Apparatus and system for managing a sensor network

• US 9,288,114 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2014
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Cloud Computing Technologies Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Yongjing, Bian, Yonggang, Huang, Cheng, Ding, Chuansuo, Jin, Lei, Mu, Lunjian
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Parth
• Application Number:
  US14/563,631
• Publication Number:
  US 20150098361A1
• Time in Patent Office: 463 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/328, 709/223, 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• 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 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A network system includes a device management (DM) server and a Machine to Machine (M2M) gateway coupled to the DM server and to a plurality of sensor devices in a sensor network. The DM server is configured to send a DM command. The M2M gateway is configured to: after receiving the DM command, access a topology tree that includes first and second management object (MO) nodes, wherein the first MO node includes an identification and a type of the sensor network and the second MO node describes a characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices and a connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices; according to address information within the DM command, locate at least one of the first and second MO nodes; retrieve information from the located at least one of the first and second MO nodes; and send the retrieved information to the DM server.

Claims

1. A Machine to Machine (M2M) gateway, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a device management (DM) command from a DM server that connects to a plurality of sensor devices within a sensor network via the M2M gateway, with the DM command configured for remotely managing a sensor network topology;

a memory storing a topology tree and instructions, the topology tree comprising first and second management object (MO) nodes, wherein the first MO node comprises an identification and a type of the sensor network, and the second MO node describes a characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices and a connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices, wherein the topology tree corresponds to the sensor network topology;

a processor coupled to the receiver and the memory and executing the instructions, wherein the instructions configure the M2M gateway to;

receive the DM command;

based on address information within the second MO node, the DM command retrieves the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices and the connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices from the second MO node of the topology tree; and

a transmitter configured to send the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices and the connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices of the sensor network to the DM server.

2. The M2M gateway according to claim 1, wherein the topology tree further comprises a third and a fourth MO nodes, the third MO node describes information about a service provided by each of the plurality of sensor devices, and the fourth MO node is configured to modify the connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices.

3. The M2M gateway according to claim 2, wherein:

the receiver is configured to receive a DM modification command sent by the DM server, wherein the DM modification command comprises address information of the fourth MO node, and the fourth MO node is configured to remove a specified device from the sensor network;

the transmitter is configured to send a removal command to the specified device; and

the processor is configured to update at least one of the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices, the connection relationship in the second MO node and the information about a service provided by each of the sensor devices in the third MO node.

4. The M2M gateway according to claim 2, wherein:

the receiver is configured to receive a DM modification command sent by the DM server, wherein the DM modification command comprises address information of the fourth MO node and the fourth MO node is configured to remove a specified device and a child device of the specified device from the sensor network;

the transmitter is configured to send a removal command to the specified device, wherein the removal command comprises an indication of removing the child device; and

the processor is configured to update at least one of the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices, the connection relationship in the second MO node and the information about a service provided by each of the plurality of sensor devices in the third MO node.

5. The M2M gateway according to claim 2, wherein:

the receiver is configured to receive a DM modification command sent by the DM server, wherein the DM modification command comprises address information of the fourth MO node and the fourth MO node is configured to add a specified device into the sensor network;

the transmitter is configured to send a connection establishment request message to the specified device; and

the processor is configured to update at least one of the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices, the connection relationship in the second MO node and the information about a service provided by each of the sensor devices in the third MO node.

6. The M2M gateway according to claim 2, wherein:

the receiver is configured to receive a DM modification command sent by the DM server, wherein the DM modification command comprises address information of the fourth MO node and the fourth MO node is configured to modify a connection relationship between a specified device and a neighbor device; and

the processor is configured to;

permit the neighbor device of the specified device to admit a new child device or prohibit other neighbor device of the specified device from admitting a child device; and

instruct the specified device to rejoin in the sensor network.

7. A network system, comprising:

a device management (DM) server configured to send a DM command for managing a sensor network topology; and

a Machine to Machine (M2M) gateway coupled to the DM server and to a plurality of sensor devices in a sensor network, the M2M gateway being configured to;

store a topology tree that includes first and second management object (MO) nodes, wherein the first MO node includes an identification and a type of the sensor network and the second MO node describes a characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices and a connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices, wherein the topology tree corresponds to the sensor network topology;

after receiving the DM command and according to address information of the second MO node within the DM command, retrieve the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices and the connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices from the second MO node; and

send the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices and the connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices of the sensor network to the DM server.

8. The network system according to claim 7, wherein the topology tree comprises a third and a fourth MO nodes, the third MO node describes information about a service provided by each of the plurality of sensor devices, and the fourth MO node is configured to modify the connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices.

9. The network system according to claim 8, wherein the M2M gateway is configured to:

receive a DM modification command sent by the DM server, wherein the DM modification command comprises address information of the fourth MO node, and the fourth MO node is configured to remove a specified device from the sensor network;

send a removal command to the specified device; and

update at least one of the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices, the connection relationship in the second MO node and the information about a service provided by each of the sensor devices in the third MO node.

10. The network system according to claim 8, wherein the M2M gateway is configured to:

receive a DM modification command sent by the DM server, wherein the DM modification command comprises address information of the fourth MO node and the fourth MO node is configured to remove a specified device and a child device of the specified device from the sensor network;

send a removal command to the specified device, wherein the removal command comprises an indication of removing the child device; and

update at least one of the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices, the connection relationship in the second MO node and the information about a service provided by each of the plurality of sensor devices in the third MO node.

11. The network system according to claim 8, wherein the M2M gateway is configured to:

receive a DM modification command sent by the DM server, wherein the DM modification command comprises address information of the fourth MO node and the fourth MO node is configured to add a specified device into the sensor network;

send a connection establishment request message to the specified device; and

update at least one of the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices, the connection relationship in the second MO node and the information about a service provided by each of the sensor devices in the third MO node.

12. The network system according to claim 8, wherein the M2M gateway is configured to:

receive a DM modification command sent by the DM server, wherein the DM modification command comprises address information of the fourth MO node and the fourth MO node is configured to modify a connection relationship between a specified device and a neighbor device;

permit the neighbor device of the specified device to admit a new child device or prohibit other neighbor device of the specified device from admitting a child device; and

instruct the specified device to rejoin in the sensor network.

13. A method for remotely managing a sensor network topology, comprising:

receiving, by a Machine to Machine (M2M) gateway, a device management (DM) command for remotely managing a sensor network topology from a DM server that connects to a plurality of sensor devices within a sensor network via the M2M gateway;

wherein, the M2M gateway stores a topology tree that comprises first and second management object (MO) nodes, the first MO node comprises an identification and a type of the sensor network and the second MO node describes a characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices and a connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices, wherein the topology tree corresponds to the sensor network topology;

after receiving the DM command and based on address information of the second MO node within the DM command, retrieving, by the M2M gateway, the characteristic of each of the plurality of sensor devices and the connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices from the second MO node in the topology tree; and

sending, by the M2M gateway, the characteristics of each of the plurality of sensor devices and the connection relationship of the plurality of sensor devices of the sensor network to the DM server.