Aggregation of sensor appliances using device registers and wiring brokers

• US 9,692,794 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2012
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Liesche, Stefan, Stober, Thomas, Weigeldt, Stefan, Welsch, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lai, Michael C
• Application Number:
  US14/349,697
• Publication Number:
  US 20140250234A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,727 Days
• Field of Search: 709228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

The invention provides for a computer system, comprising a device register for creating and registering one or more device objects. At least one device object of the one or more device objects is configured for communicating with a network connector of a sensor appliance via a network connection. The device object is configured for exposing at least one parameter of the sensor appliance by declaring its capabilities. The computer system further comprises an aggregation model for aggregating the at least one parameter of the at least one device objects; a set of wiring definitions descriptive of raised events created by changes or updates in the at least one parameter; and a wiring broker for updating the aggregation model in accordance with the raised events.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, the processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to;

register, by a device register, a plurality of device objects, wherein each device object of the plurality of device objects is configured for communicating with a network connector of a corresponding device of a plurality of devices via a network connection, wherein each device object is configured for exposing a parameter of the corresponding device of the plurality of devices;

wherein each exposed parameter declares capabilities of the corresponding device of the plurality of devices;

aggregate, by an aggregation model, the exposed parameters of the plurality of devices; and

update, by a wiring broker the aggregation model in accordance with at least one raised event, wherein the at least one raised event results from an updated value of a given exposed parameter of one of the plurality of devices.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

connect a first device of the plurality of devices to the network using the network connection;

display the first device on a user interface using an abstraction layer, wherein the first device is selected from a group consisting of a sensor, an actuator, a multifunction device, and an internet service;

register the first device with the abstraction layer to declare the capabilities of the first device using the device register; and

wire the first device using the abstraction layer for implementing a user defined controller logic with a coherent system of decoupled devices, wherein said abstraction layer provides the infrastructure to receive/poll for status changes of sensors and to trigger status change of actuators, wherein said abstraction layer is device and/or service independent.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

connect a first device of the plurality of devices to the network via a network connector;

register the first device with the device register;

create a first device object for the registered first device using the device register; and

provide a first parameter of the first device via the first device object.

4. The computer system of claim 3, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive an updated value of the first parameter by the first device object from the first device;

update a first exposed parameter of the device register in accordance with the updated value

determine a first raised event caused by the updated value of the first parameter;

update the aggregation model in accordance with the determined updated value;

create webpage data in accordance with the updated aggregation model; and

provide the webpage data in response to a webpage request.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is selected from a group consisting of a portal server and a web server.

6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the portal server comprises multiple instances of the device registry.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein each device object of the plurality of device objects is configured for semantic mapping of the exposed parameters of the plurality of devices.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the computer system further comprises a webpage aggregator for serving a web page constructed in accordance with the aggregation model.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the webpage is configured for displaying an aggregation of the exposed parameters of the each device.

10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the device register is configured for verifying access authorization of the plurality of device objects using an identity verification service.

11. The computer system of claim 1, wherein each device is selected from a group consisting of a sensor, an actuator, a multifunction device, and an internet service.

12. The computer system of claim 1, wherein each device object is configured to:

send status updates of a property value,

receive status change requests, and

declare sensor or actuator parameter values to expose.

13. The computer system of claim 1, wherein a given exposed parameter is selected from a group consisting of data to retrieve, actuator parameter to set, data value to set, and configuration value to set.

14. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the device register is further adapted for registering and creating device objects for software services.

15. A method for connecting network connectable devices by a user interface, the method comprising:

connecting network connectable devices to a network;

visualizing each network connectable device on said user interface by an abstraction layer, wherein each of said network connectable devices is selected from a group consisting of a sensor and an actuator;

registering each network connectable device with said abstraction layer to declare the capabilities of each registered network connectable device in said user interface; and

selecting a first network connectable device of the network connectable devices as a source of an event or wire and a second network connectable device of the network connectable devices as a target of an event or wire via said abstraction layer, wherein said abstraction layer provides an infrastructure to poll for status changes of sensors and to trigger status change of actuators, and wherein said abstraction layer is device and/or service independent.