Sensor and control node publishing and subscription system

• US 8,868,447 B1
• Filed: 05/11/2009
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Charlotte Intellectual Properties, LLC
• Original Assignee: Charlotte Intellectual Properties, LLC
• Inventors: Terrell, James Richard II
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Eric T
• Assistant Examiner(s): ANDERSON, JOHN A
• Application Number:
  US12/464,068
• Time in Patent Office: 1,989 Days
• Field of Search: 705/36, 705/14
• US Class Current: 705/14.73
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A system aggregates data collected from independently owned and controlled networked sensors and controls into content channels. The system allows for anonymous subscription to content channels and sensor data by channel client, other sensor owners, and service providers who bid for the right to advertise services to content channel clients based on sensor data patterns for which the service providers can provide particular insight.

Claims

1. A method of aggregating and publishing sensor node data, comprising:

receiving sensor data from each of a first plurality of sensor nodes;

developing a plurality of content channels, each created by one or more channel developers, and aggregating sensor data from a second plurality of sensor nodes, the second plurality of sensor nodes being a subset of the first plurality of sensor nodes;

publishing the content channels such that they can be accessed by one or more channel clients over one or more data communications networks;

tracking a plurality of content channel stakeholders for each of the content channels;

enabling channel clients to configure content channels to trigger on patterns of data, meeting predetermined criteria, from the aggregated sensor data and to generate events descriptive of the data patterns;

enabling one or more service providers to configure content channels to trigger on the patterns of data, meeting the predetermined criteria, from the aggregated sensor data, and to associate advertising content with the data patterns;

notifying channel clients whenever sensor data patterns that meet the predetermined criteria are detected;

attaching, to the notification, the advertising content, from the one or more service providers, that is associated with the sensor data patterns that meet the predetermined criteria;

identifying and tracking the viewing of advertising content;

identifying and tracking any purchasing or other business-related actions of channel clients based on the display of the advertising content from the one or more service providers;

accounting for service provider fees related to the display of the advertising content;

accounting for business transactions resulting from the display of the advertising content; and

distributing accumulated fees to one or more of the content channel stakeholders.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving sensor data from each of a first plurality of sensor nodes includes receiving sensor data from both physical sensor nodes and virtual sensor nodes, the method further comprising:

combining data from the virtual sensor nodes with data from the physical sensor nodes into a single content channel.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

integrating one or more control nodes, owned or controlled by one or more owners, into a content channel; and

allowing the channel clients to selectively give access to content channel output controls, controlled by the channel clients, to service providers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein integrating one or more control nodes includes integrating both physical data output control nodes and virtual data output control nodes.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting data from individual sensor nodes; and

recombining the extracted data into a content channel by means of a programmable script or filter.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

developing the programmable script or filter in a computing programming language.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the computing programming language includes at least one of Java, PHP, Perl, Javascript, Visual BASIC, .NET, C, C++, XSLT, and CSS.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking a plurality of content channel stakeholders for each of the content channels includes tracking entities responsible for creating, operating, and publicizing the content channel, including one or more of the channel developers, the owners, manufacturers, and retailers of the sensor nodes aggregated by the content channel, the operators of the content manager, owners of data communications networks, and entities who control the physical or logical locations of sensor and control nodes.

9. A method of aggregating and publishing sensor node data, comprising:

(a) receiving sensor data from each of a multitude of sensor nodes, wherein the sensor nodes in the multitude of sensor nodes are drawn from a plurality of separate, unrelated physical networks that are owned or controlled by different entities;

(b) developing a plurality of content channels, each created by one or more channel developers that are unrelated to and independent from the entities owning or controlling the physical networks, wherein;

(i) developing each of the plurality of content channels includes collecting sensor data from a respective plurality of sensor nodes of the multitude of sensor nodes

(ii) the respective plurality of sensor nodes from which each content channel is developed is a respective subset of the first plurality of sensor nodes, and

(ii) collecting the sensor data includes aggregating different types of sensor data and transforming the data into higher order data;

(c) publishing the content channels such that they can be accessed by one or more channel clients over one or more data communications networks, wherein each channel client is unrelated to and independent from the channel developer by whom the respective content channel was created;

(d) tracking a plurality of content channel stakeholders for each of the content channels;

(e) enabling channel clients to configure content channels to trigger on patterns of channel data, meeting predetermined criteria, from the aggregated channel data and to generate events descriptive of the data patterns;

(f) enabling one or more service providers to configure content channels to trigger on the patterns of data, meeting the predetermined criteria, from the aggregated sensor data, and to associate advertising content with the data patterns;

(g) notifying channel clients whenever sensor data patterns that meet the predetermined criteria are detected;

(h) attaching, to the notification, the advertising content, from the one or more service providers, that is associated with the sensor data patterns that meet the predetermined criteria;

(i) identifying and tracking the viewing of advertising content;

(j) identifying and tracking any purchasing or other business-related actions of channel clients based on the display of the advertising content from the one or more service providers;

(k) accounting for service provider fees related to the display of the advertising content;

(l) accounting for business transactions resulting from the display of the advertising content; and

(m) distributing accumulated fees to one or more of the content channel stakeholders.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving sensor data from each of a multitude of sensor nodes includes receiving sensor data from both physical sensor nodes and virtual sensor nodes, and wherein the method further comprises combining data from the virtual sensor nodes with data from the physical sensor nodes into a single content channel.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

integrating one or more control nodes, each owned or controlled by one or more owner that is independent from other control node owners, into a content channel; and

allowing the channel clients to selectively give access to content channel output controls, controlled by the channel clients, to service providers.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein integrating one or more control nodes includes integrating both physical data output control nodes and virtual data output control nodes.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

extracting data from individual sensor nodes; and

recombining the extracted data into a content channel by means of a programmable script or filter.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

developing the programmable script or filter in a computing programming language.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the computing programming language includes at least one of Java, PHP, Pert, Javascript, Visual BASIC, .NET, C, C++, XSLT, and CSS.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein tracking a plurality of content channel stakeholders for each of the content channels includes tracking independent, unrelated commercial entities responsible for creating, operating, and publicizing the content channel, including one or more of the channel developers, the owners, manufacturers, and retailers of the sensor nodes aggregated by the content channel, the operators of the content manager, owners of data communications networks, and entities who control the physical or logical locations of sensor and control nodes.