Patent ID: 11924924
Assignee: ROSEMOUNT INC.
Field: nan (nan)
Classification: CPC nan | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A location awareness system, comprising:
a communication network;
a network operating element coupled to the communication network;
at least one anchor network gateway coupled to the communication network, the at least one anchor network gateway configured to generate a wireless anchor network;
a plurality of nodes separate from the network operating element, wherein the plurality of nodes comprises:
a plurality of anchors configured to couple directly to one of the at least one anchor network gateway via its respective wireless anchor network; and
a plurality of tags, each tag configured to communicate with at least one anchor to provide ranging information for determination of a position of the tag within an area covered by the system;

wherein the network operating element comprises: a time source independent of the plurality of nodes and a time division multiple access location network manager (TLNM) configured to operate the system, the time source configured to provide timing information to the TLNM and through the TLNM provide timing information to the plurality of nodes for operation of the system in conjunction with ranging information from the plurality of tags received through the plurality of anchors and the at least one network anchor gateway;
wherein the timing information is passed from the time source to the TLNM and over the communication network to the wireless anchor network gateway and the wireless anchor network gateway passes the timing information on to the anchors over the wireless anchor network; and
wherein the tag to anchor communication operates on a time schedule that is independent from a time schedule for operation of the wireless anchor network.