System and method for virtual internet of things (IOT) devices and hubs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9977415-B2
Application number	US-201514791361-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 3, 2015
Priority date	Jul 3, 2015
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

A system and method are described for virtualizing Internet of Things (IoT) devices and hubs. For example, one embodiment of a system comprises: a primary Internet of Things (IoT) cloud service to register IoT devices owned by users who have subscribed with the primary IoT cloud service; IoT device management logic on the primary IoT cloud service to provide access to data generated by the primary IoT devices and to control the IoT devices responsive to user input; the IoT device management logic to establish a communication channel with an external IoT cloud service responsive to a user registering one or more external IoT devices controlled by the external IoT cloud service; and wherein upon the external IoT cloud service providing the IoT device management logic with access to the one or more external IoT devices, the IoT device management logic to generate virtual representations of the one or more external IoT devices to allow user access to information generated by the external IoT devices and to allow the user to control the external IoT devices through the virtual representations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a primary Internet of Things (IoT) cloud service to register IoT devices owned by users who have subscribed with the primary IoT cloud service;
IoT device management logic on the primary IoT cloud service to provide access to data generated by the primary IoT devices and to control the IoT devices responsive to user input;
the IoT device management logic to establish a communication channel with an external IoT cloud service responsive to a user registering one or more external IoT devices controlled by the external IoT cloud service; and
wherein upon the external IoT cloud service providing the IoT device management logic with access to the one or more external IoT devices, the IoT device management logic to generate virtual representations of the one or more external IoT devices to allow user access to information generated by the external IoT devices and to allow the user to control the external IoT devices through the virtual representations.

2. The system as in claim 1 further comprising:
a user app or application executable on a user data processing device to provide the user input to the IoT device management logic and to provide user access to both the IoT devices and the external IoT device.

3. The system as in claim 2 wherein the user app or application comprises a graphical user interface (GUI) including a first set of graphical elements representing each of the IoT devices and at least one additional graphical element representing the external IoT device.

4. The system as in claim 3 wherein the at least one graphical element is to provide access to the external IoT device via the virtual representation of the external IoT device generated by the IoT device management logic.

5. The system as in claim 1 further comprising:
an IoT device database comprising a first set of records, each record of the first set associated with one of the IoT devices and a second set of records, each record of the second set associated with one of the external IoT devices.

6. The system as in claim 5 wherein each record of the first set includes information collected from or associated with an IoT device, and wherein each record of the second set includes information collected from or associated with an external IoT device.

7. The system as in claim 6 wherein a virtual representation of a given external IoT device includes the record of the second set associated with that external IoT device.

8. The system as in claim 1 wherein the IoT device management logic is to access an application programming interface (API) exposed by the external IoT cloud service to establish the communication channel with the external IoT cloud service.

9. The system as in claim 8 wherein the IoT device management logic is to enter into one or more authentication transactions via the API to authenticate with the external IoT cloud service.

10. The system as in claim 8 wherein the API comprises translation logic to translate commands and data structures between a first format used by the primary IoT cloud service and a second format used by the external IoT cloud service.

11. A method comprising:
registering by a primary Internet of Things (IoT) cloud service, IoT devices owned by users who have subscribed with the primary IoT cloud service;
providing access to data generated by the primary IoT devices and controlling the IoT devices responsive to user input;
establishing a communication channel with an external IoT cloud service responsive to a user registering one or more external IoT devices controlled by the external IoT cloud service; and
wherein upon the external IoT cloud service providing access to the one or more external IoT devices, generating virtual representations of the one or more external IoT devices to allow user access to information generated by the external IoT devices and to allowing the user to control the external IoT devices through the virtual representations.

12. The method as in claim 11 wherein the user input is provided by a user app or application executed on a user data processing device, the user app or application providing user access to both the IoT devices and the external IoT device.

13. The method as in claim 12 wherein the user app or application comprises a graphical user interface (GUI) including a first set of graphical elements representing each of the IoT devices and at least one additional graphical element representing the external IoT device.

14. The method as in claim 13 wherein the at least one graphical element is to provide access to the external IoT device via the virtual representation of the external IoT device generated by the IoT device management logic.

15. The method as in claim 11 further comprising:
storing a plurality of records in an IoT device database comprising a first set of records, each record of the first set associated with one of the IoT devices and a second set of records, each record of the second set associated with one of the external IoT devices.

16. The method as in claim 15 wherein each record of the first set includes information collected from or associated with an IoT device, and wherein each record of the second set includes information collected from or associated with an external IoT device.

17. The method as in claim 16 wherein a virtual representation of a given external IoT device includes the record of the second set associated with that external IoT device.

Assignees

• Kiban Labs Inc
• Afero Inc

Inventors

• Zimmerman Scott
• Britt Joe

Classifications

• G05B19/042 Primary

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G05B2219/2642

  Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house · CPC title

• G06K7/10722

  Photodetector array or CCD scanning · CPC title

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• H04L12/2807 Primary

  Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network (arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50) · CPC title