LEVERAGING SYSTEM SIGNALING SERVICE ADVERTISEMENTS FOR APPLICATION-LAYER DISCOVERY AND CONNECTION MANAGEMENT IN AN INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) ENVIRONMENT

• US 20150006719A1
• Filed: 06/26/2014
• Published: 01/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm Innovation Center Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm Innovation Center Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Binita, Burns, Gregory, Profit, Jack H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,420,044 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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 40/246 Connectivity information discovery

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) devices and methods of operating the same are disclosed. A method may include registering a set of services configured for execution on a producer IoT device with a producer management application, and broadcasting or multicasting a system service advertisement as a first system signal via a given system signal protocol to notify one or more consumer IoT devices that one or more services of the registered set of services are available via the producer IoT device. The producer IoT device receives, in response to the system service advertisement, at least one request for a service announcement from at least one of the consumer IoT devices, and the producer IoT device unicasts, in response to the request, the at least one service announcement that announces the set of services to the at least one consumer IoT device as a second system signal via the given system signal protocol.

Claims

1. A method of operating Internet of Things (IoT) devices deployed in a local IoT environment, comprising:

announcing as a service announcement system signal to a producer management application at a producer IoT device, a set of services configured for execution on the producer IoT device;

broadcasting, from the producer IoT device, a system signaling service advertisement to notify one or more consumer IoT devices in the local IoT environment that the service announcement system signal is available via the producer IoT device;

receiving, at the producer IoT device, in response to the system signaling service advertisement, at least one request for fetching the service announcement system signal from at least one of the one or more consumer IoT devices; and

unicasting, from the producer IoT device, in response to the at least one request, the service announcement system signal that announces the set of services to the at least one consumer IoT device.

2. The method of claim 1, including assigning a unique identifier for each app announcing services to the producer management application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the system signaling service advertisement includes:

sending a version number with the system signaling service advertisement; and

changing the version number each time service announcement system signals are added, updated or removed with the producer management application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the system signaling service advertisement includes:

a globally unique identifier (GUID) for the producer management application; and

connectivity information including an IP address and service port for the one or more consumer IoT devices to connect back with the producer IoT device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the service announcement system signal includes:

a session port number for a service corresponding to the system signaling service advertisement; and

a unique identifier assigned to the producer application generating the system signaling service advertisement.

6. The method of claim 1, including:

assigning a time to live (TTL) value to the service announcement system signal; and

retransmitting the service announcement system signal until the TTL value is reached, the service announcement system signal is removed, or an updated service announcement system signal is made available.

7. The method of claim 3, including:

receiving the system signaling service advertisement at a consumer IoT device;

determining, at the consumer IoT device, that the version number of the system signaling service advertisement is different than a version number of a previously received system signaling service advertisement;

transmitting, from the consumer IoT device to the producer IoT device, in response to the version number being different, the at least one request for fetching the service announcement system signal from the producer IoT device;

receiving, at the consumer IoT device, the at least one service announcement system signal that announces the set of services available at the producer IoT device;

storing, at the consumer IoT device, connection information in a mapping table; and

establishing, from the consumer IoT device, a session with an announced service in the service announcement system signal using the connection information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the connection information includes:

a globally unique identifier (GUID) of the producer management application;

a most recent system signal version number received from the producer management application;

connectivity information for connecting with the producer management application; and

unique identifiers assigned to producer apps advertising services via the producer management application.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein establishing a session includes:

determining a unique identifier of a producer app announcing a service;

determining the connectivity information associated with the unique identifier of the producer app from the mapping table; and

using the connectivity information to establish a session with the producer app announcing the service.

10. An Internet of Things (IoT) device, comprising:

a transceiver to communicate with other IoT devices over a network;

a peer-to-peer platform configured to provide a peer-to-peer connection between the IoT device and the other IoT devices in a local IoT environment;

a management application that is configured to;

receive a service announcement system signal that announces a set of services configured for execution on the IoT device;

broadcast, from the IoT device, a system signaling service advertisement to notify one or more consumer IoT devices in the local IoT environment that the service announcement system signal is available;

receive, at the IoT device, in response to the system signaling service advertisement, at least one request for fetching the service announcement system signal from at least one of the consumer IoT devices; and

unicast, from the producer IoT device, in response to the at least one request, the service announcement system signal that announces the set of services to the at least one consumer IoT device.

11. The IoT device of claim 10, wherein the management application is configured to:

send a version number with the system signaling service advertisement; and

change the version number each time service announcement system signals are added, updated, or removed.

12. The IoT device of claim 10, wherein the management application is configured to:

receive a system signaling service advertisement from a producer IoT device;

determine the version number of the system signaling service advertisement is different than a version number of a previously received system signaling service advertisement;

transmit, to the producer IoT device, in response to the version number being different, the at least one request for fetching the service announcement system signal; and

receive the at least one service announcement system signal that announces the set of services available at the producer IoT device.

13. The IoT device of claim 10, wherein the at least one service announcement system signal includes a session port number and IP address to enable the at least one consumer IoT device to initiate a session with the set of services.

14. The IoT device of claim 10, wherein the management application is configured to:

assign a time to live (TTL) value to the service announcement system signal; and

retransmit the service announcement system signal until the TTL value is reached, the service announcement system signal is removed, or an updated service announcement system signal is made available.

15. A non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, encoded with processor readable instructions to perform a method for operating a consumer Internet of Things (IoT) device deployed in a local IoT environment, the method comprising:

announcing as a service announcement system signal to a producer management application, at a producer IoT device, a set of services configured for execution on the producer IoT device;

broadcasting, from the producer IoT device, a system signaling service advertisement to notify one or more consumer IoT devices in the local IoT environment that the service announcement system signal is available via the producer IoT device;

receiving, at the producer IoT device, in response to the system signaling service advertisement, at least one request for fetching the service announcement system signal from at least one of the one or more consumer IoT devices; and

unicasting, from the producer IoT device, in response to the at least one request, the service announcement system signal that announces the set of services to the at least one consumer IoT device.

16. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method includes:

sending a version number with the system signaling service advertisement; and

changing the version number each time service announcement system signals are added, updated or removed with the producer management application.

17. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the method includes:

receiving, the system signaling service advertisement at a consumer IoT device;

determining, at the consumer IoT device, that the version number of the system signaling service advertisement is different than a version number of a previously received system signaling service advertisement;

transmitting, from the consumer IoT device to the producer IoT device, in response to the version number being different, the at least one request for fetching the service announcement system signal from the producer IoT device; and

receiving, at the consumer IoT device, the at least one service announcement system signal that announces the set of services available at the producer IoT device;

storing, at the consumer IoT device, connection information in a mapping table; and

establishing, from the consumer IoT device, a session with an announced service in the service announcement system signal using the connection information.

18. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the service announcement system signal includes a port number and IP address to enable the at least one consumer IoT device to initiate a session with the set of services.

19. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method includes:

assigning a time to live (TTL) value to service announcement system signal; and

retransmitting the service announcement system signal until the TTL value is reached, the service announcement system signal is removed, or an updated service announcement system signal is made available.