US 6,735,630 · Granted 2004-05-11
The Wireless Sensor Network That Turned Dumb Machines Into Smart Ones
Imagine tiny computers with sensors that can talk to each other wirelessly and send data back to you over the internet, all while using almost no battery. This patent describes those nodes—self-contained devices small enough to embed anywhere, from car engines to factory floors to bridges, so you can monitor what's happening without wires.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a method for deploying compact wireless sensor nodes that combine microsensors, signal processing chips, and low-power wireless networking in a single integrated package. What's protected here is the specific architecture of these WINS NG nodes—how they collect sensor data locally, process it with embedded intelligence, communicate wirelessly or over wired networks, and allow remote reconfiguration and control. Anyone building a distributed wireless sensor system with this exact combination of features would potentially infringe.
Why it matters
This patent arrived at a critical moment when embedded monitoring was expensive, power-hungry, and required custom wiring. By combining microsensors, local computing, and wireless communication into one compact node, WINS NG opened the door to widespread real-time monitoring in industries from automotive to healthcare. It represented a fundamental shift: you could now instrument complex systems cheaply and without tearing apart existing infrastructure, making predictive maintenance and real-time control economically viable for the first time.
Real-world use
Modern tire-pressure sensors in cars, structural health monitors in bridges, and condition-monitoring systems in factories all trace their lineage to this architecture—tiny nodes scattered throughout a system, constantly gathering data and reporting back.
Original USPTO abstract
The Wireless Integrated Network Sensor Next Generation (WINS NG) nodes provide distributed network and Internet access to sensors, controls, and processors that are deeply embedded in equipment, facilities, and the environment. The WINS NG network is a new monitoring and control capability for applications in transportation, manufacturing, health care, environmental monitoring, and safety and security. The WINS NG nodes combine microsensor technology, low power distributed signal processing, low power computation, and low power, low cost wireless and/or wired networking capability in a compact system. The WINS NG networks provide sensing, local control, remote reconfigurability, and embedded intelligent systems in structures, materials, and environments.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,735,630
- Filing date
- 2000-10-04
- Grant date
- 2004-05-11
- Assignee
- Sensoria Corporation
- Inventor(s)
- GELVIN DAVID C., GIROD LEWIS D., KAISER WILLIAM J., MERRILL WILLIAM M., NEWBERG FREDRIC, POTTIE GREGORY J., SIPOS ANTON I., VARDHAN SANDEEP
- CPC class
- H04L12/66
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