VMD), video
tracking, and egomotion estimation, as well as identification,
behavior analysis and other forms of situation awareness. A dynamic
masking functionality involves the blocking a part of the video
signal based on the signal itself, for example because of privacy
concerns. An egomotion estimation functionality involves the
determining of the location of a camera or estimating the camera
motion relative to a rigid scene, by analyzing its output signal.
Motion detection is used to determine the presence of a relevant
motion in the observed scene, while object detection is used to
determine the presence of a type of object or entity, for example a
person or car, as well as fire and smoke detection. Similarly, Face
recognition and Automatic Number Plate Recognition may be used to
recognize, and therefore possibly identify persons or cars. Tamper
detection is used to determine whether the camera or the output
signal is tampered with, and video tracking is used to determine
the location of persons or objects in the video signal, possibly
with regard to an external reference grid. A pattern is defined as
any form in an image having discernible characteristics that
provide a distinctive identity when contrasted with other forms.
Pattern recognition may also be used, for ascertaining differences,
as well as similarities, between patterns under observation and
partitioning the patterns into appropriate categories based on
these perceived differences and similarities; and may include any
procedure for correctly identifying a discrete pattern, such as an
alphanumeric character, as a member of a predefined pattern
category. Further, the video or image processing may use, or be
based on, the algorithms and techniques disclosed in the book
entitled:"Handbook of Image & Video Processing", edited by Al
Bovik, by Academic Press ISBN: 0-12-119790-5, which is incorporated
in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0513] In one example, the image processing may be used for
non-verbal human control of the system, such as by hand posture or
gesture recognition, typically involving movement of the hands,
face, or other parts of the human body. The recognized hand posture
or gesture is used as input by the control logic in the controller,
and thus enables humans to interface with the machine (HMI) and
interact naturally without any mechanical devices, and thus to
impact the system operation and the actuators commands and
operation. The image-based recognition may use a single camera, or
may be based on a 3D representation, captured by 3-D stereo cameras
that is using two cameras whose relations to one another are known,
or alternatively by a depth-aware camera. The gesture recognition
may be based on 3-D information of key elements of the body parts
in order to obtain several important parameters, like palm position
or joint angles, or alternatively (or in addition) may be
appearance-based, where images or videos are used for direct
interpretation.
[0514] The 3D model approach can use volumetric or skeletal models,
or a combination of the two. Skeletal-based algorithms are based on
using a simplified version of joint angle parameters along with
segment lengths, known as a skeletal representation of the body,
where a virtual skeleton of the person is computed and parts of the
body are mapped to certain segments. The analysis is using the
position and orientation of these segments and the relation between
each one of them (for example the angle between the joints and the
relative position or orientation). Appearance-based models derive
the parameters directly from the images or videos using a template
database. Some are based on the deformable 2D templates of the
human parts of the body, particularly hands. Deformable templates
are sets of points on the outline of an object, used as
interpolation nodes for the object's outline approximation. The
interpolation function may be linear, which performs an average
shape from point sets, point variability parameters and external
deformators. These template-based models are mostly used for
hand-tracking, but could also be of use for simple gesture
classification. A second approach in gesture detecting using
appearance-based models uses image sequences as gesture templates.
Parameters for this method are either the images themselves, or
certain features derived from these, using only one (monoscopic) or
two (stereoscopic) views. The technology, algorithm or techniques
used for hand posture or gesture recognition may be based on the
Brown University publication CS-99-11 entitled: "A survey of hand
Posture and Gesture Recognition Techniques and Technology", by
Joseph J. LaViola Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,952 to Kramer et al.,
entitled: "Communication System for Deaf, Deaf-Blind, or non-Vocal
Individuals Using Instrumented Glove", U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,537 to
Grimes, entitled: "Digital data Entry Glove Interface Device", U.S.
Pat. No. 7,702,130 to Sung-Ho Im et al., entitled: "User interface
apparatus using hand gesture recognition and method thereof", U.S.
Pat. No. 7,598,942 to Underkoffler et al., entitled: "System and
Method for Gesture Based Control System", U.S. Patent Application
Publication No. 2011/0222726 to Ruan, entitled: "Gesture
Recognition Apparatus, Method for Controlling Gesture Recognition
Apparatus, and Control Program",", U.S. Patent Application
Publication No. 2010/0211918 to Liang et al., entitled: "Web Cam
Based User Interaction", U.S. Patent Application Publication No.
2007/0132725 to Kituara, entitled: "Electronic Appliance", U.S.
Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0268373 to Grzesiak,
entitled: "Method for Recognizing User's Gesture in Electronic
Device", U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,849 to Conway et al., entitled:
"Apparatus and Method for Remote Control Using a Visual Information
Stream", U.S. Pat. No. 7,289,645 to Yamamoto et al., entitled:
"Hand Pattern Switch Device", U.S. Pat. No. 7,821,541 to Delean,
entitled: "Remote Control Apparatus Using Gesture Recognition",
U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,043 to Freeman, entitled: "Dynamic and Static
Hand Gesture Recognition Through Low-Level Image Analysis", or U.S.
Pat. No. 5,046,022 to Conway et al., entitled: "Tele-Autonomous
System and Method Employing Time/Position Synchrony/Desynchrony",
which are all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if
fully set forth herein.
[0515] In one non-limiting example, the control may be based on
extracting the location of an indentified element in the captured
image. The element may be a human body part such as face, hand, and
body contour. Example of a control systems which are based on the
location of a human being by analyzing the human face location are
described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,931,596 to Gutta et al., entitled:
"Automatic Positioning of Display Depending upon the Viewer's
Location" and in U.S. Patent Application Publication No.
2010/0295782 to Binder, entitled: "System and Method for Control
Based on Face or Hand Gesture Detection", both incorporated in
their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
Further, the control may be based on the number of identified
elements in a captured image. For example, the number of human
beings in a location may be determined by using image processing,
such as face detection algorithms.
[0516] Any image processing functionality may be performed only as
part of the `Image Processing` step 182 executed as part of the
controller functionality 147. Alternatively, an image processing
functionality may be performed only as part of the Image Processor
504 in the field unit 50f shown in FIG. 5f. Further, an image
processing functionality may be split between the field unit 50f
and the `Image Processing` step 182 of the controller 147. In
another non-limiting example, some image processing functionality
may be split between the field unit 50f and the controller 147,
where some functionalities will be executed (in whole or in part)
in the field unit 50f, while other functionalities will be executed
(in whole or in part) as part of the flow chart 180 as part of the
controller 147.
[0517] The information extracted from the received image serves as
input to the step `Logic` 183, determining the output based on the
sensors input according to a pre-determined logic function or
algorithm. The `Logic` step 183 may be identical, similar or
different from the corresponding `Logic` step 173 of the flowchart
170. The control logic executed in step `Logic` 183 outputs various
actuators commands, which are conditioned in the `Actuator
Conditioning` step 174, for proper operation of the specific
actuators. The conditioning may include attenuation, delay,
filtering, amplifying, time integration, derivation, and any other
data manipulations as described above regarding the `Sensor
Conditioning` step 172. The conditioned control commands are sent
to the relevant actuators in the applicable field units in the step
`Send Actuator Command` 175. While the flowchart 180 is exampled
including both receiving data from sensors and activating
actuators, a controller 143 may only receive data from various
image sensors in the field units (e.g., for logging purposes) while
not activating any actuators, or only transmit commands to various
actuators in the field units (e.g., according to time) regardless
of any sensing information, or any combination thereof. Further, a
controller 143 may use various control logic patterns at different
times, where at one time the controller only receives data from the
image sensors, at another time the controller only transmit
commands to the actuators, and yet at another time the controller
does both functions. In one non-limiting example, the actuators are
Pan, Tilt, and Zoom (PTZ) electric motors of the digital camera,
and the commands are used to position the image sensor and the
focus in order to obtain an image of a specific location or
target.
[0518] In one non-limiting example, the information extracted from
the captured image as part of the `Image Processing` step 182,
detect an event that may impact the system operation. For example,
in the case of an image processing that includes a face detection
function, the first detection of a face is an event that may
trigger one or more actuators into action (or to stop an activity)
by the control logic. Similarly, the lack of detection of a human
face may cause activation or deactivation of one or more actuators
in the systems. Similarly, detection of a motion by the image
processing may trigger actuators for an action, or may deactivate
actuators, according to a pre-defined logic.
[0519] While flowchart 180 in FIG. 18 was described above where the
sensors are image sensors only, additional sensors may be equally
used in the control system. In such a case, the general flowchart
170 and the image-based flow chart 180 are integrated, and the
combined `Logic` step 173 uses both the non-related image sensor
data (after conditioning in `Sensor Conditioning` step 172) and the
image extracted data (after the `Image Processing` step 182), to
determine the output and the commands to be sent to the
actuators.
[0520] In one non-limiting example, one (or more) of the sensors in
one or more of the field units may be, or may include, a sound or
voice sensor, such as a microphone. In such a case, information in
the captured voice may be extracted and used as part of the control
loop. In one non-limiting example, the field unit may include, be
part of, or be integrated with, a telephone.
[0521] In the case of voice capturing application, the controller
functionality 147 may consist of, or include part or whole, of the
flow chart 190 shown in FIG. 19. At step `Receive Voice Data` 191,
voice data sent from one or more microphones (which are part of one
or more field units) is received at the controller location. The
voice data is checked, processed, conditioned, or otherwise
manipulated in step `Voice Processing` 192. The voice processing in
this step may include frequency related manipulation such as
filtering, spectrum analysis or noise removal, a compressor (or
de-compressor) or a coder (or decoder) in case of compression or
coding/decoding, a modulator or a demodulator in case or
modulation, and an extractor for extracting or detecting a feature
or parameter such as pattern recognition or correlation analysis.
In one non-limiting example, a decompression is performed in order
to restore the original pre-compressed voice, before the voice
compression executed in the field unit. The `Voice Processing` step
192 may further include a voice recognition, which includes an
algorithm for identifying the voice of a specific person.
[0522] Any voice processing functionality may be performed only as
part of the `Voice Processing` step 192 executed as part of the
controller functionality 147. Alternatively or in addition, a voice
processing functionality may be performed as part of the field
unit. Further, an image processing functionality may be split
between the field unit and the `Voice Processing` step 192 of the
controller 147. In another example, some voice processing
functionality may be split between the field unit and the
controller 147, where some functionalities will be executed (in
whole or in part) in the field unit, while other functionalities
will be executed (in whole or in part) as part of the flow chart
190 as part of the controller 147.
[0523] The information extracted from the received voice serves as
input to the step `Logic` 193, determining the output based on the
sensors input according to a pre-determined logic function or
algorithm. The `Logic` step 193 may be identical, similar or
different from the corresponding `Logic` step 173 of the flowchart
170. The control logic executed in step `Logic` 193 outputs various
actuators commands, which are conditioned in the `Actuator
Conditioning` step 174, for proper operation of the specific
actuators. The conditioning may include attenuation, delay,
filtering, amplifying, time integration, derivation, and any other
data manipulations as described above regarding the `Sensor
Conditioning` step 172. The conditioned control commands are sent
to the relevant actuators in the applicable field units in the step
`Send Actuator Command` 175. While the flowchart 190 is exampled
including both receiving data from sensors and activating
actuators, a controller 143 may only receive data from various
voice or sound sensors in the field units (e.g., for logging
purposes) while not activating any actuators, or only transmit
commands to various actuators in the field units (e.g., according
to time) regardless of any sensing information, or any combination
thereof. Further, a controller 143 may use various control logic
patterns at different times, where at one time the controller only
receives data from the voice sensors, at another time the
controller only transmit commands to the actuators, and yet at
another time the controller does both functions.
[0524] In one non-limiting example, the information extracted from
the captured voice as part of the `Voice Processing` step 192,
detect an event that may impact the system operation. For example,
in the case of a voice processing that includes a voice recognition
function, the detection of a specific human voice is an event that
may trigger one or more actuators into action (or to stop an
activity) by the control logic. Similarly, the lack of detection of
a human voice may cause activation or deactivation of one or more
actuators in the systems.
[0525] While flowchart 190 in FIG. 19 was described above where the
sensors are only voice sensors, additional sensors may be equally
used in the control system. In such a case, the general flowchart
170 and the voice-based flow chart 190 are integrated, and the
combined `Logic` step 173 uses both the non-related voice sensor
data (after conditioning in `Sensor Conditioning` step 172) and the
voice extracted data (after the `Voice Processing` step 192), to
determine the output and the commands to be sent to the
actuators.
[0526] A field unit (such as field unit 23 in FIG. 2, sensor unit
50-50e in FIGS. 5-5e, or actuator unit 60-60g in FIGS. 6-60, may be
integrated, in part or in whole, in a router such as router 143
(corresponding for example to router 12 in FIG. 2, router 40 in
FIG. 4, gateway 11 in FIG. 1, or router 40a in FIGS. 4a-4d).
Alternatively or in addition, a router such as router 143
(corresponding for example to router 12 in FIG. 2, router 40 in
FIG. 4, gateway 11 in FIG. 1, or router 40a in FIGS. 4a-4d) may be
integrated, in part or in whole, in an appliance such as a home
appliance. Further, a field unit (such as field unit 23 in FIG. 2,
sensor unit 50-50e in FIGS. 5-5e, or actuator unit 60-60g in FIGS.
6-60, may be integrated, in part or in whole, in an appliance such
as a home appliance. In such a case, the sensors or the actuators
(or both) of the appliance, may serve as the sensors or actuators
of the field unit, and handled as described herein. Home appliances
are electrical and mechanical devices using technology for
household use, such as food handling, cleaning, clothes handling,
or environmental control. Appliances are commonly used in
household, institutional, commercial or industrial setting, for
accomplishing routine housekeeping tasks, and are typically
electrically powered. The appliance may be a major appliance, also
known as "White Goods", which is commonly large, difficult to move,
and generally to some extent fixed in place (usually on the floor
or mounted on a wall or ceiling), and is electrically powered from
the AC power (mains) grid. Non-limiting examples of major
appliances are washing machines, clothes dryers, dehumidifiers,
conventional ovens, stoves, refrigerators, freezers,
air-conditioners, trash compactors, furnaces, dishwasher, water
heaters, microwave ovens and induction cookers. The appliance may
be a small appliance, also known as "Brown Goods", which is
commonly a small home appliance that is portable or semi-portable,
and is typically a tabletop or a coutertop type. Examples of small
appliances are television sets, CD and DVD players, HiFi and home
cinema systems, telephone sets and answering machines, and beverage
making devices such as coffee-makers and iced-tea makers.
[0527] Some appliances main function is food storage, commonly
refrigeration related appliances such as refrigerators and
freezers. Other appliances main function is food preparation, such
as conventional ovens (stoves) or microwave ovens, electric mixers,
food processors, and electric food blenders, as well as beverage
makers such as coffee-makers and iced-tea makers. Few food related
appliances, commonly found in a home kitchen, are illustrated in
FIG. 12, showing a dishwasher 121, a food processor 122, a
refrigerator 123, an oven 124, a mixer 125, and a microwave oven
126. Some appliances main function relates to cleaning, such as
clothes cleaning. Clothes cleaning appliances examples are
washing/laundry machines and clothes dryers. A vacuum cleaner is an
appliance used to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors and
other surfaces. Few cleaning-related appliances are illustrated in
FIG. 12a, showing a vacuum cleaner 127, a cloth dryer 128 and a
washing machine 129, as well as a still digital camera 1210 and a
digital video camera 1211. Some appliances main function relates to
temperature control, such as heating and cooling. Air conditioners
and heaters, as well as HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air
Conditioning) systems, are commonly used for climate control,
usually for thermal comfort for occupants of buildings or other
enclosures. Similarly, water heaters are used for heating
water.
[0528] The system may be used for lighting control, moisture
control, freeze control, pet feeding, propane gauge, interior and
exterior cameras, security, smoke alarms, or health monitoring. In
one non-limiting example, a field unit may be integrated with a
smoke detector assembly, which is typically housed in a disk-shaped
plastic enclosure, which may be about 150 millimeters (6 inch) in
diameter and 25 millimeters (1 inch) thick, and is commonly mounted
on a ceiling or on a wall.
[0529] The system may be used for building automation, or may be
part of, integrated with, or coupled to a building automation
system, such as the building automation system described in U.S.
Pat. No. 6,967,565 to Lingemann entitled: "Building Automation
System", which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as
if fully set forth herein. A field unit, a sensor, or an actuator
in the system may be part of, integrated with, coupled to, or used
to control indoor or outdoor lighting, fans, sprinklers, pool/spa
heaters and pumps, electronic drapes, windoware units, fireplaces,
garage doors openers, electronic door locks, hot water heaters,
fire detection and monitoring equipment, electronic gates, digital
security cameras, motion sensors, flood monitors, humidifiers, home
theater units, phone PBX, voice mail, intercom, door phone,
aquarium sensors and heaters, sidewalk and driveway heaters,
sprinklers, dampers, doorbells, lighting fixtures and fans. The
system may further support, be part of, or be integrated with, a
Building Automation System (BAS) standard, and may further be in
part or in full in accordance with Cisco Validated Design document
entitled: Building Automation System over IP (BAS/IP) Design and
Implementation Guide" by Cisco Systems and Johnson Controls, which
is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0530] The system may be used for Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM),
enabling monitoring of patients outside of conventional clinical
settings (e.g., in their home), which may increase access to care
and decrease healthcare delivery costs. The monitoring and trend
analysis of physiological parameters, enable early detection of
deterioration; thereby, reducing number of emergency department
visits, hospitalizations, and duration of hospital stays.
Physiological data such as blood pressure and subjective patient
data are collected by sensors on peripheral devices such as blood
pressure cuff, pulse oximeter, and glucometer. The data is
transmitted to healthcare providers or third parties via various
networks, and may be evaluated for potential problems by a
healthcare professional or via a clinical decision support
algorithm, and patient, caregivers, and health providers are
immediately alerted if a problem is detected. As a result, timely
intervention ensures positive patient outcomes. Other applications
may provide education, test, and medication reminder alert, and may
include Telesurgery (remote surgery), enabling medical doctors to
perform surgery on a patient being physically at another location,
Teleaudiology for providing audiological services, Teledentistry
for remote dental care, consultation, education, or awareness,
Teledermatology for exchanging information concerning skin
conditions or tumors of the skin, Telepathology fort practicing
pathology at a distance, Teleradiology for imaging and sending
radiographic images, and Telecardiology where ECGs are transmitted
for remote evaluation.
[0531] The term "outlet" herein denotes an electro-mechanical
device, which facilitates easy, rapid connection and disconnection
of external devices to and from wiring installed within a building.
An outlet commonly has a fixed connection to the wiring, and
permits the easy connection of external devices as desired,
commonly by means of an integrated standard connector in a
faceplate. The outlet is normally mechanically attached to, or
mounted in, a wall or similar surface. Non-limiting examples of
common outlets include: telephone outlets for connecting telephones
and related devices; CATV outlets for connecting television sets,
VCR's, and the like; outlets used as part of LAN wiring (i.e.
"structured wiring") and electrical outlets for connecting power to
electrical appliances. The term "wall" herein denotes any interior
or exterior surface of a building, including, but not limited to,
ceilings and floors, in addition to vertical walls. The term
"building" herein includes any site, location, premises, or
structure with a roof and walls, such as a house, school, store, or
factory, including, without limitation, residential house,
apartments, trailers, motor homes, offices, and businesses.
[0532] Outlets in general (to include LAN structured wiring,
electrical power outlets, telephone outlets, and cable television
outlets) are typically passive devices being part of the wiring
system house infrastructure and solely serving the purpose of
providing access to the in-wall wiring. However, there is a trend
toward embedding active circuitry in the outlet in order to use
them as part of the home/office network, and typically to provide a
standard data communication interface. In most cases, the circuits
added serve the purpose of adding data interface connectivity to
the outlet, added to its basic passive connectivity function.
[0533] An outlet supporting both telephony and data interfaces for
use with telephone wiring is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,616
to Binder entitled `Telephone outlet for implementing a local area
network over telephone lines and a local area network using such
outlets`, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,160 to Dichter entitled
`Automatically configurable computer network`, which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein. A non-limiting example of home networking over CATV
coaxial cables using outlets is described in U.S. Patent
Application Publication No. 2002/0194383 to Cohen et al. entitled:
`Cableran Networking over Coaxial Cables`, which is incorporated in
its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. Such
outlets are available as part of HomeRAN.TM. system from TMT Ltd.
of Jerusalem, Israel. Outlets for use in conjunction with wiring
carrying telephony, data and entertainment signals are disclosed in
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0099228 to Alcock
entitled `Local area and multimedia network using radio frequency
and coaxial cable`, which is incorporated in its entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein. Outlets for use with
combined data and power using powerlines are described in U.S.
Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0062990 to Schaeffer et al.
entitled `Powerline bridge apparatus`, which is incorporated in its
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. Such power
outlets are available as part of PlugLAN.TM. by Asoka USA
Corporation of San Carlos, Calif. USA.
[0534] While the active outlets have been described above with
regard to networks formed over wiring used for basic services
(e.g., telephone, CATV and power), it will be appreciated that the
principle can be equally applied to outlets used in networks using
dedicated wiring. In such a case, the outlet circuitry is used to
provide additional interfaces to an outlet, beyond the basic
service of single data connectivity interface. As a non-limiting
example, it may be used to provide multiple data interfaces wherein
the wiring supports single such data connection. An example of such
an outlet is the Network Jack.TM. product family manufactured by
3Com.TM. of Santa-Clara, Calif., U.S.A. In addition, such outlets
are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,331 to Thompson entitled
`Single Medium Wiring Scheme for Multiple Signal Distribution in
Building and Access Port Therefor`, in U.S. Patent Application No.
2003/0112965 to McNamara et al. entitled `Active Wall Outlet`, and
in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0010954 to Binder
entitled: "Modular Outlet", which are all incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0535] One approach to adding functionality to existing outlets is
by using a plug-in module. Such plug-in modules are described in
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0039388 to Smart et
al. entitled `High data-rate powerline network system and method`,
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0060617 to Walbeck et
al. entitled `Modular power line network adapter`, and also in U.S.
Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0062990 to Schaeffer, J R
et al. entitled `Powerline bridge apparatus`, which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein. Such modules using HomePlug.TM. technology are
available from multiple sources such as part of PlugLink.TM.
products by Asoka USA Corporation of San Carlos, Calif., U.S.A.
(HomePlug is a trademark of HomePlug Powerline Alliance, Inc. of
San Ramon, Calif., U.S.A.). Various types of snap-on devices are
also described in U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0010954, and in
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0180561 to Hazani, et
al. entitled: "Outlet Add-On module", which are all incorporated in
their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. A
non-limiting example of a server-based automation system using
outlets is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No.
2005/0125083 to Kiko entitled: "Automation Apparatus and Methods",
which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein.
[0536] In one non-limiting example, a sensor, an actuator, one or
more field units, or the router are integrated with, or are part
of, an outlet or a plug-in module. The outlet may be telephone, LAN
(such as Structured Wiring based on Category 5, 6 or 7 wiring), AC
power or CATV outlet. The field unit or the router may further
communicate over the in-wall wiring connected to the outlet, such
as telephone, AC power, LAN or CATV wiring. Further, the outlet
associated sensor, actuator, one or more field units, or router may
be powered from a power signal carried over the in-wall wiring, and
may further communicate using the in-wall wiring as a network
medium. For example, in the case of telephone wiring and telephone
outlet, the powering may be carried over the telephone wire pair
using the technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,862,353 to Rabenko
et al. entitled: "System and Method for Providing Power over a Home
Phone Line Network", which teaches carrying AC power over telephone
wiring carrying both telephony and data, by using a part of the
spectrum not used by the other signals, or be based on U.S. Patent
Application Publication No. 2004/0151305 to Binder, et al.
entitled: "Method and System for Providing DC Power on Local
Telephone Lines", which are all incorporated in their entirety for
all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0537] The system may be used for assistive domotics applications
of home automation, making it possible for the elderly and disabled
to remain at home, rather than moving to a healthcare facility,
such as embedded health systems and private health networks.
Embedded health systems integrate sensors and
computers/microprocessors in appliances, furniture, and clothing
for collecting data that is analyzed and can be used to diagnose
diseases and recognize risk patterns. Private health networks
typically implement wireless technology to connect portable devices
and store data in a household health database. The system may
provide both the elderly and disabled with many different types of
emergency assistance systems, security features, fall prevention,
automated timers, and alerts. The system may further allow for the
individual to feel secure in their homes knowing that help is only
minutes away, as well as making it possible for family members to
monitor their loved ones from anywhere via an internet or other
connection. The system may track the individual person location
within the home, and may detect water on the floor, as well as a
camera that allows the person to view who is at the door and let
them in using a cell phone. The system may include devices worn
around the neck or wrist, and may be connected to a control center
that is 24-hour activated, and may analyze medical symptoms,
medication allergies, and dispatch emergency services. The system
generates alarms and alerts automatically if significant changes
are observed in the user's vital signs. The system may implement
medication dispensing devices in order to ensure that necessary
medications are taken at appropriate times, and may use automated
pill dispensers can dispense only the pills that are to be taken at
that time and are locked; such as the versions that are available
for Alzheimer's patients that have a lock on them. For diabetic
patients a talking glucose monitor allows the patient to check
their blood sugar level and take the appropriate injection, digital
thermometers are able to recognize a fever and alert physicians,
and blood pressure and pulse monitors may dispense hypertensive
medications when needed. Other applications and advantages are
described in the article entitled: "Smart Homes for Older People:
Positive Aging in a Digital World" published in Future Internet
2012, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if
fully set forth herein.
[0538] The system may be used in biometrics (a.k.a. biometric
authentication) applications, where humans are identified by the
control logic by their characteristics or traits sensed by the
sensors. Biometrics may be used for identification and access
control, as well as to identify individuals in groups that are
under surveillance. Biometric identifiers or traits are typically
distinctive, measurable physiological or behavioral characteristics
used to identify, label and describe individuals. Behavioral
biometrics relates to the behavior of a person, such as typing
rhythm, gait, and voice, and physiological biometric would identify
using voice, DNA, hand print or behavior. Biometrics may be based
on sensors measuring or sensing a brain (electroencephalogram) or a
heart (electrocardiogram) signals.
[0539] Many different aspects of human physiology, chemistry or
behavior can be used for biometric authentication. Preferably, any
person using a system should possess the trait; however the trait
should be unique and sufficiently different for individuals in the
relevant population such that they can be distinguished from one
another. The control logic may accommodate both permanent traits
that are reasonably invariant over time with respect to the
specific matching algorithm, as well as traits that vary over time.
Preferably the sensors easily acquire or measure the trait with
accuracy, speed, and robustness, and in a form that permits
subsequent processing and extraction of the relevant feature sets
by the control logic, with minimal possibility of system
circumvention such as by trait imitating using an artifact or
substitute.
[0540] The system may be used for person verification purposes,
where the system performs a one-to-one comparison of a captured
biometric with a specific template stored in a biometric database
that may be stored in the control server (or in any other device in
the system or external to the system such as in another server), in
order to verify the individual is the person they claim to be.
Reference models for all the users are generated and stored in the
biometric database. Then some samples are matched with reference
models to generate the genuine and impostor scores and calculate
the threshold. In the testing step, a smart card, username or ID
number (e.g., PIN) is used to indicate which template should be
used for comparison.
[0541] The system may be used for identification purposes, where
the system performs a one-to-many comparison against a biometric
database in an attempt to establish the identity of an unknown
individual. The system succeeds in identifying the individual
`positive recognition` if the comparison of the biometric sample to
a template in the database falls within a previously set threshold.
A `negative recognition` of the person means that the system
establishes that the person is who he (implicitly or explicitly)
denies to be, achieved through biometrics since other methods of
personal recognition such as passwords, PINS or keys may be
ineffective.
[0542] The system may be a multi-biometric system that uses
multiple sensors or biometrics to overcome the limitations of
unimodal biometric systems. For instance iris recognition systems
can be compromised by aging irides and finger scanning systems by
worn-out or cut fingerprints. Multi-biometric may obtain sets of
information from the same sensors or markers (i.e., multiple images
of an iris, or scans of the same finger), or may be based on
information from different biometrics such as requiring fingerprint
scans, using voice recognition, and a spoken pass-code.
Multi-biometric systems can integrate unimodal systems
sequentially, simultaneously, a combination thereof, or in series,
which refer to sequential, parallel, hierarchical and serial
integration modes, respectively.
[0543] The information fusion may be broadly divided into three
parts: pre-mapping fusion, midst-mapping fusion, and post-mapping
fusion/late fusion. In pre-mapping fusion information can be
combined at sensor level or feature level. Sensor-level fusion may
be single sensor-multiple instances, intra-class multiple sensors,
or inter-class multiple sensors. Feature-level fusion may be
inter-class or intra-class type, the latter may be based on same
sensor-same features, same sensor-different features, different
sensors-same features, or different sensors-different features.
[0544] The system may be an adaptive biometric system capable of
auto-updating the templates or models to the intra-class variation
of the operational data, for solving the problem of limited
training data and tracking the temporal variations of the input
data through adaptation.
[0545] Soft biometrics traits are physical, behavioral, or adhered
human characteristics, which have been derived from the way human
beings commonly distinguish their peers (e.g., height, gender, hair
color). Such traits include, but are not limited to, physical
characteristics such as skin color, eye color, hair color, presence
of beard, presence of mustache, height, and weight, behavioral
characteristics such as gait and keystroke, and adhered human
characteristics such as clothes color, tattoos, and
accessories.
[0546] The system may be a security system, and may be according
to, or based on, the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,765 to
Madau, entitled: "Motor Vehicle Security Sensor System", in U.S.
Pat. No. 6,934,426 to Rich et al., entitled: "Fiber Optic Security
Sensor and System with Integrated Secure Data Transmission and
Power Cables", in U.S. Pat. No. 7,843,336 to Kucharyson, entitled:
"Self-Contained Wireless Security Sensor Collective System and
Method", or in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0164865
to Glasson et al., entitled: "Security Sensor System", which are
all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0547] The system may be an environmental control system, and may
be according to, or based on, the system described in U.S. Pat. No.
8,115,646 to Tanielian et al., entitled: "Environmental Sensor
System", in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0100327 to
Jensen, entitled: "Environmental Sensing and Communication", in
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0004449 to Sham,
entitled: "Mobile Communication Device with Environmental Sensors",
or in U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,499 to Runge et al., entitled: "Wireless
Environmental Sensor System", which are all incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0548] While some arrangements are exampled above where the router
or gateway (such as router 40a), the field units (such as field
units 23a-f), the sensors, and the actuators are located in the
same building, it is apparent that this disclosure equally applies
to any arrangement where one or more of these devices or elements
is located in different buildings or external to the building. In
one example, one or more of these devices or elements is located in
the user premises, such as adjacent to the building, for example
located on the roof, mounted on external walls, in the outdoor part
of the premises such as garden, yard or garage. Further, one or
more of these devices or elements is located remote from the user
premises, such as in another street, neighborhood, city, region,
state, or country. An example of such arrangement is described as
arrangement 200 in FIG. 20, showing two field units 23g and 23h,
located externally from the building 19a. The router 40a is shown
located in the building, connected to the server 48a similar to the
arrangement 49 shown in FIG. 4. In the example shown in arrangement
200, the field unit 23g may communicate with WAN 46a. In such a
case, the field unit 46a may communicate with the router 40a via
the WAN 46a, as shown by the data path 201a shown in arrangement
200a in FIG. 20a. Alternatively or in addition, the field unit 23a
may communicate with the server 48a via the WAN 46a, as shown by
the data path 201b shown in arrangement 200b in FIG. 20b.
Similarly, the field unit 23h is shown connected to the WAN 46b,
which is distinct from the WAN 46a to which the router 40a is
connected. In such a case, the field unit 23h may communicate with
the router 40a via the WAN 46a, the Internet 16, and WAN 46a, as
shown by the data path 201c shown in arrangement 200c in FIG. 20c.
Alternatively or in addition, the field unit 23h may communicate
with the server 48a via the WAN 46b (and the Internet 16), as shown
by the data path 201d shown in arrangement 200d in FIG. 20d.
[0549] In the case each of the field unit 23g or 23h include a
sensor, the sensor information may be part of the control logic
executed by the controller as described above. In the case the
controller is located inside the building such as in the router
arrangement 145 shown in FIG. 14 above, the router 40a (serving
also as the controller) may receive the sensor information directly
from the field unit, such as described in arrangement 200a.
Alternatively or in addition, the sensor information may be sent to
the router 40a from the server 48a upon its receipt of such
information, for example in the arrangement 200d described in FIG.
20d. Similarly, in the case the controller is part of the control
server 48a, sensor information reaching the router 40a is sent by
the router 40a to the control server 48a to be used as part of the
control logic. Similarly, actuator commands from the controller are
sent to the associated field unit via the control server 48a or via
the router 40a, as appropriate.
[0550] While some arrangements are exampled above regarding the
Internet, it is apparent that this disclosure equally applies to
any network such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area
Network), or a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network). Further, the
arrangement equally applies to any digital data network connecting
multiple devices, wherein multiple distinct communication paths may
be formed between a sender and a receiver of the message. Further,
non-packet based networks and networks which use protocols other
than IP (e.g., cell-based networks such as ATM) may equally use the
arrangement. In addition, while IP addresses have been exampled
herein for identification of the entities involved in the
communication (such as the source and ultimate destination
computers and the intermediate servers), any other type of
addresses or identifiers (involving any of the OSI layers) may be
equally used. For example, MAC (Medium Access Control) address may
be used as an alternative or in addition to the IP address.
[0551] The applications that can use the arrangement include
Electronic Mail (E-Mail) and electronic commerce such as banking,
shopping, products, or services purchase. Further, the arrangement
may be used for carrying sensitive information such as passwords
and public (or private) encryption keys. Messages carried according
to the arrangement may include voice, text, images, video,
facsimile, characters, numbers or any other digitally represented
information. In one aspect, the messages are carrying multimedia
information, such as audio or video. The multimedia is carried as
part of a one-way or interactive audio or video service. The
arrangement may be equally used for carrying any real-time or
near-real-time information. The carried audio may be speech or
music, and may serve telephony such as VoIP or an Internet radio
service. Similarly, the carried video may be part of video services
over the Internet such as video conferencing and IPTV (IP
Television).
[0552] There is a growing widespread use of the Internet for
carrying multimedia, such as video and audio. Various audio
services include Internet-radio stations and VoIP (Voice-over-IP).
Video services over the Internet include video conferencing and
IPTV (IP Television). In most cases, the multimedia service is a
real-time (or near real-time) application, and thus sensitive to
delays over the Internet. In particular, two-way services such a
VoIP or other telephony services and video-conferencing are delay
sensitive.
[0553] In addition to the equipment cost, the costs associated with
the operation of the information device are as follows: a.
Communication service. The costs associated with the communication
sessions. b. ISP, in the case of using the Internet. c. Information
service. The costs associated with operating the relay servers. In
general, billing the user for communication services by the
provider may be based on a one-time fee; a flat fee for a period
(e.g., monthly); per communication session; per lengths of
communication sessions or messages; or any combination of the
above.
[0554] A Next Generation Network (NGN) is a packet based network
which can provide services including telecommunication services and
able to make use of multiple broadband, Quality of Service
(QoS)--enabled transport technologies and in which service-related
functions are independent from underlying transport-related
technologies. The NGN offers unrestricted access by users to
different service providers. The NGN operator or any service
provider using the NGN may offer gateway services based on the
method described herein.
[0555] In one aspect the arrangement is used for security as part
of cloud computing deployment. For example, messages exchanged
between a cloud services provider and a user or as part of the
cloud computing infrastructure. The cloud services may include
Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud Platform as a Service
(PaaS) and Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and the method
described herein may be used as part of the implementing security
measures such as described in the publication "Security Guidance
for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing V2.1", Prepared by
the Cloud Security Alliance, December 2009, which is incorporated
in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0556] FIG. 13 is a block diagram that illustrates a system 130
including a computer system 140 and the associated Internet 11
connection upon which an embodiment may be implemented. Such
configuration is typically used for computers (hosts) connected to
the Internet 11 and executing a server or a client (or a
combination) software. A source computer such as laptop 12a, an
ultimate destination computer 13c and relay servers 14a-14d above,
as well as any computer or processor described herein, may use the
computer system configuration and the Internet connection shown in
FIG. 13. The system 140 may be used as a portable electronic device
such as a notebook/laptop computer, a media player (e.g., MP3 based
or video player), a cellular phone, a Personal Digital Assistant
(PDA), an image processing device (e.g., a digital camera or video
recorder), and/or any other handheld computing devices, or a
combination of any of these devices. Note that while FIG. 13
illustrates various components of a computer system, it is not
intended to represent any particular architecture or manner of
interconnecting the components; as such details are not germane. It
will also be appreciated that network computers, handheld
computers, cell phones and other data processing systems which have
fewer components or perhaps more components may also be used. The
computer system of FIG. 13 may, for example, be an Apple Macintosh
computer or Power Book, or an IBM compatible PC. Computer system
140 includes a bus 137, an interconnect, or other communication
mechanism for communicating information, and a processor 138,
commonly in the form of an integrated circuit, coupled with bus 137
for processing information and for executing the computer
executable instructions. Computer system 140 also includes a main
memory 134, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other dynamic
storage device, coupled to bus 137 for storing information and
instructions to be executed by processor 138. Main memory 134 also
may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate
information during execution of instructions to be executed by
processor 138. Computer system 140 further includes a Read Only
Memory (ROM) 136 (or other non-volatile memory) or other static
storage device coupled to bus 137 for storing static information
and instructions for processor 138. A storage device 135, such as a
magnetic disk or optical disk, a hard disk drive for reading from
and writing to a hard disk, a magnetic disk drive for reading from
and writing to a magnetic disk, and/or an optical disk drive (such
as DVD) for reading from and writing to a removable optical disk,
is coupled to bus 137 for storing information and instructions. The
hard disk drive, magnetic disk drive, and optical disk drive may be
connected to the system bus by a hard disk drive interface, a
magnetic disk drive interface, and an optical disk drive interface,
respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable
media provide non-volatile storage of computer readable
instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for
the general purpose computing devices. Typically computer system
140 includes an Operating System (OS) stored in a non-volatile
storage for managing the computer resources and provides the
applications and programs with an access to the computer resources
and interfaces. An operating system commonly processes system data
and user input, and responds by allocating and managing tasks and
internal system resources, such as controlling and allocating
memory, prioritizing system requests, controlling input and output
devices, facilitating networking and managing files. Non-limiting
examples of operating systems are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and
Linux.
[0557] The term "processor" is meant to include any integrated
circuit or other electronic device (or collection of devices)
capable of performing an operation on at least one instruction
including, without limitation, Reduced Instruction Set Core (RISC)
processors, CISC microprocessors, Microcontroller Units (MCUs),
CISC-based Central Processing Units (CPUs), and Digital Signal
Processors (DSPs). The hardware of such devices may be integrated
onto a single substrate (e.g., silicon "die"), or distributed among
two or more substrates. Furthermore, various functional aspects of
the processor may be implemented solely as software or firmware
associated with the processor. Computer system 140 may be coupled
via bus 137 to a display 131, such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), a
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a flat screen monitor, a touch screen
monitor or similar means for displaying text and graphical data to
a user. The display may be connected via a video adapter for
supporting the display. The display allows a user to view, enter,
and/or edit information that is relevant to the operation of the
system. An input device 132, including alphanumeric and other keys,
is coupled to bus 137 for communicating information and command
selections to processor 138. Another type of user input device is
cursor control 133, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor
direction keys for communicating direction information and command
selections to processor 138 and for controlling cursor movement on
display 131. This input device typically has two degrees of freedom
in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y),
that allows the device to specify positions in a plane.
[0558] The computer system 140 may be used for implementing the
methods and techniques described herein. According to one
embodiment, those methods and techniques are performed by computer
system 140 in response to processor 138 executing one or more
sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 134.
Such instructions may be read into main memory 134 from another
computer-readable medium, such as storage device 135. Execution of
the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 134 causes
processor 138 to perform the process steps described herein. In
alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place
of or in combination with software instructions to implement the
arrangement. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to
any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.
[0559] The term "computer-readable medium" (or "machine-readable
medium") as used herein is an extensible term that refers to any
medium or any memory, that participates in providing instructions
to a processor, (such as processor 138) for execution, or any
mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form
readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). Such a medium may store
computer-executable instructions to be executed by a processing
element and/or control logic, and data which is manipulated by a
processing element and/or control logic, and may take many forms,
including but not limited to, non-volatile medium, volatile medium,
and transmission medium. Transmission media includes coaxial
cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that
comprise bus 137. Transmission media can also take the form of
acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave
and infrared data communications, or other form of propagating
signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals,
etc.). Common forms of computer-readable media include, for
example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape,
or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium,
punch-cards, paper-tape, any other physical medium with patterns of
holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory
chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any
other medium from which a computer can read.
[0560] Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in
carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to
processor 138 for execution. For example, the instructions may
initially be carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer. The
remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory
and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A
modem local to computer system 140 can receive the data on the
telephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data
to an infrared signal. An infrared detector can receive the data
carried in the infrared signal and appropriate circuitry can place
the data on bus 137. Bus 137 carries the data to main memory 134,
from which processor 138 retrieves and executes the instructions.
The instructions received by main memory 134 may optionally be
stored on storage device 135 either before or after execution by
processor 138.
[0561] Computer system 140 also includes a communication interface
141 coupled to bus 137. Communication interface 141 provides a
two-way data communication coupling to a network link 139 that is
connected to a local network 111. For example, communication
interface 141 may be an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
card or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a
corresponding type of telephone line. As another non-limiting
example, communication interface 141 may be a local area network
(LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a
compatible LAN. For example, Ethernet based connection based on
IEEE802.3 standard may be used such as 10/100BaseT, 1000BaseT
(gigabit Ethernet), 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GE or 10 GbE or 10 GigE
per IEEE Std 802.3ae-2002as standard), 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40
GbE), or 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100 GbE as per Ethernet standard
IEEE P802.3ba), as described in Cisco Systems, Inc. Publication
number 1-587005-001-3 (6/99), "Internetworking Technologies
Handbook", Chapter 7: "Ethernet Technologies", pages 7-1 to 7-38,
which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein. In such a case, the communication interface 141
typically include a LAN transceiver or a modem, such as Standard
Microsystems Corporation (SMSC) LAN91C111 10/100 Ethernet
transceiver described in the Standard Microsystems Corporation
(SMSC) data-sheet "LAN91C111 10/100 Non-PCI Ethernet Single Chip
MAC+PHY" Data-Sheet, Rev. 15 (02-20-04), which is incorporated in
its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0562] In one non-limiting example, the communication is based on a
LAN communication, such as Ethernet, and may be partly or in full
in accordance with the IEEE802.3 standard. For example, Gigabit
Ethernet (GbE or 1 GigE) may be used, describing various
technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a
gigabit per second (1,000,000,000 bits per second), as defined by
the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. There are five physical layer
standards for gigabit Ethernet using optical fiber (1000BASE-X),
twisted pair cable (1000BASE-T), or balanced copper cable
(1000BASE-CX). The IEEE 802.3z standard includes 1000BASE-SX for
transmission over multi-mode fiber, 1000BASE-LX for transmission
over single-mode fiber, and the nearly obsolete 1000BASE-CX for
transmission over balanced copper cabling. These standards use
8b/10b encoding, which inflates the line rate by 25%, from 1000
Mbit/s to 1250 Mbit/s, to ensure a DC balanced signal. The symbols
are then sent using NRZ. The IEEE 802.3ab, which defines the widely
used 1000BASE-T interface type, uses a different encoding scheme in
order to keep the symbol rate as low as possible, allowing
transmission over twisted pair. Similarly, The 10 gigabit Ethernet
(10GE or 10 GbE or 10 GigE may be used, which is a version of
Ethernet with a nominal data rate of 10 Gbit/s (billion bits per
second), ten times faster than gigabit Ethernet. The 10 gigabit
Ethernet standard defines only full duplex point to point links
which are generally connected by network switches. The 10 gigabit
Ethernet standard encompasses a number of different physical layers
(PHY) standards. A networking device may support different PHY
types through pluggable PHY modules, such as those based on
SFP+.
[0563] The powering scheme may be based on Power over Ethernet
(PoE), which describes a system to pass electrical power safely,
along with data, on Ethernet cabling, and may use phantom
configuration for carrying the power. The PoE technology and
applications are described in the White Paper "All You Need To Know
About Power over Ethernet (PoE) and the IEEE 802.3af Standard", by
PowerDsine Ltd., 06-0002-082 20 May, 04, and in U.S. Pat. No.
6,473,609 to Lehr et al. entitled: "Structure Cabling System",
which are all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if
fully set forth herein. The IEEE standard for PoE requires category
5 cable or higher for high power levels, but can operate with
category 3 cable for low power levels. The power is supplied in
common mode over two or more of the differential pairs of wires
found in the Ethernet cables, and comes from a power supply within
a PoE-enabled networking device such as an Ethernet switch or can
be injected into a cable run with a midspan power supply. The IEEE
802.3af-2003 PoE standard, which is incorporated in its entirety
for all purposes as if fully set forth herein, provides up to 15.4
Watts of DC power (minimum 44 V DC and 350 mA) to each device. Only
12.95 Watts is assured to be available to the powered device as
some power is dissipated in the cable. The updated IEEE
802.3at-2009 PoE standard, also known as PoE+ or PoE plus, and
which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein, provides up to 25.5 Watts of power. In PoE
environment, a device may serve as a Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE)
that provides ("sources") power on the Ethernet cable. A device
consuming power from the LAN is referred to as a Powered Device
(PD).
[0564] In the case of a dedicated or separated PCB or enclosure,
the PCB or enclosure may be designed to be easily removable, for
example by an end user. Such plug-in module is commonly designed to
be installed and removed typically by respectively connecting or
disconnecting the module connectors (pins, plugs, jacks, sockets,
receptacles or any other types) to or from the mating connectors,
commonly using human hand force and without any tool. The
connection mechanical support may be based only on the connectors,
or supplemented by guides, rails, or any other mechanical support.
Such a plug-in module may be pluggable into a computer system,
motherboard, an intermediary device, or a memory.
[0565] Discussions herein utilizing terms such as, for example,
"processing," "computing," "calculating," "determining,"
"establishing", "analyzing", "checking", or the like, may refer to
operation(s) and/or process(es) of a computer, a computing
platform, a computing system, or other electronic computing device,
that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical
(e.g., electronic) quantities within the computer's registers
and/or memories into other data similarly represented as physical
quantities within the computer's registers and/or memories or other
information storage medium that may store instructions to perform
operations and/or processes.
[0566] Throughout the description and claims of this specification,
the word "couple", and variations of that word such as "coupling",
"coupled" and "couplable", refer to an electrical connection (such
as a copper wire or soldered connection), a logical connection
(such as through logical devices of a semiconductor device), a
virtual connection (such as through randomly assigned memory
locations of a memory device) or any other suitable direct or
indirect connections (including combination or series of
connections), for example for allowing for the transfer of power,
signal, or data, as well as connections formed through intervening
devices or elements.
[0567] The arrangements and methods described herein may be
implemented using hardware, software or a combination of both. The
term "software integration" or any other reference to the
integration of two programs or processes herein refers to software
components (e.g., programs, modules, functions, processes etc.)
that are (directly or via another component) combined, working or
functioning together or form a whole, commonly for sharing a common
purpose or set of objectives. Such software integration can take
the form of sharing the same program code, exchanging data, being
managed by the same manager program, executed by the same
processor, stored on the same medium, sharing the same GUI or other
user interface, sharing peripheral hardware (such as a monitor,
printer, keyboard and memory), sharing data or a database, or being
part of a single package. The term "hardware integration" or
integration of hardware components herein refers to hardware
components that are (directly or via another component) combined,
working or functioning together or form a whole, commonly for
sharing a common purpose or set of objectives. Such hardware
integration can take the form of sharing the same power source (or
power supply) or sharing other resources, exchanging data or
control (e.g., by communicating), being managed by the same
manager, physically connected or attached, sharing peripheral
hardware connection (such as a monitor, printer, keyboard and
memory), being part of a single package or mounted in a single
enclosure (or any other physical collocating), sharing a
communication port, or used or controlled with the same software or
hardware. The term "integration" herein refers (as applicable) to a
software integration, a hardware integration, or any combination
thereof.
[0568] The term "message" is used generically herein to describe at
least an ordered series of characters or bits intended to convey a
package of information (or a portion thereof), which may be
transferred from one point to another, such as by using
communication via one or more communication mechanisms or by
transferring among processes. The term "port" refers to a place of
access to a device, electrical circuit or network, where energy or
signal may be supplied or withdrawn. The term "interface" of a
networked device refers to a physical interface, a logical
interface (e.g., a portion of a physical interface or sometimes
referred to in the industry as a sub-interface--for example, such
as, but not limited to a particular VLAN associated with a network
interface), and/or a virtual interface (e.g., traffic grouped
together based on some characteristic--for example, such as, but
not limited to, a tunnel interface). As used herein, the term
"independent" relating to two (or more) elements, processes, or
functionalities, refers to a scenario where one does not affect nor
preclude the other. For example, independent communication such as
over a pair of independent data routes means that communication
over one data route does not affect nor preclude the communication
over the other data routes.
[0569] As used herein, the term "Integrated Circuit" (IC) shall
include any type of integrated device of any function where the
electronic circuit is manufactured by the patterned diffusion of
trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of
semiconductor material (e.g., Silicon), whether single or multiple
die, or small or large scale of integration, and irrespective of
process or base materials (including, without limitation Si, SiGe,
CMOS and GAs) including without limitation applications specific
integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays
(FPGAs), digital processors (e.g., DSPs, CISC microprocessors, or
RISC processors), so-called "system-on-a-chip" (SoC) devices,
memory (e.g., DRAM, SRAM, flash memory, ROM), mixed-signal devices,
and analog ICs. The circuits in an IC are typically contained in a
silicon piece or in a semiconductor wafer, and commonly packaged as
a unit. The solid-state circuits commonly include interconnected
active and passive devices, diffused into a single silicon chip.
Integrated circuits can be classified into analog, digital and
mixed signal (both analog and digital on the same chip). Digital
integrated circuits commonly contain many of logic gates,
flip-flops, multiplexers, and other circuits in a few square
millimeters. The small size of these circuits allows high speed,
low power dissipation, and reduced manufacturing cost compared with
board-level integration. Further, a multi-chip module (MCM) may be
used, where multiple integrated circuits (ICs), semiconductor dies,
or other discrete components are packaged onto a unifying
substrate, facilitating their use as a single component (as though
a larger IC).
[0570] The term "computer" is used generically herein to describe
any number of computers, including, but not limited to personal
computers, embedded processing elements and systems, control logic,
ASICs, chips, workstations, mainframes, etc. Any computer herein
may consist of, or be part of, a handheld computer, including any
portable computer which is small enough to be held and operated
while holding in one hand or fit into a pocket. Such a device, also
referred to as a mobile device, typically has a display screen with
touch input and/or miniature keyboard. Non-limiting examples of
such devices include Digital Still Camera (DSC), Digital video
Camera (DVC or digital camcorder), Personal Digital Assistant
(PDA), and mobile phones and Smartphones. The mobile devices may
combine video, audio and advanced communication capabilities, such
as PAN and WLAN. A mobile phone (also known as a cellular phone,
cell phone and a hand phone) is a device which can make and receive
telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide
geographic area, by connecting to a cellular network provided by a
mobile network operator. The calls are to and from the public
telephone network which includes other mobiles and fixed-line
phones across the world. The Smartphones may combine the functions
of a personal digital assistant (PDA), and may serve as portable
media players and camera phones with high-resolution touch-screens,
web browsers that can access, and properly display, standard web
pages rather than just mobile-optimized sites, GPS navigation,
Wi-Fi and mobile broadband access. In addition to telephony, the
Smartphones may support a wide variety of other services such as
text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless
communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming
and photography.
[0571] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various
devices and systems, for example, a Personal Computer (PC), a
desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook
computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld
computer, a handheld device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
device, a cellular handset, a handheld PDA device, an on-board
device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a
non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a non-mobile or
non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless
communication device, a wireless Access Point (AP), a wired or
wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a wired or wireless
network, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wireless LAN (WLAN), a
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a Wireless MAN (WMAN), a Wide Area
Network (WAN), a Wireless WAN (WWAN), a Personal Area Network
(PAN), a Wireless PAN (WPAN), devices and/or networks operating
substantially in accordance with existing IEEE 802.11, 802.11a,
802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11k, 802.11n, 802.11r, 802.16, 802.16d,
802.16e, 802.20, 802.21 standards and/or future versions and/or
derivatives of the above standards, units and/or devices which are
part of the above networks, one way and/or two-way radio
communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication
systems, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a Personal
Communication Systems (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates
a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable Global
Positioning System (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS
receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an
RFID element or chip, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)
transceiver or device, a Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO)
transceiver or device, a Multiple Input Single Output (MISO)
transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal
antennas and/or external antennas, Digital Video Broadcast (DVB)
devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, a
wired or wireless handheld device (e.g., BlackBerry, Palm Treo), a
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) device, or the like.
[0572] As used herein, the term "user device" is meant to include
any device having a computer, a user interface, and a network
interface. The network interface allows for communication over a
network with other devices. The user interface (such as Graphical
User Interface--GUI) allows for a human to interact with the
device, to operate, control, or to output information to the user
device, and to receive indications from the device. The user
interface typically includes, or is based on, a Human Interface
Device (HID), used to interact directly to receive input from
humans, to provide output to humans, or both. Examples of HIDs that
receive information from humans are keyboard, a pointing device
such as a mouse, a trackball or a pointing stick, a joystick, a
fingerprint scanner, a dance pad, a touch screen, a camera, a
microphone, and a motion sensor (such as Wii.TM. remote), and such
devices may include, or be based on, a sensor, such as any one of
the sensors disclosed herein. The input may be based on a human
touch, a human motion, a human voice, or a human gesture (such as
hand gesture). Examples of HIDs that output information to humans
are a display (for visual presentation), a speaker (for audio
sounding), and a vibrator, and such devices may include, or be
based on, an actuator, such as any one of the actuators disclosed
herein. The HID, and the operation in USB environment, may be as
described in the standard "HID Usage Tables" Version 1.12 (Oct. 28,
2004) by the USB Implementers' Forum, which is incorporated in its
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. The user
device may communicate over any of the networks described herein
via its network interface. A user device may consists of,
comprises, be part of, or integrated with, a Digital Still Camera
(DSC), a Digital video Camera (DVC or digital camcorder), a
landline telephone set, a television set, a Personal Digital
Assistant (PDA), a mobile phones, one way or two-way radio
communication device, a pager, a cellular radio-telephone
communication device, a cellular telephone handset, a wireless
telephone, a Personal Communication Systems (PCS) device, a mobile
or portable Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a Personal
Computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop
computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server
computer, or a handheld computer. Alternatively or in addition, a
user device may consists of, comprises, be part of, or integrated
with, a personal computer (such as the personal computer 18a shown
in FIG. 5i), a home device (such as the home devices 15a and 15b
shown in FIG. 5i), a field unit (such as the field units 23a-c
shown in FIG. 5i), a router (such as the router 21 shown in FIG.
5i), an appliance, or a server (such as the server 24 shown in FIG.
5i). A user device may communicate over a home network, a control
network, the Internet, or any other network, for communication with
another device in the system.
[0573] As used herein, the terms "program", "programmable", and
"computer program" are meant to include any sequence or human or
machine cognizable steps which perform a function. Such programs
are not inherently related to any particular computer or other
apparatus, and may be rendered in virtually any programming
language or environment including, for example, C/C++, Fortran,
COBOL, PASCAL, assembly language, markup languages (e.g., HTML,
SGML, XML, VoXML), and the likes, as well as object-oriented
environments such as the Common Object Request Broker Architecture
(CORBA), Java.TM. (including J2ME, Java Beans, etc.) and the like,
as well as in firmware or other implementations. Generally, program
modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data
structures, etc., that performs particular tasks or implement
particular abstract data types.
[0574] The terms "task" and "process" are used generically herein
to describe any type of running programs, including, but not
limited to a computer process, task, thread, executing application,
operating system, user process, device driver, native code, machine
or other language, etc., and can be interactive and/or
non-interactive, executing locally and/or remotely, executing in
foreground and/or background, executing in the user and/or
operating system address spaces, a routine of a library and/or
standalone application, and is not limited to any particular memory
partitioning technique. The steps, connections, and processing of
signals and information illustrated in the figures, including, but
not limited to any block and flow diagrams and message sequence
charts, may typically be performed in the same or in a different
serial or parallel ordering and/or by different components and/or
processes, threads, etc., and/or over different connections and be
combined with other functions in other embodiments, unless this
disables the embodiment or a sequence is explicitly or implicitly
required (e.g., for a sequence of reading the value, processing the
value--the value must be obtained prior to processing it, although
some of the associated processing may be performed prior to,
concurrently with, and/or after the read operation). Where certain
process steps are described in a particular order or where
alphabetic and/or alphanumeric labels are used to identify certain
steps, the embodiments of the invention are not limited to any
particular order of carrying out such steps. In particular, the
labels are used merely for convenient identification of steps, and
are not intended to imply, specify or require a particular order
for carrying out such steps. Furthermore, other embodiments may use
more or less steps than those discussed herein. The invention may
also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks
are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through
a communications network. In a distributed computing environment,
program modules may be located in both local and remote memory
storage devices.
[0575] As used herein, the terms "network", "communication link"
and "communications mechanism" are used generically to describe one
or more networks, communications media or communications systems,
including, but not limited to, the Internet, private or public
telephone, cellular, wireless, satellite, cable, data networks.
Data networks include, but not limited to, Metropolitan Area
Networks (MANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs), Local Area Networks
(LANs), Personal Area networks (PANs), WLANs (Wireless LANs),
Internet, internets, NGN, intranets, Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC)
networks, satellite networks, and Telco networks. Communication
media include, but not limited to, a cable, an electrical
connection, a bus, and internal communications mechanisms such as
message passing, interprocess communications, and shared memory.
Such networks or portions thereof may utilize any one or more
different topologies (e.g., ring, bus, star, loop, etc.),
transmission media (e.g., wired/RF cable, RF wireless, millimeter
wave, optical, etc.) and/or communications or networking protocols
(e.g., SONET, DOCSIS, IEEE Std. 802.3, ATM, X.25, Frame Relay,
3GPP, 3GPP2, WAP, SIP, UDP, FTP, RTP/RTCP, H.323, etc.). While
exampled herein with regard to secured communication between a pair
of network endpoint devices (host-to-host), the described method
can equally be used to protect the data flow between a pair of
gateways or any other networking-associated devices
(network-to-network), or between a network device (e.g., security
gateway) and a host (network-to-host).
[0576] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more
types of wireless communication signals and/or systems, for
example, Radio Frequency (RF), Infra Red (IR), Frequency-Division
Multiplexing (FDM), Orthogonal FDM (OFDM), Time-Division
Multiplexing (TDM), Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Extended
TDMA (E-TDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), extended GPRS,
Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA
2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, Multi-Carrier
Modulation (MDM), Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT), Bluetooth (RTM),
Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee.TM.,
Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM),
2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE),
or the like. Further, a wireless communication may be based on
wireless technologies that are described in Chapter 20: "Wireless
Technologies" of the publication number 1-587005-001-3 by Cisco
Systems, Inc. (7/99) entitled: "Internetworking Technologies
Handbook", which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes
as if fully set forth herein.
[0577] A wireless communication may be partly or in full in
accordance with, or based on, the WiGig.TM. technology developed by
the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (http://wirelessgigabitalliance.org),
and standardized as IEEE 802.11ad, allowing multi-gigabit data rate
and using the unlicensed 60 GHz frequency band. The WiGig tri-band
enabled in-room devices, which operate in the 2.4, 5 and 60 GHz
bands, supports data transmission rates up to 7 Gbit/s, and is
based on, supplements and extends the 802.11 Media Access Control
(MAC) layer and is thus backward compatible with the IEEE 802.11
standard. The specifications further supports protocol adaptation
layers are being developed to support specific system interfaces
including data buses for PC peripherals and display interfaces for
HDTVs, monitors and projectors, and is based on phase array antenna
beamforming, enabling robust communication at distances beyond 10
meters, while the beams can move within the coverage area through
modification of the transmission phase of individual antenna
elements. The WiGig technology is further described in the white
paper entitled: "WiGig White Paper--Defining the Future of
Multi-Gigabit Wireless Communications", published by WiGig
Alliance, July 2010, which is incorporated in its entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0578] Alternatively or in addition, an in-room wireless
communication may be in accordance with, or based on, the
WirelessHD.TM. technology developed by the WirelessHD.TM.
Consortium (http://www.wirelesshd.org) and standardized as IEEE
802.15.3c-2009, which based on a 7 GHz channel in the 60 GHz
Extremely High Frequency radio band. It allows for either
compressed (H.264) or uncompressed digital transmission of
high-definition video and audio and data signals. The 1.1 version
of the specification increases the maximum data rate to 28 Gbit/s,
supports common 3D formats, 4K resolution, WPAN data, low-power
mode for portable devices, and HDCP 2.0 content protection. The 60
GHz band usually requires line of sight between transmitter and
receiver, and the WirelessHD specification ameliorates this
limitation through the use of beam forming at the receiver and
transmitter antennas to increase the signal's effective radiated
power. The range obtained may be in-room, point-to-point, non
line-of-sight (NLOS) at up to 10 meters. Further, The WirelessHD
specification has provisions for content encryption via Digital
Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) as well as provisions for
network management. The WirelessHD.TM. technology is further
described in the overview entitled: "WirelessHD Specifications
Version 1.1 Overview", published by the WirelessHD consortium, May
2010, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if
fully set forth herein.
[0579] Alternatively or in addition, a wireless communication may
be in accordance with, or based on, the Wireless Home Digital
Interface (WHDI.TM.) technology developed by the WHDI.TM. Special
Interest Group (http://www.whdi.org), and provides a high-quality,
uncompressed wireless link which can support delivery of equivalent
video data rates of up to 3 Gbps (including uncompressed 1080p) in
a 40 MHz channel in the 5 GHz unlicensed band, conforming to FCC
regulations. Equivalent video data rates of up to 1.5 Gbps
(including uncompressed 1080i and 720p) can be delivered on a
single 20 MHz channel in the 5 GHz unlicensed band, conforming to
worldwide 5 GHz spectrum regulations. The range is beyond 100 feet,
through walls, and latency is less than one millisecond. The
WHDI.TM. technology is further described in the technical overview
entitled: "Enabling Wireless uncompressed HDTV Connectivity with a
Unique Video-Modem Approach" by Meir Feder, published by the AMIMON
Ltd., which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if
fully set forth herein.
[0580] A wireless communication may use white spaces, which relates
to the frequencies and frequency bands allocated between used or
licensed radio frequency bands (or channels) to avoid interference
or to serve as guard band. Further, white space refers to frequency
bands between about 50 MHz and 700 MHz traditionally used for
analog television broadcast, and were freed in the switchover to
digital television. In the United States, full power analog
television broadcasts, which operated between the 54 MHz and 806
MHz (54-72, 76-88, 174-216, 470-608, and 614-806) television
frequencies (Channels 2-69), ceased operating on Jun. 12, 2009 per
a United States digital switchover mandate. At that time, full
power TV stations were required to switch to digital transmission
and operate only between 54 MHz and 698 MHz. The abandoned
television frequencies are primarily covering TV channels 52 to 69
(698 to 806 MHz), as well as unused television frequencies between
54 MHz and 698 MHz (TV Channels 2-51). In the rest of the world,
the abandoned television channels are VHF, and the resulting large
VHF white spaces are being re-allocated for the worldwide (except
the U.S.) digital radio standard DAB and DAB+, and DMB. A device
intended to use these available channels is commonly referred to as
a "White-Spaces Device" (WSD), and are typically designed to detect
the presence of existing but unused areas of the airwaves, such as
those reserved for analog television, and utilize these unused
airwaves to transmit signals for communication application such as
for Internet connectivity. The communication over white spaces may
be partly or in full in accordance with, or based on, IEEE 802.11
af or IEEE 802.22 standards (sometimes referred to as Super Wi-Fi
standards).
[0581] The wireless communication over white spaces may be partly
or in full in accordance with, or based on, Wireless Regional Area
Network (WRAN) standard IEEE 802.22--"Standard for Wireless
Regional Area Networks (WRAN)--Specific requirements--Part 22:
Cognitive Wireless RAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical
Layer (PHY) Specifications: Policies and procedures for operation
in the TV Bands", described in the article `IEEE 802.22: An
Introduction to the First Wireless Standard based on Cognitive
Radios`, by Carlos Cordeiro, Kiran Challapali, Dagnachew Birru, and
Sai Shankar, published in the Journal of Communication, Vol. 1, No.
1, April 2006, and in the presentation `IEEE 802.22 Wireless
Regional Area Networks--Enabling Rural Broadband Wireless Access
Using Cognitive Radio Technology`, by Apruva N. Mody and Gerald
Chouinard, Doc. # IEEE 802.22-10/0073r3 Jun. 2010, which are both
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0582] Such communication may use Cognitive Radio (CR) techniques
to allow sharing of geographically unused spectrum formerly
allocated to the Television Broadcast Service, on a non-interfering
basis. Cognitive-based dynamic spectrum access is described, for
example, in the document entitled: `Dynamic Spectrum Access In IEEE
802.22--Based Cognitive Wireless Networks: A Game Theoretic Model
for Competitive Spectrum Bidding and Pricing` by Dusit Niyato and
Ekram Hossain, published IEEE Wireless Communication April 2009,
which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein.
[0583] The communication may operate in a point to multipoint basis
(P2MP), and the network may be formed by Base Stations (BS) and
Customer-Premises Equipment (CPE), where the CPEs are communicating
with a BS via a wireless link, while the BSs control the medium
access for all the CPEs attached to it. The WRAN Base Stations may
capable of performing a distributed sensing, where the CPEs are
sensing the spectrum and are sending periodic reports to the BS
informing it about what they sense, such that the BS, with the
information gathered, may evaluate whether a change is necessary in
the channel or channels used, or on the contrary, if it should stay
transmitting and receiving in the same one. The PHY layer may use
OFDMA as the modulation scheme and may use one TV channel (a TV
channel typically has a bandwidth of 6 MHz; in some countries 7 or
8 MHz is used), and may use more than one channel using a Channel
Bonding scheme.
[0584] In such environment, the gateway or router 21, 40, or 143
may serve as the base station, while the field units 23, computer
161, server 24, or the home devices 15 functions as CPEs.
Similarly, the gateway or router 21, 40, or 143 may serve as the
CPE, while part or all of the field units 23, computer 161, server
24, or the home devices 15 functions as BS.
[0585] The wireless communication may be partly or in full in
accordance with, or based on, short-range communication such as
Near Field Communication (NFC), having a theoretical working
distance of 20 centimeters and a practical working distance of
about 4 centimeters, and commonly used with mobile devices, such as
smartphones. The NFC typically operates at 13.56 MHz as defined in
ISO/IEC 18000-3 air interface and at data rates ranging from 106
Kbit/s to 424 Kbit/s. NFC commonly involves an initiator and a
target; the initiator actively generates an RF field that may power
a passive target. NFC peer-to-peer communication is possible,
provided both devices are powered. In NFC environment, the gateway
or router 21, 40, or 143 may serve as the initiator, while the
field units 23, computer 161, server 24, or the home devices 15
functions as targets. Similarly, the gateway or router 21, 40, or
143 may serve as the target, while part or all of the field units
23, computer 161, server 24, or the home devices 15 functions as
initiators.
[0586] The NFC typically supports passive and active modes of
operation. In passive communication mode, the initiator device
provides a carrier field and the target device answers by
modulating the existing field, and the target device may draw its
operating power from the initiator-provided electromagnetic field,
thus making the target device a transponder. In active
communication mode, both devices typically have power supplies, and
both initiator and target devices communicate by alternately
generating their own fields where a device deactivates its RF field
while it is waiting for data. NFC typically uses Amplitude-Shift
Keying (ASK), and employs two different schemes to transfer data.
At the data transfer rate of 106 Kbit/s, a modified Miller coding
with 100% modulation is used, while in all other cases Manchester
coding is used with a modulation ratio of 10%.
[0587] The NFC communication may be partly or in full in accordance
with, or based on, NFC standards ISO/IEC 18092 or ECMA-340
entitled: "Near Field Communication Interface and Protocol-1
(NFCIP-1)", and ISO/IEC 21481 or ECMA-352 standards entitled: "Near
Field Communication Interface and Protocol-2 (NFCIP-2)". The NFC
technology is described in ECMA International white paper
Ecma/TC32-TG19/2005/012 entitled: "Near Field Communication--White
paper", in Rohde&Schwarz White Paper 1MA182_4e entitled: "Near
Field Communication (NFC) Technology and Measurements White Paper",
and in Jan Kremer Consulting Services (JKCS) white paper entitled:
"NFC--Near Field Communication--White paper", which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein.
[0588] The system 49b in FIG. 4b above shows two communication
routes designated as routes 400a and 400b connecting the router 40a
to servers 48a and 48b. Similarly, system 49d in FIG. 4d examples
the connection of router 40a to the ISP server 47a via two
communication routes, consisting of wired WAN 46a and wireless WAN
46b. The system 500i shown in FIG. 5j similarly shows two
communication routes 500g and 500h, connecting the field unit 23d
to router 21. In the general case, any pair of devices in the
system may communicate over two or more distinct or independent
communication routes. Further, one, two, three or all of the
communicating device pairs in the system may use two, three, or
more distinct or independent alternative communication routes. The
communication routes may involve direct communication between the
pair of devices where the devices communicate directly with each
other over a communication network.
[0589] Alternatively or in addition, one or more of the alternative
communication route use one or more intermediary device, acting as
a repeater or a router. The intermediary device may be a dedicated
device functioning as a traditional repeater, or alternatively a
device in the system may double as a repeater. For example, while
the arrangement 500i in FIG. 5j shows communication route 500g
using network 22a and communication route 500g using network 22b,
both routes directly connecting field unit 23d to the router 21. In
one example, a new communication route may be formed, where the
field unit 23b also serves as a repeater for field unit 23d, and
passes information between these two devices.
[0590] Multiple distinct or independent communication routes
provide higher reliability such as avoiding single point of failure
(SPOF), where in the case of any failure in one of the
communication routes, the other routes may still provide the
required connection and the system functionality is preserved, thus
a therein renders the system fully functional, using a backup or
fail-safe scheme. The operation of the redundant communication
routes may be based on standby redundancy, (a.k.a. Backup
Redundancy), where one of the data paths or the associated hardware
is considered as a primary unit, and the other data path (or the
associated hardware) is considered as the secondary unit, serving
as back up to the primary unit. The secondary unit typically does
not monitor the system, but is there just as a spare. The standby
unit is not usually kept in sync with the primary unit, so it must
reconcile its input and output signals on the takeover of the
communication. This approach does lend itself to give a "bump" on
transfer, meaning the secondary operation may not be in sync with
the last system state of the primary unit. Such mechanism may
require a watchdog, which monitors the system to decide when a
switchover condition is met, and command the system to switch
control to the standby unit. Standby redundancy configurations
commonly employ two basic types, namely `Cold Standby` and `Hot
Standby`.
[0591] In cold standby, the secondary unit is either powered off or
otherwise non-active in the system operation, thus preserving the
reliability of the unit. The drawback of this design is that the
downtime is greater than in hot standby, because the standby unit
needs to be powered up or activated, and brought online into a
known state.
[0592] On hot standby, the secondary unit is powered up or
otherwise kept operational, and can optionally monitor the system.
The secondary unit may serve as the watchdog and/or voter to decide
when to switch over, thus eliminating the need for an additional
hardware for this job. This design does not preserve the
reliability of the standby unit as well as the cold standby design.
However, it shortens the downtime, which in turn increases the
availability of the system. Some flavors of Hot Standby are similar
to Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) or Parallel Redundancy. The main
difference between Hot Standby and DMR is how tightly the primary
and the secondary are synchronized. DMR completely synchronizes the
primary and secondary units.
[0593] While a redundancy of two was exampled above, where two data
paths and two hardware devices were used, a redundancy involving
three or more data paths or systems may be equally used. The term
`NT` Modular Redundancy, (a.k.a. Parallel Redundancy) refers to the
approach of having multiply units or data paths running in
parallel. All units are highly synchronized and receive the same
input information at the same time. Their output values are then
compared and a voter decides which output values should be used.
This model easily provides `bumpless` switchovers. This model
typically has faster switchover times than Hot Standby models, thus
the system availability is very high, but because all the units are
powered up and actively engaged with the system operation, the
system is at more risk of encountering a common mode failure across
all the units.
[0594] Deciding which unit is correct can be challenging if only
two units are used. If more than two units are used, the problem is
simpler, usually the majority wins or the two that agree win. In N
Modular Redundancy, there are three main typologies: Dual Modular
Redundancy, Triple Modular Redundancy, and Quadruple Redundancy.
Quadruple Modular Redundancy (QMR) is fundamentally similar to TMR
but using four units instead of three to increase the reliability.
The obvious drawback is the 4.times. increase in system cost.
[0595] Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) uses two functional equivalent
units, thus either can control or support the system operation. The
most challenging aspect of DMR is determining when to switch over
to the secondary unit. Because both units are monitoring the
application, a mechanism is needed to decide what to do if they
disagree. Either a tiebreaker vote or simply the secondary unit may
be designated as the default winner, assuming it is more
trustworthy than the primary unit. Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR)
uses three functionally equivalent units to provide a redundant
backup. This approach is very common in aerospace applications
where the cost of failure is extremely high. TMR is more reliable
than DMR due to two main aspects. The most obvious reason is that
two "standby" units are used instead of just one. The other reason
is that in a technique called diversity platforms or diversity
programming may be applied. In this technique, different software
or hardware platforms are used on the redundant systems to prevent
common mode failure. The voter decides which unit will actively
control the application. With TMR, the decision of which system to
trust is made democratically and the majority rules. If three
different answers are obtained, the voter must decide which system
to trust or shut down the entire system, thus the switchover
decision is straightforward and fast.
[0596] Another redundancy topology is 1:N Redundancy, where a
single backup is used for multiple systems, and this backup is able
to function in the place of any single one of the active systems.
This technique offers redundancy at a much lower cost than the
other models by using one standby unit for several primary units.
This approach only works well when the primary units all have very
similar functions, thus allowing the standby to back up any of the
primary units if one of them fails.
[0597] While the redundant data paths have been exampled with
regard to the added reliability and availability, redundant data
paths may as well be used in order to provide higher aggregated
data rate, allowing for faster response and faster transfer of data
over the multiple data paths. Further, multiple communication
routes may improve the delay through the system, in particular
where the transfer delay is statistical and practically random,
such as in packet-based delivery systems or over the Internet.
[0598] An example of part of a device 210 capable of communicating
over three networks 211a, 221b and 211c is shown in FIG. 21. The
device may be any device, and in particular any one or more of the
devices described herein such as the field unit 23, the router 21
or the router 40, or the home device 15. The device 210 includes
three interfaces 214a, 214b, and 214c, for respectively
communicating over the networks 211a, 211b, and 211c. Each of the
interfaces commonly includes all the components required for the
communication over the respective network, and adapted to the
specific network. The interface 214a includes network connection
212a connected to a modem 213a (or a transceiver in general).
Similarly, the interface 214b includes a network connection 212b
connected to a modem 213b, and the interface 214c includes network
connection 212c connected to a modem 213c. In the case of a wired
or a conductive medium, the network connection 212 is typically a
connector, while in the case of a radio-frequency and over-the-air
network, the network connection 212 is commonly an antenna. A
packet (or any otherwise formatted digital data information piece)
to be transmitted is received by the interface selector 215 via
input 217, which directs the packet to one of more of the network
interfaces 214a, 214b and 214c to be sent over the respective
networks 211a, 211b, and 211c. The interface selector 215 operation
is controlled by the computer or processor 216. The computer 216
may be in part or in whole a dedicated separated component, or may
be the same computer used by the device 210 for other device
functionalities, such as computer 53 in the sensor unit 50,
computer 63 in actuator unit 60, computer 71 in field unit 70, or
controller 147 in router 143 described herein. While device 210 is
exampled having three network interfaces 214, two, four and any
number of interfaces may be equally used for connecting to multiple
networks 211. The interface selector 215 may be hardware based,
where the input 217 is a physical port or connection, or may be
implemented in software or firmware executed by the computer 216
where the packet is received from other processes executed by the
computer or processor 216.
[0599] The networks 211a, 211b, and 211c may be similar, identical
or different from each other. For example, networks 211a and 211b
may use different, similar or the same type of medium, and may use
different, similar or the same protocol for communication over the
network medium. Similarly, networks 211a and 211c may use
different, similar or the same type of medium, and may use
different, similar or the same protocol for communication over the
network medium. In the general case, some of the networks may be
similar, identical or different from each other. The network
interfaces 214a, 214b, and 214c may be (in part or in whole)
similar, identical or different from each other. For example,
network interfaces 214a and 214b may use different, similar or the
same type of physical layer or other OSI layers, and may use
different, similar or the same type of modem 213 or network
connection 212.
[0600] In one example, some of the networks may be wired (or
otherwise conductive) while the other may be wireless (or otherwise
using non-conductive propagation). Such example is shown in FIG.
22, where networks 211a and 211b are wired networks, using wiring
222a and 222b respectively, while network 211c is a wireless
over-the-air network using radio waves. In such scenario device 220
is used, where the generic network interface 214a is implemented as
interface 224a having a wired modem 225a and connector 221a for
connecting to the mating connector 223a attached to the wiring
222a. Similarly, the generic network interface 214b is implemented
as interface 224b having a wired modem 225b and connector 221b for
connecting to the mating connector 223b attached to the wiring
222b. The generic network interface 214c is implemented as
interface 224c having a wireless modem 219 and an antenna 218 for
transmitting to, and receiving from, the wireless network 211c.
Similarly, all the networks may be wired networks, using different
types of medium, such that one or more networks uses a coaxial
cable (where the interface includes a coaxial connector and coaxial
cable modem), one or more of the other networks are using
twisted-pair (where the interface includes a cable connector and
twisted-pair modem), while one or more of the other networks are
using powerlines, telephone lines or similar, and the interfaces
are using the appropriate connectors and modems. Further, all the
networks may be wireless networks, using different types of
non-conductive medium or different types of propagation
technologies. For example, one or more networks uses a Radio
Frequency (RF) propagation (where the interface includes an antenna
and wireless modem), one or more of the other networks are using
light propagation such as over the air or fiber-optic cable (where
the interface includes a light emitter and detector and an
appropriate modem), while one or more of the other networks are
using sound based propagation (where the interface includes a sound
emitter such as a speaker and a microphone and an appropriate
modem).
[0601] Similarly, all the networks may be the same type of
geographical scale or coverage networks, such as NFC, PAN, LAN,
MAN, or WAN types. Alternatively, multiple types of geographical
scales or types may be used, such that one or more networks are
PAN, one or more of the other networks are LAN, one or more of the
other networks are WAN, and so forth. Similarly, the networks may
all use the same type of modulation, such as Amplitude Modulation
(AM), a Frequency Modulation (FM), or a Phase Modulation (PM).
Alternatively, multiple types of modulations may be used, such that
one or more networks use AM, one or more of the other networks use
FM, one or more of the other networks use PM, and so forth.
Similarly, the same of different line codes may be used among the
networks. Further, the networks may all use the same type of
duplexing, such as full-duplex, half-duplex or unidirectional.
Alternatively, multiple types of modulations may be used, such that
one or more networks use full-duplex communication, one or more of
the other networks use half-duplex, one or more of the other
networks are unidirectional, and so forth. Similarly, the same of
different data rates may be used among the networks.
[0602] The networks may be circuit-switched based such as the PSTN,
where typically two network nodes establish a dedicated
communications channel (circuit) through the network before the
nodes may communicate with each other. The circuit functions as if
the nodes were physically connected as with an electrical circuit
and guarantees the full bandwidth of the channel and remains
connected for the duration of the communication session. In circuit
switching, the bit delay is constant during a connection, as
opposed to packet switching, where packet queues may cause varying
and potentially indefinitely long packet transfer delays. Virtual
circuit switching is a packet switching technology that emulates
circuit switching, in the sense that the connection is established
before any packets are transferred, and packets are delivered in
order. The networks may be based on packet switching based where
the data to be transmitted is divided into packets transmitted
through the network independently. In packet switching, instead of
being dedicated to one communication session at a time, the network
links may be shared by packets from multiple competing
communication sessions. Similarly, the networks may be a
combination of circuit- and packet-based networks.
[0603] The networks may be private data networks where the medium
or the equipment are owned by a private entity, or where the
network is established, operated, or administered by a private
administration, or may be public data networks, which were
established or are operated for providing services to the public.
Similarly, the networks may be a combination of private and public
networks.
[0604] In one example, two or more network interfaces 214
communicate to the same network or to same network medium,
providing redundancy by having multiple interfaces, which may
function as redundant units. Such an example is shown in FIG. 22a
as device 220a. Both network interfaces 224a and 224b are
communicating over the same medium 222a, sharing the connector 221a
for connecting to the same medium 222a. Both network interfaces may
use the wiring 222a serving as the network medium simultaneously
using the FDM technique (Frequency Division Multiplexing). In such
configuration, the same network medium, such as the wiring 222a is
used for carrying two or more distinct communication signals, each
using a distinct frequency spectrum band. Such arrangement is shown
as device 220b in FIG. 22b, based on device 220a in FIG. 22a. The
network interfaces 224a and 224b are replaced with interfaces 226a
and 226b, having filters 227a and 227b respectively connected
between the respective modem and the shared connector 221a. The
filters substantially pass part of the available frequency spectrum
of the wiring 222a, allowing for concurrent transmission of two
communication signals over the same physical medium. Alternatively,
distinct modulation or coding may be used in order to carry two or
more signals over the same medium. Similarly, a single antenna may
be used as a network connection and shared by two more wireless
modems, working on the same frequency band, distinct frequency
bands, or a combination thereof. An example of sharing two
communication signals over the same medium is described in U.S.
Patent Application No. 2004/0032902 to Koifman et al., entitled:
"Modem Channel Sharing Based on Frequency Division".
[0605] The flow chart 230 shown in FIG. 23 describes the packet
handling in a multiple network connection device, such as device
210 shown in FIG. 21. A packet to be sent is received by the
interface selector 215 in step `Receive Packet` 231, for example
via port 217. In step `Check Available Interfaces` 232 the
interfaces that are available for transmission of the received
packet are identified. For example, interfaces may not be available
due to network or interface malfunction, or the interface may be
busy in transmitting former packet or data. Similarly, in
half-duplex connection, an interface may be in the state of
receiving information, hence not available for transmission at the
time of reception. Next, in `Select Interface` 233 step, an
interface to be used (or multiple interfaces) is selected out of
the available interfaces. In step `Send Packet` 234 the packet is
directed and sent to the selected interface for being transmitted
over the associated network.
[0606] In one example, the device may use a broadcast mechanism,
where the packet is sent via all available interfaces, hence
obviating the need for the `Select Interface` 233 step. Similarly,
two, three, or any other number of the available interfaces may be
used to transmit the same packet. Such mechanism allows for fault
tolerant transmission, since even in the case of communication
failure of any one of parallel transmitted packet routes, one of
the transmitted packets will arrive to the destination, thus
enhancing the system reliability. Further, such arrangement allows
for lower delay in the transmission, since the fastest
communication route among those routes that are used will determine
the transfer time. This may prove beneficial especially over the
Internet or any other packet-based network, typically where
transfer time is not guaranteed and is practically random.
[0607] Alternatively or in addition, the packet may be directed to
be transmitted over a single network using a single interface. The
selection mechanism may be designed for optimizing load balancing
over the networks, for providing higher reliability, for reducing
costs associated with the networks usage, allowing for higher total
throughput and so forth. The selection of the interface to be used
in the `Select Interface` 233 step may use the cyclic assigning
mechanism, where all interfaces are treated equally. For example,
assuming three interfaces designated as #1, #2, and #3, the first
packet will be directed to interface #1, the second packet to
interface #2, the third packet to interface #3, the fourth packet
again to interface #1, the fifth packet to interface #2, and so
forth in a cyclic pattern. In the case one of the interfaces is or
becomes unavailable upon its turn, the `next` interface is
selected. In the case of two interfaces, the arriving packets to be
sent are alternated between them. In the case when the interfaces
have the same or similar data-rate capability, the selection
mechanism is thus similar to, or the same as, common Time-Division
Multiplexing (TDM) scheme, and the interface selector 215
effectively serves as a time-division multiplexer. The data-rate
provided by the multiple network connections are thus aggregated to
provide increased throughput.
[0608] In another alternative or in addition, the interface is
randomly selected in the `Select Interface` 233 step, allowing for
`fair` and evenly distributed workload over the available network
and interfaces. The randomness may be based on a random number
generated by a random number generator. The random number generator
may be based on a physical process (such as thermal noise, shot
noise, nuclear decaying radiation, photoelectric effect or other
quantum phenomena), or on an algorithm for generating pseudo-random
numbers.
[0609] Further alternatively or in addition, a priority may be
assigned to each network interface. During operation in `Select
Interface` 233 step, the highest priority interface is assigned to
the outgoing packet. In case that this highest priority interface
is busy or otherwise unavailable, the second highest priority is
used. The third priority interface will be used only in the case
where the highest priority and the second in line interfaces are
busy or otherwise unavailable. The priorities may be pre-set, fixed
or adaptive and changing in time.
[0610] The selection of the interface to be used, or the priorities
assigned to the network interfaces, may be based on the available
networks attributes or their history. For example, based on the
costs associated with the usage of a network, the higher cost
network may have lower priority and less used than lower cost or
free network. In another example, a high quality network, such as
having a higher available bandwidth or throughput, lower
communication errors or packet loss, lower hops to destination, or
lower transfer delay time, is having higher priority that a lower
quality network. The system may use Bit Error Rate (BER), Received
Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Packet Loss Ratio (PLR), Cyclic
Redundancy Check (CRC) and other indicators or measures associated
with the communication channel associated with a network interface,
and may be based on, use, or include the methodology and schemes
described in RFC 2544 entitled: "Benchmarking Methodology for
Network Interconnect Devices", and ITU-T Y.1564 entitled: "Ethernet
Service Activation Test Methodology", which are both incorporated
in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
The network quality grade may be affected by the history of using
such a network, for example in a pre-set period before the network
interface selection process. In one example, the network interface
where the last proper packet was received from may be selected as
the interface to be used for the next packet to be transmitted. The
system may further use, or be based on, the schemes and
technologies described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,027,418 to Gan et al.
entitled: "Approach for Selecting Communications Channels Based on
Performance", which is incorporated in its entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0611] The selection of the interface to be used, or the priorities
assigned to the network interfaces, may be based on the attributes
of the packet to be sent. In one example, the selection scheme is
based on the packet destination address, where the device assigns
an outgoing interface according the destination address in the
packet, which may be a MAC or IP (such as IPv4 or IPv6) address,
based on routing tables. The routing tables may be fixed, or may
change in time. The routing tables may be dynamically updated based
on the interface from which a packet from the destination arrived
in an earlier communication, similar to a common LAN switching, as
described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,631 to Bhardwaj,
entitled: "Computer Network Switching System", which is
incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth
herein.
[0612] Alternatively or in addition, the selection of the interface
to be used, or the priorities assigned to the network interfaces,
may be based on the information source or on the source address.
The device may hold fixed or dynamic routing tables associating the
various sources of information to the available network interfaces,
such that when a packet is received, the data source is analyzed,
and upon the stored routing table information, the packet is routed
to the associated network interface. For example, a field unit may
include, or may be connected to, four sensors designated as sensors
#1, #2, #3, and #4, and may include three network interfaces,
designated as #1, #2, and #3. The routing table may associate
sensors #1 and #3 to interface #2, sensor #2 to interface #3, and
sensor #4 to interface #1. Alternatively or in addition, the
selection of the interface to be used, or the priorities assigned
to the network interfaces, may be based on the type of information
carried in the packet. For example, few types of information may be
defined in the system, designated as types #1, #2, #3, and #4. For
example, information type #1 may be associated with general
management data, information type #2 may be associated with real
time or time-sensitive information, information type #4 may be
associated with images, and information type #4 may be associated
with all other information types. The device may hold fixed or
dynamic routing tables associating the various types of information
to the available network interfaces, such that when a packet is
received, the data type is analyzed, and upon the stored routing
table information, the packet is routed to the associated network
interface.
[0613] Each of the devices in the system, such as the router (such
as router 40 in FIG. 4 or router 21 in FIG. 5h), the field unit
(such as any of field units 23), or the control server (such as
server 24), may be addressed in a digital data network. The address
may be a digital address (typically a number) for uniquely
identifying the device in one of the in-building (or in-vehicle)
networks such as one of the control networks 22 or one of the home
networks 14, in the external network such as one of the WANs 46, or
in the Internet 16. The address may be stored in a volatile or
non-volatile memory in the addressable device. A device address may
be global and recognized and used throughout the system, or may be
used in a one or more networks, such as the networks coupled to the
device and over which the device may communicate. In one example,
the address may be used for identification in the network to which
the device is coupled. Alternatively or in addition, the same
address may be used for two or all the networks in the system. The
address may be associated with the Media Access Control (MAC) layer
of the OSI reference model (or layer 2), such as MAC-48, Extended
Unique Identifier (EUI)-48, or EUI-64 addresses typically assigned
by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and
described in the IEEE 802 standard, commonly used in Ethernet,
802.11 wireless networks, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.5 token ring, FDDI,
and ITU-T G.hn. The address may be or locally administered
addresses universally administered addresses, where the address is
uniquely assigned to a device by its manufacturer. The MAC address
may be a permanent and globally unique hardware-based
identification, commonly stored in a non-volatile memory in the
device and programmed during manufacturing, however it may be
possible to change the MAC address on modern hardware. Changing MAC
addresses (known as MAC spoofing) may be used in network
virtualization or in the process of exploiting security
vulnerabilities.
[0614] Alternatively or in addition, a device may be addressable
using a layer 3 addressing, such as IP address, which may be an
IPv4 or IPv6 address, commonly software-based and assigned by the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IRNA). The IP address may be
permanently by fixed configuration of its hardware or software such
as static IP address, typically manually assigned to a device by a
human administrator. Alternatively or in addition, dynamic IP
address may be used, where new address may be assigned either
autonomously by a software in the device, or by another device via
a communication interface (at the time or power-up or booting),
such as an address assigned by a server or other device using
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). For example, the
addresses of the field units may be assigned by the router, the
in-building (or in-vehicle) computer 18, or by the control server.
Similarly, the address of the router may be assigned by the router
or by the control server or by the in-building (or in-vehicle)
computer 18.
[0615] A device may be associated with multiple addresses. For
example, a device may be addressed using multiple addresses, each
relating to a different layer of the OSI model, such as a device
having both a MAC and IP addresses. Alternatively or in addition, a
device that may communicate directly or indirectly via few
networks, may have a different addresses, each related and used in
one of the networks. For example, in the case a device may
communicate over multiple networks via different interfaces, a
distinct address may be associated with each network interface. For
example, the router 21 is shown in FIG. 16 enabled for
communicating over control network 22 via interface 146a, over the
control network 22a via interface 146b, over the home network 14a
via interface 146c, and over the Internet 16. In such a case, the
router may be addressable by four different addresses, each
associated with a distinct interface connected to a distinct
network. Similarly, the device 210 is shown in FIG. 21 to
communicate over networks 211a, 211b, and 211c via the respective
network interfaces 214a, 214b, and 214c, and may thus be associated
with three different addresses each relating to a respective
network interface 214. The network addresses may be an alternative
or an addition to the address or addresses associated with the
device itself.
[0616] In one example, the sensors and actuators are individually
addressed in the system. The field unit 60h shown in FIG. 6g
includes two actuators 61a and 61b. An address may be associated by
each actuator 61, and packets carrying commands to these actuators
may be routed to the specific actuator identified by its address.
These two actuator addresses may be in addition to two addresses
associated with the network interfaces including the modems 54 and
64 of the field unit 60h. Similarly, each sensor in the system may
be individually addressed, such as individually assigned addresses
to sensors 51a and 51b shown as part of the field unit 50g in FIG.
5g. Any packet transmitted from the field unit 50g carrying a
sensor data, may include the specific sensor address as its
identifier as the data source. These two sensor addresses may be in
addition to two addresses associated with the network interfaces
including the modems 54 and 64 of the field unit 50g. In the case
the sensor or the actuator is external to the field unit and
connected thereto, the port or connection to the sensor or actuator
will be associated with the individual address. Similarly, other
components, interfaces, or ports of the devices in the system may
be individually addressable, as an alternative or in addition to
the other device address or addresses, and thus may serve as the
destination or source addresses in the packets routed in the
system. The sensors or actuators addresses, or the related
connections or ports, may be uniquely assigned to during
manufacturing, or may be assigned by the associated field unit, or
a device communicating with the associated field unit.
[0617] While exampled above regarding a residential environment,
in-building networks, and communication between in-building devices
to devices external to the building, the system may equally apply
to vehicular environment, such as in-vehicle communication,
vehicle-to-vehicle (sometimes referred to as V2V) designed for
automobiles to communicate to each other, and communication between
the vehicle to stationary devices external to the vehicle such as
communication with or via roadside units. A vehicle is typically a
mobile unit designed or used to transport passengers or cargo
between locations, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains,
ships, aircrafts, boats, and spacecrafts. In such environment, one
(or more) of the buildings 19 above is substituted by a vehicle, as
schematically shown as arrangement 240 shown in FIG. 24, where a
car shape 241 is replacing the building 19 in the arrangement 20 of
FIG. 2 above. Similarly, the building external computer or server
24 may be substituted with a roadside computer or server, or any
intermediary device for connecting to a server or computer. The
in-building networks 22 and 14 above may be substituted with
in-vehicle networks, and the computers 18 may similarly be replaced
with in-vehicle computers. The vehicle may be travelling on land,
over or in liquid such as water, or may be airborne. The sensors
may be used to sense a phenomenon in the vehicle, external to the
vehicle, or in the surroundings around the vehicle. The actuators
may affect the vehicle itself, such as the vehicle speed, path or
direction, or may affect phenomenon external to the vehicle or in
the surroundings around the vehicle.
[0618] The vehicle may be a land vehicle typically moving on the
ground, using wheels, tracks, rails, or skies. The vehicle may be
locomotion-based where the vehicle is towed by another vehicle or
an animal. Propellers (as well as screws, fans, nozzles, or rotors)
are used to move on or through a fluid or air, such as in
watercrafts and aircrafts. The system described herein may be used
to control, monitor or otherwise be part of, or communicate with,
the vehicle motion system. Similarly, the system described herein
may be used to control, monitor or otherwise be part of, or
communicate with, the vehicle steering system. Commonly, wheeled
vehicles steer by angling their front or rear (or both) wheels,
while ships, boats, submarines, dirigibles, airplanes and other
vehicles moving in or on fluid or air usually have a rudder for
steering. The vehicle may be an automobile, defined as a wheeled
passenger vehicle that carries its own motor, and primarily
designed to run on roads, and have seating for one to six people.
Typically automobiles have four wheels, and are constructed to
principally transport of people.
[0619] Human power may be used as a source of energy for the
vehicle, such as in non-motorized bicycles. Further, energy may be
extracted from the surrounding environment, such as solar powered
car or aircraft, a street car, as well as by sailboats and land
yachts using the wind energy. Alternatively or in addition, the
vehicle may include energy storage, and the energy is converted to
generate the vehicle motion. A common type of energy source is a
fuel, and external or internal combustion engines are used to burn
the fuel (such as gasoline, diesel, or ethanol) and create a
pressure that is converted to a motion. Another common medium for
storing energy are batteries or fuel cells, which store chemical
energy used to power an electric motor, such as in motor vehicles,
electric bicycles, electric scooters, small boats, subways, trains,
trolleybuses, and trams. The system described herein may be used to
control, monitor or otherwise be part of, or communicate with, the
vehicle energy storage and conversion system. In automobiles and
other vehicles, the system may be used for control, monitoring, or
be part of, the Engine Control Unit (ECU), Transmission Control
Unit (TCU), Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), or Body Control Modules
(BCM).
[0620] The system may employ vehicular communication systems, where
vehicles may communicate and exchange information with other
vehicles and with roadside units may allow for cooperation and may
be effective in increasing safety such as sharing safety
information, safety warnings, as well as traffic information, such
as to avoid traffic congestion. In safety applications, vehicles
that discover an imminent danger or obstacle in the road may inform
other vehicles directly, via other vehicles serving as repeaters,
or via roadside units. Further, the system may help in deciding
right to pass first at intersections, and may provide alerts or
warning about entering intersections, departing highways, discovery
of obstacles, and lane change warnings, as well as reporting
accidents and other activities in the road. The system may be used
for traffic management, allowing for easy and optimal traffic flow
control, in particular in the case of specific situations such as
hot pursuits and bad weather. The traffic management may be in the
form of variable speed limits, adaptable traffic lights, traffic
intersection control, and accommodating emergency vehicles such as
ambulances, fire trucks and police cars.
[0621] The vehicular communication systems may further be used to
assist the drivers, such as helping with parking a vehicle, cruise
control, lane keeping, and road sign recognition. Similarly, better
policing and enforcement may be obtained by using the system for
surveillance, speed limit warning, restricted entries, and
pull-over commands. The system may be integrated with pricing and
payment systems such as toll collection, pricing management, and
parking payments. The system may further be used for navigation and
route optimization, as well as providing travel-related information
such as maps, business location, gas stations, and car service
locations. Similarly, the system may be used for emergency warning
system for vehicles, cooperative adaptive cruise control,
cooperative forward collision warning, intersection collision
avoidance, approaching emergency vehicle warning (Blue Waves),
vehicle safety inspection, transit or emergency vehicle signal
priority, electronic parking payments, commercial vehicle clearance
and safety inspections, in-vehicle signing, rollover warning, probe
data collection, highway-rail intersection warning, and electronic
toll collection.
[0622] The in-vehicle internal networks that interconnect the
various devices and components inside the vehicle may use any of
the technologies and protocols described herein. Alternatively or
in addition, a vehicle specialized networking may be used,
sometimes referred to as `vehicle buses`. Common protocols used by
vehicle buses include a Control Area Network (CAN) and Local
Interconnect Network (LIN). The CAN is described in the Texas
Instrument Application Report No. SLOA101A entitled: "Introduction
to the Controller Area Network (CAN)", and may be based on, or
according to, ISO 11898 standards, ISO 11992-1 standard, SAE J1939
or SAE J2411 standards, which are all incorporated in their
entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. The LIN
communication may be based on, or according to, ISO 9141, and is
described in "LIN Specification Package--Revision 2.2A" by the LIN
Consortium, which are all incorporated in their entirety for all
purposes as if fully set forth herein. In one example, the DC power
lines in the vehicle may also be used as the communication medium,
as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 7,010,050 to Maryanka,
entitled: "Signaling over Noisy Channels", which is incorporated in
its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0623] The system may be integrated or communicating with, or
connected to, the vehicle self-diagnostics and reporting
capability, commonly referred to as On-Board Diagnostics (OBD), to
a Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL), or to any other vehicle
network, sensors, or actuators that may provide the vehicle owner
or a repair technician access to health or state information of the
various vehicle sub-systems and to the various computers in the
vehicle. Common OBD systems, such as the OBD-II and the EOBD
(European On-Board Diagnostics), employ a diagnostic connector,
allowing for access to a list of vehicle parameters, commonly
including Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) and Parameters
IDentification numbers (PIDs). The OBD-II is described in the
presentation entitled:"Introduction to On Board Diagnostics (II)"
downloaded on Nov. 2012 from:
http://groups.engin.umd.umich.edu/vi/w2_workshops/OBD_ganesan_w2.pdf,
which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein. The diagnostic connector commonly includes pins
that provide power for the scan tool from the vehicle battery, thus
eliminating the need to connect a scan tool to a power source
separately. The status and faults of the various sub-systems
accessed via the diagnostic connector may include fuel and air
metering, ignition system, misfire, auxiliary emission control,
vehicle speed and idle control, transmission, and the on-board
computer. The diagnostics system may provides access and
information about the fuel level, relative throttle position,
ambient air temperature, accelerator pedal position, air flow rate,
fuel type, oxygen level, fuel rail pressure, engine oil
temperature, fuel injection timing, engine torque, engine coolant
temperature, intake air temperature, exhaust gas temperature, fuel
pressure, injection pressure, turbocharger pressure, boost
pressure, exhaust pressure, exhaust gas temperature, engine run
time, NOx sensor, manifold surface temperature, and the Vehicle
Identification Number (VIN). The OBD-II specifications defines the
interface and the physical diagnostic connector to be according to
the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J1962 standard, the
protocol may use SAE J1850 and may be based on SAE J1939 Surface
Vehicle Recommended Practice entitled: "Recommended Practice for a
Serial Control and Communication Vehicle Network" or SAE J1939-01
Surface Vehicle Standard entitled: "Recommended Practice for
Control and Communication Network for On-Highway Equipment", and
the PIDs are defined in SAE International Surface Vehicle Standard
J1979 entitled: "E/E Diagnostic Test Modes", which are all
incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set
forth herein. Vehicle diagnostics systems are also described in the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9141 standard
entitled: "Road vehicles--Diagnostic systems.", and the ISO 15765
standard entitled: "Road vehicles--Diagnostics on Controller Area
Networks (CAN)", which are all incorporated in their entirety for
all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0624] The physical layer of the in-vehicle network may be based
on, or according to, J1939-11 Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice
entitled: "Physical Layer, 250K bits/s, Twisted Shielded Pair" or
J1939-15 Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice entitled: "Reduced
Physical Layer, 250K bits/s, Un-Shielded Twisted Pair (UTP)", the
data link may be based on, or according to, J1939-21 Surface
Vehicle Recommended Practice entitled: "Data Link Layer", the
network layer may be based on, or according to, J1939-31 Surface
Vehicle Recommended Practice entitled: "Network Layer", the network
management may be based on, or according to, J1939-81 Surface
Vehicle Recommended Practice entitled: "Network Management", and
the application layer may be based on, or according to, J1939-71
Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice entitled: "Vehicle Application
Layer (through December 2004)", J1939-73 Surface Vehicle
Recommended Practice entitled: "Application Layer--Diagnostics",
J1939-74 Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice entitled:
"Application--Configurable Messaging", or J1939-75 Surface Vehicle
Recommended Practice entitled: "Application Layer--Generator Sets
and Industrial", which are all incorporated in their entirety for
all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
[0625] In one example, the router or a field unit is connected to,
or communicating with, a diagnostic system (such as OBD-II) in a
vehicle. Such communication may use OZEN Electronik EDBO/OBDII to
RS-232 gateway P/N-OE90C4000, described in the data sheet
"EDBO/OBDII to RS-232 gateway P/N-OE90C4000" by OZEN Electronik,
which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully
set forth herein.
[0626] For example, the router or the field unit may connect to the
diagnostic connector for accessing the various sensors or actuators
coupled to the connector, or for accessing information available
via the connector. Further, the router or the field unit may be
powered in part or in whole from the power available at the
diagnostics connector, and may communicate over (or be part of) the
diagnostics network in the vehicle.
[0627] The system may be used to measure, sense, or analyze the
changes over time of a controlled item 254, and may use the
arrangement 250 shown in FIG. 25. The controlled item may be an
environment, a phenomenon, or any controlled item. The actuator
251, which corresponds to any actuator described herein, receives
actuator command a(t) from the control logic 253 (preferably as an
electrical signal), and in response to the actuator 251
characteristic c(t) impacts the controlled item 254 by an output
u(t). The control logic 253 corresponds to, is based on, includes,
or is part of, the logic 173 or any other control process described
herein. The change in the controlled item 254 is measured by the
sensor 252 as input y(t), which is impacted by the controlled item
254 transfer function p(t). The sensor 252 converts the sensed
phenomenon y(t), and converts it to a signal f(t) using the sensor
transfer function s(t). The signal (preferably an electrical
signal) f(t) is sent to the control logic 253. Assuming the
elements are linear and time-invariant, then the system can be
analyzed using Laplace transform, where A(s), C(s), U(s), P(s),
Y(s), S(s), and F(s) are the respective transformed representations
of a(t), c(t), u(t), p(t), y(t), s(t), and f(t) respectively, and
where U(s)=A(s)*C(s), Y(s)=U(s)*P(s), and F(s)=Y(s)*S(s). In one
example, the controlled item 254 is a temperature in a room, the
actuator 251 is a heater for heating the room, and the sensor 252
is a temperature sensor measuring the temperature of the room, and
the room temperature may be controlled in an open or closed loop by
the control logic 253, for example in order to achieve a pre-set
temperature in the room.
[0628] By generating or excitation of an actuator command and
measuring the resulting sensor output, the control logic 253 or the
system in general may measure, sense, estimate, or analyze the
behavior or characteristic p(t) of the controlled item 254. Since
P(s)=Y(s)/U(s)=F(s)/[S(s)*A(s)*C(s)], and since C(s) and S(s) are
known as the transfer function of the actuator 251 and the sensor
252 respectively, and since A(s) is the activation or excitation
signal and F(s) is the signal received from the actuator, P(s) can
be calculated. The value of, or any change in P(s) over time, or
any conditioning or manipulating of the calculated P(s) may be used
as a sensor data in the system, and thus may be part of the system
control logic. Such calculation may be used to sense or measure a
phenomenon that is not directly measured or sensed by using a
corresponding sensor. For example, the calculation may be used as a
sensor data for other control loops in the system, for setpoint
adjustment of other control loop, or used for user notification.
The control logic may initiate such measurement cycle periodically,
upon power up, upon the user control (for example via a user
device), or as part of a regular control.
[0629] In one example, the controlled item 254 is a temperature in
a room, the actuator 251 is a heater for heating the room, and the
sensor 252 is a temperature sensor measuring the temperature of the
room. The chart 260 in FIG. 26 shows the heater command a(t) in
graph 261, and graphs 262 shows the temperature sensor output f(t),
along the time axis 263. Before time point t1, the system is in a
steady state, where the heater level of heating is a1 and the
temperature measured is f1. For example, a1 may be zero (no
heating), and the temperature f1 is corresponding to 20.degree. C.,
which may be the environment temperature. At time point t1, the
heater is activated (or the heating level increases) to constant
level a2. As a response, the room temperature, as measured by the
temperature sensor, will start to rise, as shown in graph 262a. The
rate of rising is dependent upon the room isolation, other heat
sources in the room, the room size and volume, and other
parameters. For example, in the case the room isolation is affected
by an open door or open window, the temperature rise may be at a
lower rate, such as shown in graph 262c. Similarly, in the case a
human enters the room (acting as a heat source), electrical
equipment is turned on and dissipates heat, or the isolation is
improved by closing a door, the rate of the temperature rise may be
higher, such as in graph 262b. Hence, by analyzing the temperature
change in the room versus the heater command, the room environment
may be sensed, for example for sensing if the room door is open or
closed, or serve as an occupancy sensor that a human is in the
room, as a substitute (or in addition) to a direct and dedicated
door or occupancy sensor. A simple analysis may include time
measuring, such as checking the room measured temperature versus a
threshold f2 264. In the case the door is half closed, the room
temperature will rise according to graph 262a, crossing the
threshold f2 occurs at time point t3. In the case the door is fully
closed thus providing better isolation, the room temperature will
rise according to graph 262b, crossing the threshold f2 occurs at
time point t2, and in the case the door is open thus providing poor
isolation, the room temperature will rise according to graph 262c,
crossing the threshold f2 occurs at time point t4. The period
measured from the heater excitation t1 to the various threshold f2
crossing points (such as t2-t1, t3-t1, and t441) may serve as an
indicator or sensor to the door status.
[0630] The arrangement 255 shown in FIG. 25a is a common closed
loop control, where the control logic 258 (corresponding to the
control logic 253) includes a reference input r(t), a substractor
257, and a control block 256, which may for example be a PID unit
for forming a PID closed loop. Similar to the above scenario, the
p(t) may be estimated by measuring f(t) versus the excitation a(t).
In one example, such a loop uses a bang-bang control, where the
heater has a fixed single heating state, generating a set heat.
Assuming that in order to keep a pre-set temperature in a room
(e.g. 20.degree. C.) the heater is operating, and the loop causes a
duty cycle of the heater operation to be 50%. In the case the
control loop raises the duty-cycle to 70% (with the same set point)
it may indicate an open door or a human leaving the room.
Similarly, in the case the control loop lowers the duty-cycle to
30% (with the same set point) it may indicate close door or a human
entering the room.
[0631] To allow communications between devices, a computing or
networking device preferably includes a network interface or an
adapter, such as communication interface 141 or interface 214.
While the preferred embodiment contemplates that communications
will be exchanged primarily via Ethernet, Internet or a broadband
network, other means of exchanging communications are also
contemplated. For example, a wireless access interface that
receives and processes information exchanged via a wireless
communications medium, such as, cellular communication technology,
satellite communication technology, Bluetooth technology, WAP
(Wireless Access Point) technology, or similar means of wireless
communication can be utilized by the general purpose computing
devices. Such an interface commonly includes a connector for wired
or conductive medium, an antenna for over-the-air radio-frequency
based communication and fiber-optic connector for fiber-optic cable
based medium. A transceiver (transmitter/receiver set) is coupled
to the connector or antenna, for transmitting to, and receiving
from, the communication medium. A transmitter may be capable of
operating at serial bit rates above 1 Gigabit/second, and a wired
transmitter commonly uses differential signaling and low voltages
for faster switching, such as MOS Current Mode Logic (MCML) based
technology. The transmitter may use pre-emphasis or de-emphasis to
shape the transmitted signal to compensate for expected losses and
distortion. The line-code may employ self-clocking and other
encoding schemes, and control information is transmitted along with
the data for error detection, alignment, clock correction, and
channel bonding. Some popular encoding schemes are 8B/10B, 64B/66B,
and 64B/67B. A receiver is commonly designed to mate with the
corresponding transmitter and to recover the data and clock from
the received signals, and commonly use equalization, and may
further include impedance matching termination. Phase Locked Loops
(PLLs) are commonly used for clock reconstruction and for achieving
a serial clock that is an exact multiple of the parallel data. The
receiver commonly decodes the received signal, and detects
encoding-based errors. The byte boundaries and other alignment
schemes may also be performed by the receivers. A transceiver may
include a modem (MOdulator-DEModulator), that modulates an analog
carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates
such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information,
typically in order to produce a signal that can be transmitted
easily over a communication medium and be decoded to reproduce the
original digital data.
[0632] Any networking protocol may be utilized for exchanging
information between the nodes in the network (e.g., field units,
router or gateway, a PC) within the network (such as the Internet).
For example, it is contemplated that communications can be
performed using TCP/IP. Generally, HTTP and HTTPS are utilized on
top of TCP/IP as the message transport envelope. These two
protocols are able to deal with firewall technology better than
other message management techniques. However, partners may choose
to use a message-queuing system instead of HTTP and HTTPS if
greater communications reliability is needed. A non-limiting
example of a message queuing system is IBM's MQ-Series or the
Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ). The system described hereinafter is
suited for both HTTP/HTTPS, message-queuing systems, and other
communications transport protocol technologies. Furthermore,
depending on the differing business and technical requirements of
the various partners within the network, the physical network may
embrace and utilize multiple communication protocol
technologies.
[0633] The system may provide improved agility by allowing rapidly
and inexpensively to provision infrastructure resources such as
resources available at the remote control server, and may further
provide easy accessibility to software in the control server, in
the router, or in the field unit using Application Programming
Interface (API). Using a cloud-based control server or using the
system above may allow for reduced capital or operational
expenditures. The users may further access the system using a web
browser regardless of their location or what device they are using,
and the virtualization technology allows servers and storage
devices to be shared and utilization be increased.
[0634] The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and
equivalents of all means plus function elements in the claims below
are intended to include any structure, or material, for performing
the function in combination with other claimed elements as
specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has
been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is
not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the
form disclosed. The present invention should not be considered
limited to the particular embodiments described above, but rather
should be understood to cover all aspects of the invention as
fairly set out in the attached claims. Various modifications,
equivalent processes, as well as numerous structures to which the
present invention may be applicable, will be readily apparent to
those skilled in the art to which the present invention is directed
upon review of the present disclosure.
[0635] The control server 24 or 48 hardware, software, or
functionality may be installed, operated, maintained, supported, or
hosted by a business entity. The business entity may license or
otherwise monetize the functionality as a service, similar to any
SaaS business model. The service may be provided as a one-time,
upfront fee paid license, or according to the usage of the control
server. Further, the service may be charged per user, per time, per
transaction or event, or per the communicated data amount. In one
example, the business entity is the ISP that connects the building
(or the vehicle) to the Internet (such as ISP server 47 operator),
or the WAN provider, such as the telephone company (`Telco`) or the
CATV provider owning or operating the wiring of the external
network such as WAN 46. Similarly, a cellular network operator may
be the business entity in the case the WAN 46 is based on cellular
communication. Such Added Revenue Per User (ARPU) is beneficial to
most communication service providers, since the additional revenues
do not require any additional infrastructure investment. In one
example, the communication service provider (such as the WAN 46
operator) may provide the router 40 for a nominal cost or even
lower than nominal (e.g. free), wherein the ARPU covers the initial
cost after a time. The control server service may be billed as a
one-time fee, a flat-fee per period (e.g., monthly or annually),
per a communication session, per length of the communication
sessions, per the amount of information transferred in a session,
per type of communication sessions (e.g., status, control, or
alert) or any combination thereof. The business method and the
system may be based on, or comprise, the structure and
functionalities described in U.S. Patent Application No.
2005/0216302 to Raji et al., entitled: "Business Method for
Premises Management".
[0636] All publications, standards, patents, and patent
applications cited in this specification are incorporated herein by
reference as if each individual publication, patent, or patent
application were specifically and individually indicated to be
incorporated by reference and set forth in its entirety herein.
* * * * *
References