WO2018156831A1

WO2018156831A1 - Repeater management based on user localization

Info

Publication number: WO2018156831A1
Application number: PCT/US2018/019326
Authority: WO
Inventors: Brian Charles ERIKSSON; Ajith PUDHIYAVEETIL; Yifan Sun; Weicong DING; Shijia PAN; Mohsen GHASSEMI
Original assignee: Thomson Licensing
Priority date: 2017-02-24
Filing date: 2018-02-23
Publication date: 2018-08-30

Abstract

A repeater management method and system is described. The method includes receiving data from at least one of a plurality of sensor arrays, localizing a position of a user in an environment responsive to said received sensor data, and managing distribution of content based on said user's position in said environment and a characteristic of the received sensor data.

Description

REPEATER MANAGEMENT BASED ON USER LOCALIZATION

FIELD

The proposed method and apparatus provides a smart repeater management system that depends on user localization via sensors throughout the environment.

BACKGROUND

In multicast and broadcast applications, data are transmitted from a server to multiple receivers over wired and/or wireless networks. A multicast system as used herein is a system in which a server transmits the same data to multiple receivers simultaneously, where the receivers form a subset of all the receivers up to and including all of the receivers. A broadcast system is a system in which a server transmits the same data to all of the receivers simultaneously. That is, a multicast system by definition can include a broadcast system.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to the present embodiments that are described below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light.

Currently, wifi distribution in an environment is usually done with a single router, placed in a closet or corner. An environment is usually a household but may also include a small business or any other similar environment. Some environments may have repeaters, but these repeaters are at best static devices. The electronics are always on, even if the user is not in the environment, which is both wasteful in terms of energy and tricky to coordinate, since objects obscuring the field of view of the repeater can diminish signal strength. In addition, multiple repeaters without intelligent management can cause interference, degrading networking performance.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the disclosure, a repeater management method is described. The method includes receiving data from at least one of a plurality of sensor arrays, localizing a position of a user in an environment responsive to said received sensor data, and managing distribution of content based on said user's position in said environment and a characteristic of the received sensor data.

In another embodiment, the characteristic of the received sensor data represents a signal-to-noise ratio of a received signal representing content.

In another embodiment, said managing of content distribution of content is accomplished using wifi distribution devices.

In another embodiment, said managing further comprises powering on or off at least one static wifi distribution device based on proximity to said user.

In another embodiment, said managing further comprises directing at least one mobile wifi distribution device to said user's position.

In another embodiment, the static wifi distribution device include routers and non- mobile repeaters.

In another embodiment, the mobile wifi distribution device includes drone mounted repeaters.

In another embodiment, the received sensor data was filtered to discard long periods of silence.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises focusing signal strength of said static wifi distribution device toward said user's position.

In a second aspect of the disclosure, a repeater management system is described. The system includes receiving data from at least one of a plurality of sensor arrays, localizing a position of a user in an environment responsive to said received sensor data, and managing distribution of content based on said user's position in said environment and a characteristic of the received sensor data.

In another embodiment, said managing further comprises directing at least one mobile wifi distribution device to said user's position. In another embodiment, the static wifi distribution device include routers and non- mobile repeaters.

In another embodiment, the system further comprises focusing signal strength of said static wifi distribution device toward said user's position. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The proposed method and apparatus is best understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings include the following figures briefly described below:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram overview of the proposed apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of the proposed method.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary network gateway.

It should be understood that the drawing(s) are for purposes of illustrating the concepts of the disclosure and is not necessarily the only possible configuration for illustrating the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present description illustrates the principles of the present disclosure. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and are included within its scope.

All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for educational purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the disclosure and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions.

Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the disclosure, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure.

Thus, for example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the block diagrams presented herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the disclosure. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudocode, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable media and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

The functions of the various elements shown in the figures may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software in association with appropriate software. When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of which may be shared. Moreover, explicit use of the term "processor" or "controller" should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read only memory (ROM) for storing software, random access memory (RAM), and nonvolatile storage.

Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included. Similarly, any switches shown in the figures are conceptual only. Their function may be carried out through the operation of program logic, through dedicated logic, through the interaction of program control and dedicated logic, or even manually, the particular technique being selectable by the implementer as more specifically understood from the context.

In the claims hereof, any element expressed as a means for performing a specified function is intended to encompass any way of performing that function including, for example, a) a combination of circuit elements that performs that function or b) software in any form, including, therefore, firmware, microcode or the like, combined with appropriate circuitry for executing that software to perform the function. The disclosure as defined by such claims resides in the fact that the functionalities provided by the various recited means are combined and brought together in the manner which the claims call for. It is thus regarded that any means that can provide those functionalities are equivalent to those shown herein.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram overview of the proposed apparatus.

Block 100 is an array of sensors placed throughout the environment to localize the users, including vibration, light, audio, motion, door sensors and received signal strength (RSSI). These sensors are all very inexpensive and easy to install. Some basic filtering may be done on the sensor data to discard long periods of silence, and the remaining signal is sent to the processing unit (block 110).

Block 110 is a processing unit. The processing unit is typically centralized but may be distributed. The processing unit uses digital signal processing and machine learning techniques to triangulate the user's (or users') position in the environment. The information is then used to manage the wifi distribution (block 120). The static units (router, non- mobile repeaters) are turned on and off depending on proximity to the user(s). Alternatively the wifi signal could be focused towards the known location of users inside the home (e.g., using beamforming). The mobile unit(s), e.g., drones, are directed to move to the user' s (or users') location(s). The processing unit may be a network gateway, a set-top box, a router, bridge, brouter or any equivalent device

Block 120 (wifi distribution) includes an array of wifi distribution units placed throughout the home, including routers, repeaters, and moving repeaters. The static (non- mobile) repeaters turn on and off based on proximity to user(s) and could potentially focus signal strength in specific directions. Mobile repeaters, which are placed on drones that can navigate the environment and maximize its field of view to the user(s) are also considered.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of the proposed method. At 205, the processing unit of the network gateway receives data from at least one of the plurality of sensors in the sensor array in an environment. The array of sensors is placed throughout the environment to localize the users, including vibration, light, audio, motion, GPS, Bluetooth beacon triangulation, door sensors and received signal strength (RSSI). Some basic filtering may be done on the sensor data to discard long periods of silence, and the remaining signal (sensor data) is sent to the processing unit. "Long" periods of silence may vary with the type of sensor and may be programmable. At 210 the processing unit then localizes a position (location) of a user in the environment. Once the processing unit determines the location (position) of the user, then at 215 the processing unit manages the wifi distribution of content based on the user's location (position) in the environment. The processing unit controls the wifi distribution by commanding a router or a repeater in the area (vicinity) of the user to turn on or off, or to direct the mobile repeater to move to the area (vicinity) of the user, or to focus wifi signal strength in the known area (vicinity) of the user.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary network gateway 300 such as a set top box, a home networking device, a router, a bridge, a router. The block diagram configuration includes a bus-oriented 350 arrangement, interconnecting a processor (processing unit) 320, and a memory 345. The configuration of Fig. 3 also includes a communication interface 325. The communication interface 325 may be wired or wireless and may in fact, include two interfaces - one for wired line communication and one for wireless communication.

Processor 320 provides computation functions for the network gateway, such as depicted in Fig. 1 as well as conventional network gateway functionality. The processor 320 can be any form of CPU or controller that utilizes communications between elements of the network gateway to control communication and computation processes. Those of skill in the art recognize that bus 350 provides a communication path between the various elements of gateway 300 and that other point-to-point interconnection options (e.g. non- bus architecture) are also feasible.

User interface and display 310 is driven by interface circuit 315. The user interface and display 310 is used as a multimedia interface having both audio and video capability to display streamed or downloaded audio and/or video and/or multimedia content obtained via communications interfaces 325 and connections 305 to a network. Multiple communication interfaces and multiple IP connections may be required.

Tuner 355 requests and receives downloaded and/or streamed audio, video and multimedia content over bus 350 through communication interface 325 from network 305. Tuner 355 includes not only a tuner (e.g., satellite receiver) but also a demodulator and other features relevant for the purpose of the proposed method, such as packet error detector and other RF signal reception parameters, such as carrier level, carrier to noise ratio (CNR), bit-error rate, received frequency, polarity and band (for satellite), packet count etc. Any or all of the functionality included in the network gateway may be embodied as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), reduced instruction set computers (RISCs) or any other equivalent separate type of co-processor integrated into processor 320.

Memory 345 can act as a repository for memory related to any of the methods that incorporate the functionality of the network gateway. Memory 345 can provide the repository for storage of information such as program memory, downloads, uploads, or scratchpad calculations as well as the storage of streamed or downloaded content including audio, video and multimedia content. Those of skill in the art will recognize that memory 345 may be incorporated all or in part in processor 320. Communication interface 325 has both receiver and transmitter elements for communication as known to those of skill in the art. Program instructions for operation of the processor of the network gateway may be in memory 345 or may be in processor.

The processor 320 of the network gateway receives data from at least one of a plurality of sensor arrays through the communications interface 325. The processor 320 localizes a position of a user in an environment responsive to the received sensor data. The processor 320 also manages distribution of content based on the user's position in the environment and received signal strength. The received signal strength represents the signal-to-noise ratio of a received signal (typically a wifi signal) representing the content. Low received signal strength can result in connection dropping, increased latency, and decreased bandwidth of the connection. If the user's current received signal strength is below a set or dynamic threshold, this indicates the necessity to amplify their wifi signal using a repeater. The processor receives the signal strength through communications interface 325. The management of content distribution of content is accomplished using wifi distribution devices.

The processor 320 also controls powering on or off a static wifi distribution device and directing a mobile wifi distribution device through communications interface 325. The processor 320 also can direct the static wifi distribution device to focus the signal strength of the wifi distribution device toward the user's position through the communications interface. Memory 345 may be non-transitory memory for storing computer executable instructions (program code instructions) for execution by processor 320. The processor 320 (computer) performing receiving data from at least one of a plurality of sensor arrays, localizing a position of a user in an environment responsive to the received sensor data and managing distribution of content based on the user's position in said environment and received signal strength.

It is to be understood that the proposed method and apparatus may be implemented in various forms of hardware, software, firmware, special purpose processors, or a combination thereof. Special purpose processors may include application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), reduced instruction set computers (RISCs) and/or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Preferably, the proposed method and apparatus is implemented as a combination of hardware and software. Moreover, the software is preferably implemented as an application program tangibly embodied on a program storage device. The application program may be uploaded to, and executed by, a machine comprising any suitable architecture. Preferably, the machine is implemented on a computer platform having hardware such as one or more central processing units (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), and input/output (I/O) interface(s). The computer platform also includes an operating system and microinstruction code. The various processes and functions described herein may either be part of the microinstruction code or part of the application program (or a combination thereof), which is executed via the operating system. In addition, various other peripheral devices may be connected to the computer platform such as an additional data storage device and a printing device.

It should be understood that the elements shown in the figures may be implemented in various forms of hardware, software or combinations thereof. Preferably, these elements are implemented in a combination of hardware and software on one or more appropriately programmed general-purpose devices, which may include a processor, memory and input/output interfaces. Herein, the phrase "coupled" is defined to mean directly connected to or indirectly connected with through one or more intermediate components. Such intermediate components may include both hardware and software based components.

It is to be further understood that, because some of the constituent system components and method steps depicted in the accompanying figures are preferably implemented in software, the actual connections between the system components (or the process steps) may differ depending upon the manner in which the proposed method and apparatus is programmed. Given the teachings herein, one of ordinary skill in the related art will be able to contemplate these and similar implementations or configurations of the proposed method and apparatus.

For purposes of this application and the claims, using the exemplary phrase "at least one of A, B and C," the phrase means "only A, or only B, or only C, or any combination of A, B and C."

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method, said method comprising: receiving data from at least one of a plurality of sensor arrays; localizing a position of a user in an environment responsive to said received sensor data; and

managing distribution of content based on said user's position in said environment and a characteristic of the received sensor data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic of the received sensor data represents a signal-to-noise ratio of a received signal representing content.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said managing of content distribution of content is accomplished using wifi distribution devices.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said managing further comprises powering on or off at least one static wifi distribution device based on proximity to said user.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein said managing further comprises directing at least one mobile wifi distribution device to said user's position.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein said static wifi distribution device include routers and non-mobile repeaters.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein mobile wifi distribution device include drone mounted repeaters.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said received sensor data was filtered to discard long periods of silence.

9. The method according to claim 4, further comprising focusing signal strength of said static wifi distribution device toward said user's position.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving data from at least one of a plurality of sensor arrays; means for localizing a position of a user in an environment responsive to said received sensor data; and

means for managing distribution of content based on said user's position in said environment and a characteristic of the received sensor data.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the characteristic of the received sensor data represents a signal-to-noise ratio of a received signal representing content.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said means for managing of content distribution of content is accomplished using wifi distribution devices.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said means for managing further comprises means for powering on or off at least one static wifi distribution device based on proximity to said user.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said means for managing further comprises means for directing at least one mobile wifi distribution device to said user's position

15. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said static wifi distribution devices include routers and non-mobile repeaters.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein mobile wifi distribution devices include drone mounted repeaters.

17. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said received sensor data was filtered to discard long periods of silence.

18. The apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising means for focusing signal strength of said static wifi distribution device toward said user's position.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor configured to receive data from at least one of a plurality of sensor arrays through a communications interface;

said processor configured to localize a position of a user in an environment responsive to said received sensor data; and

said processor configured to manage distribution of content based on said user's position in said environment and a characteristic of the received sensor data through the communications interface.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the characteristic of the received sensor data represents a signal-to-noise ratio of a received signal representing content.

21. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said management of content distribution of content is accomplished using wifi distribution devices.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein said management of wifi content distribution of content further comprises said processor powering on or off at least one static wifi distribution device based on proximity to said user through the communications interface.

23. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein said management of wifi content distribution further comprises said processor directs at least one mobile wifi distribution device to said user's position through the communications interface

24. The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein said static wifi distribution devices include routers and non-mobile repeaters.

25. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein mobile wifi distribution devices include drone mounted repeaters.

26. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said received sensor data was filtered to discard long periods of silence.

27. The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein said processor further focuses signal strength of said static wifi distribution device toward said user's position through the communications interface.

28. A computer program product stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage media for a processor, comprising computer-executable instructions for:

receiving data from at least one of a plurality of sensor arrays; localizing a position of a user in an environment responsive to said received sensor data; and

29. A non-transitory computer-readable program product, characterized in that it comprises program code instructions for performing the method according to claim 1, when said non-transitory software program is executed by a computer.