Method and system for processing machine-to-machine sensor data

• US 10,284,689 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2016
• Issued: 05/07/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Dubois, Jean F., Moran, Patrick J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Katsikis, Kostas J
• Application Number:
  US15/338,717
• Publication Number:
  US 20170048360A1
• Time in Patent Office: 918 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/102 Gateways arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways, H04L12/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/086 using security domains
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

An approach is described for registering a plurality of gateway devices to a sensor platform operated by a service provider, detecting at the gateway devices, one or more sensors from a personal area network of a subscriber, determining corresponding identifiers of the sensors, collecting data from the sensors over one or more coordinated personal area networks, and designating each of a plurality of agents to process the collected data for local analysis and acting on this analysis, wherein the agents are configured to communicate with other agents.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors to;

detect a plurality of sensor devices,

the plurality of sensor devices including a plurality of direct sensors and a plurality of indirect sensors, and

the plurality of indirect sensors communicating with the device without a gateway device;

install interfacing software in the plurality of sensor devices;

register, based on installing the interfacing software, the plurality of sensor devices;

receive, based on registering the plurality of sensor devices, sensor data from the plurality of sensor devices,

the sensor data being in a plurality of formats, and

data, of the sensor data, from the plurality of indirect sensors being data that has been processed by another party;

receive a plurality of access settings from a plurality of sensor agents,

the plurality of sensor agents corresponding to the plurality of sensor devices, and

the plurality of access settings being associated with the plurality of sensor agents;

create an interface for communication between the plurality of sensor agents based on the plurality of access settings;

permit, based on creating the interface, a sensor agent, of the plurality of sensor agents, to publish to another sensor agent, of the plurality of sensor agents, within a chat room-style bus-model; and

provide, based on creating the interface, translation of the sensor data into a common format.

2. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors are further to:

determine one or more characteristics of the plurality of sensor agents;

determine one or more access rules based on the one or more characteristics; and

configure a policy engine based on the one or more access rules.

3. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors are further to:

forward the translation of the sensor data to one or more applications.

4. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors are further to:

permit the sensor agent to subscribe from the other sensor agent within the chat room-style bus-model.

5. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors are further to:

permit the sensor agent to subscribe from any of the plurality of sensor agents, within the interface.

6. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors are further to:

monitor activity of the plurality of sensor agents;

log the activity of the plurality of sensor agents based on monitoring the activity; and

permit the activity to be discovered locally, based on logging the activity of the plurality of sensor agents, to assist with data collection management.

7. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors are further to:

receive information indicating an association between the device, the plurality of sensor devices, and a plurality of user accounts.

8. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors, when registering the plurality of sensor devices, are to:

register the plurality of direct sensors to the gateway.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instruction, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the one or more processors to;

detect a plurality of sensor devices;

install interfacing software in the plurality of sensor devices;

register, based on installing the interfacing software, the plurality of sensor devices;

receive, based on registering the plurality of sensor devices, sensor data from the plurality of sensor devices,

the sensor data being in a plurality of different formats;

receive a plurality of access settings from a plurality of sensor agents,

the plurality of sensor agents corresponding to the plurality of sensor devices, and

the plurality of access settings being associated with the plurality of sensor agents;

create an interface for communication among the plurality of sensor agents based on the plurality of access settings;

permit, based on creating the interface, a sensor agent, of the plurality of sensor agents, to publish to another sensor agent, of the plurality of sensor agents, within a chat room-style bus-model; and

provide, based on creating the interface, translation of the sensor data into a common format.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

associate a user account with the plurality of sensor devices; and

provide information to a sensor platform based on associating the user account with the plurality of sensor devices,

the information indicating that the user account is associated with the plurality of sensor devices.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to register the plurality of sensor devices, cause the one or more processors to:

register the plurality of sensor devices with a sensor platform.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

determine one or more characteristics of the communication among the plurality of sensor agents;

determine one or more access rules based on the one or more characteristics; and

configure a policy engine based on the one or more access rules.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, where publications and subscriptions between the plurality of sensor agents are managed via a policy engine.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

permit the sensor agent to subscribe from the other sensor agent within the chat room-style bus-model.

15. A method, comprising:

detecting, by a device, two or more sensor devices;

installing, by the device, interfacing software in the two or more sensor devices;

registering, by the device and based on installing the interfacing software, the two or more sensor devices;

receiving, by the device and based on registering the two or more sensor devices, sensor data from the two or more sensor devices,

the sensor data being in a plurality of formats;

receiving, by the device, one or more access settings from two or more sensor agents,

the two or more sensor agents corresponding to the two or more sensor devices, and

the one or more access settings being associated with the two or more sensor agents;

creating, by the device, an interface for communication among the two or more sensor agents based on the one or more access settings;

permitting, by the device based on creating the interface, a sensor agent, of the two or more sensor agents, to publish to another sensor agent, of the two or more sensor agents, within a chat room-style bus-model; and

providing, by the device and based on creating the interface, translation of the sensor data into a common format.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

permitting the sensor agent to subscribe from the other sensor agent within the chat room-style bus-model.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

monitoring activity of the two or more sensor agents;

logging the activity of the two or more sensor agents based on monitoring the activity; and

permitting the activity to be discovered locally, based on logging the activity of the two or more sensor agents, to assist with data collection management.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving information indicating an association between the device, the two or more sensor devices, and a plurality of user accounts,

the plurality of user accounts being associated with the device.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

selectively registering the two or more sensor devices based on the interface being installed on the two or more sensor devices.

20. The method of claim 15, where further comprising:

associating a user account with the two or more sensor devices; and

providing information to a sensor platform based on associating the user account with the two or more sensor devices,

the information indicating that the user account is associated with the two or more sensor devices.