Patent ID: 7046166

Claim:
A wireless sensing station, comprising: a dual-bus, comprising, a signal bus for communicating instructions and low bandwidth data, and a high-capacity bus for communicating high bandwidth data, a power supply module that supplies at least one reference voltage at a plurality of current levels, a power bus for distributing the reference voltage, a sensor that provides an output indicative of a sensed condition, a data acquisition module having a plurality of components coupled to receive the sensor output and configured to produce a digital output based upon the sensor condition, said module connected to the dual-bus and power bus and configured to (a) send and receive instructions and low bandwidth data over the signal bus at a low current level drawn from the power bus and (b) selectively enable module components that draw higher current levels from the power bus to acquire and send high bandwidth data over the high-capacity bus, a CPU module connected to the dual-bus and power bus to send instructions to said data acquisition module and to receive and evaluate its digital output, and a transceiver module connected to the dual-bus and power bus that receives data and instructions for programming said CPU module and transmits information about the sensed condition.