The internet of things consists in enabling everyday objects to communicate data automatically using a wireless network. For example, a water meter equipped with a communication module can automatically communicate a water reading to the business in charge of billing for water consumption.
Gateways, also called base stations, have the purpose of allowing the wireless reception and transmission of data from and to communication modules present in their coverage area, and relaying these data to devices responsible for processing them, for example servers that can be accessed on a network based on the IP protocol (“internet protocol”).
A number of radio access technologies are available for the implementation of network communication modules. The LoRa™, Sigfox™ or WM-Bus (from the English “Wireless Meter Bus”) technologies, which are based, notably, on different types of modulation, can be mentioned here purely by way of illustration and without limiting intent.
These technologies have the common feature of providing long distance (called “long range” in English) communications, making it possible to reduce the number of gateways while increasing their coverage.
However, the communication between the communication modules and the gateway on the one hand, and between the gateway and the remote devices responsible for processing the data passing through the gateway on the other hand, are based on different communication protocols. The gateway must therefore demodulate the signals that it receives from the different communication modules present in its coverage radius before transmitting the corresponding information to the different remote devices involved. For this purpose, these signals are processed by different demodulators incorporated in the gateway. However, the number of signals that can be processed simultaneously by a gateway under good conditions is limited by the number of demodulators that it contains. Moreover, the number of signals to be processed simultaneously by the gateway can vary over time. A method is therefore required for controlling the load on a gateway.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds