Situation-Driven Spontaneous Networking

• US 20120233336A1
• Filed: 03/11/2011
• Published: 09/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bai, Kun, Bantz, David F., Chefalas, Thomas E., Liu, Leslie S., Mastrianni, Steven J., Moulic, James R., Shea, Dennis G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,037,728 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

In an exemplary embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes, in an electronic device, forming a hypothesis that a situation exists based on one or more situation definitions and data from one or more sensors accessible by the electronic device. The method includes searching for other electronic devices via one or more network interfaces in the electronic device and establishing a network with one or more other electronic devices found during the searching. The method also includes receiving information from the one or more other electronic devices, the information corresponding to the situation. The method further includes, based at least on the information, modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists. Apparatus and computer readable memory media are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

in an electronic device, forming a hypothesis that a situation exists based on at least one situation definition and data from at least one sensor accessible by the electronic device;

searching for other electronic devices via one or more network interfaces in the electronic device;

establishing a network with at least one other electronic device found during the searching;

receiving information from the at least one other electronic device, the information corresponding to the situation; and

based at least on the received information, modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing one or more actions based on the modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists further comprises performing a likelihood analysis based on one or more of the received information, the at least one situation definition, or the data from the at least one sensor.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the likelihood analysis determines one of the following:

confirming the hypothesis that the situation exists because the hypothesis is deemed sufficiently probable;

denying the hypothesis that the situation exists because the hypothesis is deemed sufficiently improbable;

or

refining the hypothesis that the situation exists because a refined hypothesis is deemed more probable as determined by the likelihood analysis than is an original hypothesis.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the establishing of the network is limited to those other electronic devices found during the searching that are determined to meet a predetermined criterion.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one situation definition comprises:

one or more rules, each rule relating one or more of the at least one sensors to one or more value criteria; and

one or more templates, each template relating one or more of the rules to a weight to be applied to a corresponding rule.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein forming a hypothesis that a situation exists further comprises:

determining whether, for each of the one or more rules, one or more values of a corresponding sensor meet corresponding value criteria;

for each template, for the rules in the template meeting the corresponding value criteria, applying corresponding weights to the rules and determining from the corresponding weights a value for the template;

in response to a value of any of the templates meeting a threshold value, forming the hypothesis that the situation exists because the situation corresponds to a template meeting the threshold value.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists further comprises:

determining whether, for each of the one or more rules, one or more values of a corresponding sensor meet corresponding value criteria, wherein the one or more values include any received information corresponding to values of a sensor and any values of a corresponding sensor accessible by the mobile device;

for first received information corresponding to a rule, modifying weights corresponding to the rule wherein weights are increased in response to a situation corresponding to the rule being more probable and are decreased in response to the corresponding situation being less probable;

for each template, for the rules in the template meeting the corresponding value criteria, applying corresponding weights to the rules and determining from the corresponding weights a value for the template;

for second received information corresponding to the hypothesis, modifying values for templates corresponding to the hypothesis to increase values for the hypothesis being more probable according to the second received information and to decrease values for the hypothesis being less probable per the second received information; and

in response to a value of any of the templates meeting a threshold value, forming the hypothesis that the situation exists because the situation corresponds to a template meeting the threshold value.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

forming a hypothesis that situation exists further comprises forming a plurality of hypotheses, each of the hypotheses that a corresponding situation exists;

receiving information further comprises receiving information from the at least one other electronic device, the information corresponding to one or more of the plurality of situations; and

based at least on the information, for each of one or more hypotheses corresponding to the one or more situations, modifying the hypothesis that the corresponding situation exists.

10. An electronic device comprising:

one or more network interfaces for bidirectional communication;

one or more memories comprising computer readable program code; and

one or more processors, the one or more processors configured, in response to execution of the computer readable program code, to cause the electronic device to perform the following;

forming a hypothesis that a situation exists based on at least one situation definition and data from at least one sensor accessible by the electronic device;

searching for other electronic devices via the one or more network interfaces;

establishing a network with at least one other electronic device found during the searching;

receiving information via the one or more network interfaces from the at least one other electronic device, the information corresponding to the situation; and

based at least on the received information, modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, in response to execution of the computer readable program code, to cause the electronic device to perform the following:

performing one or more actions based on the modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists.

12. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein:

modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists further comprises performing a likelihood analysis based on one or more of the received information, the at least one situation definition, or the data from the at least one sensor.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the likelihood analysis determines one of the following:

confirming the hypothesis that the situation exists because the hypothesis is deemed sufficiently probable;

denying the hypothesis that the situation exists because the hypothesis is deemed sufficiently improbable;

or

refining the hypothesis that the situation exists because a refined hypothesis is deemed more probable as determined by the likelihood analysis than is an original hypothesis.

14. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein:

the establishing of the network is limited to those other electronic devices found during the searching that are determined meet a predetermined criterion.

15. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the at least one situation definition comprises:

one or more rules, each rule relating one or more of the at least one sensors to one or more value criteria; and

one or more templates, each template relating one or more of the rules to a weight to be applied to a corresponding rule.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein forming a hypothesis that a situation exists further comprises:

determining whether, for each of the one or more rules, one or more values of a corresponding sensor meet corresponding value criteria;

for each template, for the rules in the template meeting the corresponding value criteria, applying corresponding weights to the rules and determining from the corresponding weights a value for the template;

in response to a value of any of the templates meeting a threshold value, forming the hypothesis that the situation exists because the situation corresponds to a template meeting the threshold value.

17. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists further comprises:

determining whether, for each of the one or more rules, one or more values of a corresponding sensor meet corresponding value criteria, wherein the one or more values include any received information corresponding to values of a sensor and any values of a corresponding sensor accessible by the mobile device;

for first received information corresponding to a rule, modifying weights corresponding to the rule wherein weights are increased in response to a situation corresponding to the rule being more probable and are decreased in response to the corresponding situation being less probable;

for each template, for the rules in the template meeting the corresponding value criteria, applying corresponding weights to the rules and determining from the corresponding weights a value for the template;

for second received information corresponding to the hypothesis, modifying values for templates corresponding to the hypothesis to increase values for the hypothesis being more probable according to the second received information and to decrease values for the hypothesis being less probable per the second received information; and

in response to a value of any of the templates meeting a threshold value, forming the hypothesis that the situation exists because the situation corresponds to a template meeting the threshold value.

18. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein:

forming a hypothesis that situation exists further comprises forming a plurality of hypotheses, each of the hypotheses that a corresponding situation exists;

receiving information further comprises receiving information from the at least one other electronic device, the information corresponding to one or more of the plurality of situations; and

based at least on the information, for each of one or more hypotheses corresponding to the one or more situations, modifying the hypothesis that the corresponding situation exists.

19. A computer readable memory medium comprising computer readable program code, which when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, causes the electronic device to perform at least the following:

forming a hypothesis that a situation exists based on at least one situation definition and data from at least one sensor accessible by the electronic device;

searching for other electronic devices via the one or more network interfaces;

establishing a network with at least one other electronic device found during the searching;

receiving information via the one or more network interfaces from the at least one other electronic device, the information corresponding to the situation; and

based at least on the received information, modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists.

20. The computer readable memory medium of claim 19, wherein the computer readable program code is further configured, when executed by the one or more processors of the electronic device, causes the electronic device to perform at least the following:

performing one or more actions based on the modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists.

21. The computer readable memory medium of claim 19, wherein:

modifying the hypothesis that the situation exists further comprises performing a likelihood analysis based on one or more of the received information, the at least one situation definition, or the data from the at least one sensor.

22. The computer readable memory medium of claim 21, wherein the likelihood analysis determines one of the following:

confirming the hypothesis that the situation exists because the hypothesis is deemed sufficiently probable;

denying the hypothesis that the situation exists because the hypothesis is deemed sufficiently improbable;

or

refining the hypothesis that the situation exists because a refined hypothesis is deemed more probable as determined by the likelihood analysis than is an original hypothesis.

23. The computer readable memory medium of claim 19, wherein:

the establishing of the network is limited to those other electronic devices found during the searching that are determined to meet a predetermined criterion.

24. The computer readable memory medium of claim 19, wherein the at least one situation definition comprises:

one or more rules, each rule relating one or more of the at least one sensors to one or more value criteria; and

one or more templates, each template relating one or more of the rules to a weight to be applied to a corresponding rule.

25. The computer readable memory medium of claim 19, wherein:

forming a hypothesis that situation exists further comprises forming a plurality of hypotheses, each of the hypotheses that a corresponding situation exists;

receiving information further comprises receiving information from the at least one other electronic device, the information corresponding to one or more of the plurality of situations; and

based at least on the information, for each of one or more hypotheses corresponding to the one or more situations, modifying the hypothesis that the corresponding situation exists.