Wireless Event Notification with Buffered Commands for IoT Battery Life
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communication systems for IoT devices, such as security systems, face inefficiencies in battery life due to frequent awakenings to monitor beacons for buffered packets and unknown latencies in cloud communications, leading to suboptimal performance and shortened battery life.
Innovation Solution
A method that eliminates the need for IoT devices to track AP beacons by using a non-beacon-tracking communication system, where devices enter sleep and awake states based on predefined intervals and heartbeats, and a controller buffers commands until the device is ready to receive them, optimizing battery life and reducing energy consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If IoT devices wake up frequently to monitor beacons for buffered packets, then packet delivery reliability is improved, but battery life is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having the controller buffer commands before the IoT device wakes up. The controller receives and stores commands in advance, then transmits them during the device's awake period, eliminating the need for frequent wake-ups to check for buffered packets.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller acts as an intermediary between the user application and the IoT device. It buffers commands and manages the timing of command transmission, decoupling the device's sleep schedule from the command delivery timing while ensuring reliable delivery during awake periods.
2Reliability
If awake periods are extended to reduce packet drop risk, then packet delivery reliability is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Commands are buffered in advance by the controller before the IoT device wakes up. This preliminary buffering ensures that all commands are ready for immediate transmission during the device's awake period, eliminating packet drops without requiring extended awake periods.
3Reliability
If the system uses traditional Wi-Fi PSM with beacon monitoring, then packet delivery reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the beacon monitoring function from the IoT device, transferring this responsibility to the controller. The device no longer needs to actively monitor beacons or manage buffered packet checks, simplifying its operation while maintaining reliable command delivery through the controller's buffering mechanism.
4Productivity
If frequent communications are implemented for security system effectiveness, then system responsiveness is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses periodic heartbeats instead of frequent bidirectional communications. The IoT device sends periodic heartbeats to maintain the link, and the controller uses these opportunities to transmit buffered commands, achieving system responsiveness with minimal device energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller continuously maintains the Wi-Fi link and buffers commands during the device's sleep period, ensuring continuous system operation without requiring the device to be frequently awake for communications.
Data Source
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AI summary
An event notification system (20) comprising: a wireless device (22) including a sensor (50) for detecting an event; a gateway device (24); a controller (28) configured to send commands to the wireless device and through the gateway device; and a user application (26) configured to send sensor enable and disable commands (104, 102) to the controller, wherein the sensor enable command (104) is sent to the wireless device through the gateway within periodic awake intervals of the wireless device, and the sensor disable command (102) is sent to the wireless device within periodic awake intervals of the wireless device or after the controller receives an event condition (100) from the wireless device through the gateway.