Method and apparatus for monitoring and processing sensor data in an interfacing-device network

• US 9,887,898 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2015
• Issued: 02/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ubiquiti Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (Ubiquiti Inc.)
• Inventors: Frei, Randall W., Cheng, Linker, Pera, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US14/716,757
• Publication Number:
  US 20160021040A1
• Time in Patent Office: 994 Days
• Field of Search: 709224, 709225, 709203, 709223, 709229, 709250
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/10 Program control for peripheral devices G06F13/14 - G06F13/42 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/01 characterised by the transmission medium
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2825 Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/024 using relational databases for representation of network management data, e.g. managing via structured query language [SQL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/256 NAT traversal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2575 using address mapping retrieval, e.g. simple traversal of user datagram protocol through session traversal utilities for NAT [STUN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5061 Pools of addresses
• 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: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• 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 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 : Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 : Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 : Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/10 : Technologies improving the efficiency by using switched-mode power supplies [SMPS], i.e. efficient power electronics conversion e.g. power factor correction or reduction of losses in power supplies or efficient standby modes
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An interfacing device is configured to process one or more rules, based on sensor data, to perform a predetermined action. During operation, the device can detect a rule-triggering event, and can search a rule repository to obtain a set of rules whose action criteria is satisfied by the rule-triggering event. If the set of rules include a plurality of rules that are simultaneously triggered by the rule-triggered event, the local interfacing device may process the plurality of rules in a user-defined sequence.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting, by an interfacing device that monitors and controls a physical device, a rule-triggering event;

searching a rule repository of the interfacing device to obtain a set of rules whose action criteria is satisfied by the rule-triggering event and a user-defined sequence for the set of rules; and

in response to the set of rules including a plurality of rules that are simultaneously triggered by the rule-triggered event, processing the plurality of rules in the user-defined sequence by;

determining a current state of the interfacing device;

processing a first rule from the user-defined sequence of the plurality of rules to execute a first action description of the first rule based on the current state;

determining an updated state of the interfacing device from the current state based on the execution of the first action description; and

processing a second rule from the user-defined sequence of the plurality of rules to execute a second action description of the second rule based on the updated state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the current or updated state includes one or more of:

a variable state for a logical variable stored in a memory of the local interfacing device;

a sensor measurement for a sensor coupled to the local interfacing device; and

a sensor measurement for a sensor coupled to a remote interfacing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the current state or the updated state includes obtaining, from a remote device over a computer network, a sensor measurement from a remote sensor.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the remote device includes at least one of:

a remote interfacing device, which monitors sensor data from at least one physical device coupled to the remote interfacing device; and

a controller device, which monitors sensor data from at least one interfacing device over a computer network.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein obtaining the sensor measurement for the remote sensor includes:

establishing a network connection with the remote device;

sending a data-subscription request for the remote sensor, to the remote device, via the established network connection; and

receiving an updated sensor value for the remote sensor, from the remote device via the established network connection.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein establishing the network connection includes establishing a peer-to-peer network connection with the remote device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein establishing the network connection includes:

determining that the remote device is not reachable via a peer-to-peer communication channel associated with the network connection; and

establishing the network connection via a data-forwarding service.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein executing a respective action description in the plurality of rules that are simultaneously triggered includes one or more of:

sending a command to a predetermined interfacing device over a computer network;

sending an email message to a predetermined recipient;

sending a short message service (SMS) message to a predetermined recipient;

generating a system alert;

generating an event for an event log;

computing an output data value based in part on the obtained sensor data;

sending a predetermined signal pattern over a serial port; and

processing a predetermined script to configure a peripheral device via a serial port.

9. An apparatus that monitors and controls a physical device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory device storing a rule repository; and

a rule-processing module operable to;

detect a rule-triggering event;

search the rule repository to obtain a set of rules whose action criteria is satisfied by the rule-triggering event and a user-defined sequence for the set of rules; and

in response to the set of rules including a plurality of rules that are simultaneously triggered by the rule-triggered event, process the plurality of rules in the user-defined sequence by;

determining a current state of the interfacing device;

processing a first rule from the user-defined sequence of the plurality of rules to execute a first action description of the first rule based on the current state;

determining an updated state of the interfacing device from the current state based on the execution of responsive to executing the first action description; and

processing a second rule from the user-defined sequence of the plurality of rules to execute a second action description of the second rule based on the updated state.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the current or updated state includes one or more of:

a variable state for a logical variable stored in a memory of the local interfacing device;

a sensor measurement for a sensor coupled to the local interfacing device; and

a sensor measurement for a sensor coupled to a remote interfacing device.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a communication module configured to obtain, from a remote device over a computer network, a sensor measurement from a remote sensor for determining the device state or the updated device state.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the remote device includes at least one of:

a remote interfacing device, which monitors sensor data from at least one physical device coupled to the remote interfacing device; and

a controller device, which monitors sensor data from at least one interfacing device over a computer network.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein while obtaining the sensor measurement for the remote sensor, the communication module is further configured to obtain the sensor measurement for the remote sensor by:

establishing a network connection with the remote device;

sending a data-subscription request for the remote sensor, to the remote device, via the established network connection; and

receiving an updated sensor value for the remote sensor, from the remote device via the established network connection.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the communication module is further configured to establish the network connection based on a peer-to-peer network connection with the remote device.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the communication module is further configured to:

determine that the remote device is not reachable via a peer-to-peer communication channel associated with the network connection; and

establish the network connection via a data-forwarding service.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein executing a respective action description in the plurality of rules that are simultaneously triggered includes one or more of:

sending a command to a predetermined interfacing device over a computer network;

sending an email message to a predetermined recipient;

sending a short message service (SMS) message to a predetermined recipient;

generating a system alert;

generating an event for an event log;

computing an output data value based in part on the obtained sensor data;

sending a predetermined signal pattern over a serial port;

processing a predetermined script to configure a peripheral device via a serial port.