Methods and apparatus to facilitate end-user defined policy management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10785262-B2
Application number	US-201715581827-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2017
Priority date	Sep 25, 2015
Publication date	Sep 22, 2020
Grant date	Sep 22, 2020

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to facilitate end-user defined policy management. An example apparatus includes an edge node interface to detect addition of a networked user device to a service gateway, and to extract publish information from the networked user device. The example apparatus also includes a device context manager to identify tag parameters based on the publish information from the networked user device, and a tag manager to prohibit unauthorized disclosure of the networked user device by setting values of the tag parameters based on a user profile associated with a type of the networked user device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus to manage an Internet of Things (IoT) network device, the apparatus comprising:
the IoT network device;
a tag manager to:
identify a publication policy of the IoT network device based on a retrieved tag parameter; and
in response to detecting an incentive program provided by a particular third party service provider that is external to a network, update a service access permission parameter to include the particular third party service provider, the incentive program allowing the particular third party service provider to access the IoT network device to achieve an objective of the incentive program, wherein the objective includes at least one of energy savings, household device control, user trend identification, or energy rate reduction;

a local policy resolution manager to:
based on the identified publication policy, at least one of prohibit communications or permit communications to the IoT network device that are external to the network; and
in response to determining enrollment of the IoT network device in the incentive program, update the identified publication policy to include the particular third party service provider associated with the incentive program; and

a smart building manager to, in response to enrollment of the IoT network device in the incentive program, retrieve a service message from the particular third party service provider that is external to the network, the service message including an executable instruction, the executable instruction to cause the IoT network device to perform an action to achieve the objective of the incentive program, the action based on data collected from the IoT network device by the particular third party service provider.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the local policy resolution manager is to permit a disclosure exception for a type of data provided by the IoT network device when the publication policy is identified as restrictive, the type of data associated with the IoT network device.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2 , wherein the local policy resolution manager is to permit the disclosure exception when the type of data provided by the IoT network device is indicative of operational status information.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 3 , wherein the operational status information includes at least one of a processor operating status, a processor utilization, a memory status, a power cycle log of the IoT network device, or an operational error code.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 2 , wherein the local policy resolution manager is to block the IoT network device data disclosure when the type of data provided by the IoT network device is indicative of sensor data.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , further including an edge node interface to detect a trigger from the IoT network device, the smart building manager to invoke the service associated with the incentive program, the invocation based on the trigger.

7. The apparatus as defined in claim 6 , wherein the service associated with the incentive program includes at least one of a security service, a temperature control service, or an energy reduction service.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the particular third party service provider is a first third party service provider, and wherein the smart building manager is to filter a second service message from a second third party service provider, the second service message indicative of communication access to the IoT network device.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the incentive program is a first incentive program, and wherein the tag manager is to block the second service message from the second third party service provider in response to identifying a restrictive publication policy and lack of enrollment of the IoT network device with a second incentive program provided by the second third party service provider.

10. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the executable instruction corresponds to the objective of the incentive program to reduce power consumption of the IoT network device.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to, at least:
identify a publication policy of a networked an Internet of Things (IoT) network device based on a retrieved tag parameter;
in response to detecting an incentive program provided by a particular third party service provider that is external to a network, update a service access permission parameter to include the particular third party service provider, the incentive program al lowing the particular third party service provider to access the IoT network device to achieve an objective of the incentive program, wherein the objective includes at least one of energy savings, household device control, user trend identification, or energy rate reduction;
based on the identified publication policy, at least one of prohibit communications or permit communications to the IoT network device that are external to the network;
in response to determining enrollment of the IoT network device in the incentive program, update the identified publication policy to include the particular third party service provider associated with the incentive program; and
in response to enrollment of the IoT network device in the incentive program, retrieve a service message from the particular third party service provider that is external to the network, the service message including an executable instruction, the executable instruction to cause the IoT network device to perform an action to achieve the objective of the incentive program, the action based on data collected from the IoT network device by the particular third party service provider.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as defined in claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to permit a disclosure exception for a type of data provided by the IoT network device when the publication policy is identified as restrictive, the type of data associated with the IoT network device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as defined in claim 12 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to permit the disclosure exception when the type of data provided by the IoT network device is indicative of operational status information.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as defined in claim 13 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to identify the operational status information as at least one of a processor operating status, a processor utilization, a memory status, a power cycle log of the IoT network device, or an operational error code.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as defined in claim 12 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to block IoT network device data disclosure when the type of data provided by the IoT network device is indicative of sensor data.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as defined in claim 11 , wherein the particular third party service provider is a first third party service provider, and wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to filter a second service message from a second third party service provider, the second service message indicative of communication access to the IoT n

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Ellis Keith A
• O'Malley Ronan
• Upton Connor
• Boundy David M
• Carr Hugh Martin

Classifications

• H04L67/12

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

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• H04L63/10

  for controlling access to devices or network resources · CPC title

• H04L12/2816

  Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities (arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00) · CPC title

• H04L12/2803 Primary

  Home automation networks · CPC title