Network-controlled device management session

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10284670-B1
Application number	US-201615176097-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 7, 2016
Priority date	Jun 7, 2016
Publication date	May 7, 2019
Grant date	May 7, 2019

Abstract

A network-connected device service receives a request to establish a communications session with a network-connected device. In response to the request, the service transmits a second request to a container service to invoke a software container instance that can be used to establish the communications session with the network-connected device. The network-connected device service receives a notification from the container instance indicating whether the communications session has been established. If so, the service provides an indication to a controlling device that the session has been established. This enables the controlling device to submit commands executable by the network-connected device to the service, which provides the commands to the container instance and, hence, to the network-connected device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving a request, from a controlling device that can interact with a network-connected device, to establish a communications session with the network-connected device, the request specifying a device identifier usable to identify one or more rules for processing the request;
obtaining, based at least in part on the device identifier, the one or more rules whereby the one or more rules specify at least a location of the network-connected device and a communications protocol utilized by the network-connected device;
invoking, based at least in part on the one or more rules corresponding to the device identifier, a software container instance, the software container instance being a computer system instance capable of establishing the communications session with the network-connected device;
providing, to the software container instance, communications protocol information of the network-connected device;
receiving, from the software container instance, an acknowledgement that the communications session has been established using the communications protocol specified in the communications protocol information;
transmitting a notification to the controlling device that indicates the acknowledgement; and
enabling communications between the controlling device and the network-connected device over the communications session.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving, from the controlling device, one or more commands to be executed by the network-connected device;
providing, to the software container instance, the one or more commands to cause the software container instance to transmit the one or more commands to the network-connected device over the communications session;
receiving, from the software container instance, one or more messages indicating whether the one or more commands were executed by the network-connected device; and
transmitting the one or more messages to the controlling device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein:
the one or more commands to be executed by the network-connected device are added to a message topic designated for the communications session; and
providing the one or more commands to the software container instance includes transmitting a second notification to the software container instance to indicate that the one or more commands were added to the message topic to cause the software container instance to obtain the one or more commands from the message topic.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the communications protocol is a protocol utilized by the network-connected device to transmit messages and to receive messages within a network.

5. A system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
receive a request to establish a communications session with a network-connected device;
identify one or more rules for establishing the communications session;
invoke, based at least in part on the one or more rules, a software container instance, the software container instance being a computer system instance;
provide the software container instance with information from the one or more rules to enable the software container instance to establish the communications session with the network-connected device;
determine whether the communications session has been established between the software container instance and the network-connected device; and
if it is determined that the communications session has been established, provide a notification indicating that the communications session has been established.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to:
receive, from a controlling device, one or more commands to be executed by the network-connected device; and
add the one or more commands to a message topic designated for the communications session to cause the software container instance to:
obtain the one or more commands from the message topic; and
transmit the one or more commands to the network-connected device over the communications session.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to: receive one or more messages from the software container instance specifying whether the one or more commands were executed by the network-connected device; and add the one or more messages from the software container instance to the message topic to enable the controlling device to obtain the one or more messages.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein the one or more rules specify at least a location of a registry that specifies a location of the network-connected device and a communications protocol utilized by the network-connected device.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the communications session is established to enable communications between the software container instance and the network-connected device using the communications protocol utilized by the network-connected device.

10. The system of claim 5 , wherein: the network-connected device is operating within a private communications network; and the software container instance is invoked in a virtual private network associated with the private communications network to enable the software container instance to access the network-connected device through a network gateway of the private communications network.

11. The system of claim 5 , wherein:
the request to establish the communications session with the network-connected device specifies an identifier of the network-connected device; and
the instructions further cause the system to utilize the identifier of the network-connected device to identify the one or more rules.

12. The system of claim 5 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to, if it is determined that the communications session could not be established between the software container instance and the network-connected device, provide an indication that the communications session has not been established.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to at least:
receive a first request to establish a communications session with a network-connected device;
transmit a second request to a container service to invoke a software container instance, the software container instance being a computer system instance capable of establishing a communications session with a network-connected device, the second request specifying network information for the network-connected device,
receive a notification from the software container instance indicating whether the communications session with the network-connected device has been established;
if the communications session has been established, provide an indication to a controlling device that the communications session, usable by the controlling device to submit commands to the network-connected device, has been established; and
enable communications between the controlling device and the network-connected device over the communications session.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the computer system to: receive, from the controlling device, one or more rules that specify at least the network information for the network-connected device; and obtain the network information for the network-connecte

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Roche Kyle Michael
• Yanacek David Craig

Classifications

• H04L67/125 Primary

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• H04L67/141

  Setup of application sessions (admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70) · CPC title

• H04L67/147

  Signalling methods or messages providing extensions to protocols defined by standardisation · CPC title

• H04L69/26

  Special purpose or proprietary protocols or architectures (network applications for proprietary or special purpose networking environments H04L67/12) · CPC title

• H04L67/2823 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic