Application platform operable on network node

• US 9,781,231 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2014
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itron, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Itron, Inc.
• Inventors: Stuber, Michael T. Garrison, Buffington, John, Gillmore, Matthew Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): Serrao, Ranodhi
• Assistant Examiner(s): FIORILLO, JAMES N
• Application Number:
  US14/547,561
• Publication Number:
  US 20160142514A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/408 characterised by data handling or data format, e.g. reading, buffering or conversion of data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/31 Programming languages or programming paradigms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• 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: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/20 Information technology specific aspects, e.g. CAD, simulation, modelling, system security

Abstract

A formula-driven programming-environment is described, which may be used to provide an environment for applications to operate within a network node or other computing device. In one example, statements of a program may be interpreted to thereby execute formula-style commands within an address space defined and constrained in a memory device by the integrated development environment. The commands may obtain data, assign values to variables and access data from other node(s) by the interpretation of statements in the program and communicating over a network. The communicating may include queuing a message for transmission by the formula-driven programming-environment. The commands may provide named access or relative access to data in response to the interpretation of statements in the program. The commands may communicate with at least one application located on a remote computing device in response to the interpretation of statements in the program.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one sensor;

one or more nodes in a network;

a processor configured to input data from the at least one sensor and to enable a formula-driven programming-environment defined on a memory device of a node in the network, the formula-driven programming-environment further comprising one or more managing components providing operations for at least a first program and a second program, and configured to perform acts comprising;

interpreting statements of the first program operable within a first address space defined in the memory device by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment, and interpreting statements of the second program operable within a second address space defined in the memory device by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment;

interpreting addresses within statements of the first program based on a first network topology, and interpreting addresses within statements of the second program based on a second network topology, wherein a first upstream data path from the node in the network, based on the first network topology, and a second upstream data path from the node in the network, based the second network topology, are different, and wherein each of the first upstream data path and the second upstream data path include a path to a third party server, a second node, a utility company'"'"'s office, or a remote computing device;

limiting, by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment, statements of the first program to the first address space, and statements of the second program to the second address space;

limiting, by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment, message-queuing and message-transmission of the first program and the second program;

obtaining data from the at least one sensor and assigning values to variables by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment; and

communicating the data obtained from the at least one sensor, over a network and by operation of the first program, using an upstream path associated with the first program, and communicating the data obtained from a metrology device, over the network and by operation of the second program, using the upstream path associated with the second program, wherein the communicating further comprises;

queuing of sensor data, constants, derived data and/or commands for transmission over the network; and

transmitting the queued data transparently by operation of the formula-driven programming environment;

wherein the one or more managing components of the formula-driven programming-environment are further operational for;

providing a context, indicating a type of address to be used for network communications based at least in part on the first network topology or the second network topology;

performing low-level coding and addressing as required for message queuing;

configuring addressing syntax according to one or more formats;

coordinating with at least one remote operating program to utilize one or more formulas, events, variables, functions, and/or statement blocks in at least the first program or the second program;

identifying a second node within the network and a relationship of the second node to the node; and

obtaining data from the second node using the relationship.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, additionally performing acts comprising:

providing notice upon occurrence of an event from among a plurality of defined events; and

executing a block of statements in response to the provided notice.

3. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein the block of statements comprises two or more of:

a statement executed in response to an event;

a function; and

a name of a block of statements.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the second network topology comprises a utility company'"'"'s office; and

the first network topology comprises a windmill or a solar panel.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein interpreting the statements comprises interpreting statements having a location on which variable information is stored and a name of a variable.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the acts additionally comprise limiting functions to only those provided by the formula-driven programming-environment.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the first network topology is based on an electrical distribution grid and includes a utility company'"'"'s office; and

the second network topology includes a third party server.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein interpreting the statements of each of the first and second programs comprises:

evaluating a syntax; and

evaluating an argument.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein obtaining data from a metrology device comprises use of syntax comprising node:

variable.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the communicating, over the network, can be limited to levels below a threshold.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, additionally comprising:

recognizing an event; and

determining if the event was also recognized by;

a parent node of the network node;

a child node of the network node;

or

a sibling node of the network node.

7. A method implemented at least in part by a network node, the method comprising:

operating a formula-driven programming-environment located within the network node further comprising one or more managing components providing operations for at least a first program and a second program;

interpreting, by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment, statements of the first program operable within a first address space defined in a memory device of the network node, and statements of the second program operable within a second address space defined in the memory device of the network node;

interpreting absolute addresses or relative addresses within the statements of the first program based on a first network topology and interpreting absolute addresses or relative addresses within the statements of the second program based on a second network topology, wherein an upstream path from the network node, based on the first network topology is different from an upstream path from the network node based on the second network topology, and wherein the upstream path based on the first network topology and the upstream path based on the second network topology includes a path to a third party server, a second network node, a utility company'"'"'s office, or a remote computing device;

limiting, by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment, statements of the first program to the first address space, and statements of the second program to the second address space;

limiting, by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment, message-queuing and message-transmission of the first program and the second program;

obtaining data from a metrology device of the network node and assigning values to variables by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment; and

communicating the data obtained from the metrology device, over a network and by operation of the first program, using the upstream path associated with the first program, and communicating the data obtained from the metrology device, over the network and by operation of the second program, using the upstream path associated with the second program, wherein the communicating further comprises;

queuing of sensor data, constants, derived data and/or commands for transmission over the network; and

transmitting the queued data transparently by operation of the formula-driven programming environment;

wherein the one or more manacling components of the formula-driven programming-environment are further operational for;

providing a context, indicating a type of address to be used for network communications based at least in part on the first network topology or the second network topology;

performing low-level coding and addressing as required for message queuing;

configuring addressing syntax according to one or more formats;

coordinating with at least one remote operating program to utilize one or more formulas, events, variables, functions, and/or statement blocks in at least the first program or the second program;

identifying a second node within the network and a relationship of the second node to the network node; and

obtaining data from the second node using the relationship.

13. A node, comprising:

at least one sensor;

a memory device;

a processor;

an embedded operating system defined on the memory device and executed by the processor, and configured for communication with the at least one sensor; and

a formula-driven programming-environment defined on the memory device and executed by the processor, the formula-driven programming-environment further comprising one or more managing components providing operations for at least a first program and a second program and configured to perform acts comprising;

interpreting statements of the first program operable within a first address space defined in the memory device of the node, and interpreting statements of the second program operable within a second address spaces defined in the memory device of the node, the interpreting of statements performed by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment;

providing access to data sources, including the at least one sensor and by action of the formula-driven programming-environment, using addressing information that provides either absolute addressing or relative addressing,

assigning variables to put data from the data sources into appropriate data structures;

interpreting absolute addresses or relative addresses within statements of the first program based on a first network topology, and interpreting absolute addresses or relative addresses within statements of the second program based on a second network topology, wherein upstream paths from the node, based on the first network topology and the second network topology, are different, and wherein the upstream path based on the first network topology and the upstream path based on the second network topology includes a path to a third party server, a second node, a utility company'"'"'s office, or a remote computing device;

limiting statements of the first program to the first address space, and statements of the second program to the second address space;

limiting, by operation of the formula-driven programming-environment, message-queuing and message-transmission of the first program and the second program; and

communicating at least some the data obtained from the data sources, over a network and by operation of the first program, using the upstream path associated with the first program, and communicating at least some of the data obtained from the data sources, over the network and by operation of the second program, using the upstream path associated with the second program, wherein the communicating further comprises;

queuing of sensor data, constants, derived data and/or commands for transmission over the network; and

transmitting the queued data transparently by operation of the formula-driven programming environment;

wherein the one or more managing components of the formula-driven programming-environment are further operational for;

providing a context, indicating a type of address to be used for network communications based at least in part on the first network topology or the second network topology;

performing low-level coding and addressing as required for message queuing;

configuring addressing syntax according to one or more formats;

coordinating with at least one remote operating program to utilize one or more formulas, events, variables, functions, and/or statement blocks in at least the first program or the second program;

identifying a relationship of the second node to the node; and

obtaining data from the second node using the relationship.

14. The node as recited in claim 13, wherein:

the first network topology includes a utility company'"'"'s office; and

the second network topology includes a third party server.

15. The node as recited in claim 13, wherein the acts further comprise defining variables based on a storage location, a syntax, and a variable name.

16. The node as recited in claim 13, wherein the acts additionally comprise

evaluating functions to calculate a value of a function given an input value.

17. The node as recited in claim 13, wherein the formula-driven programming-environment is configured to execute a block of statements in response to an event notification, wherein:

the block of statements is indicated by a defined syntax;

a name of the block of statements is located with respect to the defined syntax; and

a plurality of statements are associated with the name of the block of statements.