Methods and apparatus to communicate with an end point device

Abstract

An end point (EP) device may communicate with multiple gateways via wireless signals, e.g. wireless broadcast signals. An EP device is controlled, under the direction of a control server, e.g., an application server, to communicate via a single gateway. The control server associates the EP device with a single target gateway and/or uses EP transmission power control training iterations to reduce the EP transmission power level until the EP device is only able to successfully communicate its wireless signals to a single gateway.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A communications method, the method comprising:
 receiving at a control server, data that was wirelessly transmitted by a first end point device and received by one or more gateways coupled to said control server;   determining that data was successfully received by multiple gateways; and   sending, in response to determining that the data was successfully received by multiple gateways, a command to the first end point device to reduce the transmit power level.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, prior to determining that the data was successfully received by multiple gateways performing the step of:
 operating the control server to send a command to the first end point device to transmit data at a maximum transmission power level.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the command to the first end point also commands the end point to use a maximum transmission data rate. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said multiple gateways includes a target gateway, said target gateway being a single individual gateway in the communications system capable of receiving data at the maximum transmission data rate using a lowest transmission power level that can successfully support the maximum transmission data rate given a current location of the first end point device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the target gateway is a gateway specified by the first end point device or the control server when the first end point device is to operate in an associated mode of operation. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving at a control server, data that was wirelessly transmitted at a reduced power level by the first end point device and received by one or more gateways coupled to said control server; and   determining whether the data transmitted by the first end point device at the reduced power level was successfully received by the target gateway.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 in response to determining that the data transmitted by the first end point at the reduced power level was not successfully received by the target gateway, sending a command to the first end point device to increase the transmit power level.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 in response to determining that the data transmitted by the first end point at the reduced power level was successfully received by the target gateway, determining whether the data transmitted at the reduced power level was successfully received by at least one gateway in addition to the target gateway.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 in response to determining that the data transmitted at the reduced power level was successfully received by at least one gateway in addition to the target gateway,   sending a command to the end point device to reduce the transmit power level.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising, in response to determining that the data transmitted at the reduced power level was not successfully received by at least one gateway in addition to the target gateway, sending a command to the end point device indicating that the current transmission power level is to be used for data transmissions. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said command to the end point device indicating that the current transmission power level is to be used for data transmissions further indicates that transmission power control training mode of operation has ended. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first end point device is an Internet-of-Things (IoT) end point device and wherein said gateways are IoT gateways. 
     
     
         13 . A control server comprising:
 a processor configured to operate the control server to:
 receive data that was wirelessly transmitted by a first end point device; 
 determine that data was successfully received by multiple gateways; and 
 send, in response to determining that the data was successfully received by multiple gateways, a command to the first end point device to reduce the transmit power level. 
   
     
     
         14 . The control server of  claim 13 , wherein said processor is further configured to:
 control the control server to send, prior to determining that the data was successfully received by multiple gateways, a command to the first end point device to transmit data at a maximum transmission power level.   
     
     
         15 . The control server of  claim 14 . wherein the processor is further configured to:
 control the control server to receive at a control server, data that was wirelessly transmitted at a reduced power level by the first end point device and received by one or more gateways coupled to said control server; and   determine whether the data transmitted by the first end point device at the reduced power level was successfully received by the target gateway.   
     
     
         16 . The control server of  claim 15 , wherein said processor is further configured to:
 in response to determining that the data transmitted by the first end point at the reduced power level was not successfully received by the target gateway, operate the control server to send a command to the first end point device to increase the transmit power level.   
     
     
         17 . The control server of  claim 15 , wherein said processor is further configured to:
 in response to determining that the data transmitted by the first end point at the reduced power level was successfully received by the target gateway, determine whether the data transmitted at the reduced power level was successfully received by at least one gateway in addition to the target gateway.   
     
     
         18 . The control server of  claim 17 , wherein said processor is further configured to:
 in response to determining that the data transmitted at the reduced power level was successfully received by at least one gateway in addition to the target gateway,   operate the control server to send a command to the end point device to reduce the transmit power level.   
     
     
         19 . The control server of  claim 16 , wherein said processor is further configured to, in response to determining that the data transmitted at the reduced power level was not successfully received by at least one gateway in addition to the target gateway, operate the control server to send a command to the end point device indicating that the current transmission power level is to be used for data transmissions; and
 wherein said command to the end point device indicating that the current transmission power level is to be used for data transmissions further indicates that transmission power control training mode of operation has ended.   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer executable instructions which when executed by a processor of a control server cause the control server to perform the steps of:
 receiving data that was wirelessly transmitted by a first end point device and received by one or more gateways coupled to said control server;   determining that data was successfully received by multiple gateways; and   sending, in response to determining that the data was successfully received by multiple gateways, a command to the first end point device to reduce the transmit power level.