Control plane for sensor communication

• US 10,601,925 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2018
• Issued: 03/24/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ji, Lusheng, Miller, II, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Song, Rebecca E
• Application Number:
  US15/902,264
• Publication Number:
  US 20180183878A1
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

An architecture that can employ a control plane for managing communications with respect to a set of sensors is provided. By utilizing a control plane, a distinction between control messages and data messages can be provided in a standardized way and the set of sensors can benefit from additional functionality and configurability. For example, the control plane can be employed to modify parameters associated with the set of sensors, which can be effectuated in real time and in situ as opposed to at the time of fabrication or deployment. Moreover, such modifications can relate to both the sensing portions of a particular sensor as well as the communication portions of a particular sensor.

Claims

1. A control device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

communicating with a group of sensor devices that collectively represent a sensor network arranged according to a peer-to-peer network topology, wherein the group of sensor devices comprises a data plane configured to communicate traffic of the sensor network and a control plane configured to communicate routing information for the traffic, wherein the communicating comprises;

receiving, via the data plane, from a sensor device of the group of sensor devices, measurement data representative of a physical quantity that is measured by the sensor device according to a measurement parameter; and

transmitting, via the control plane, an instruction to the sensor device that modifies the measurement parameter used to measure the physical quantity.

2. The control device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving, from the sensor device, updated measurement data representative of the physical quantity measured according to a modified measurement parameter representative of the measurement parameter that was modified by the instruction.

3. The control device of claim 1, wherein the instruction is a first instruction, and wherein the operations further comprise transmitting, via the control plane, a second instruction to the sensor device that modifies the physical quantity to be measured by the sensor device.

4. The control device of claim 3, wherein the operations further comprise receiving, from the sensor device, updated measurement data representative of an updated physical quantity that was updated by the second instruction.

5. The control device of claim 1, wherein the instruction is communicated via the control plane in accordance with a first channel that differs from a second channel used to communicate the measurement data via the data plane.

6. The control device of claim 1, wherein the instruction is communicated via the control plane in accordance with a first data rate that differs from a second data rate used to communicate the measurement data via the data plane.

7. The control device of claim 1, wherein the instruction is communicated via the control plane in accordance with a first priority that differs from a second priority used to communicate the measurement data via the data plane.

8. The control device of claim 1, wherein the measurement parameter represents a sensitivity setting of the sensor device, and wherein the instruction modifies the sensitivity setting.

9. The control device of claim 1, wherein the measurement parameter represents a measurement range setting of the sensor device, and wherein the instruction modifies the measurement range setting.

10. The control device of claim 1, wherein the sensor device is a first sensor device, and wherein the control device is a second sensor device of the group of sensor devices.

11. A sensor device, comprising:

a sensor configured to measure a physical quantity according to a measurement parameter;

a communication interface configured to communicate with sensor devices of a sensor network arranged according to a peer-to-peer network topology, wherein the devices of the sensor network comprise a data plane configured to communicate traffic of the sensor network and a control plane configured to communicate routing information for the traffic;

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

transmitting, via the data plane, measurement data representative of the physical quantity that is measured by the sensor according to the measurement parameter;

receiving, by the communication interface via the control plane, an instruction to change the measurement parameter used to measure the physical quantity; and

updating the measurement parameter according to the instruction.

12. The sensor device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting, via the data plane, updated measurement data representative of the physical quantity measured according to a modified measurement parameter representative of the measurement parameter that was modified by the instruction.

13. The sensor device of claim 11, wherein the measurement parameter represents a threshold setting of the sensor device, and wherein the instruction modifies the threshold setting.

14. The sensor device of claim 11, wherein the measurement parameter represents a precision setting of the sensor device, and wherein the instruction modifies the precision setting.

15. The sensor device of claim 11, wherein the instruction is a first instruction, and wherein the operations further comprise receiving, by the communication interface via the control plane, a second instruction to the sensor device that modifies the physical quantity to be measured by the sensor device.

16. The sensor device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting, using the communication interface, updated measurement data representative of an updated physical quantity that was updated by the second instruction.

17. A method, comprising:

communicating, by a system comprising a processor, with a group of sensor devices that collectively represent a sensor network arranged according to a distributed network topology, wherein the group of sensor devices comprises a data plane that communicates data of the sensor network and a control plane that communicates routing information for the data, wherein the communicating comprises;

receiving, by the system via the data plane, from a sensor device of the group of sensor devices, measurement data representative of a physical quantity that is measured by the sensor device according to a measurement parameter; and

transmitting, by the system via the control plane, an instruction to the sensor device that modifies the measurement parameter used to measure the physical quantity.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving, by the system via the control plane, the instruction.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising updating, by the system, the measurement parameter according to the instruction.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the measurement parameter is representative of a sensitivity setting of the sensor device, and wherein the updating the measurement parameter according to the instruction comprises modifying the sensitivity setting.