Managing machine to machine devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016232116-A1
Application number	US-201415021888-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 12, 2014
Priority date	Sep 13, 2013
Publication date	Aug 11, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

System and method for managing devices comprising a memory store having memory locations, wherein each memory location stores one or more attributes associated with one or more devices. Device manager arranged to execute commands to take an action on the one or more attributes stored in the memory locations, and to receive from the one or more devices values of the corresponding one or more attributes. Synchroniser configured to maintain synchronisation between the attributes stored in the memory store and the attributes associated with the devices.

First claim

1 . A system for managing devices comprising:
a memory store having memory locations, wherein each memory location stores one or more attributes associated with one or more devices; a device manager arranged to execute commands to take an action on the one or more attributes stored in the memory locations, and to receive from the one or more devices values of the corresponding one or more attributes; and a synchroniser configured to maintain synchronisation between the attributes stored in the memory store and the attributes associated with the devices.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the commands are defined as declarative commands.

3 . The system of claim 1 or claim 2 , wherein the executed commands are set-based operations.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the set-based operations comprise any one or more of: SQL, procedural, data manipulation, configuration management, insert, select, update, create, read, write, erase, and search.

5 . The system according to any previous claim further comprising one or more interfaces for communicating with each device.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the device manager is further configured to communicate with each device over a first interface or the one or more interfaces.

7 . The system of claim 4 or claim 5 , wherein the synchroniser is further configured to operate when communication with the one or more devices over the interface is available.

8 . The system of any of the claims 5 to 7 , wherein the synchroniser is further configured to initiate a communication with the one or more devices when no communication with the one or more devices over the interface is available.

9 . The system according to any previous claim, wherein the synchroniser is further configured to operate at intervals.

10 . The system according to any previous claim, wherein the synchroniser maintains synchronisation between the stored attributes and the attributes associated with the one or more devices by controlling the attributes of the devices.

11 . The system according to any previous claim, wherein the synchroniser maintains synchronisation between the stored attributes and the attributes associated with the one or more devices by controlling the stored attributes.

12 . The system according to any previous claim, wherein the memory store is further configured to store and/or retrieve previous versions of the one or more attributes.

13 . The system according to any previous claim further comprising a schema of the one or more attributes.

14 . The system according to any previous claim further, wherein the one or more attributes are any executable code of the device, parameters detected by the device, and/or parameters received by the device.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the executable code is firmware, operating system, and/or a software application.

16 . The system according to any previous claim further comprising a second interface arranged to communicate the data to the device manager, and further wherein the commands to take an action on the one or more attributes stored in the memory locations are executed in response to the communicated data.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the data are received from a user and/or an application.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the device manager is further arranged to determine if the user and/or the application are authorised.

19 . The system according to any previous claim, wherein the memory locations are arranged having a data structure that replicates the one or more devices.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the data structure is a unified data structure common across different types of devices.

21 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the commands to take an action on the one or more attributes stored in the memory locations are in conformity with the unified data structure, the system further comprising an adapter configured to adapt the commands to provide the synchroniser with instructions to control attributes of the one or more devices in a format specific to each different type of device.

22 . The system according to any previous claim, wherein the one or more attributes associated with the one or more devices are billing and/or logging data.

23 . The system according to any previous claim, wherein the one or more devices are of the type selected from the group consisting of machine to machine, M2M, device, a further device manager, a controller of one or more devices, and a receiving entity.

24 . The system according to any previous claim, wherein the device manager is further configured to receive one or more criteria, and monitor the one or more devices to determine when the one or more criteria are met.

25 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the device manager is further configured to trigger an event when the one or more criteria are met.

26 . The system of claim 25 , wherein the event is pre-determined.

27 . A method for managing devices comprising the steps of:
storing one or more attributes associated with one or more devices; taking an action on the one or more stored attributes; receiving from the one or more devices values of the one or more attributes; and maintaining synchronisation between the attributes stored in the memory store and the corresponding attributes associated with the devices.

28 . The method of claim 27 , further comprising the step of: receiving a command to change an attribute of the one or more devices, wherein the command is received in a first form conforming to a data structure of the one or more stored attributes, wherein the step of maintaining synchronisation further comprises the step of converting the received command into a form conforming to a data structure of the one or more devices.

29 . The method claim 28 , wherein the command is received over a first interface and wherein the converted command is communicated to the one or more devices over a second interface.

30 . The method according to any of claims 27 to 29 further comprising the step of receiving a command defining a sequence of steps for changing attributes of the one or more devices, wherein the step of taking an action on the one or more stored attributes is performed according to the sequence of steps.

31 . The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of updating firmware or other executable code component of the device after the one or more attributes of the one or more devices are synchronised according to the sequence of steps.

32 . The method of claim 30 or claim 31 , wherein different commands defining different sequences of steps are received for different device types.

33 . The method according to any of claims 30 to 32 , wherein devices are updated to different versions of firmware or another executable code component dependent on the stored one or more attributes.

34 . The method according to any of claims 27 to 33 , wherein the stored one or more attributes are stored in a single data structure for different device types.

35 . The method of claim 34 , wherein maintaining synchronisation between the stored attributes and corresponding attributes of the devices further comprises converting the attributes before updating the one or more

Assignees

• Vodafone Ip Licensing Ltd

Inventors

• Bone Nick
• Snape Tim
• Prabdial Yakeen
• Bento Jorge
• Prince Michael

Classifications

• H04W88/02

  Terminal devices · CPC title

• H04L63/10

  for controlling access to devices or network resources · CPC title

• H04W52/0229

  where the received signal is a wanted signal · CPC title

• H04L63/0876

  based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint · CPC title

• H04W4/50

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title