Methods, systems and apparatuses for application service layer (ASL) inter-networking

• US 10,104,180 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2015
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DRNC Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: IOT Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Seed, Dale N., Starsinic, Michael F., Wang, Chonggang, Lu, Guang, Russell, Jr., Paul L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hussain, Tauqir
• Application Number:
  US14/954,948
• Publication Number:
  US 20160094663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,051 Days
• Field of Search: 709227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

Systems and/or methods for providing internetworking among application services layers (ASLs) of different network technologies may be provided. For example, a tunnel anchor point (TAP) may be established. The TAP may be configured to enable communication between a local application in the network and a remote application in a different network. At the TAP, an ASL tunnel may be created to the local application in the network to facilitate the communication. Additionally, a message from the local application may be received where at least a portion of the message may be configured to be provided to a remote ASL and the remote application in the different network to which the local application wishes to communicate. At least the portion of the message may be provided to the remote ASL and the remote application in the different network.

Claims

1. A method for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications between service layers comprising:

providing, by an M2M node, a communication management function to facilitate communication between a first service layer in a first network and a second service layer in a second network;

storing, by the M2M node, a plurality of attributes for use by the communication management function, the plurality of attributes indicating functionality applicable to messages received from applications in the first service layer;

receiving, by the M2M node via the first network, a first message from a first application in the first service layer, the first message encapsulating a second message formatted for processing by a second application in the second service layer in the second network;

determining, by the M2M node, based on at least a first attribute identifying an expiration time after which the communication management function does not facilitate communication, that the communication management function is available to process the first message;

determining, by the M2M node, based on at least a second attribute defining an access control list identifying applications in the first service layer for which the communication management function may provide processing, that the communication management function is available to process the first message from the first application;

de-encapsulating, by the M2M node, the second message from the first message, the second message formatted for processing by the second application in the second service layer in the second network;

determining, by the M2M node, based on at least a third attribute indicating whether the communication management function buffers messages received from applications in the first service layer, to buffer the second message; and

sending, by the M2M node, the second message to the second service layer in the second network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending, by the M2M node, the second message to the second service layer in the second network comprises sending the second message to the second service layer consistent with one or more attributes in the plurality of attributes.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the M2M node via the first network, a third message from a third application in the first service layer, the third message encapsulating a fourth message formatted for processing by a fourth application in the second service layer in the second network.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining, by the M2M node, based on at least the third attribute indicating whether the communication management function buffers messages received from applications in the first service layer, to not buffer the fourth message.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining, by the M2M node, based on at least the second attribute defining an access control list identifying applications in the first service layer for which the communication management function may provide processing, that the communication management function is not available to process the third message from the third application.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining, by the M2M node, based on at least on the first attribute identifying an expiration time after which the communication management function does not facilitate communication, that the communication management function is not available to process the third message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the second message to the second service layer via the second network comprises sending the second message to the second service layer via a Zigbee network.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein providing an M2M node in a first network comprises providing an M2M node having a Restful resource structure.

9. A computing node for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications between service layers comprising:

one or more processors configured to store a plurality of attributes for use by a communication management function, the plurality of attributes indicating functionality applicable to messages received from applications in a first service layer in a first network;

the one or more processors configured to receive a first message from a first application in the first service layer in the first network, the first message encapsulating a second message formatted for processing by a second application in a second service layer in a second network;

the one or more processors configured to determine based on at least a first attribute identifying an expiration time after which the communication management function does not facilitate communication, that the communication management function is available to process the first message;

the one or more processors configured to determine based on at least a second attribute defining an access control list identifying applications in the first service layer for which the communication management function may provide processing, that the communication management function is available to process the first message from the first application;

the one or more processors configured to de-encapsulate the second message from the first message, the second message formatted for processing by the second application in the second service layer in the second network;

the one or more processors configured to determine based on at least a third attribute indicating whether the communication management function buffers messages received from applications in the first service layer, to buffer the second message; and

the one or more processors configured to send the second message to the second service layer in the second network.

10. The computing node of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors configured to send the second message from the first network to the second service layer in the second network are further configured to send the second message to the second service layer consistent with one or more attributes in the plurality of attributes.

11. The computing node of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine based on at least the third attribute indicating whether the communication management function buffers messages received from applications in the first service layer, to not buffer a fourth message.

12. The computing node of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine based on at least the second attribute defining an access control list identifying applications in the first service layer for which the communication management function may provide processing, that the communication management function is not available to process a third message from a third application.

13. The computing node of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors configured to send the second message from the first network to the second service layer in the second network are further configured to send the second message from an ETSI M2M network to the second service layer in a Zigbee network.

14. A system for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications between service layers comprising:

an M2M node comprising one or more processors configured to

store a plurality of attributes for use by a communication management function, the plurality of attributes indicating functionality applicable to messages received from applications in a first service layer in a first network;

the one or more processors configured to receive a first message from a first application in the first service layer in the first network, the first message encapsulating a second message formatted for processing by a second application in a second service layer in a second network;

the one or more processors configured to determine based on at least a first attribute identifying an expiration time after which the communication management function does not facilitate communication, that the communication management function is available to process the first message;

the one or more processors configured to determine based on at least a second attribute defining an access control list identifying applications in the first service layer for which the communication management function may provide processing, that the communication management function is available to process the first message from the first application;

the one or more processors configured to de-encapsulate the second message from the first message, the second message formatted for processing by the second application in the second service layer in the second network;

the one or more processors configured to determine based on at least a third attribute indicating whether the communication management function buffers messages received from applications in the first service layer, to buffer the second message; and

the one or more processors configured to send the second message to the second service layer in the second network.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors configured to send the second message to the second service layer in the second network are further configured to send the second message to the second service layer consistent with one or more attributes in the plurality of attributes.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine based on at least the third attribute indicating whether the communication management function buffers messages received from applications in the first service layer, to not buffer a fourth message.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine based on at least the second attribute defining an access control list identifying applications in the first service layer for which the communication management function may provide processing, that the communication management function is not available to process a third message from a third application.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors configured to receive a first message from a first application in a first service layer in a first network are further configured to receive a first message from a first application in a first service layer implemented using a RESTful structure, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to send the second message to a second service layer implemented using a RESTful structure.