Method and system for sensor data management

• US 20060143439A1
• Filed: 12/06/2005
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Xpaseo
• Original Assignee: Xpaseo
• Inventors: Arumugam, Murugan, Krishnan, Kanth, Dhanukodi, Chellappa
• Application Number:
  US11/295,880
• Publication Number:
  US 20060143439A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/153
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/60 Router architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/24 between backbone network devices

Abstract

Methods and systems for real-time management of sensor data, based on application level logic made available at the edge of the enterprise are disclosed. According to an embodiment of the invention, an intelligent data router is communicatively coupled to one or more data sensors and a data management server. In one embodiment, the intelligent data router executes application level logic encapsulating business rules to make real-time enterprise data decisions and execute business transactions.

Claims

1. A data router, comprising:

a data exchange interface to communicatively couple the data router to a data management server and one or more data sensors, so as to facilitate receiving data from, and sending data to, the data management server and the one or more data sensors; and

a data processing module to execute application level logic, the application level logic implementing data processing rules for processing sensor data received, in real-time, from the one or more data sensors and.

2. The data router of claim 1, further comprising:

a storage module to, in real-time, receive and store enterprise data and sensor data, wherein the application level logic implementing data processing rules processes the enterprise data and/or sensor data stored in the storage module.

3. The data router of claim 1, wherein the data routing module includes load balancing logic to monitor load levels at extended enterprise nodes configured to receive sensor data from the data router, and to determine an extended enterprise node most qualified to receive sensor data, wherein the data routing module is to route sensor data to the extended enterprise node most qualified to receive sensor data, in accordance with the sensor data processing rules.

4. The data router of claim 1, wherein the load balancing logic is to communicate with one or more other data routers to automatically balance inbound sensor data processing operations associated with inbound sensor data equally across the one or more other data routers.

5. The data router of claim 1, wherein the data routing module includes load balancing logic to monitor load levels associated with incoming sensor data processing, and upon exceeding a predetermined load threshold, the load balancing logic is to shift data processing operations associated with the incoming load to a peer data router.

6. The data router of claim 1, wherein the sensor data is sensed by, and received from, the one or more data sensors, and the sensor data processing rules operate on the sensed data.

7. The data router of claim 1, further comprising:

a data sensor interface to facilitate, in cooperation with the data exchange interface, receiving data from, and sending data to, heterogeneous types of data sensors.

8. The data router of claim 1, further comprising:

a data sensor interface separate from the data exchange interface to communicatively couple the data router to one or more data sensors, so as to facilitate receiving data from, and sending data to, the one or more data sensors utilizing a network protocol that is different from the network protocol utilized by the data exchange interface.

9. The data router of claim 1, further comprising:

a data sensor management module to automatically configure one or more configuration parameters of a data sensor communicatively coupled to the data router, wherein the one or more configuration parameters of the data sensor control data sensing operations of the data sensor.

10. The data router of claim 9, wherein the data sensor management module is to receive configuration data from the data management server, and the configuration module is to utilize the configuration data received from the data management server to configure the one or more configuration parameters of the data sensor communicatively coupled to the data router.

11. The data router of claim 1, further comprising:

a data sensor management module to automatically detect the presence and type of a new data sensor, and to automatically configure the data exchange interface of the data router, based in part on the type of the new data sensor, to communicatively couple the data router to the new data sensor, so as to facilitate receiving data from, and sending data to, the new data sensor.

12. The data router of claim 11, further comprising:

a device profile module to store device profiles for data sensors, wherein the device profile module is to request a device profile from the data management server when the data sensor management module detects the presence of a new data sensor for which the device profile module is not storing a corresponding device profile.

13. The data router of claim 1, further comprising:

a data sensor management module to receive, from the data management server, a first command identifying a subset of data sensors communicatively coupled to the data router, the command instructing the data router to organize the subset of data sensors into a group, wherein the sensor management module, upon receiving a second command directed to the group, is to distribute the command to each data sensor in the group.

14. The data router of claim 1, further comprising:

a data sensor monitor to monitor the operations of the one or more data sensors, and to communicate an alert upon determining a data sensor is operating outside normal operational specifications.

15. The data router of claim 1, wherein the data exchange interface facilitates wireless and/or wired communication between the data router, the data management server and the one or more data sensors.

16. The data router of claim 1, further comprising:

data decompression logic to decompress sensor data received from a data sensor that compressed the sensor data prior to communicating the sensor data to the data router.

17. The data router of claim 1, further comprising:

error correction logic to detect and correct errors in data received at the data router.

18. A data management server, comprising:

a data exchange interface to communicatively couple a plurality of data routers to the data management server, so as to facilitate receiving data from, and sending data to, the plurality of data routers, and

a data router management module to communicate configuration data to the plurality of data routers, wherein each data router includes a data processing module to execute application level logic, the application level logic. implementing data processing rules for processing, in real-time, sensor data received from one or more data sensors communicatively coupled to a data router.

19. The data management server of claim 18, further comprising:

a data router management module to automatically detect the presence on the network of a new data router, and to automatically configure the data exchange interface of the data management server to communicatively couple the data management server to the new data router, so as to facilitate receiving data from, and sending data to, the new data router.

20. The data management server of claim 18, further comprising:

a data sensor management module to automatically detect the presence on the network of a new data sensor, and to automatically configure the data exchange interface of the data management server to communicatively couple the data management server to the new data sensor, so as to facilitate receiving data from, and sending data to, the new data sensor.

21. The data management server of claim 18, further comprising:

a data sensor management module to organize a plurality of data sensors into one or more user-defined groups, and to issue a command to a user-defined group of data sensors by distributing the command to all data routers to which a data sensor in the user-defined group of data sensors is attached.

22. The data management server of claim 21, wherein the data sensor management module is to issue a read command to the user-defined group of data sensors, wherein the read command is to instruct the user-defined group of data sensors to perform a read operation in real-time.

23. The data management server of claim 21, wherein the data sensor management module is to issue a read scheduling command to the user defined group of data sensors, wherein the read scheduling command is to instruct the data sensors to perform read operations according to a schedule indicated in the read scheduling command.

24. The data management server of claim 18, further comprising:

a rule engine to verify a rule received from a business application, and to generate a sensor data processing rule based on the rule received from the business application.

25. A data management system comprising:

a plurality of data routers, each data router communicatively coupled to one or more data sensors; and

a data management server communicatively coupled to the plurality of data routers, so as to receive data from, and send data to, the one or more data sensors and the plurality of data routers, wherein the data management server is to communicate sensor data processing rule to a particular data router, and the particular data router is to process sensor data received from the one or more data sensors in accordance with the sensor data processing rule.

26. The data management system of claim 25, wherein the data router includes load balancing logic to monitor load levels at extended enterprise nodes configured to receive sensor data from the plurality of data routers, and to determine a network node most qualified to receive sensor data, and the data router is to route sensor data to the extended enterprise node most qualified to receive sensor data, in accordance with a sensor data processing rule.

27. The data management system of claim 25, further comprising:

a user interface component to receive user instructions, wherein the data management server is to organize the one or more data sensors into a sensor group based on the user instructions, and the data management server is to distribute a command directed to the sensor group to all data routers to which a data sensor in the sensor group is attached.