Synchronization Beacon

Simple SummaryContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

This patent introduces a method and system for enabling devices with limited receiver bandwidth (such as low-cost, battery-powered IoT nodes) to synchronize and join a wireless communication network that uses wideband, frequency-hopping signals for coordination. It achieves this by transmitting a reference synchronization beacon in a predefined, narrow frequency range containing information needed for the device to learn when and where the wider-band control signals will appear. This allows such constrained devices to synchronize using only their narrowband capabilities, and then adjust to receive the main, wideband control signals for network participation.

Use CasesContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Onboarding and network synchronization for battery-operated IoT sensors in smart cities or industrial automation networks using frequency-hopping LPWANs.
• Low-cost, narrowband device participation in wideband mesh or personal area networks (e.g., smart home devices, wearables).
• Deployment of large sensor arrays with minimal energy and hardware requirements, such as environmental or agricultural monitoring systems.
• Retrofit of existing narrowband devices into new, frequency-hopping wireless infrastructures.
• Provisioning and registering new wireless devices (e.g., smart meters) in environments with many overlapping, uncoordinated networks, such as residential neighborhoods.

BenefitsContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Enables simple, low-cost devices with narrow receiver bandwidths to join and synchronize with advanced frequency-hopping wireless networks.
• Significantly reduces power consumption and computational demands during network join/synchronization, supporting longer battery life.
• Improves scalability and lowers the cost for deploying mass numbers of IoT nodes and sensors.
• Allows for robust coexistence in crowded, unlicensed frequency bands by using coordinated hopping and network-specific access patterns.
• Minimizes the need for expensive wideband hardware in end devices, making large-scale IoT projects economically viable.
• Dynamic beacon and synchronization mechanisms improve reliability under changing network or interference conditions.

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Patent Abstract

Embodiments relate to an end point of a communication system, wherein a control signal is transmitted in the communication system in order to coordinate the subscribers of the communication system, and the control signal is transmitted in a distributed manner corresponding to the frequency hopping-based allocation of resources of the frequency band, said allocation being specified by a control signal hopping pattern. The endpoint has a receiver, and the reception bandwidth of the receiver is narrower than the bandwidth of the frequency hopping-based allocation of resources of the frequency band at least by a factor of 3. The end point is designed to receive a reference signal, the reference signal has information on the control signal, and the end point is designed to receive the control signal on the basis of the information on the control signal.