NETWORK SYSTEM, NODE DEVICE GROUP, SENSOR DEVICE GROUP, AND METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING SENSOR DATA

• US 20140304544A1
• Filed: 12/09/2011
• Published: 10/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Original Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Inventors: Takenaka, Hideki
• Granted Patent: US 9,357,008 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/4.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2002 where interconnections or communication control functionality are redundant flexible arrangements for bus networks involving redundancy H04L12/40176
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0668 by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/22 with access to wired networks

Abstract

Each node device has a sensor data saving information list storage section for storing a sensor data saving information list indicates a proper node device for saving each of sensor data among node devices according to an attribute of the sensor data. A sensor data arrangement section transfers each of the sensor data saved in sensor data storage sections of the node devices to the proper node device for saving the sensor data based on the sensor data saving information list.

Claims

1. A network system comprising:

at least one computer apparatus and

a plurality of node devices are communicatively connected to each other via a network,

wherein each of the plurality of node devices is accessible by one or more sensor devices via the wireless communication,

wherein each of the sensor devices sequentially tries to connect to one or more candidate node devices for connection among the plurality of node devices via the wireless communication,

wherein each of the node devices acquires a sensor data from the sensor device connected to the node device itself via the wireless communication and saves the sensor data in a sensor data storage section included in the node device itself,

wherein the computer apparatus requests the sensor data from any one or more of the one or more sensor devices by specifying the sensor data and acquires the sensor data from any of the plurality of node devices via the network, and

wherein the network system comprises;

a sensor data saving information list storage section for storing a sensor data saving information list indicates a proper node device among the plurality of node devices for saving each of the sensor data saved in the sensor data storage sections of the plurality of node devices according to an attribute of the sensor data; and

a sensor data arrangement section for transferring each of the sensor data saved in the sensor data storage sections of the plurality of node devices to the proper node device for saving the sensor data based on the sensor data saving information list.

2. The network system according to claim 1, wherein the attribute of the sensor data is information for identifying the sensor device that acquired the sensor data.

3. The network system according to claim 1, wherein the attribute of the sensor data is information for identifying a type of the sensor data.

4. The network system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor data saving information list indicates that the sensor data of the same contents are to be saved in at least two of the plurality of node devices respectively.

5. The network system according to claim 1, wherein each of the node devices generates a connection rejection signal for rejecting a connection between the node device itself and the sensor device, when a load on the node device itself is greater than a threshold value, and each of the sensor devices comprises:

a signal detection section for detecting the connection rejection signal generated by the node device itself from the node device connected to the sensor device itself via the wireless communication; and

a first wireless connection switching section for stopping connecting to the node device currently connected to the sensor device itself and sequentially trying to connect to the candidate node device for connection other than the node device currently connected to the sensor device itself, when the signal detection section detected the connection rejection signal.

6. The network system according to claim 1, wherein each of the sensor devices comprises:

a fault detection section for detecting a fault in the node device connected to the sensor device itself via the wireless communication; and

a second wireless connection switching section for stopping connecting to the node device currently connected to the sensor device itself and sequentially trying to connect to the candidate node device for connection other than the node device currently connected to the sensor device itself, when the fault detection section detected the fault.

7. The network system according to claim 1,

wherein each of the sensor devices comprises an electric field strength detection section for detecting a node device available for the sensor device itself to connect to via the wireless communication and detecting an electric field strength of the node device, and

wherein each of the sensor devices sequentially tries to connect to the node devices in descending order of the electric field strength.

8. The network system according to claim 1,

wherein each of the sensor devices comprises a connection target list storage section for storing a connection target list that indicates the candidate node devices for connection, and

wherein each of the sensor devices sequentially tries to connect to one or more of the candidate node devices indicated in the connection target list.

9. The network system according to claim 8, wherein the connection target list is a predetermined list.

10. The network system according to claim 1,

wherein the sensor data saving information list storage section is provided for each of the plurality of node devices respectively and

wherein contents of the sensor data saving information lists in the plurality of node devices are synchronized with each other.

11. A node device group comprising a plurality of node devices in a network system,

wherein at least one computer apparatus and the plurality of node devices are communicatively connected to each other via a network,

wherein each of the plurality of node devices is accessible by one or more sensor devices via the wireless communication,

wherein each of the sensor devices sequentially tries to connect to one or more candidate node devices for connection among the plurality of node devices via the wireless communication,

wherein each of the node devices acquires a sensor data from the sensor device connected to the node device itself via the wireless communication and saves the sensor data in a sensor data storage section included in the node device itself,

wherein the computer apparatus requests the sensor data from any one or more of the one or more sensor devices by specifying the sensor data and acquires the sensor data from any of the plurality of node devices via the network, and

wherein the node device group comprises:

a sensor data saving information list storage section for storing a sensor data saving information list indicates a proper node device among the plurality of node devices for saving each of the sensor data saved in the sensor data storage sections of the plurality of node devices according to an attribute of the sensor data; and

a sensor data arrangement section for transferring each of the sensor data saved in the sensor data storage sections of the plurality of node devices to the proper node device for saving the sensor data based on the sensor data saving information list.

12. A sensor device group comprising one or more sensor devices in a network system,

wherein at least one computer apparatus and a plurality of node devices are communicatively connected to each other via a network,

wherein each of the plurality of node devices is accessible by one or more of the sensor devices via the wireless communication,

wherein each of the node devices acquires a sensor data from the sensor device connected to the node device itself via the wireless communication and saves the sensor data in a sensor data storage section included in the node device itself,

wherein the computer apparatus requests the sensor data from any one or more of the one or more sensor devices by specifying the sensor data and acquires the sensor data from any of the plurality of node devices via the network, and

wherein the network system comprises:

a sensor data saving information list storage section for storing a sensor data saving information list indicates a proper node device among the plurality of node devices for saving each of the sensor data saved in the sensor data storage sections of the plurality of node devices according to an attribute of the sensor data; and

a sensor data arrangement section for transferring each of the sensor data saved in the sensor data storage sections of the plurality of node devices to the proper node device for saving the sensor data based on the sensor data saving information list, and each of the sensor devices sequentially tries to connect to one or more candidate node devices for connection among the plurality of node devices via the wireless communication.

13. The sensor device group according to claim 12,

wherein each of the node devices generates a connection rejection signal for rejecting a connection between the node device itself and the sensor device, when a load on the node device itself is greater than a threshold value, and

wherein each of the sensor devices comprises:

a signal detection section for detecting the connection rejection signal generated by the node device itself from the node device connected to the sensor device itself via the wireless communication; and

a first wireless connection switching section for stopping connecting to the node device currently connected to the sensor device itself and sequentially trying to connect to the candidate node device for connection other than the node device currently connected to the sensor device itself, when the signal detection section detected the connection rejection signal.

14. The sensor device group according to claim 12, wherein each of the sensor devices comprises:

a fault detection section for detecting a fault in the node device connected to the sensor device itself via the wireless communication; and

a second wireless connection switching section for stopping connecting to the node device currently connected to the sensor device itself and sequentially trying to connect to the candidate node device for connection other than the node device currently connected to the sensor device itself, when the fault detection section detected the fault.

15. The sensor device group according to claim 12,

wherein each of the sensor devices comprises an electric field strength detection section for detecting a node device available for the sensor device itself to connect to via the wireless communication and detecting an electric field strength of the node device, and

wherein each of the sensor devices sequentially tries to connect to the node devices in descending order of the electric field strength.

16. The sensor device group according to claim 12,

wherein each of the sensor devices comprises a connection target list storage section for storing a connection target list that indicates the candidate node devices for connection, and

wherein each of the sensor devices sequentially tries to connect to one or more of the candidate node devices indicated in the connection target list.

18. The sensor device group according to claim 13, wherein each of the sensor devices comprises:

a fault detection section for detecting a fault in the node device connected to the sensor device itself via the wireless communication; and

a second wireless connection switching section for stopping connecting to the node device currently connected to the sensor device itself and sequentially trying to connect to the candidate node device for connection other than the node device currently connected to the sensor device itself, when the fault detection section detected the fault.

17. A method for transmitting and receiving sensor data in a network system comprising at least one computer apparatus and a plurality of node devices are communicatively connected to each other via a network, each of the plurality of node devices is accessible by one or more sensor devices via the wireless communication, each of the sensor devices sequentially tries to connect to one or more candidate node devices for connection among the plurality of node devices via the wireless communication, each of the node devices acquires a sensor data from the sensor device connected to the node device itself via the wireless communication and saves the sensor data in a sensor data storage section included in the node device itself, and the computer apparatus requests the sensor data from any one or more of the one or more sensor devices by specifying the sensor data and acquires the sensor data from any of the plurality of node devices via the network, the method comprising:

causing a sensor data saving information list storage section to store a sensor data saving information list indicates a proper node device among the plurality of node devices for saving each of the sensor data saved in the sensor data storage sections of the plurality of node devices according to an attribute of the sensor data; and

causing a sensor data arrangement section to transfer each of the sensor data saved in the sensor data storage sections of the plurality of node devices to the proper node device for saving the sensor data based on the sensor data saving information list.