Measurements exchange network, such as for internet-of-things (IoT) devices

• US 10,601,898 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2017
• Issued: 03/24/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Pogorelik, Oleg, Nayshtut, Alex, Tatourian, Igor, Ben-Shalom, Omer
• Primary Examiner(s): Jean Gilles, Jude
• Application Number:
  US15/846,007
• Publication Number:
  US 20180205783A1
• Time in Patent Office: 827 Days
• Field of Search: 709217, 709204, 709219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• 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: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Measurement exchange networks and protocols to exchange measurements of a parameter amongst devices (e.g., IoT devices), select the best measurement(s), accuracy/precision-wise, and determine a process variable for a control system based on the selected best measurement(s). A device may select a peer-provided best measurement to output as the process variable in place of a local measurement, and/or compute the process variable from multiple best measurements (e.g., local and/or peer-provided measurements). Metadata may be used to select a measurement(s) and/or to increase reliability/trust of exchanged data. In this way, each device of an exchange group/network may obtain the highest measurement accuracy of all available collocated sensors with little or no additional processing or cloud connectivity. A best measurement(s) may be selected based on measurement quality specifications extracted from metadata, measurement qualities computed from measurements of respective sensors, locations/proximities of the sensors, a policy(ies), and/or device IDs (e.g., extracted from metadata).

Claims

1. A sensor device, comprising:

a first sensor;

a communication interface to communicate in a peer-to-peer manner with one or more other sensor devices external to the sensor device; and

a controller coupled to the first sensor to first receive a first measurement of a parameter from the first sensor;

wherein the controller is further coupled to the communication interface to second receive, via peer-to-peer communication with the one or more other sensor devices, one or more additional measurements of the parameter from the one or more other sensor devices, the one or more additional measurements of the parameter being taken by one or more additional sensors associated with the one or more other sensor devices;

wherein the controller determines a value of the parameter, based at least in part on the first and the one or more additional measurements received, and outputs the determined value of the parameter to a control system; and

wherein the control system uses the outputted value of the parameter to control a device.

2. The sensor device of claim 1, wherein to determine the value of the parameter, the controller selects one or more of the first and the one or more additional measurements received, based at least in part on one or more specifications or one or more quality measures of the one or more additional sensors;

and determine the value of the parameter from the selected one or more measurements.

3. The sensor device of claim 2, wherein the controller further extracts the one or more specifications of the one or more additional sensors from metadata of the one or more additional measurements.

4. The sensor device of claim 2, wherein the controller further extracts the one or more quality measures of the one or more additional sensors from metadata of the one or more additional measurements.

5. The sensor device of claim 2, wherein the controller further computes the one or more quality measures of the one or more additional sensors from past one or more additional measurements of the parameter received from the one or more other sensor devices.

6. The sensor device of claim 2, wherein the one or more quality measures comprise one or more precision measures, frequency measures, or variability measures.

7. The sensor device of claim 2, wherein the controller further determines one or more proximity measures between the sensor device and the one or more additional sensors;

and wherein the controller further selects the one or more of the first and the one or more additional measurements received, based on the one or more proximity measures determined.

8. The sensor device of claim 1, wherein the controller further generates one or more histograms based on the first received first measurement, and wherein the sensor device further comprises a broadcaster coupled to the communication interface to broadcast the one or more histograms for the one or more additional sensors.

9. The sensor device of claim 1, wherein the sensor device further comprises a listener coupled to the controller and the communication interface to receive one or more additional histograms broadcast by the one or more additional sensors, the one or more additional histograms being based at least in part on the one or more additional measurements.

10. The sensor device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the sensor device or the one or more additional sensors is an Internet-of-Thing (IoT) device.

11. The sensor device of claim 1, wherein the parameter is a selected one of temperature, pressure, humidity, light intensity, or motion.

12. A system comprising:

a controllee device;

a controller;

an Internet-of-Thing (IoT) device having a processor, connectivity circuitry, and a first sensor to collect first sensor data of a parameter; and

a device having a second sensor to collect second sensor data of the parameter, and forward the second sensor data to the IoT device, via peer-to-peer communication with the IoT device;

wherein the processor determines a value of the parameter based at least in part on the first and the second sensor data of the parameter, and provides the determined value of the parameter to the controller; and

wherein the controller controls operation of the controllee device, based at least in part on the value of the parameter provided.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the connectivity circuitry is first connectivity circuitry, and wherein the device having the second sensor further includes second connectivity circuitry to communicate in a peer-to-peer manner with the IoT device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first and second connectivity circuitry comprise wireless communication interfaces to communicate peer-to-peer, wirelessly, with each other.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the device having the second sensor is another IoT device.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the device having the second sensor is a mobile device.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is a fire suppression system, and the IoT device is a smoke or fire detection device.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is an air conditioning system, and the IoT device is a thermostat.

19. An apparatus comprising:

a first plurality of sensors to locally collect a first plurality of sensor data for a first plurality of parameters; and

a controller coupled to the first plurality of sensors, wherein the controller includes;

a data extractor to extract from received peer-to-peer communication a second plurality of sensor data remotely collected by a second plurality of sensors for a second plurality of parameters;

a measurement engine coupled to the data extractor to determine a common parameter between the first and the second plurality of parameters, and on determination of the common parameter, determine a value of the common parameter, based at least in part on a corresponding local sensor data among the first plurality of sensor data for the common parameter, and a corresponding remote sensor data among the second plurality of sensor data for the common parameter; and

a reporting engine coupled to the measurement engine to output the determined value of the common parameter for a control device;

wherein the control device controls a controllee device based at least in part on the outputted value of the common parameter.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising a transmitter;

and wherein the controller further comprises a donation broadcaster coupled with the first plurality of sensors to format the locally collected first plurality of sensor data for the first plurality of parameters, and coupled with the transmitter to broadcast, via the transmitter, the formatted first plurality of sensor data for the first plurality of parameters for other apparatuses.