System and method of constructing dynamic namespaces in the internet of things

• US 9,948,603 B1
• Filed: 06/23/2015
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gen Digital Inc.
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Lee, Eun Kyu, Kashyap, Anand, Efstathopoulos, Petros
• Primary Examiner(s): Book, Phyllis A
• Application Number:
  US14/747,906
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/69 using geographic information, e.g. room number
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/10 of different types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/3015 Name registration, generation or assignment
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A method, performed by a network device, for communication with Internet of Things (IoT) devices is provided. The method includes receiving a communication relevant to Internet of Things devices, wherein the communication is in accordance with a naming scheme that has conventions for objects, context, data and commands and is agnostic as to a plurality of addressing schemes of the Internet of Things devices. The method includes resolving names in the communication, in accordance with the naming scheme, and sending the communication or a further communication to one or more Internet of Things devices per the resolving.

Claims

1. A method, performed by an Internet of Things (IoT) gateway device, for communication with IoT devices coupled thereto, the method comprising:

receiving an IoT communication string, the IoT communication string excluding a unique identifier for any of the IoT devices, the IoT communication string including the following context-based keyword/name pairs;

a device or user keyword followed by a device or user name;

a location or time keyword followed by a location or time name; and

a data or command keyword followed by a data or command name;

resolving the keyword/name pairs in the IoT communication string to determine which IoT device is specified by the names in the IoT communication string and which data or command is specified in the IoT communication string; and

communicating with the specified IoT device to request the specified data from the specified IoT device or to send the specified command to the specified IoT device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the IoT communication string includes the user keyword followed by the user name;

the method further comprises identifying the user that corresponds to the user name; and

prior to the communicating, the method further comprises determining that the identified user is authorized to request the specified data from the specified IoT device or to send the specified command to the specified IoT device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the IoT communication string excludes an Internet Protocol (IP) address or a domain name as the unique identifier for any of the IoT devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the IoT communication string further includes an identifier that identifies the IoT communication string as a communication string configured for communication with the IoT devices.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the identifier comprises an “

iot;

//”

label.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the device keyword is a “

devices”

label or the user keyword is a “

users”

label;

the location keyword is a “

loc”

label or the time keyword is a “

time”

label; and

the data keyword is a “

data”

keyword or the command keyword is a “

commands”

label.

7. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having instructions thereupon which, when executed by a processor of an Internet of Things (IoT) gateway device coupled to IoT devices, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving an (IoT) communication string, the IoT communication string excluding a unique identifier for any of the IoT devices, the IoT communication string including the following context-based keyword/name pairs;

a device or user keyword followed by a device or user name;

a location or time keyword followed by a location or time name; and

a data or command keyword followed by a data or command name;

resolving the keyword/name pairs in the IoT communication string to determine which IoT device is specified by the names in the IoT communication string and which data or command is specified in the IoT communication string; and

communicating with the specified IoT device to request the specified data from the specified IoT device or to send the specified command to the specified IoT device.

8. The computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein the IoT communication string excludes an Internet Protocol (IP) address or a domain name as the unique identifier for any of the IoT devices.

9. The computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein the IoT communication string further includes an identifier that identifies the IoT communication string as a communication string configured for communication with the IoT devices.

10. The computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the identifier comprises an “

iot;

//”

label.

11. The computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein:

the device keyword is a “

devices”

label or the user keyword is a “

users”

label;

the location keyword is a “

loc”

label or the time keyword is a “

time”

label; and

the data keyword is a “

data”

keyword or the command keyword is a “

commands”

label.

12. The computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein:

the IoT communication string includes the user keyword followed by the user name;

the method further comprises identifying the user that corresponds to the user name; and

prior to the communicating, the method further comprises determining that the identified user is authorized to request the specified data from the specified IoT device or to send the specified command to the specified IoT device.

13. An Internet of Things (IoT) gateway device, comprising:

one or more network ports configured to couple to one or more (IoT) devices;

one or more processors configured to;

receive an (IoT) communication string, the IoT communication string excluding a unique identifier for any of the IoT devices, the IoT communication string including the following context-based keyword/name pairs;

a device or user keyword followed by a device or user name;

a location or time keyword followed by a location or time name; and

a data or command keyword followed by a data or command name;

resolve the keyword/name pairs in the IoT communication string to determine which IoT device is specified by the names in the IoT communication string and which data or command is specified in the IoT communication string; and

communicate, via the one or more network ports, with the specified IoT device to request the specified data from the specified IoT device or to send the specified command to the specified IoT device.

14. The IoT gateway device of claim 13, wherein:

the one or more network ports and the one or more processors are further configured to distribute communications over an overlay network.

15. The IoT gateway device of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

discover the IoT devices coupled to the one or more network ports; and

add the discovered IoT devices to a forwarding table for use in accessing or communicating with the IoT devices.

16. The IoT gateway device of claim 13, wherein the IoT communication string excludes an Internet Protocol (IP) address or a domain name as the unique identifier for any of the IoT devices.

17. The IoT gateway device of claim 13, wherein the IoT communication string further includes an identifier that identifies the IoT communication string as a communication string configured for communication with the IoT devices.

18. The IoT gateway device of claim 17, wherein the identifier comprises an “

iot;

//”

label.

19. The IoT gateway device of claim 13, wherein:

the device keyword is a “

devices”

label or the user keyword is a “

users”

label;

the location keyword is a “

loc”

label or the time keyword is a “

time”

label; and

the data keyword is a “

data”

keyword or the command keyword is a “

commands”

label.

20. The IoT gateway device of claim 13, wherein:

the IoT communication string includes the user keyword followed by the user name;

the one or more processors are further configured to identify the user that corresponds to the user name; and

the one or more processors are further configured, prior to the communicating, determine that the identified user is authorized to request the specified data from the specified IoT device or to send the specified command to the specified IoT device.