MACHINE-TO-MACHINE GATEWAY ARCHITECTURE AND FUNCTIONALITY

• US 20110213871A1
• Filed: 03/01/2011
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DRNC Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Russell, Paul L. JR., Cha, Inhyok, Starsinic, Michael F., Gauvreau, Jean-Louis, DiGirolamo, Rocco, Seed, Dale N., Wang, Chonggang, Pinheiro, Ana Lucia, Podias, Nicholas J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,104,492 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• 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 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

A machine-to-machine (M2M) gateway (GW) includes reachability, addressing, and repository (RAR) capability. The GW maintains a local mapping table and local device application repository, performs data aggregation, address/name translation, provides event reporting and establishes GW reachability and wake-up time. The GW supports requests from M2M applications or other capabilities within the GW, and from a network and application (N&A) domain RAR. The GW may include an M2M device and M2M gateway management (MDGM) capability that receives management requests for an M2M device and functions as a network proxy. The MDGM accepts and processes requests from the N&A domain on behalf of the M2M device and performs management functions of the M2M device on behalf of the N&A domain. The MDGM may request the N&A domain for permission to interact with the M2M device, initiate an interaction for device management tasks with the M2M device, and report to the N&A domain.

Claims

1. A machine to machine (M2M) gateway (GW), comprising:

a reachability, addressing and repository (RAR) entity; and

an M2M device and M2M gateway management (MDGM) entity, wherein the RAR entity and MDGM entity provide services to connected M2M devices.

2. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the RAR entity further comprises:

a mapping table configured to maintain M2M devices and corresponding network addresses.

3. The M2M GW of claim 2, wherein particular ones of the M2M devices are associated with a group name and the mapping table maintains network addresses for each M2M device associated with the group name.

4. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the RAR entity is configured to provide at least one of reachability status, wake-up time or wake-up duration for an M2M device.

5. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the RAR entity is configured to provide reachability status for an M2M device and update the reachability status upon a predetermined event.

6. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the RAR entity is configured to provide a notification upon the occurrence of a predetermined event.

7. The M2M GW of claim 6, wherein the predetermined event includes at least one of reachability status, change in registration information, wake-up time, and change in address.

8. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the RAR entity is configured to group particular ones of the M2M devices, and track M2M devices belonging to the groups.

9. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the RAR entity includes a device application repository that maintains registration information, provides a query interface for accessing the registration information by an authenticated and authorized entity and providing a service discovery to notify an entity.

10. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the RAR entity is configured to communicate with a network and application domain RAR.

11. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the RAR entity is configured to perform data aggregation by keeping a list of M2M devices which form a group from which data may be aggregated.

12. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the RAR entity is configured to cache data for a M2M device when the M2M device is unreachable.

13. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the MDGM is configured to request a network and application domain for permission to start interacting with an M2M device to perform device management tasks and to perform the device management tasks upon receipt of permission from the network and application domain.

14. The M2M GW of claim 1, wherein the MDGM is configured to initiate an interaction for device management tasks with the M2M device and inform a network and application domain results from the interaction for the device management tasks.

15. A machine to machine (M2M) gateway (GW), comprising:

an M2M device and M2M gateway management (MDGM) entity, wherein the MDGM is configured to request a network and application domain for permission to start interacting with an M2M device to perform device management tasks; and

the MDGM is configured to perform the device management tasks upon receipt of permission from the network and application domain.

16. The M2M GW of claim 15, wherein the MDGM is configured to initiate an interaction for device management tasks with the M2M device and inform a network and application domain results from the interaction for the device management tasks.

17. A method implemented at a machine to machine (M2M) gateway (GW) for M2M device management, the method comprising:

requesting a network and application domain for permission to start interacting with an M2M device to perform device management tasks; and

performing the device management tasks upon receipt of permission from the network and application domain

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

initiating an interaction for device management tasks with the M2M device; and

informing a network and application domain results from the interaction for the device management tasks.