Protocol and mechanism for primary and mutter mode communication for asset tracking

US5588005A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• General Electric Company · US

Inventors

• Irfan Ali · Palo Alto, US
• John Erik Hershey · Ballston Lake, US
• Stephen Michael Hladik · Albany, US
• Amer A. Hassan · Cary, US
• Sandeep Channakeshu · Cary, US
• Ravinder D. Koilpillai · Cary, US
• Kenneth Brakeley Welles, II · Scotia, US
• Harold Woodruff Tomlinson, Jr. · Liverpool, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 7, 1995
• Grant date: Dec 24, 1996
• Expiry date: Jun 7, 2015

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02D30/70
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A mode of communication for asset tracking units involves communication between a central station and the individual tracking units, usually through a satellite link. This mode is the primary communication link for tracking the assets. A second mode is the local area network (LAN) or "mutter" mode, in which a subset of tracking units communicate with each other in a mobile LAN. This mode is used as the secondary communication mechanism to conserve power, since mutter mode communication requires much less energy for local communication between the tracking units as opposed to direct satellite communication with the central station. In addition, mutter mode leads to increased reliability of the asset tracking system by enabling tracking of units which have batteries too weak to support communication with the central station, but strong enough to support communication in mutter mode. The mutter mode is also useful in finding tracking units which are not communicating with the central station due primary communication equipment fault or other inhibiting condition.