Methods and apparatus for machine-to-machine communications

• US 20080313255A1
• Filed: 02/13/2006
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: David Geltner, Steve Pazol
• Inventors: Geltner, David, Pazol, Steve
• Granted Patent: US 8,316,152 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2859 Point-to-point connection between the data network and the subscribers encapsulation H04L12/4633; virtual LANs H04L12/4641; routing of packets H04L45/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2514 between local and global IP addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5076 Update or notification mechanisms, e.g. DynDNS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for machine-to-machine communications are disclosed. A communications server provides a way for application servers on the Internet to communicate with a plurality of physically remote devices that do not have “traditional” Internet connections. Communications between an application server and its remote devices are normalized by the communications server so that the need for a variety of wired and wireless protocols remains transparent to the application server. In addition, the application server may initiate communications with remote devices using dynamic IP addresses, because the communications server discovers dynamic IP addresses using a non-IP based protocol.

Claims

1. A machine-to-machine communications system comprising:

an application server connected to a wide area network;

a network access server connected to the wide area network;

a remote device capable of wireless communication with the network access server, the remote device being associated with a dynamic network address assigned by the network access server;

a data normalization module associated with the application server configured to convert messages between the application server and the remote device; and

a dynamic address resolution module associated with the application server, the dynamic address resolution module being structured to initiate a first message to the remote device using a first protocol if the dynamic network address is not known by the dynamic address resolution module, the dynamic address resolution module being structured to initiate a second message to the remote device using a second different protocol if the dynamic network address is known by the dynamic address resolution module.

2. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic address resolution module is structured to:

receive a static IP address;

determine a dynamic IP address based on the static IP address; and

communicate with the remote device using the dynamic IP address.

3. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic address resolution module is structured to determine if a third message destined for the remote device is smaller than a predetermined threshold and initiate the first message to the remote device using the first protocol if the third message is smaller than the predetermined threshold.

4. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic address resolution module is structured to determine if a third message destined for the remote device is larger than a predetermined threshold and initiate the second message to the remote device using the second protocol if the third message is larger than the predetermined threshold.

5. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the remote device is structured to use a hierarchy of fallback protocols if a message sent using at least one of the first protocol and the second protocol fails.

6. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic address resolution module is structured to determine if the dynamic network address is not known by the dynamic address resolution module by checking if a connection to the remote device has been closed by the remote device.

7. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic address resolution module is structured to determine if the dynamic network address is not known by the dynamic address resolution module by checking if a message to the remote device fails.

8. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the data normalization module and the dynamic address resolution module include software residing on a communications server, the communications server communicating with the application server over the wide area network.

9. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 8, wherein the communications server is structured to buffer communications from the application server to the remote device and from the remote device to the application server.

10. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the first protocol is a static address protocol.

11. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the first protocol is a non-IP based protocol.

12. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the first protocol includes a short message service (SMS) protocol.

13. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the second protocol is an IP based protocol.

14. The machine-to-machine communications system of claim 1, wherein the second protocol includes a TCP/IP protocol.

15. A method of communicating between an application server and a plurality of remote devices, the method comprising:

receiving a first message from the application server, the first message including a device identifier associated with a remote device in the plurality of remote devices and a data payload for the remote device;

sending a second message to the remote device in response to receiving the first message from the application server, the second message being sent via a first wireless protocol that does not use a dynamic network address;

receiving a third message from the remote device, the third message including the dynamic network address associated with the remote device; and

sending a fourth message to the remote device in response to receiving the third message from the remote device, the fourth message including the data payload, the fourth message being sent via a second wireless protocol that uses the dynamic network address associated with the remote device.

16. The method of claim 15, including normalizing the data payload for the remote device.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the device identifier includes a static IP address, the method including:

determining a dynamic IP address based on the static IP address; and

communicating with the remote device using the dynamic IP address.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the application server is structured to use a hierarchy of fallback protocols if a message sent using at least one of the first wireless protocol and the second wireless protocol fails.

19. A method of communicating between an application server and a plurality of remote devices, the method comprising:

receiving a first message from the application server, the first message including a device identifier associated with a remote device in the plurality of remote devices and a first data payload for the remote device;

converting the first data payload to a second data payload associated with the remote device;

determining if the second data payload is smaller than a predetermined threshold; and

sending a second message to the remote device in response to receiving the first message from the application server, the second message including the second data payload if the second data payload is smaller than the predetermined threshold, the second message being sent via a first wireless protocol that does not use dynamic network addressing if the second data payload is smaller than the predetermined threshold, the second message being sent via a second wireless protocol that does use dynamic network addressing if the second data payload is not smaller than the predetermined threshold.

20. The method of claim 19, including:

receiving a third message from the remote device, the third message including a dynamic network address associated with the remote device; and

sending a fourth message to the remote device in response to receiving the third message from the remote device, the fourth message including the second data payload, the fourth message being sent via the second wireless protocol that uses the dynamic network address associated with the remote device.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the device identifier includes a static IP address, the method including:

determining a dynamic IP address based on the static IP address; and

communicating with the remote device using the dynamic IP address.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the application server is structured to use a hierarchy of fallback protocols if a message sent using at least one of the first wireless protocol and the second wireless protocol fails.