Internet of things (IOT) self-organizing network

• US 10,412,172 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2019
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cook, Charles I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kim T
• Application Number:
  US16/253,009
• Publication Number:
  US 20190158600A1
• Time in Patent Office: 232 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• 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 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality. In some embodiments, a first IoT-capable device might receive beacon data from each of one or more other IoT-capable devices in a self-organizing network (“SON”) of IoT devices, might compare the received beacon data with stored beacon data, and might send at least one first data to a computing system to update the computing system of any changes in the SON (indicating, without limitation, new devices, failed devices, disabled devices, devices that have moved out of range, etc.). The computing system might receive and analyze the at least one first data to determine a status of each IoT-capable device in the SON, might generate control instructions, and might autonomously send the control instructions to at least one of the IoT-capable devices in the SON to improve the functionality of the SON.

Claims

1. A method for implementing Internet of Things (“

IoT”

) self-organizing network functionality, comprising;

receiving, with a first Internet of Things (“

IoT”

)-capable device among a plurality of IoT-capable devices, beacon data from each of at least one second IoT-capable device among the plurality of IoT-capable devices;

autonomously comparing, with the first IoT-capable device, the received beacon data with stored beacon data that is stored in a database;

determining, with the first IoT-capable device, whether the received beacon data differs from the stored beacon data;

based on a determination that the received beacon data differs from the stored beacon data, autonomously sending, with the first IoT-capable device and via machine-to-machine communication, at least one first data representing the difference between the received beacon data and the stored beacon data to a computing system;

receiving, with the computing system, the at least one first data from the first IoT-capable device;

analyzing, with the computing system, the at least one first data to generate one or more control instructions; and

autonomously sending, with the computing system, the one or more control instructions to one or more third IoT-capable devices among the plurality of IoT-capable devices, wherein the plurality of IoT-capable devices form part of a self-organizing network (“

SON”

) of IoT-capable devices, the one or more control instructions causing each of the one or more third IoT-capable devices to change at least one of its device settings, its device configurations, its network configurations, or its functions within the SON of IoT-capable devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing system is at least one of a SON server, a service provider server, a gateway device, a computing node, a cloud computing system, a remote distributed computing system, or a distributed computing system that integrates computing resources from two or more IoT-capable devices of the plurality of IoT-capable devices, wherein the SON server is one of a physical platform in a network or a virtualized instance in the network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of IoT-capable devices comprises at least one of one or more household appliances, one or more kitchen appliances, one or more user devices, one or more vehicles, one or more wireless access points, one or more sensor devices, a gateway device, one or more wireless access points (“

WAPs”

), or an IoT human interface device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more third IoT-capable devices comprises at least one of the first IoT-capable device or one or more of the at least one second IoT-capable device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the beacon data from each of the at least one second IoT-capable device comprises at least one of a unique identifier assigned to a particular one of the at least one second IoT-capable device, signal strength of the beacon data, geographic location information of the particular one of the at least one second IoT-capable device, relative location information of the particular one of the at least one second IoT-capable device with respect to other IoT-capable devices, communication transmit power level, or configuration parameters.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the unique identifier comprises at least one of an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

)-based identifier, a location-based identifier, or a media access control identification (“

MAC ID”

)-based identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored beacon data comprises beacon data that is stored in one or more tables in a local storage device of the first IoT-capable device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined status of the at least one second IoT-capable device comprises one of new device, device failure, disabled device, or out-of-range device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the comparing and determining processes based on a determination that the received beacon data does not differ from the stored beacon data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, with the computing system, virtualized instances of the plurality of IoT-capable devices, based at least in part on the at least one first data;

autonomously running simulations, with the computing system, of different configurations of the plurality of IoT-capable devices using the generated virtualized instances of the plurality of IoT-capable devices; and

determining, with the computing system, which one or more configurations of the different configurations result in optimal network functions of the SON of IoT-capable devices, based at least in part on the simulation of different configurations of the plurality of IoT-capable devices;

wherein the one or more control instructions cause the at least one third IoT-capable device to change at least one of its device settings, its device configurations, its network configurations, or its functions within the SON of IoT-capable devices to implement the one or more configurations of the different configurations that are determined to result in optimal network functions of the SON of IoT-capable devices.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, with the computing system, virtualized instances of the plurality of IoT-capable devices, based at least in part on the at least one first data;

autonomously running simulations, with the computing system, of different configurations of the plurality of IoT-capable devices using the generated virtualized instances of the plurality of IoT-capable devices; and

autonomously identifying, with the computing system, one or more network paths between each IoT-capable device and another IoT-capable device of the plurality of IoT-capable devices that result in optimal network functions of the SON of IoT-capable devices, based at least in part on the simulation of different configurations of the plurality of IoT-capable devices; and

based on a determination that only one network path can be established between one particular IoT-capable device and at least one other particular IoT-capable device, autonomously sending, with the computing system, a notification to an alarm point, the notification indicating a gap in the SON of IoT-capable devices that should be addressed.

12. A system for implementing Internet of Things (“

IoT”

) self-organizing network functionality, comprising;

a plurality of IoT-capable devices comprising at least one first IoT-capable device, at least one second IoT-capable device, and one or more third IoT-capable devices, wherein the plurality of IoT-capable devices form part of a self-organizing network (“

SON”

) of IoT-capable devices, each of the at least one first IoT-capable device comprising;

at least one first processor;

at least one first transceiver; and

a first non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one first processor, the first non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a first set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one first processor, causes the first IoT-capable device to;

receive beacon data from each of the at least one second IoT-capable device among the plurality of IoT-capable devices;

autonomously compare the received beacon data with stored beacon data that is stored in a database;

determine whether the received beacon data differs from the stored beacon data;

based on a determination that the received beacon data differs from the stored beacon data, autonomously send, via machine-to-machine communication, at least one first data representing the difference between the received beacon data and the stored beacon data to a computing system via the at least one first transceiver;

the computing system, comprising;

at least one second processor; and

a second non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one second processor, the second non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a second set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one second processor, causes the computing system to;

receive the at least one first data from the at least one first IoT-capable device;

analyze the at least one first data to generate one or more control instructions; and

autonomously send the one or more control instructions to the one or more third IoT-capable devices of the plurality of IoT-capable devices;

wherein each of the one or more third IoT-capable devices comprises;

at least one third processor;

at least one third transceiver; and

a third non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one third processor, the third non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a third set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one third processor, causes the third IoT-capable device to;

receive the one or more control instructions via the at least one third transceiver; and

change at least one of its device settings, its device configurations, its network configurations, or its functions within the SON of IoT-capable devices, based at least in part on the one or more control instructions.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the computing system is at least one of a SON server, a service provider server, a gateway device, a computing node, a cloud computing system, a remote distributed computing system, or a distributed computing system that integrates computing resources from two or more IoT-capable devices of the plurality of IoT-capable devices, wherein the SON server is one of a physical platform in a network or a virtualized instance in the network.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of IoT-capable devices comprises at least one of one or more household appliances, one or more kitchen appliances, one or more user devices, one or more vehicles, one or more wireless access points, one or more sensor devices, a gateway device, one or more wireless access points (“

WAPs”

), or an IoT human interface device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more sensor devices comprises at least one of one or more temperature sensors, one or more particulate sensors, one or more light sensors, one or more air quality sensors, one or more humidity sensors, one or more proximity sensors, one or more location sensors, one or more location beacons, one or more object identifier beacons, one or more flame detectors, one or more atmospheric oxygen level monitors, one or more atmospheric carbon dioxide level monitors, one or more atmospheric nitrogen level monitors, one or more atmospheric pressure sensors, one or more carbon monoxide sensors, one or more smoke detectors, one or more toxicity monitors, one or more carcinogen detectors, one or more radiation sensors, one or more telecommunications signal sensors, one or more audio sensors, one or more sound amplitude sensors, one or more frequency sensors, one or more accelerometers, one or more moisture sensors, one or more motion sensors, one or more wind sensors, one or more weather sensors, one or more seismic sensors, one or more cameras, one or more biometrics sensors, one or more water leak detectors, or one or more contact sensors.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more third IoT-capable devices comprises at least one of the first IoT-capable device or one or more of the at least one second IoT-capable device.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the beacon data from each of the at least one second IoT-capable device comprises at least one of a unique identifier assigned to a particular one of the at least one second IoT-capable device, signal strength of the beacon data, geographic location information of the particular one of the at least one second IoT-capable device, relative location information of the particular one of the at least one second IoT-capable device with respect to other IoT-capable devices, communication transmit power level, or configuration parameters.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the stored beacon data comprises beacon data that is stored in one or more tables in a local storage device of the first IoT-capable device.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the determined status of the at least one second IoT-capable device comprises one of new device, device failure, disabled device, or out-of-range device.

20. The system of claim 12, further comprising a local storage device, wherein the local storage device comprises the database, wherein the stored beacon data comprises beacon data that is stored in one or more tables in the local storage device.