Indexing Sensor Data

• US 20120197898A1
• Filed: 01/28/2011
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pandey, Manoj Kumar, Banka, Tarun, Dutta, Debojyoti, Sen, Mainak, Balakrishnan, Raja Suresh Krishna
• Granted Patent: US 9,275,093 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2264 Multidimensional index structures
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/065 using assembly or disassembly of packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

In particular embodiments, a method includes, from an indexer in a sensor network, accessing a set of sensor data that includes sensor data aggregated together from sensors in the sensor network, one or more time stamps for the sensor data, and metadata for the sensor data identifying one or more pre-determined attributes of the sensor data. The method includes, at the indexer, generating an index of the set of sensor data according to a multi-dimensional array configured for querying of the set of sensor data along with a plurality of other sets of sensor data. One or more first ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array include time, and one or more second ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array include one or more of the pre-determined sensor-data attributes. The method includes, from the indexer, communicating the index of the set of sensor data for use in responding to one or more queries of the set of sensor data along with a plurality of other sets of sensor data.

Claims

1. A method comprising, by one or more computer systems:

from an indexer in a sensor network, accessing a set of sensor data that comprises;

a plurality of sensor data aggregated together from a plurality of sensors in the sensor network;

one or more time stamps for the sensor data; and

metadata for the sensor data identifying one or more pre-determined attributes of the sensor data;

at the indexer, generating an index of the set of sensor data according to a multi-dimensional array configured for querying of the set of sensor data along with a plurality of other sets of sensor data, one or more first ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array comprising time and one or more second ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array comprising one or more of the pre-determined sensor-data attributes; and

from the indexer, communicating the index of the set of sensor data for use in responding to one or more queries of the set of sensor data along with a plurality of other sets of sensor data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregation of the sensor data comprised:

substantially deduplicating the sensor data;

substantially validating the sensor data to block malicious data from reaching the indexer;

formatting the sensor data for processing of the sensor data at the indexer;

generating the metadata for the sensor; and

generating the time-stamps for the sensor data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises one or more identifiers designating one or more data types of the sensor data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprises one or more streams of substantially real-time streaming sensor data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the index comprises representing each of the streams as a time-series of data for indexing.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, at the indexer:

classifying the sensor data; and

based on the classification, generating keywords for the sensor data for use in one or more inverted indices or keyword frequency distribution.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the index comprises inputting the sensor data to a state machine with programmable rule criteria that is configured to drop sensor data that fail to meet the rule criteria as programmed.

8. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

access a set of sensor data that comprises;

a plurality of sensor data aggregated together from a plurality of sensors in the sensor network;

one or more time stamps for the sensor data; and

metadata for the sensor data identifying one or more pre-determined attributes of the sensor data;

generate an index of the set of sensor data according to a multi-dimensional array configured for querying of the set of sensor data along with a plurality of other sets of sensor data, one or more first ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array comprising time and one or more second ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array comprising one or more of the pre-determined sensor-data attributes; and

communicate the index of the set of sensor data for use in responding to one or more queries of the set of sensor data along with a plurality of other sets of sensor data.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein aggregation of the sensor data comprised:

substantially deduplicating the sensor data;

substantially validating the sensor data to block malicious data from reaching the indexer;

formatting the sensor data for processing of the sensor data at the indexer;

generating the metadata for the sensor; and

generating the time-stamps for the sensor data.

10. The media of claim 8, wherein the metadata comprises one or more identifiers designating one or more data types of the sensor data.

11. The media of claim 8, wherein the sensor data comprises one or more streams of substantially real-time streaming sensor data.

12. The media of claim 11, wherein generating the index comprises representing each of the streams as a time-series of data for indexing.

13. The media of claim 8, wherein the software is further operable when executed to:

classify the sensor data; and

based on the classification, generate keywords for the sensor data for use in one or more inverted indices or keyword frequency distribution.

14. The media of claim 8, wherein generating the index comprises inputting the sensor data to a state machine with programmable rule criteria that is configured to drop sensor data that fail to meet the rule criteria as programmed.

15. An apparatus comprising:

one or more communication interfaces;

one or more memory devices containing one or more instructions for execution by one or more processing devices; and

the processing devices, operable when executing the instructions to;

access a set of sensor data that comprises;

a plurality of sensor data aggregated together from a plurality of sensors in the sensor network;

one or more time stamps for the sensor data; and

metadata for the sensor data identifying one or more pre-determined attributes of the sensor data;

generate an index of the set of sensor data according to a multi-dimensional array configured for querying of the set of sensor data along with a plurality of other sets of sensor data, one or more first ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array comprising time and one or more second ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array comprising one or more of the pre-determined sensor-data attributes; and

communicate the index of the set of sensor data for use in responding to one or more queries of the set of sensor data along with a plurality of other sets of sensor data.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the aggregation of the sensor data comprised:

substantially deduplicating the sensor data;

substantially validating the sensor data to block malicious data from reaching the indexer;

formatting the sensor data for processing of the sensor data at the indexer;

generating the metadata for the sensor; and

generating the time-stamps for the sensor data.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the metadata comprises one or more identifiers designating one or more data types of the sensor data.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the sensor data comprises one or more streams of substantially real-time streaming sensor data.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein generating the index comprises representing each of the streams as a time-series of data for indexing.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, further configured to:

classify the sensor data; and

based on the classification, generate keywords for the sensor data for use in one or more inverted indices or keyword frequency distribution.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein generating the index comprises inputting the sensor data to a state machine with programmable rule criteria that is configured to drop sensor data that fail to meet the rule criteria as programmed.

22. A system comprising, by one or more computer systems:

means for accessing a set of sensor data that comprises;

a plurality of sensor data aggregated together from a plurality of sensors in the sensor network;

one or more time stamps for the sensor data; and

metadata for the sensor data identifying one or more pre-determined attributes of the sensor data;

means for generating an index of the set of sensor data according to a multi-dimensional array configured for querying of the set of sensor data along with a plurality of other sets of sensor data, one or more first ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array comprising time and one or more second ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array comprising one or more of the pre-determined sensor-data attributes; and

means for communicating the index of the set of sensor data for use in responding to one or more queries of the set of sensor data along with a plurality of other sets of sensor data.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the aggregation of the sensor data comprised:

substantially deduplicating the sensor data;

substantially validating the sensor data to block malicious data from reaching the indexer;

formatting the sensor data for processing of the sensor data at the indexer;

generating the metadata for the sensor; and

generating the time-stamps for the sensor data.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the metadata comprises one or more identifiers designating one or more data types of the sensor data.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the sensor data comprises one or more streams of substantially real-time streaming sensor data.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein generating the index comprises representing each of the streams as a time-series of data for indexing.

27. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

means for classifying the sensor data; and

means for, based on the classification, generating keywords for the sensor data for use in one or more inverted indices or keyword frequency distribution.

28. The system of claim 22, wherein generating the index comprises inputting the sensor data to a state machine with programmable rule criteria that is configured to drop sensor data that fail to meet the rule criteria as programmed.