IR/RF LOCATOR
Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for locating a device or person inside an enclosure such as an office building, hospital or factory and the like. More specifically this invention relates to an apparatus for the determination of the location of a person or device inside a building using infrared and radio frequency (rf) signals.
Background Of The Invention
In U.S. Patents 4,275,385 and 5,103,108 infrared communication systems are described wherein a person or device carries a portable infrared transceiver with which signals can be relayed via ceiling located modules. This infrared communication technique has been extended so that a central locating facility can determine the location of the portable infrared transceiver, see for example U.S. Patent 5,319,191. This is done by placing an infrared communicator in each room of an enclosure and providing suitable cabling from each room located module to a central control facility. The latter may then determine from the code signals from the portable infrared device where the person or apparatus is located.
A problem with such infrared communication system is that each of the room located infrared modules needs to be connected by cable to a central control. The cabling is expensive to install and available cabling is not always suitable for communication at the desired transmission rate. The cabling costs can constitute between 30 to 60 percent of the costs for an entire infrared communication system.
Another problem is found to arise in areas where a multiple of fixed IR units are used. In such a situation a portable device may be reported to be in more than one area at a time by different responding fixed IR units. To resolve such ambiguity, the infrared signal strength is measured and reported along with the identification codes to enable a central processor to determine the most likely location for the portable device. To enable a reliable determination of the location or when a portable device has left an area, an impracticably accurate (i.e. +/- 1 db) logarithmic signal strength measurement is required. Such measurements impose expensive hardware requirements, which in the face of the high cabling costs for the wiring of the fixed IR units drive the price of an IR locator system too high for many applications.
When an IR locator system employs a regularly transmitting IR portable badge to a fixed IR receiving unit, frequent location updates, of the order of 20 times a minute, are needed to keep track of the IR portable device. Such updates determine the time before one can note that a person or apparatus bearing the badge has changed location. Since, several seconds for such determination can be too long, an increase in the transmission rate would be needed. In such case, however, the drain on the portable device's battery increases and its corresponding useful life or recharge interval is unacceptably reduced. One can increase the battery size, but this also represents an undesirable expense and an overly heavy badge.
RF devices for locating and monitoring people are described in U.S.
Patents 4,598,275; 4,814,751 ; 5,153,584; and 5,317,309. Such systems tend to propagate through walls of a room so that the precise room location of a person is not always available. Such RF systems are prone to interference from extraneous sources and from other users at the same frequencies.
These shortcomings of the prior art IR locator systems are avoided with an IR locator system in accordance with the invention.
Summary Of The Invention
With a communication system in accordance with the invention, advan- tages of infrared and RF communications are advantageously combined to provide an accurate and convenient-to-install person or apparatus locator. This is achieved, as described for one embodiment in accordance with the invention, by providing portable transceivers which have infrared receivers and RF transmitters. The portable transceivers receive infrared location coded signals from enclosure or room located infrared transmitters and retransmit these at RF carrier frequencies to a central unit after combining the location coded signals with personal identification number (PIN) signals. These PIN signals are assigned to the person or apparatus whose location in a building is to be monitored.
With a communication system in accordance with the invention reliance upon the need for cabling is advantageously eliminated and reliable communication is obtained. The stationary infrared transmitters are distributed throughout a building to regularly transmit an infrared location coded signal that is prearranged to identify a particular zone or room. The portable transceivers detect
IR location signals from the respective stationary IR transmitters, combine location codes with the portable's PIN number and as necessary, retransmit these at an
RF carrier frequency to a central unit. The RF transmission is done in either repeated short bursts or with low duty cycles, and preferably with random spacing in time, so that a plurality of portable transceivers can utilize the same carrier frequency even when at times the RF transmissions from the portable transceiver may occur at the same time.
As described herein for one embodiment in accordance with the invention a unique rapid and sensitive technique for determining changes in location of a portable IR transceiver device is provided. This is obtained by utilizing fixed IR beacons which transmit IR location signals at a continuously active and common IR carrier frequency. A portable IR receiver is used with an FM receiver section, having the usual FM characteristics. Hence, the IR FM receiver captures and responds to the strongest IR beacon signal whenever several beacon signals are simultaneously incident upon the portable IR receiver. With such an IR receiver, vastly improved discrimination between different IR beacon signals is obtained so that the most likely location of a portable IR device can be much more accurately and cost effectively determined.
Since the use of a portable transceiver having an IR receiver section and an RF transmitter tends to demand a relatively high amount of battery power, if the RF transmission is to be transmitted at regular short intervals, a preferred technique is used to limit RF transmission to those occasions when they are needed. For example, in one technique in accordance with the invention the continued presence of an IR portable device at the same location is sensed and as long as this continues an RF transmission is not needed. When a change in location occurs and this is sensed by RF transmission control circuitry inside the IR portable device, an RF transmission of the new location is made.
Because the IR transmitter is stationary and has access to much more power than the conventional "IR transmitting portable" approach, it is possible to have it transmit a continuous FM stream of repeating data packets containing the location code. These packets can repeat every few milliseconds. Such an arrangement offers great advantages for the portables: First, each portable can be programmed to review its location as often as is desired for that application. A portable attached to a piece of equipment for example may be programmed to review its location only once a minute thus saving battery power. A portable on a
fast moving fork lift truck may be programmed to review its location every tenth of a second. The stationary IR transmitter is unchanged for both applications. Secondly, because there is no need to wait for an IR location packet, a great deal of battery drain is conserved because the portable can wake up, energize its receiver, read its location, decide whether to transmit an RF burst and go back to a timed sleep all within a few milliseconds. Doing this, it is possible to reduce battery current to a fraction of what is currently required.
Because the proposed architecture uses a stationary IR transmitter and a portable RF link to the central equipment, it is uniquely advantageous for incorporation in indoor wireless PBX systems having RF handsets. In this case the required RF update packet transmission is accomplished as part of the handset's normal RF handshaking with the system and the controller function is incorporated in the handset's controller. Only a miniature IR receiver needs to be added.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a reliable IR locator system which can be provided at reasonable costs and provides accurate and timely locating capability and can be operated with extended battery life for the IR portable device.
It is, a further object of the invention to provide a method and system for determining the location of a person or apparatus within a building without requiring an expensive cumbersome installation of additional communication cables to each of a plurality of individual zones in the building.
These and other advantages and objects of the invention can be understood from the following description of several illustrative embodiments in accordance with the invention as shown in the drawings.
Brief Description Of The Drawings
Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a building in which a locating system in accordance with the invention is installed;
Figure 2 is a block diagram view of a portable transceiver and locating system in accordance with the invention for use in the system shown in Figure 1 ;
Figure 3 is a timing diagram of RF transmission bursts from several transceivers in accordance with the invention to illustrate a minimization of signal interference;
Figure 4 is a more detailed block diagram view of a portable system in accordance with the invention;
Figure 5 is a schematic block diagram of still another embodiment in accordance of the invention;
Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating one example for the operation of a microprocessor used in an IR portable device of this invention;
Figure 7 is a more detailed flow chart illustrating additional steps used in a program for operating a microprocessor used in an IR portable device in accordance with the invention;
Figure 8 is a block diagram view of a portable IR transceiver in accordance with the invention and using an ASK IR transmission technique;
Figure 9 is a flow chart for the operation of a microprocessor used in an
ASK IR transceiver technique as shown in Figure 8.
Detailed Description of Drawings
In Figure 1 a building 10 is illustrated having a plurality of separate zones 12, which typically coincide with the individual rooms or zones within the building 10. The use of decimals after numbers signify like items but at different locations. Each of the rooms 12 is provided with an infrared transmitter 14, identified as, a beacon signal generating local unit (L.U.), and which typically sends out very short bursts of infrared (IR) location signals at regular intervals. The intervals are preferably randomly selected by setting appropriate components during the manufacture of the transmitters 14.
The IR transmitters 14 may be mounted from the ceilings 16 or on the walls
18 of the rooms or mounted at an ac receptacle as in zone 12.5. The IR transmitters can be battery powered or when mounted at ac receptacles be activated from available ac power. When an IR transmitter 14 is located at a low room level as shown in room 12.5 and a large obstruction such as 20 is nearby, IR communica- tion is still possible by virtue of IR reflections from a ceiling 16.5 and/or a wall as shown for room 12.5.
Each IR transmitter beacon 14 sends out a unique IR ID (identification) signal from a memory store and which can be identified at a central control as originating from a particular zone or room 12, Figure 1. The IR location or ID signals may, for example, be transmitted at an IR carrier frequency that is typically above 400 KHz so as to avoid signal interference from fluorescent lamps and be in the form of bursts of the order of about 3 milliseconds long at intervals of once every 5 seconds. Different burst durations and repetition intervals can be accommodated.
Portable transceivers 22, or badges as they are sometimes called, are provided for persons or apparatuses. These transceivers each include an IR
receiver 24 and an RF transmitter 26 which are coupled to each other. Hence, RF transmitters 26 can re-transmit received IR location signals at an RF carrier frequency to a remote central control system 28. These transmissions do not always have to occur at the rate that IR location code signals are received if the resulting RF transmissions from multiple RF transmitters creates interference problems.
As shown in Figures 2 and 4 each portable transceiver 22 includes an IR detector 30 which detects the infrared location or ID signals from the various IR stationary transmitters 14 and temporarily stores the detected location code in a memory 15 of a microprocessor 32. A personal identification number, a PIN, associated with a particular person or equipment, is stored in a memory 34 for as long as the person or equipment is associated with the particular transceiver 22.
A multiplexer, which can be a part of the signal processor 32, is activated at predetermined intervals by a pulse on a line 38 from an interval timer 39. The timer is activated by pulses from a divider network 40 driven by a signal from an oscillator 42. The microprocessor 32 transfers the location code detected by the IR detector 30 and the PIN signal from memory 34 in sequence to a modulator 44 to modulate an RF carrier signal obtained from a carrier signal generator 43 driven by oscillator 42.
The modulated carrier signal is transmitted by an antenna 45 to an antenna 47 of an RF receiver 46 in the central control station 28, see Figure 1. The output from receiver 46 is decoded by a decoding network 48 to reproduce the location signal on line 50 and the personal identification signal on line 52. These signals are associated with each other and so used in the signal processor 56 to determine where a particular person or piece of equipment is located.
In the system of Figures 1 and 2 the bursts of RF transmissions from a transceiver occur as shown in Figure 3 separated by intervals T. It should be understood, however, that the portable devices can do either such store and
forwarding or immediately transmit received IR local zone codes followed by PIN codes. The intervals T are preferably slightly different for each transceiver 22 so that in the aggregate relatively few instances of interference from simultaneously transmitted bursts occur. For example, if the duration of a burst is designated as Tx and the time between bursts is for example 10,000TX then for different transceivers 22 different repetition rates are employed such as 9,990TX 9,970TX etc. In this manner the chances for any one transmission to step on that from another transceiver is reduced to a very low level even when a substantial number of transceivers 22 are employed at one facility 10.
With an IR/RF locator system in accordance with the invention the wiring of the various IR transmitters 14 to a central control can be avoided. The common RF frequency employed can be designated particularly for the facility 10 and interference from other RF sources minimized with appropriate isolation techniques.
Having thus described several embodiments of the invention its advantages can be appreciated. Variations from the described embodiments can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the embodiment described herein for Figures 1-4 employed portable systems formed of an RF transmitter and an IR receiver and a stationary IR location transmitter. This arrangement can be reversed whereby the portable unit 22 is formed of an I R PIN code transmitter only and the stationary local unit 14 has an IR receiver such as 24 and an RF transmitter such as 26. The portable unit 22 then transmits its PIN code at regular intervals, and the stationary unit 14 receives and detects this PIN code and transmits this with its stored location or ID code to the base system 28 using RF.
In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 5 portable IR transceivers 70 are used as portable badges or devices and communicate with fixed IR beacons 72
located in a manner as previously described in connection with Figure 1. The IR beacons 72 transmit using a common IR carrier as illustrated at 74 with a location code 76 FM modulating the carrier 74. Other signals can of course also be transmitted by the beacons 72 to portable devices 70. The IR beacons' repetition intervals preferably are smaller, of the order of several times a second.
The IR portable device 70 detects the IR and FM modulated carrier 74 with an appropriate photo diode 75 sensitive to the IR radiation and in a manner as is well known in the art. The detected carrier is converted to an electrical FM carrier signal which is demodulated in an FM receiver section 78, which has a mixer stage 80, an IF (intermediate frequency) stage 82 using standard FM circuitry and a standard discriminator stage 84. The standard IF stage produces an RSSI signal on an output line 86, which signal in turn is representative of the amplitude of the IR carrier at the input to the photo diode 75 of the IR portable device 70.
The FM signal is detected with a standard discriminator, which detects the location code 76 and applies this onto an output line 88 together with such error correction coding (CRC) as may be used to enhance the correct detection of the location code by a microprocessor 90 in portable device 70.
The FM receiver section 78 has the well known capture effect whereby weaker interfering signals are suppressed and the larger signal preferentially selected. As a result, when an IR portable device 70 receives beacon signals from different beacons 72.1 and 72.2, the beacon signal that is larger tends to be selected and with an effectiveness that depends upon the capture ratio for the FM receiver stage 82. Since the capture ratio can be substantial, a small IR signal amplitude difference, such as caused by the movement away from one beacon 72.1 and closer to another such as 72.2, can be detected as a change in location of the IR portable device. Hence, a more sensitive response to position changes can be obtained and a more reliable reporting of a new location can be made to a
central signal processor such as 56 shown in Figure 1. The FM receiver section 78, therefore , has a sufficient capture ratio so as to optimize the FM receiver's capability in isolating and selecting the stronger of the infrared signals from different infrared transmitters.
Another aspect of the IR transceiver device 70 of this invention involves a reliable detection of the beacon signals 76. This can be done with the use of a squelch circuit 92 or with the use of an adequate amount of error correction coding or a combination of both. In the embodiment of Figure 5 the squelch circuit 92 includes a threshold generator 94 which applies a signal, indicative of a minimum desired level of the IR signal at the photo detector 75, to a comparator 96. This compares the threshold signal with the RSSI signal on line 86 to control enablement of an AND gate 98 interposed between the output on line 88 of receiver 78 and the microprocessor 90.
Once the IR signal incident on diode 75 is sufficiently large to overcome the squelch signal threshold level and AND gate 98 has been enabled, the received signal burst from a beacon is entered into microprocessor 90. This then enters an RF transmission control routine 100 to analyze the received location code 76 and, when a change in location is sensed, it produces an output signal for RF transmission via transmitter 102 and RF antenna 104 to the central processor 56, see Figure 1. The RF transmission includes at least the new beacon location code and the PIN signal identifying the particular IR portable device which sensed a change in location.
The RF transmission control routine 100 provides for a technique to determine when a change in location is to be transmitted as well as recognize a need to transmit a signal when no beacon signal has been received for a predetermined time. The routine 100 begins at 106 by monitoring the strongest beacon signal and as long as this remains the same, refrains from sending an RF
signal burst. Then, when at 108 a change in beacon signals is sensed, an RF transmission is made occur. In the event no beacon signal has been received for a long time a special DidleD code indicative of this condition is generated by the processor 90 and transmitted via RF to the central processor with the PIN code at 110 in the routine 100. This idle code is transmitted at a slow rate, i.e. with long intervals between transmissions, for as long as a beacon signal is not being received and provided the IR portable device is on.
Figure 6 illustrates with more detail illustrative steps involved in the routine 100 for a microprocessor 90. At 111 registers and variables are initialized. At 112 data from the FM receiver, or such other receiver as may be used by the IR portable device, is entered, using standard techniques, into the processor 90. Entered data is then examined for validity at 114. This typically involves using an error correction code appended to the transmission from a beacon 72. The CRC's length determines how rigorous the validity examination is and if sufficiently long can be relied upon to delete any squelch circuitry such as 92.
If the data is deemed to be valid, a timer is read at 116 and stored in a location identified as Tnew together with the area code defined by the beacon's location code and stored as ACnew at 118. A test is made at 120 whether there has been a change in area location by the IR portable device as indicated by a change in the beacon signal's location code. This test is done by comparing the just received location code ACnew with a previously stored location code ACold at 120. If there has been no change in the location code a test is made at 122 whether the elapsed time between Tnew and T0)d, representative of a previous time, exceeds a maximum duration K-. If not, a return is made to step 112 to await the next beacon signal. If so, then at 124 an RF transmission is sent to the central processor 56 of the IR portable device's PIN code and the new location code
• » -now.
ln the event the test at 120 indicated that there was a change in the sensed location code, then after setting AC0,d= ACnew at 126, the IR portable device's PIN code and the new location code ACnew are sent at 124 and a return is made to step 112 to await the next beacon signal detection.
Since it is possible that for some reason there is no reception of a beacon signal, for example if the IR portable device is in a closet or bath room, a need exists to recognize this condition. This is done whenever the validity test at 114 does not identify valid data or whenever a particular time interval has been exceeded. Hence, at 130, in response to not finding valid data at 114, a timer is read and stored as Tnew and a test is done at 132 whether the interval since the last valid beacon signal was received exceeds a particular maximum K2. If not a return is made to step 112 and if so, an RF transmission is made at 134 of the IR portable device's PIN code and a "location-unknown" code. This "location- unknown" code can be such code as identifies the fact that no IR location code signal has been received by the particular IR portable device for a predetermined interval. A return is then made to step 112 after setting Tnew equal to a value To!d at 136.
With the routine 100 as set forth in Figure 6, RF transmissions are significantly reduced because there is no need to transmit current location codes to the central processor at regular intervals. Transmissions are only made when needed. As a result the battery life of the IR portable device is increased, transmission spectrum is preserved and RF transmissions from different IR portable devices are less likely to step on each other resulting in a more reliable RF communication.
Further battery power conservation can be obtained by implementing an idle mode. For example, the beacons 72 may be transmitting an IR location code rapidly separated by short intervals. This would enable an IR portable device to
more quickly determine when there has been a change in location. For some IR portable devices 70 such rapid analysis of beacon signals may not be needed and battery power conserved by de-powering part of the circuit used to detect IR beacon signals and activating the idled circuit at certain intervals for certain time periods.
Figure 7 illustrates an example for a routine 140 incorporating an idle interval. After start up at 142, involving an initializing of registers and variables, an idle timer T., is set at 144. A test is then entered at 146 whether received beacon signals represent valid data, and, if so, the location code is stored at 148 as ACnew together with time time T2. The idle time is again reset and a test is entered at 150 as to whether the location is new or different. If new, an RF transmission of the location code and PIN code is made at 152 after assembling the data packet to be transmitted at 154. An idle mode is then entered at 156. This mode de-powers the IR portable device, except for its timer, for a certain interval. At 158 the idle timer is monitored to determine whether the idle interval has expired. If so the portable device is activated at 160 and a return made to step146.
Other steps in routine 140 include similar steps as described in connection with Figure 6 as suggested with the use of primed similar numbers. In addition a special timer controlled test is conducted at 164 as to whether there has been an excessive time lapse since the last RF transmission of a location code.
The techniques in Figures 6 and 7 have been described in connection with the use of an FM receiver. It should be understood, however, that this invention can be achieved using an ASK (amplitude shift keyed) transmission. Figure 8 illustrates such a technique. The IR beacons 170 transmit ones and zeroes as amplitude shifts as illustrated at 172. The photo diode 75 is used to detect the IR signals and produces electrical outputs indicative of the detected IR signals. An ASK receiver 174 is used and can be of the type as described in U.S. Patent
5,319.191 and owned by the same assignee as this invention. This '191 patent is incorporated herein by reference thereto.
The RSSI output line 176 from the receiver 174 is applied to a microprocessor 178, through a squelch circuit 180. It should be understood, however, that such squelch circuit can be dispensed with, particularly when an adequate amount of error correction coding is incorporated with the beacon transmissions. The microprocessor is programmed to contain a routine for controlling and determining the location of an IR portable device using the ASK type signals from the beacons 170.
When data is passed through the squelch circuit 180 at line 182, the data is entered into the microprocessor 178 by way of a suitable interrupt. At the same time a measurement of the incoming IR signals is made with an A/D converter 184. This includes a sample and hold type network 186 which is activated by a strobe signal derived from the first one or several bits in the data stream from the received beacon signal as suggested by the line 188. A D converter 184 could be an integral part of the microprocessor 178 or a separate circuit.
The digital output of the A/D converter 184 is applied along line or lines 190 to the microprocessor 178 which then stores and can use a digital signal, S, representative of the magnitude of the IR beacon signal incident on the photo diode 75. Storage can be in a temporary register or other memory. An output line 192 from the microprocessor 178 can be used to dump the analog stored signal in the sample and hold circuit 186 or alternatively this can be automatically dumped by the A/D converter to prepare it for the next conversion. The microprocessor 178 has an output coupled to the RF transmitter 102 and thus generate, from antenna 104, an RF signal burst containing the received location code AC and the PIN number associated with the IR portable device.
The microprocessor 178 proceeds through a routine 193, shown in Figure 9, for controlling the network of Figure 8 and determining changes in the location codes associated with detected beacon signals, with each detected beacon signal being sampled and successive samples being compared.
After a start at step 194 and initializing of variables at 196 in Figure 9, data is continually received at 198, using a suitable interrupt procedure. A test is made at 200 whether the entered location data (AC) is valid. A validity determination is made from an analysis of the associated error correction code. If the data is not valid a return is made to the start of step 198 until valid beacon data is received. Valid data is stored at 202 together with the location code A^ associated with the beacon signal data and the digital sample S1 , indicative of the intensity of the IR signal incident on the photo diode 75, and related to this location code.
A comparison test is then done at 204 as to whether the just received sample amplitude, S1 is greater or less than a previous sample S2. If not, a return is made to step 198. If so, however, then the variable S2 is set equal to S1 and the location code variable AC2 is set equal to AC. at 206. A test is then made at 208 as to whether the most recent value for the location code, AC,ast is the same as AC2. If so, then a return is made to step 198 because there is no change in location for the IR portable device. However, if a change in the location code is determined then the value of AClast is set equal to AC2 at 208 and an RF transmission of the PIN and location codes is made at 212. The technique described in connection with Figures 8 and 9 may incorporate some or all of the features described with reference to previous Figures.
With the technique of Figures 8 and 9 it is possible to detect a change in position of a portable transceiver from a comparison of subsequent amplitude signals S while the location code from the received IR transmission remains the same. The change in amplitude could arise from other factors, such as the
occurrence of a different IR signal travel path. However, the sensitive amplitude comparison in most cases can be attributed to, and thus recognized at the central station, that a change in location has occurred for a particular IR portable device.
The techniques of Figures 5 through 9 enable a prompt determination when an IR portable device has changed its location and provide a high level of sensitivity to slight differences in the amplitudes of infrared signals from different but nearby IR transmitters. Hence, a more prompt indication that an IR portable device has moved is obtained and when this is associated with the detection of a new location code from another stationary transmitter the central station can be promptly informed with an RF transmission.
Other variations can be implemented, it being understood that the embodiments described herein are for illustration of the invention. For example, the circuit for the comparison of subsequent amplitude samples of the IR incident on a portable device can be done with discrete logic. For an ASK type of communication such logic would include a pair of sample and hold circuits which are sequenced so that their respectively stored values can be compared to determine the occurrence of a change in the location of an IR portable device. The use of flow charts as shown herein are intended to illustrate both an apparatus and a method of the invention. The embodiments are thus illustrative of the techniques as would occur to one skilled in the art after having learned of this invention.
As previously mentioned the preferred embodiment involves the placement of the RF/IR transceiver on the portable side. A reversal of the functions in the stationary and portable devices can be implemented. With the embodiment of Figures 8 and 9, the stationary units 170 may include transceivers with IR receivers and RF transmitters and the portable devices 172 include movable IR beacons. In such case the IR beacons should not transmit a continuous FM IR
signal, since this would lead to interference problems when several portable devices are near the same stationary transceiver. Instead, the portable IR beacons could send out short bursts of ASK IR carrier signals with the PIN codes and repeated at different intervals and operate in the previously described ASK mode.