IP Verse

Apparatus and method for integrating short-range wireless personal area networks for a wireless local area network infrastructure

Patent No. US8599814 (titled "Apparatus and method for integrating short-range wireless personal area networks for a wireless local area network infrastructure") on Jul 27, 2012. The application was issued on Dec 3, 2013.

What is this patent about?

'814 is related to the field of wireless communication, specifically the integration of short-range Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) into longer-range Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). The background involves the increasing prevalence of WLANs (e.g., 802.11x) and the desire to connect low-power, battery-operated devices (typical of WPANs) to these WLANs without significantly impacting battery life. Prior solutions suffered from high power consumption due to the overhead of the WLAN protocol.

The underlying idea behind '814 is to create a wireless hub that acts as a bridge between a WLAN and a WPAN. This hub maintains connections to both networks, allowing data to be forwarded between them. Critically, the hub allows low-power WPAN devices to communicate over the longer-range WLAN without requiring the WPAN devices to implement the full, power-hungry WLAN protocol. The hub handles the WLAN communication, shielding the WPAN devices from its overhead.

The claims of '814 focus on a network-enabled hub that facilitates data communication between wireless devices. This hub has an interface to a wireless radio, logic for processing and generating data, and logic for maintaining wireless network connections using two protocols. One protocol is for a WLAN, and the other is for a WPAN. The hub maintains these connections simultaneously in a common wireless space. The claims also cover the data forwarding logic that moves data between the WLAN and WPAN.

In practice, the invention envisions a scenario where battery-powered sensors or peripherals in a WPAN can communicate with devices on a WLAN (and potentially the Internet) through the wireless hub. The hub, which is typically mains-powered, handles the power-intensive WLAN communication, allowing the WPAN devices to remain in a low-power state most of the time. This is achieved by using a modified communication protocol for the WPAN that is partially compliant with the WLAN protocol, minimizing the power needed for the WPAN devices to maintain a connection.

The key differentiation from prior approaches lies in the simultaneous maintenance of WLAN and WPAN connections within the hub and the use of a modified, lower-power protocol for the WPAN. This avoids the need for WPAN devices to fully implement the WLAN standard, which would significantly reduce their battery life. The hub effectively acts as a translator, allowing seamless integration of low-power WPAN devices into the broader WLAN infrastructure, enabling remote monitoring and control of these devices.

How does this patent fit in bigger picture?

Technical Landscape

In the mid-2000s when ’814 was filed, wireless networking was typically implemented using distinct hardware for different communication ranges, where systems commonly relied on separate radio transceivers to handle local area and personal area connections. At a time when power-sensitive battery-operated devices were often isolated from broader network infrastructures due to high protocol overhead, hardware and software constraints made it non-trivial to maintain simultaneous connectivity across different network scales without significant power penalties. Engineering practices generally required devices to switch between protocols in a manner that often resulted in a loss of synchronization or association with the primary network access point.

Prosecution Position

The examiner allowed the application because the claims specify a unique relationship where a second wireless protocol acts as an overlay to a first protocol. Specifically, the examiner noted that while the two protocols are partially consistent, they are not identical, and the second protocol is a modified version of the first that allows for shared communication space. The key technical distinction was that signals from the second protocol are designed to intentionally overlap with or affect the same antennas used by the first protocol, yet the system is still able to maintain active connections for both networks. The examiner found that prior art failed to teach this specific overlay method where one protocol is a modification of the other and both utilize the same antenna hardware in a shared space.

Claims

This patent contains 29 claims, of which claims 1, 14, 19, and 27 are independent. The independent claims are generally directed to a network-enabled hub or an electronic device that facilitates data communication between wireless devices using different wireless network protocols, particularly an overlay protocol. The dependent claims generally elaborate on specific features, configurations, and applications of the network-enabled hub and electronic device described in the independent claims.

Key Claim Terms New

Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.

Term (Source)Support for SpecificationInterpretation
Common wireless space
(Claim 1, Claim 14, Claim 19, Claim 27)		The present invention generally relates to wireless communications. More particularly, the invention relates to seamlessly integrating short-range wireless personal area networks (“WPANs”) into longer-range wireless local area networks (“WLANs”).A shared wireless environment where a first wireless network protocol and a second wireless network protocol can have their connections maintained, at times, simultaneously with each other.
Data forwarding logic
(Claim 1, Claim 14, Claim 27)		Advantageously, the present invention extends the communication range of power-sensitive battery-operated devices and allows power-sensitive battery operated devices to become part of the larger WLAN infrastructure, thus enabling monitoring and control from any location that is within the range covered by the WLAN In addition, since battery-operated devices are IP addressable and since the AP of the WLAN can be connected to the Internet via an Internet router, the battery-operated devices may be monitored and controlled from any location when access to the Internet is available.Logic implemented in the network-enabled hub using hardware and/or software, that forwards data between an originating node and a destination node, where the originating node is a node in one of the first and second wireless networks and the destination node is a node in the other of the first and second wireless networks.
Network-enabled hub
(Claim 1, Claim 14, Claim 27)		A wireless hub for integrating a wireless personal area network (“WPAN”) seamlessly into a wireless local area network (“WLAN”) includes, in part, a wireless circuit compliant with the WLAN standard, a processor coupled to the wireless circuit and a memory module that is coupled to the wireless circuit and the processor.A hub that facilitates data communication between wireless devices that communicate indirectly through it. It includes an interface to a wireless radio circuit, logic for processing and generating data, logic for initiating and maintaining wireless network connections, and data forwarding logic.
Overlay protocol
(Claim 1, Claim 14, Claim 19, Claim 27)		In accordance with one embodiment, the software platform allows the wireless circuit to connect to the WPAN, without losing connectivity (such as association and synchronization) to the WLAN. In another embodiment, the wireless circuit is configured to connect to the WLAN and WPAN alternately.A second wireless network protocol that is partially consistent with a first wireless network protocol, where communications using the second wireless network protocol impinge on at least some antennae used for the first wireless network.
Wireless radio circuit
(Claim 1, Claim 14, Claim 19, Claim 27)		A wireless hub for integrating a wireless personal area network (“WPAN”) seamlessly into a wireless local area network (“WLAN”) includes, in part, a wireless circuit compliant with the WLAN standard, a processor coupled to the wireless circuit and a memory module that is coupled to the wireless circuit and the processor.A circuit that can send and receive data wirelessly, providing the hub with bi-directional wireless data communication capability.

Litigation Cases New

US Latest litigation cases involving this patent.

Case NumberFiling DateTitle
6:22-cv-00642Jun 21, 2022Ozmo Licensing LLC v. Dell Technologies Inc. et al
1:23-cv-00747Jun 21, 2022Ozmo Licensing LLC v. Dell Technologies Inc. et al
6:21-cv-01225Nov 24, 2021Ozmo Licensing LLC v. Acer Inc. et al

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US8599814

Application Number
US13560917A
Filing Date
Jul 27, 2012
Publication Date
Dec 3, 2013
External Links
Slate, USPTO, Google Patents