FABRIC NETWORK

• US 20140379817A1
• Filed: 06/25/2013
• Published: 12/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nest Labs Incorporated (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Logue, Jay D., Erickson, Grant M., Smith, Zachary B., Hardison, Osborne B., Schultz, Richard J., Gujjaru, Sunny P., Neeley, Matthew G., Boross, Christopher A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,112,790 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/618 Details of network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/668 Internet protocol [IP] address subnets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0805 by checking availability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/15 Interconnection of switching modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/20 Support for services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/355 Application aware switches, e.g. for HTTP
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5069 for group communication, multicast communication or broadcast communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/147 Signalling methods or messages providing extensions to protocols defined by standardisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols

Abstract

Systems and methods relating to communication within a fabric network are presented. The fabric network includes one or more logical networks that enables devices connected to the fabric to communicate with each other using various profiles known to the devices. A device sending a message may follow a general message format to encode the message so that other devices in the fabric may understand the message regardless of which logical networks the devices are connected to. Within the message format, a payload of data may be included for the receiving device to forward, store, or process the message. The format and the contents of the payload may vary according to a header within the payload that indicates a profile and a message type within the profile. Using the profile and message type, the receiving devices may decode the message to process the message.

Claims

1. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having stored thereon a message format, wherein the message format comprises:

a message header field configured to indicate;

a version of the message format used to format the message;

whether addressing information is included in the message; and

whether security information is included in the message;

a message ID field configured to identify a message with an identifier that is unique for a device in a fabric network that encodes or sends the message, wherein the message ID field follows the message header field; and

an application payload field following the message ID field and comprising data transmitted from the device within the fabric network.

2. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the message header field comprises two bytes of data.

3. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the message ID field comprises four bits of data.

4. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the application payload field comprises a variable length of data.

5. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the application payload field comprises data formatted in a tag-length-value format.

6. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the addressing information comprises a source ID flag that indicates whether a source address for the device is included in the message, wherein the source address indicates the device formatted in a Unique Local Address format comprising:

a global ID having 40 bits of data configured to identify the fabric network in which the sending device is connected;

a subnet ID having 16 bits of data configured to identify a logical network in the fabric network in which the sending device is connected; and

an interface ID having 64 bits of data configured to identify the sending device.

7. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the addressing information comprises a destination ID flag that indicated whether a destination address is included in the message, wherein the destination address indicates a destination device that is connected to the fabric network, wherein the destination address is formatted in a Unique Local Address format comprising:

a global ID having 40 bits of data configured to identify the fabric network in which the destination device is connected;

a subnet ID having 16 bits of data configured to identify a logical network in the fabric network in which the destination device is connected; and

an interface ID having 64 bits of data configured to identify the sending device.

8. An electronic device configured to send or receive messages to other electronic devices over a platform layer, wherein the messages comprise:

a message format comprising;

a version field configured to indicate a version of the message format being used to format the message;

a message type field immediately following the version field, wherein the message type field is configured to indicate a message operation code that specifies a type of message being sent;

an exchange ID field immediately following the version field, wherein the exchange ID field is configured to uniquely identify a discussion in which the message occurs for the electronic device;

a profile ID field immediately following the exchange ID field, wherein the profile ID field indicates a profile of a plurality of profiles that enables a receiving device to interpret the message type field and identify at least one schema of a plurality of schemas for transmitted data, wherein each schema of the plurality of schemas indicates an encoding format according to the profile and schema; and

an application payload field following the profile id, wherein the application payload field comprises data associated with an application layer of the electronic device.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, comprising a profile-specific header field that immediately follows the profile ID field and immediately precedes the application payload field, wherein the profile-specific header is included in the message format when the profile field indicates that a profile is included that uses additional information to process the application payload.

10. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein each profile of the plurality of profiles comprises a set of schema of the plurality of schemas.

11. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the indicated profile comprises:

a core profile comprising a set of basic schemas available to the electronic device;

a data management profile comprising a set of data management schemas that enables the electronic device to access data located on the other electronic devices;

a bulk data transfer profile comprising a set of bulk data transfer schemas that enables the electronic device to transfer bulk data to the other electronic devices or from the electronic devices;

a status reporting profile comprising a set of status reporting schemas that enables the electronic device to send or receive status information from the other electronic devices;

or

a software update profile comprising a set of software update schemas that enables the electronic device to send or receive software update images from the other electronic devices.

12. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the version field comprises 8 bits of data.

13. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the message type field comprises 8 bits of data.

14. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the exchange ID field comprises 16 bits of data.

15. A method for sending and receiving messages between devices in a fabric network, wherein the method comprises:

sending or receiving a message using a general message format, wherein the general message format comprises;

a message header field comprising;

a signature type field; and

an encryption type field,

wherein the message header field is configured to indicate;

a version of the message format used to format the message;

whether addressing information is included in the message; and

whether one or more security information fields are included in the message;

a message ID field following the message header field, wherein the message ID field is configured to identify a message with an identifier that is unique for a sending device of the one or more electronic devices that sends the message; and

an application payload field following the message header field, wherein the application payload field comprises data transmitted from the sending device within the fabric network.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the general message format comprises a packet length field immediately preceding the message header field, wherein the packet length field indicates a length of a packet sent using a connection type used to send the message

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the connection type comprises a Transmission Control Protocol connection.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the general message format comprises a payload length field following the message ID field and preceding the application payload field, wherein the payload length field comprises 2 bytes and is configured to indicate a length of the application payload field.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the general message format comprises a message integrity check field that immediately follows the application payload and has a length based at least in part on an encryption type indicated by the encryption type field.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or more security information fields comprises:

a key ID field preceding the application payload field, wherein the key ID field comprises two bytes that indicate an encryption or message integrity key used to encrypt the message indicated by the encryption type field;

an initialization vector field immediately preceding the application payload field, wherein the initialization vector field comprises an initialization vector used to encrypt the message indicated by the encryption type field;

a padding field following the application payload field, wherein the padding field comprises a length of bytes representing cryptographic padding added to the message to make an encrypted portion of the message evenly divisible by an encryption block size, wherein the encryption portion comprises the application payload field, the message integrity field, and the padding field;

or

a message signature field located at an end of the message, wherein the message signature field includes a cryptographic signature for the message based at least in part on a signature type indicated by the signature type field.