Wireless Sensor Network Technology Patent Analysis

The third wave of the information revolution is quietly coming and will eventually change the way society, businesses, communities and individuals live. This information revolution is both an Internet of Things and a new generation of the Internet and the latest version of the ubiquitous computing model. In order for the Internet of Things to achieve global connectivity and anytime, anywhere communication with anyone and anything, the Internet of Things involves a very wide range of information industry technologies. Among them, the wireless sensor network (WSN) technology has attracted much attention.

Wireless sensor networks are generally composed of spatially distributed and independent network nodes. Nodes contain sensors to monitor the node's physical or environmental conditions such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, motion, or contaminants. Each node usually has a radio transceiver or other wireless device communication device to transmit sensory data over the network to databases and other users. In this way, wireless sensor networks can be used for data collection, object tracking, and alarm monitoring.

In the past few years, great progress has been made in the development and application of wireless sensor network technology at home and abroad. This is especially true in markets such as home automation, industrial automation, building control, smart metering, and power management markets. At the same time, standards development for wireless sensor networks has progressed rapidly, greatly reducing the complexity of smart sensors and wireless sensor networks. For example, the 1451 Working Group (IEEE 1451) of the International Federation of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has established a smart sensor plug-and-play standard that enables all standard-compliant sensors and other instruments. Work with the system.

This series of standards is known as the IEEE 1451 Smart Sensor (including Sensors and Drivers) interface standard, which includes different standards defining different interfaces for connecting sensors and microprocessors, meter systems, and controlling remote networks. Among these standards, IEEE 1451.5 is the focus of many current R&D activities. Part of IEEE 1451.5 specifies techniques for enabling wireless communications between 1451-compatible sensors and other devices.

The IEEE is also currently developing two standards, IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.15, for wireless personal area networks (WPAN). Among them, the IEEE 802.15.4 standard is gradually being accepted as the standard for low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPANs) physical layer and media access control. In addition, there are two industrial standards based on IEEE 802.15.4 in the field of wireless sensor networks: ZigBee and WirelessHART. ZigBee, a wireless technology developed as an open global standard, was developed to address the special needs of low-cost, low-power wireless sensor networks. The standard fully utilizes the IEEE 802.15.4 radio transceiver physical layer specification and adopts a frequency range that can be operated worldwide without special permission: 2.400-2.484 gigahertz, 902-928 MHz and 868.0-868.6 MHz; WirelessHART is another An open standard wireless network technology developed by the HART Communication Foundation. The protocol uses a time-synchronized, self-organizing, and self-healing mesh network architecture. The protocol currently supports radio media using the IEEE 802.15.4 standard and operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

In addition, other industry standards and proprietary systems may also be available as options for implementing wireless sensor network technology. For example, EnOcean is a wireless communication system widely used in the field of building automation. It is also considered as a technology that may be used in wireless sensor networks, but it has not been standardized by any recognized standardization body. The Z-Wave is a wireless communication proprietary standard designed for home automation, specifically for remote control applications in home and light commercial environments. The technology uses low-power wireless transceivers embedded in or loaded into home electronic devices and systems such as lighting systems, home access control systems, entertainment systems, and home appliances. This technology has been standardized by the Z-Wave Alliance. The Z-Wave Alliance is an alliance between international manufacturers that coordinates the compatibility of Z-Wave products and devices.

At the same time, some existing standards are also being modified to adapt to wireless sensor network technology. For example, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standard based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, referred to as a WiFi standard, is added to a version supporting low power consumption, so-called low-power WiFi, for implementing wireless sensor network technology.

According to data from the U.S. Patent Office, the U.S. has the largest number of authorized patents in wireless sensor network technology, followed by Japan, followed by Canada, South Korea, and France. At the same time, the United States also has the largest number of published patent applications, followed by South Korea, followed by Japan, Sweden, and Taiwan. The total number of patents issued by the United States continues to increase year by year. The number of patents issued in 2009 was more than double that in 2005, which indicates that the R&D activities of wireless sensor network technologies have been very strong in recent years.

For example, the analysis of U.S. patent distribution status according to the company shows that the 15 leading companies in wireless sensor network technology are: Cisco, Ericsson, Fisher-Rosemount, and General Electric. (GE), Honeywell, IBM, Intel, Mircosoft, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Philips, Samsung (Samsung) ), Siemens and Sony. Among them, Nokia has the most authorized US patents, followed by Motorola, Intel, and Microsoft; Samsung holds the largest number of published U.S. patent applications, followed by Honeywell, Microsoft, Motorola, and NEC. . In addition, it is worth noting that IBM is currently one of the leading companies in the Internet of Things.