Information collection system, server apparatus, edge apparatus, control method, and program

• US 9,942,112 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2015
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Fujiyama, Kenichiro, Kida, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US14/713,273
• Publication Number:
  US 20150249581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,061 Days
• Field of Search: 709224, 709226, 709220, 709223, 709230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

An information collection system includes a server apparatus, a plurality of edge apparatuses, and a collection rules storage unit. The edge apparatus includes a first information generation unit that generates first information and a second information generation unit that generates second information. The collection rules storage unit stores collection rules so as to be associated with the edge apparatus and the first information that the server apparatus acquires from the edge apparatus. The server apparatus includes a first information acquisition unit that acquires the first information from the edge apparatus, a second information acquisition unit that acquires the second information from the edge apparatus, and a collection rules acquisition unit that acquires collection rules from the collection rules storage unit.

Claims

1. An information collection system comprising:

storage that stores first collection rules associated with an edge apparatus and with first information to be acquired from the edge apparatus, a frequency of acquiring second information with the edge apparatus, and an expected load on the information collection system for acquiring the second information according to the first collection rules, and comprising at least one of;

content of information included in the second information and information related to the edge apparatus;

and a server comprising;

a memory device that stores instructions; and

at least one hardware processor configured to execute the instructions to;

acquire first information from a first edge apparatus;

acquire, from the storage, first collection rules that are associated with the acquired first information and with the edge apparatus and that associate a frequency of acquiring second information with the edge apparatus;

select one or more of the first collection rules based on a determination that a sum of the expected load associated with each of the one or more of the first collection rules is equal to or less than a load upper limit of the information collection system; and

acquire second information from the edge apparatus according to the selected one or more of the first collection rules.

2. The information collection system according to claim 1,

wherein the storage further stores first generation rules, the first generation rules being associated with the first information and with the first edge apparatus, the first generation rules including rules regarding generation of the first information,

wherein the at least one hardware processor is configured to execute the instructions to:

acquire, from the storage, the first generation rules, and

transmit the first generation rules to the edge apparatus, the first generation rules enabling the edge apparatus to generate the first information based on the first generation rules.

3. The information collection system according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one hardware processor is configured to execute the instructions to transmit the first collection rules to the first edge apparatus, the transmission of the first collection rules enabling the first edge apparatus to transmit the second information to the server apparatus based on the first collection rules.

4. The information collection system according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one hardware processor is configured to execute the instructions to acquire the second information from storage based on the first collection rules.

5. The information collection system according to claim 1,

wherein the first edge apparatus is configured to transmit the first information to the server.

6. The information collection system according to claim 1,

wherein the first edge apparatus stores the first information.

7. The information collection system according to claim 1,

wherein the first information include an indication that an anomaly has occurred in the first edge apparatus;

and

wherein the second information include information regarding content of the anomaly.

8. The information collection system according to claim 7, wherein the frequency of acquiring second information is related to a degree of the anomaly.

9. The information collection system according to claim 1,

wherein at least one of the first information and the second information includes location information of the first edge apparatus.

10. The information collection system according to claim 9, wherein the at least one hardware processor is configured to execute the instructions to:

responsive to determining that the first edge apparatus is within a predetermined distance from the server, acquire the second information from the first edge apparatus based on the first collection rules.

11. The information collection system according to claim 1,

wherein the first edge apparatus is configured to monitor a status of a vehicle;

wherein the first information indicates a remaining amount of gas in the vehicle, and the second information indicates a location of a gas station.

12. The information collection system according to claim 1,

wherein the first information indicates a remaining amount of the gas in a vehicle, and the second information indicates a location of a gas station, if a status of the vehicle is monitored by the first edge apparatus;

wherein the first information indicates an anomaly of a gas cylinder, and the second information indicates a remaining amount of gas in the gas cylinder, if a status of the gas cylinder is monitored by the at first edge apparatus; and

wherein the first information indicates an anomaly of a vending machine, and the second information indicates a remaining number of goods and/or money in the vending machine, if a status of the vending machine is monitored by the first edge apparatus.

13. The information collection system according to claim 1, wherein the frequency of acquiring second information is related to a location of the first edge apparatus.

14. The information collection system according to claim 1, wherein the first collection rules are also associated with one or more priorities, and wherein the acquisition of the first collection rules are such that a number of the first collection rules to be stopped based on the associated priorities is below a threshold value.

15. The information collection system according to claim 14, wherein the second collection rules are associated with a second collection load that includes information about an expected load on the information collection system caused by the acquisition of the fourth information based on the second collection rules;

and wherein the server apparatus is further configured to execute the instructions to acquire the first and second collection rules such that a sum of the expected load associated with the first and second collection rules is equal to or less than the load upper limit.

16. The information collection system according to claim 1, wherein the server apparatus is further configured to execute the instructions to:

acquire third information and fourth information from second edge apparatus; and

acquire, from the storage, second collection rules, the second collection rules being associated with the second edge apparatus and with the third information.

17. The information collection system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one hardware processor is configured to execute the instructions to:

acquire network load information about a load on a network through which the server acquires the second information from the first edge apparatus; and

update the load upper limit based on the network load information.

18. A control method performed by a server, the method comprising:

acquiring first information from a first edge apparatus;

acquiring, from a storage, first collection rules, the first collection rules being associated with the first edge apparatus, the acquired first information, a frequency of acquiring second information with the first edge apparatus, and an expected load on the information collection system for acquiring the second information according to the first collection rules, and comprising at least one of;

content of information included in the second information and information related to the first edge apparatus;

selecting one or more of the first collection rules based on a determination that a sum of the expected load associated with each of the one or more of the first collection rules is equal to or less than a load upper limit of the information collection system;

and

acquiring second information from the first edge apparatus according to the selected one or more of the first collection rules.

19. The control method according to claim 18, wherein the control method further comprises:

acquiring, from the storage, first generation rules, the first generation rules being associated with the first edge apparatus and with the first information, the first generation rules including rules regarding generation of the first information; and

transmitting the first generation rules to the first edge apparatus, the first generation rules enabling the first edge apparatus to generate the first information based on the first generation rules.

20. The control method according to claim 18, further comprising:

transmitting the first collection rules to the first edge apparatus, the transmission of the first collection rules enabling the first edge apparatus to transmit the second information to the server apparatus based on the first collection rules.

21. The control method according to claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

acquiring the second information from the storage based on the first collection rules.

22. The control method according to claim 18,

wherein the first information include an indication that an anomaly has occurred in the first edge apparatus;

and

wherein the second information include information regarding content of the anomaly.

23. The control method according to claim 18,

wherein at least one of the first information and the second information includes location information of the first edge apparatus.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that, when executed by a server, cause the server to perform a control method, the method comprising:

acquiring first information from a first edge apparatus;

acquiring, from storage, first collection rules, the first collection rules being associated with the first edge apparatus, the acquired first information, a frequency of acquiring second information with the first edge apparatus, and an expected load on the information collection system for acquiring the second information according to the first collection rules, and comprising at least one of;

content of information included in the second information and information related to the first edge apparatus;

selecting one or more of the first collection rules based on a determination that a sum of the expected load associated with each of the one or more of the first collection rules is equal to or less than a load upper limit of the information collection system; and

acquiring second information from the first edge apparatus according to the selected one or more of the first collection rules.

25. The storage medium according to claim 24, wherein the control method further comprises:

acquiring, from the storage, first generation rules, the first generation rules being associated with the first edge apparatus and with the first information, the first generation rules including rules regarding generation of the first information; and

transmitting the first generation rules to the first edge apparatus, the first generation rules enabling the first edge apparatus to generate the first information based on the first generation rules.

26. The storage medium according to claim 24, wherein the control method further comprises transmitting the first collection rules to the first edge apparatus, the transmission of the first collection rules enabling the first edge apparatus to transmit the second information to the server apparatus based on the first collection rules.

27. The storage medium according to claim 24, wherein the control method further comprises:

acquiring the second information from the storage based on the first collection rules.

28. The storage medium according to claim 24,

wherein the first information include an indication that an anomaly has occurred in the first edge apparatus;

and

wherein the second information include information regarding content of the anomaly.

29. The storage medium according to claim 24, wherein at least one of the first information and the second information includes location information of the first edge apparatus.