Sensing data distribution system, and device and program therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10868868-B2
Application number	US-201716464055-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2017
Priority date	Dec 15, 2016
Publication date	Dec 15, 2020
Grant date	Dec 15, 2020

Abstract

This invention further enhances the possibility of sensing data being distributed in the case where matching of metadata determines that conditions do not coincide. A data intermediary server 3 performs matching of provider-side metadata transmitted from a sensor management apparatus and user-side metadata transmitted from a data user-side server 2 on an item-by-item basis, calculates scores according to the degree of matching therebetween, and, in the case where the total value of the scores (similarity) does not meet a predetermined first threshold but is greater than or equal to a second threshold, generates provider-side metadata to which the total value of the scores and information on unmatched items of the user-side metadata are appended, and notifies this provider-side metadata to the sensor management apparatus as notification information.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sensing data distribution system comprising:
a sensor management apparatus configured to manage sensing data output from a sensor;
a user-side apparatus configured to be used by a user of the sensing data; and
a data intermediary apparatus configured to perform communication between the sensor management apparatus and the user-side apparatus via a network,
wherein the data intermediary apparatus includes:
a first acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the sensor management apparatus, first metadata including attribute information of sensing data that is to be provided;
a second acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the user-side apparatus, second metadata including attribute information of sensing data that is desired for use;
a similarity evaluation unit configured to calculate a similarity between the first metadata acquired by the first acquisition unit and the second metadata acquired by the second acquisition unit by performing matching of the first and second metadata, and evaluate the similarity; and
a notification information transmission unit configured to transmit instruction information to the sensor management apparatus for causing the sensor management apparatus to transfer the sensing data to the user-side apparatus, in a case where the similarity is larger than or equal to a threshold, and transmit notification information including the similarity to the sensor management apparatus, in a case where the similarity is smaller than the threshold, and
the sensor management apparatus includes:
a notification information reception unit configured to receive the notification information transmitted from the data intermediary apparatus.

2. A data intermediary apparatus configured to perform communication, via a network, between a sensor management apparatus configured to manage sensing data output from a sensor and a user-side apparatus configured to be used by a user of sensing data, comprising:
a first acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the sensor management apparatus, first metadata including attribute information of sensing data that is to be provided;
a second acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the user-side apparatus, second metadata including attribute information of sensing data that is desired for use;
a similarity evaluation unit configured to calculate a similarity between the first metadata acquired by the first acquisition unit and the second metadata acquired by the second acquisition unit by performing matching of the first and second metadata, and evaluate the similarity; and
a first notification information transmission unit configured to transmit instruction information to the sensor management apparatus for causing the sensor management apparatus to transfer the sensing data to the user-side apparatus, in a case where the similarity is larger than or equal to a threshold, and transmit first notification information including the similarity to the sensor management apparatus, in a case where the similarity is smaller than the threshold.

3. The data intermediary apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the similarity evaluation unit includes:
a score calculation unit configured to, in a case where the first and second metadata each have the same plurality of items, calculate scores representing a degree of similarity between the metadata on an item-by-item basis, and take a total value of the scores as the similarity.

4. The data intermediary apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein the score calculation unit is configured to set weight coefficients of the scores in advance on an item-by-item basis, and calculate the scores representing the degree of similarity between the metadata on an item-by-item basis, with consideration for the weight coefficients.

5. The data intermediary apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein the first notification information transmission unit includes:
an extraction unit configured to extract an unmatched item on a basis of the scores calculated on an item-by-item basis;
a generation unit configured to generate item-by-item notification information including the extracted unmatched item and the score calculated for the extracted unmatched item; and
a transmission unit configured to transmit the generated item-by-item notification information to the sensor management apparatus as the first notification information.

6. The data intermediary apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a second notification information transmission unit configured to, in a case where the evaluation result of the similarity evaluation unit does not meet the predetermined condition, transmit second notification information representing the evaluation result to the user-side apparatus.

7. A sensor data intermediary method for executed by a data intermediary apparatus configured to perform communication, via a network, between a sensor management apparatus configured to manage sensing data output from a sensor and a user-side apparatus configured to be used by a user of sensing data, the method comprising:
a process of the data intermediary apparatus acquiring, from the sensor management apparatus, first metadata including attribute information of sensing data that is to be provided;
a process of the data intermediary apparatus acquiring, from the user-side apparatus, second metadata including attribute information of sensing data that is desired for use;
a process of the data intermediary apparatus calculating a similarity between the acquired first metadata and the acquired second metadata by performing matching of the first and second metadata, and evaluating the similarity; and
a process of the data intermediary apparatus transmitting instruction information to the sensor management apparatus for causing the sensor management apparatus to transfer the sensing data to the user-side apparatus, in a case where the similarity is larger than or equal to a threshold, and transmitting notification information including the similarity to the sensor management apparatus, in a case where the similarity is smaller than the threshold.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program configured to cause a computer to function as each unit included in the data intermediary apparatus according to claim 2 .

9. The data intermediary apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the first notification information transmission unit includes:
an extraction unit configured to extract an unmatched item on a basis of the scores calculated on an item-by-item basis;
a generation unit configured to generate item-by-item notification information including the extracted unmatched item and the score calculated for the extracted unmatched item; and
a transmission unit configured to transmit the generated item-by-item notification information to the sensor management apparatus as the first notification information.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program configured to cause a computer to function as each unit included in the data intermediary apparatus according to claim 1 .

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program configured to cause a computer to function as each unit included in the data intermediary apparatus according to claim 1 .

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program configured to cause a computer to function as each unit included in the data intermediary apparatus according to claim 4 .

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program configured to cause a computer to function as each unit included in the data intermediary apparatus according to cl

Assignees

• Omron Tateisi Electronics Co

Inventors

• Misumi Shuichi
• Yamato Tetsuji
• Lee Sangryul

Classifications

• G06F18/22

  Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures · 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

• H04L67/52

  specially adapted for the location of the user terminal · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• G06F9/542

  Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications · CPC title