Internet of things (IoT) platform and application framework

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10715599-B2
Application number	US-201514953895-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2015
Priority date	Nov 30, 2015
Publication date	Jul 14, 2020
Grant date	Jul 14, 2020

Abstract

A status of an Internet of Things (IoT) device included in a local area cloud is identified. The local area cloud includes IoT devices that are connected in a wireless local area network (WLAN), and one IoT device functions as a leader of the local area cloud. A cloud server associated with the IoT device is identified and information identifying the status is forwarded to the cloud server via a wireless wide area network (WWAN). The cloud server selects an action to be performed by the IoT device and forwards data identifying the action. The leader receives and distributes information identifying the action to the IoT device via the local area cloud. The action may include actions by multiple IoT devices in the local area cloud or IoT devices included in multiple local area clouds. A user may input data to control the cloud server.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying, by one or more processors, a status of a first Internet of Things (IoT) device included in a local area cloud of a plurality of IoT devices that are connected in a geographic area via a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein a second IoT device of the plurality of IoT devices, as a leader of the local area cloud, communicates to a plurality of server devices on behalf of the local area cloud via a base station of a radio access network serving the geographic area;
identifying, by the one or more processors, a server device associated with the first IoT device;
transmitting, by the one or more processors, via a first type of communication path, a first type of sensor data obtained from the first IoT device to the server device for selection of a first type of physical action to be performed by the first IoT device;
forwarding, by the one or more processors, information identifying the status to the server device via a wireless wide area network (WWAN);
determining, by the one or more processors, that the second IoT device is no longer included in the local area cloud;
forwarding, by the one or more processors, a set of rules that define leader selection as a function of a relative signal strength and a geographic distance with respect to the base station;
evaluating, by one or more of the plurality of IoT devices, the plurality of IoT devices against the set of rules to determine a third IoT device associated with a superior signal strength and a shortest geographic distance;
implementing, by the one or more of the plurality of IoT devices, a selection of the third IoT device as the leader of the local area cloud;
receiving, by the one or more processors, data identifying the first type of physical action; and
forwarding, by the one or more processors and via a second type of communication path, the data identifying the first type of physical action to the third IoT device for distribution to the first IoT device via the local area cloud, wherein, based on the first type of sensor data and a time-sensitivity of the first type of physical action, a first security protocol, a first level of reliability, a first transmission speed, a first bandwidth amount, a first number of trusted nodes, and a first level of priority path associated with the first type of communication path differ from a second security protocol, a second level of reliability, a second transmission speed, a second bandwidth amount, a second number of trusted nodes, and a second level of priority path associated with the second type of communication path.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server device includes a configuration file that identifies a plurality of physical actions and selection criteria for selecting from among the plurality of physical actions and a policy engine to select the physical action from the plurality of physical actions based on the configuration file, and wherein the method further comprises:
receiving, from a user device associated with an owner of the first IoT device, a message to modify the configuration file; and
forwarding the message to the server device, wherein the server device modifies the configuration file based on the message and wherein the policy engine selects the first type of physical action based on the modified configuration file.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server device further selects a second type of physical action to be performed by a fourth IoT device of the plurality of IoT devices included in the local area cloud, wherein the data further identifies the second type of physical action, and wherein the third IoT device forwards the data to the fourth IoT device via the local area cloud.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local area cloud is a first local area cloud, and wherein the method further includes:
identifying a status of one or more IoT devices included in a second local area cloud; and
forwarding data identifying the status of the one or more IoT devices to the server device, wherein the server device identifies the first type of physical action further based on the identified status of the one or more IoT devices.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of IoT devices are coupled to a plurality of IoT modems, wherein the plurality of IoT modems communicate with each other using a WLAN protocol, and wherein one of the plurality of IoT modems is coupled to the third IoT device and communicates with the server device using a WWAN protocol.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status relates to a request by a fourth IoT device to join the local area cloud, and wherein the method further includes:
calculating a score for the fourth IoT device, wherein the score is calculated based on:
whether an owner of the fourth IoT device is known to an owner of the third IoT device,
whether the owner of the fourth IoT device is known to an owner of another one of the plurality of IoT devices included in the local area cloud,
whether the owner of the fourth IoT device is an owner of one of the plurality of IoT devices included in the local area cloud, and
whether the owner of the fourth IoT device is approved by a trusted third party; and

determining to admit the fourth IoT device into the local area cloud when the score is greater than a threshold value.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the status of the first IoT device includes 256 or fewer bytes of data,
wherein the first type of sensor data is personal health information,
wherein the first type of physical action does not correspond to performing a time-sensitive function,
wherein the first security protocol corresponds to a level of security that is higher than a level of security corresponding to the second security protocol, and
wherein the first level of priority path corresponds to a higher level of priority than a level of priority corresponding to the second level of priority path.

8. A system comprising:
a plurality of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in a local area cloud, and
a first server device comprising:
a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication interface;
a wireless wide area network (WWAN) communication interface;
a memory to store instructions; and
a processor configured to execute the instructions to:
receive, via the WWAN communication interface, information regarding a status of a first IoT device of the plurality of IoT devices that connect to a base station over a radio access network, wherein a second IoT device of the plurality of IoT devices functions as a leader of the local area cloud, wherein the first server device is selected from a plurality of server devices based on the first IoT device;
transmit, via a first type of communication path, a first type of sensor data obtained from the first IoT device to the first server device;
determine that the second IoT device is no longer included in the local area cloud;
forward, via the WLAN communication interface, a set of rules that define leader selection as a function of relative signal strength and a geographic distance with respect to the base station, wherein one or more of the plurality of IoT devices evaluate the plurality of IoT devices against the set of rules to determine a third IoT device associated with a superior relative signal strength and a shortest geographic distance, and implement a selection of the third IoT device as the leader of the local area cloud;
select, based on the first type of sensor data, a first type of physical action to be performed by the first IoT device; and
forward, via a second type of communication path, data identifying the first type of physical action to the third IoT device for distribution to the first

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Hao Jianxiu
• Wang Dongchen
• Ruffini Michael P
• Sender Thierry R

Classifications

• H04W4/70

  Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] · CPC title

• H04L67/12 Primary

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• H04W84/04

  Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title