A method for communication of a plurality of wheel units with one another and with a device for remotely monitoring and/or controlling the wheel units, the wheel units measuring a pressure value of a wheel of a motor vehicle as parameter(s). The units are identified beforehand and each wheel unit may identify the other wheel units, the communication taking place in accordance with a communication standard allowing a bidirectional data exchange. A hub wheel unit storing the pressure values measured by each of the wheel units is selected at least temporarily, the other units being peripheral. The hub unit sends a signaling frame in the direction of the peripheral units, received in a peripheral unit through scanning. The pressure values are communicated between the wheel units and a device solely via the hub unit.

A sink node forming a sensor network system with one or more sensor nodes includes a communication time period allocation means for allocating, to a target sensor node, a communication time period for measurement information transmission by the target sensor node, to not overlap a communication time period for measurement information transmission by a node related to a wireless communication environment between the target sensor node and sink node, concerning measurement information transmission by a sensor target sensor node other than the target sensor node among the one or more sensor nodes. The communication time period allocation means adjusts a communication time period allocated for subsequent measurement information to be transmitted by the target sensor node, based on a predetermined wireless communication parameter related to the wireless communication environment between the target sensor node and sink node, concerning measurement information transmission by the target sensor node.

The automated remote reading of fluid meters implemented in a system includes fluid meters, each measuring a consumption of fluids, and at least one gateway. Each gateway can exchange frames in accordance with a wireless communication standard with a plurality of meters via a first communication network, and to communicate with a management entity responsible for processing, in a centralised manner, information representing a consumption of fluids, referred to as readings, coming from meters via a second network. The method comprises for each gateway: defining meter reading periods for a set of meters paired with said gateway, the gateway being on standby outside each period and awake during each period; successively interrogating each meter in said set during each period in order to obtain a reading, each meter waking up at the start time of each period and going on standby as soon as it has transmitted a reading.

A method and apparatus are disclosed that apply multiuser detection (MUD) analysis to an aggregated RF response from a plurality of simultaneously queried RFID tags, so as to distinguish the individual tag responses. The claimed method thereby significantly reduces RFID detection latency when multiple tags are simultaneously queried. Some embodiments transmit carrier waves at more than one frequency, such as a plurality of equally-spaced frequencies, so as to enhance the MUD analysis by incorporating a multi-frequency dimension. Other embodiments incorporate additional spatial dimensions by deploying multiple RF detection antennae at separated locations. The number of colliding tag responses must be estimated before MUD analysis can be applied. In some embodiments other signal parameters must be estimated, such as signal bias and an impulse function for each responding tag that characterizes alterations of the RF signal while in transit due to propagation distance, passage through intervening objects, and reflections.

Systems and methods are described that collect spatio-temporal data using an RFID system that is capable of locating the spatial position of a sensor, which is typically unaware of its location. Such systems and methods can be contrasted with conventional RFID systems in that they are able to determine the location of sensors in space as opposed to with respect to read zones related to the underlying RFID reader infrastructure. One embodiment includes an RFID system having a plurality of read zones and configured to obtain the spatio-temporal state of sensors within a sensor cloud, where the spatio-temporal state of each sensor includes sensor information, a time stamp, and a spatial location specified independently of the read zones of the RFID system, a spatio-temporal database configured to store spatio-temporal state of a plurality of sensors over time, and an application server configured to trigger events based upon the detection of at least one condition by applying at least one filter to the data within the spatio-temporal database.

The present invention relates to a modular data concentrator device for AMI (Advanced Measurement Infrastructure) measurement systems, which is interoperable and has the ability to have the communication protocols of multiple brands of meters embedded and has a fully modular structure, in such a way that one or more communication modules can be integrated, depending on the type of communication of each of the meters to be managed. Thus, the device of the invention allows to manage with the same data concentrator, different brands of meters, whether energy, water or gas, regardless of the communication protocol they use and the communication medium they have, which guarantees to any public utility company that when using this modular device, only a single management software will be required, thus guaranteeing having in a single database format the information of all the managed meters.

The automated remote reading of fluid meters implemented in a system includes fluid meters, each measuring a consumption of fluids, and at least one gateway. Each gateway can exchange frames in accordance with a wireless communication standard with a plurality of meters via a first communication network, and to communicate with a management entity responsible for processing, in a centralised manner, information representing a consumption of fluids, referred to as readings, coming from meters via a second network. The method comprises for each gateway: defining meter reading periods for a set of meters paired with said gateway, the gateway being on standby outside each period and awake during each period; successively interrogating each meter in said set during each period in order to obtain a reading, each meter waking up at the start time of each period and going on standby as soon as it has transmitted a reading.

The present invention relates to a modular data concentrator device for AMI (Advanced Measurement Infrastructure) measurement systems, which is interoperable and has the ability to have the communication protocols of multiple brands of meters embedded and has a fully modular structure, in such a way that one or more communication modules can be integrated, depending on the type of communication of each of the meters to be managed. Thus, the device of the invention allows to manage with the same data concentrator, different brands of meters, whether energy, water or gas, regardless of the communication protocol they use and the communication medium they have, which guarantees to any public utility company that when using this modular device, only a single management software will be required, thus guaranteeing having in a single database format the information of all the managed meters.

A method for communication of a plurality of wheel units with one another and with a device for remotely monitoring and/or controlling the wheel units, the wheel units measuring a pressure value of a wheel of a motor vehicle as parameter(s). The units are identified beforehand and each wheel unit may identify the other wheel units, the communication taking place in accordance with a communication standard allowing a bidirectional data exchange. A hub wheel unit storing the pressure values measured by each of the wheel units is selected at least temporarily, the other units being peripheral. The hub unit sends a signaling frame in the direction of the peripheral units, received in a peripheral unit through scanning. The pressure values are communicated between the wheel units and a device solely via the hub unit.

A sensor system includes at least one sensor and a control unit. The at least one sensor and the control unit communicate with each other using a time-division multiplexing method. The control unit is capable of being connected to a plurality of sensors that configures the at least one sensor, and transmits a data transmission command to the at least one sensor connected to the control unit at every fixed amount of time. In response to the number of at least one target sensor, among the at least one sensor, for transmitting data collected by the control unit being less than the number of time slots allocated within the fixed amount of time, the at least one sensor transmits data to the control unit using a plurality of time slots.