COORDINATED RESOURCE SHARING IN MACHINE-TO-MACHINE COMMUNICATION USING A NETWORK-BASED GROUP MANAGEMENT AND FLOOR CONTROL MECHANISM

• US 20140324973A1
• Filed: 04/23/2014
• Published: 10/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: GOEL, Amit, SHUMAN, Mohammed Ataur Rahman, SHARMA, Sandeep
• Granted Patent: US 9,900,172 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2838 Distribution of signals within a home automation network, e.g. involving splitting/multiplexing signals to/from different paths adaptations of television systems for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution H04N7/106; hybrid transport H04L12/6418; home network arrangements specially adapted for distribution of digital video signals H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction
• 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 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/00 Local resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

In the network-based group management and floor control mechanism disclosed herein, a server may receive a request to occupy a shared IoT resource from a member device in an IoT device group and transmit a message granting the member IoT device permission to occupy the shared IoT resource based on one or more policies. For example, the granted permission may comprise a floor that blocks other IoT devices from accessing the shared IoT resource while the member IoT device holds the floor. Furthermore, the server may revoke the permission if the member IoT device fails to transmit a keep-alive message before a timeout period expires, a high-priority IoT device pre-empts the floor, and/or based on the policies. Alternatively, the server may make the shared IoT resource available if the member IoT device sends a message that voluntarily releases the floor.

Claims

1. A method for coordinated resource sharing among Internet of Things (IoT) devices, comprising:

identifying, at a server, an IoT device group having one or more member IoT devices that operate on a shared IoT resource;

receiving, at the server, a message that requests permission to occupy the shared IoT resource from a member IoT device in the identified IoT device group; and

transmitting, from the server to the member IoT device, a message that grants the member IoT device the requested permission to occupy the shared IoT resource.

2. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, from the server to the member IoT device, a message that revokes the granted permission to occupy the shared IoT resource.

3. The method recited in claim 2, wherein the message revoking the permission to occupy the shared IoT resource is transmitted in response to one or more of a timeout period expiring without the server receiving a keep-alive message from the member IoT device, an IoT device with a higher priority than the member IoT device requesting access to the shared IoT resource, or based on one or more policies that regulate access to the shared IoT resource.

4. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

making the shared IoT resource available in response to receiving a message from the member IoT device that releases the granted permission.

5. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the granted permission to occupy the shared IoT resource comprises a floor that blocks other IoT devices from accessing the shared IoT resource while the member IoT device holds the floor, and wherein the method further comprises:

queuing a message received from at least one of the other IoT devices that requests permission to occupy the shared IoT resource while the member IoT device holds the floor.

6. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

queuing the message from the member IoT device that requested the permission to occupy the shared IoT resource in response to determining that one or more other IoT devices currently hold a floor to occupy the shared IoT resource, wherein the server grants the member IoT device the requested permission to occupy the shared IoT resource in response to the one or more other IoT devices no longer holding the floor to occupy the shared IoT resource.

7. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the member IoT device comprises a first member IoT device in the identified IoT device group and the method further comprises:

receiving a contending message that requests permission to occupy the shared IoT resource from a second member IoT device in the identified IoT device group; and

determining whether to grant the first member IoT device or the second member IoT device permission to occupy the shared IoT resource based on one or more policies.

8. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

allocating a device-specific globally unique identifier (D_GUID) to each member IoT device that operates on the shared IoT resource in response to receiving a registration request from each respective member IoT device;

allocating a group-specific globally unique identifier (G_GUID) to the identified IoT device group; and

associating the D_GUID allocated to each member IoT device and the G_GUID allocated to the identified IoT device group with one or more attributes based on one or more contexts associated with each member IoT device and further based on a resource-specific globally unique identifier (R_GUID) allocated to the shared IoT resource.

9. The method recited in claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, at the server, a message that requests the R_GUID allocated to the shared IoT resource from the member IoT device;

selecting one or more shared IoT resources based on the one or more attributes associated with the D_GUID allocated to the member IoT device; and

transmitting a list that includes the R_GUID allocated to the one or more shared IoT resources to the member IoT device, wherein the member IoT device selects the R_GUID allocated to the shared IoT resource that the member IoT device has requested the permission to occupy from the transmitted list.

10. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the message that requests the permission to occupy the shared IoT resource indicates an amount of the shared IoT resource that the IoT device requests exclusive permission to occupy, and wherein the message that grants the member IoT device the requested permission to occupy the shared IoT resource indicates an amount of the shared IoT resource that the IoT device has been granted permission to occupy.

11. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining statistics that relate to usage associated with the shared IoT resource.

12. An apparatus, comprising:

means for identifying an Internet of Things (IoT) device group having one or more member IoT devices that operate on a shared IoT resource;

means for receiving a message that requests permission to occupy the shared IoT resource from a member IoT device in the identified IoT device group; and

means for transmitting, to the member IoT device, a message that grants the member IoT device the requested permission to occupy the shared IoT resource.

13. The apparatus recited in claim 12, further comprising:

means for transmitting a message that revokes the granted permission to occupy the shared IoT resource to the member IoT device.

14. The apparatus recited in claim 13, wherein the message revoking the permission to occupy the shared IoT resource is transmitted in response to one or more of a timeout period expiring without the server receiving a keep-alive message from the member IoT device, an IoT device with a higher priority than the member IoT device requesting access to the shared IoT resource, or based on one or more policies that regulate access to the shared IoT resource.

15. The apparatus recited in claim 12, further comprising:

means for making the shared IoT resource available in response to a message from the member IoT device that releases the granted permission.

16. The apparatus recited in claim 12, wherein the granted permission to occupy the shared IoT resource comprises a floor that blocks other IoT devices from accessing the shared IoT resource while the member IoT device holds the floor and the apparatus further comprises:

means for queuing a message received from at least one of the other IoT devices that requests permission to occupy the shared IoT resource while the member IoT device holds the floor.

17. The apparatus recited in claim 12, further comprising:

means for queuing the message from the member IoT device that requested the permission to occupy the shared IoT resource in response to determining that one or more other IoT devices currently hold a floor to occupy the shared IoT resource, wherein the member IoT device is granted the requested permission to occupy the shared IoT resource in response to the one or more other IoT devices no longer holding the floor to occupy the shared IoT resource.

18. The apparatus recited in claim 12, wherein the member IoT device comprises a first member IoT device in the identified IoT device group and the apparatus further comprises:

means for receiving a contending message that requests permission to occupy the shared IoT resource from a second member IoT device in the identified IoT device group; and

means for determining whether to grant the first member IoT device or the second member IoT device permission to occupy the shared IoT resource based on one or more policies.

19. The apparatus recited in claim 12, further comprising:

means for allocating a device-specific globally unique identifier (D_GUID) to each member IoT device that operates on the shared IoT resource in response to receiving a registration request from each respective member IoT device;

means for allocating a group-specific globally unique identifier (G_GUID) to the identified IoT device group; and

means for associating the D_GUID allocated to each member IoT device and the G_GUID allocated to the identified IoT device group with one or more attributes based on one or more contexts associated with each member IoT device and further based on a resource-specific globally unique identifier (R_GUID) allocated to the shared IoT resource.

20. The apparatus recited in claim 19, further comprising:

means for receiving a message from the member IoT device that requests the R_GUID allocated to the shared IoT resource;

means for selecting one or more shared IoT resources based on the one or more attributes associated with the D_GUID allocated to the member IoT device; and

means for transmitting a list that includes the R_GUID allocated to the one or more shared IoT resources to the member IoT device, wherein the member IoT device selects the R_GUID allocated to the shared IoT resource that the member IoT device has requested the permission to occupy from the transmitted list.

21. The apparatus recited in claim 12, wherein the message that requests the permission to occupy the shared IoT resource indicates an amount of the shared IoT resource that the IoT device requests exclusive permission to occupy, and wherein the message that grants the member IoT device the requested permission to occupy the shared IoT resource indicates an amount of the shared IoT resource that the IoT device has been granted permission to occupy.

22. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions recorded thereon, wherein executing the computer-executable instructions on a server causes the server to:

identify an Internet of Things (IoT) device group having one or more member IoT devices that operate on a shared IoT resource;

receive a message that requests permission to occupy the shared IoT resource from a member IoT device in the identified IoT device group; and

transmit, to the member IoT device, a message that grants the member IoT device the requested permission to occupy the shared IoT resource.

23. A method for coordinated resource sharing among Internet of Things (IoT) devices, comprising:

transmitting, from an IoT device to a server, a message that requests permission to occupy a shared IoT resource, wherein the IoT device is a member in an IoT device group that operates on the shared IoT resource; and

receiving, from the server, a message that grants the member IoT device the requested permission to occupy the shared IoT resource.

24. The method recited in claim 23, further comprising:

receiving, from the server, a message that revokes the granted permission to occupy the shared IoT resource based on one or more of a timeout period expiring without the member IoT device transmitting a keep-alive message to the server, an IoT device with a higher priority than the member IoT device requesting access to the shared IoT resource, or one or more policies regulating the member IoT device occupying the shared IoT resource.

25. The method recited in claim 23, further comprising:

transmitting, to the server, a message that releases the permission to occupy the shared IoT resource.

26. The method recited in claim 23, wherein the granted permission to occupy the shared IoT resource comprises a floor that blocks other IoT devices from accessing the shared IoT resource while the member IoT device holds the floor.

27. The method recited in claim 23, further comprising:

transmitting a registration request to the server; and

receiving, from the server, a device-specific globally unique identifier (D_GUID) allocated to the member IoT device and a group-specific globally unique identifier (G_GUID) allocated to the IoT device group that includes the member IoT device in response to the registration request.

28. The method recited in claim 27, further comprising:

transmitting, to the server, a message that requests a resource-specific globally unique identifier (R_GUID) allocated to the shared IoT resource;

receiving a list that includes the R_GUID allocated to the share IoT resource; and

selecting the R_GUID allocated to the shared IoT resource from the received list.

29. The method recited in claim 23, wherein the message that requests the permission to occupy the shared IoT resource indicates an amount of the shared IoT resource that the IoT device requests exclusive permission to occupy.

30. The method recited in claim 23, wherein the message that grants the member IoT device the requested permission to occupy the shared IoT resource indicates an amount of the shared IoT resource that the IoT device has been granted permission to occupy.