SCIENCE
Inovonics' New Patent Strengthens EchoStream Commercial Mesh Network's Performance
Inovonics has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office recently awarded the company with U.S. patent No 7,746,804, "Message Control Protocol in a Communications Network Having Repeaters." The patent covers Inovonics' innovative "directed message" technology providing new levels of highly reliable two-way, intelligent wireless communication.
"This latest patented technology builds upon both the reliability and efficiency of our EchoStream wireless mesh network systems," explained Mark Jarman, president of Inovonics. "As wireless network applications continue to increase industry wide, Inovonics continues to deliver new wireless products that enable performance, flexibility and value that our customers can trust."
The new patent protects Inovonics' unique "directed message" network technology that enables a highly reliable, two-way intelligent wireless network configuration. Through this new technology, the EchoStream wireless network can self-configure itself into a layered repeater hierarchy based on the signal strength of associated devices. The network can then determine, on its own, the best path for the signal to propagate through the network without redundant broadcasts from multiple repeaters. In essence, each radio, whether a transceiver or repeater, is automatically assigned a primary repeater path and a secondary repeater path, providing additional paths to ensure the highest performance and reliability. The end result eliminates the need to transmit messages multiple times, leading to improved wireless network functionality.
EchoStream technology serves as the backbone of Inovonics' family of high performance, proven and reliable wireless sensor network solutions. Self-healing and self-configuring, EchoStream Commercial Mesh Networks provide robust wireless coverage in the most challenging commercial environments. Multiple applications can run on the same wireless backbone, and virtually any size network can be created reliably and economically. Networks range from a single panic button to thousands of sensors serving sprawling multi-building campuses in security, life safety and sub-metering marketplaces.