A flexible gateway system and method

Abstract

The present invention discloses an elastic gateway system and method. The elastic gateway system includes: a cloud application platform, a cloud network management platform, and an elastic gateway, wherein the cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform are respectively connected to the elastic gateway; the present invention also discloses an elastic gateway method, which overcomes the technical problems of poor gateway scalability and high labor and industrial input costs for maintaining the gateway in the prior art by adopting the technical means of using the cloud application platform to parse the communication protocol and issue instructions to the elastic gateway, thereby achieving the beneficial effects of strong gateway scalability and saving labor and industrial input costs. The present invention can be widely used in the field of Internet of Things application technology.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of Internet of Things, and in particular to a flexible gateway system and method. Background Art

[0002] BLE: Bluetooth, an open communication technology standard for wireless data and voice communications;

[0003] Routing table: a table of downlink channel records bound to terminal device IDs, and the elastic gateway can directly send them to terminal devices based on the records;

[0004] With the continuous advancement of science and technology and the increasing demand for quality of life, smart home has become the development trend of the home furnishing industry in the future. Various electronic and electrical devices in smart home need to be connected through the network to achieve intelligent management, remote monitoring and resource sharing of these devices and home environment.

[0005] On the other hand, in the industrial field, with the introduction of Industry 4.0, the industry is moving towards the integration of automation and informatization. The problems of poor connectivity and difficulty in information exchange between various buses in the industrial field are becoming increasingly prominent. As a protocol conversion tool, the gateway plays an increasingly important role in the data exchange between different interfaces.

[0006] In the prior art, smart homes and smart industrial equipment are equipped with various communication interfaces due to the wide variety of smart devices. Various communication interfaces use different communication protocols. In order to match as many smart devices as possible, the gateway needs to store hundreds of communication protocols to achieve protocol parsing and conversion of various protocols. However, a gateway usually has only a few interfaces for connecting to the information acquisition controller. In this way, a large number of gateways need to be set up to connect to it, which has poor scalability and increases labor input costs and industrial input costs. Summary of the invention

[0007] The present invention aims to solve one of the technical problems in the related art at least to a certain extent. To this end, one object of the present invention is to provide a flexible gateway system that can improve the scalability of the gateway and save labor and industrial input costs.

[0008] To this end, a second object of the present invention is to provide a flexible gateway method.

[0009] The technical solution adopted by the present invention is:

[0010] In a first aspect, the present invention provides an elastic gateway system, comprising: a cloud application platform, a cloud network management platform, and an elastic gateway, wherein the cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform are respectively connected to the elastic gateway.

[0011] Furthermore, it also includes a terminal device for uploading communication protocol instructions.

[0012] Furthermore, the cloud application platform includes an instruction sending module, an instruction processing module, an instruction storage module, and an instruction receiving module; the instruction sending module is used to send control instructions and / or learning instructions of the cloud application platform; the instruction processing module is used to process relevant instructions of the cloud application platform, and the instruction storage module is used to store instructions received, sent and / or to be processed by the cloud application platform; the instruction receiving module is used to receive communication protocol instructions uploaded by the terminal device.

[0013] Furthermore, the elastic gateway includes: a main control module, a mobile communication module, a wireless communication module, a wired communication module, and a power management module.

[0014] Furthermore, the elastic gateway also includes an uplink channel and a downlink channel, the uplink channel is connected to the cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform respectively through a mobile communication channel and / or an Ethernet communication channel, and the downlink channel includes a wired downlink channel and a wireless downlink channel.

[0015] Furthermore, the cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform are opened in the form of web pages.

[0016] In a second aspect, the present invention provides an elastic gateway method, comprising the following steps:

[0017] S1: The cloud application platform obtains the device communication protocol;

[0018] S2: The cloud application platform adds a protocol template to store the device status reported by the elastic gateway;

[0019] S3: The device protocol in the cloud application platform retrieves the device status information instruction, which is integrated into the platform Z instruction and sent to the elastic gateway;

[0020] Furthermore, the method further comprises the steps of:

[0021] S4: After receiving the Z instruction, the elastic gateway selects a channel port according to the routing table and sends it to the terminal device. The terminal device feedbacks the current device status. After the cloud application platform confirms the status, it sends a confirmation message to the elastic gateway. The elastic gateway stores the instruction information and exits this operation.

[0022] S5: The elastic gateway sends the command regularly according to the set regular reporting time to obtain the terminal device status information.

[0023] Furthermore, cloud gateway platform configuration parameters are set before or after any step S1-S5.

[0024] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0025] The present invention uses a cloud application platform to parse the communication protocol and issue instructions to the elastic gateway, so that the elastic gateway can adapt to a variety of terminal devices, overcomes the technical problems of poor gateway scalability and high labor and industrial investment costs for maintaining the gateway in the prior art, and achieves the beneficial effects of strong gateway scalability and saving labor and industrial investment costs. The present invention can be widely used in the field of Internet of Things application technology. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] Figure 1 This is a system diagram of an elastic gateway system embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0027] Figure 2 This is a system schematic diagram of a flexible gateway system embodiment 2 of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 3 This is a gateway structure diagram of Embodiment 3 of a flexible gateway system of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of instruction flow of a flexible gateway system embodiment 2 of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 5 It is an instruction flow diagram of Embodiment 4D and Z of a flexible gateway method of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 6 It is an Ethernet channel instruction flow diagram of Embodiment 4 of a flexible gateway method of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 7 It is a wireless channel instruction flow diagram of Embodiment 4 of a flexible gateway method of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 8 This is an RS485 channel flow diagram of Example 4 of a flexible gateway method of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] Self-learning table: stores the status instructions of the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can actively report the current status;

[0035] D command: control command issued by the cloud application platform. The command is sent to the elastic gateway and then forwarded to the terminal device according to the existing routing table.

[0036] Z instruction: a learning instruction issued by the cloud application platform, stored in the elastic gateway Flash memory, and regularly communicates with the terminal device to obtain the device status;

[0037] A command: the command uploaded by the gateway after self-learning;

[0038] It should be noted that, in the absence of conflict, the embodiments and features in the embodiments of the present application may be combined with each other.

[0039] Example 1: Figure 1 As shown, the elastic gateway system includes: a cloud application platform, a cloud network management platform, and an elastic gateway. The cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform are respectively connected to the elastic gateway.

[0040] Furthermore, it also includes a terminal device for uploading communication protocol instructions.

[0041] Specifically, the cloud application platform includes an instruction sending module, an instruction processing module, an instruction storage module, and an instruction receiving module; the instruction sending module is used to send control instructions and / or learning instructions issued by the cloud application platform; the instruction processing module is used to process relevant instructions of the cloud application platform, and the instruction storage module is used to store instructions received, sent and / or to be processed by the cloud application platform; the instruction receiving module is used to receive communication protocol instructions uploaded by the terminal device.

[0042] Specifically, the elastic gateway includes: a main control module, a mobile communication module, a wireless communication module, a wired communication module, and a power management module.

[0043] Specifically, the elastic gateway also includes an uplink channel and a downlink channel, the uplink channel is connected to the cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform respectively through a mobile communication channel and / or an Ethernet communication channel, and the downlink channel includes a wired downlink channel and a wireless downlink channel.

[0044] Specifically, the cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform are opened in the form of web pages.

[0045] Embodiment 2: This embodiment can be combined with embodiment 1 or used alone.

[0046] Specifically, Figure 2 As shown, the cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform are connected to the elastic gateway through the 4G mode, and can also be connected to the elastic gateway through a router or directly through the Ethernet interface mode. Any one of the two modes can be selected or both can be used simultaneously.

[0047] The specific wired downlink channels include RS485 communication channels and Ethernet communication channels; the wireless downlink channels include 2.4G wireless channels, Zigbee channels, BLE channels, etc.

[0048] like Figure 4 As shown, the cloud application platform is used to receive and issue instructions, wherein the instructions received by the cloud application platform include feedback instructions of D and Z instructions, and reporting instructions of A instructions; the instructions issued by the cloud application platform include: D instructions and Z instructions.

[0049] The above cloud network management platform is used to set elastic network gateway parameters.

[0050] The above-mentioned cloud application platform and cloud network management platform are opened in the form of web pages.

[0051] Optionally, the elastic gateway system also includes terminal devices, wherein the terminal devices mainly include single-function terminals and general intelligent terminals.

[0052] Single-function terminals generally have fewer external interfaces and simple designs, and can only meet the needs of a single application or partial extension of a single application. Apart from this application, they cannot be used in other situations without hardware modification. For example, image transmission service terminals for vehicle monitoring, terminals for power monitoring, and RFID (radio frequency identification) terminals for logistics have single functions and are only suitable for specific occasions. They cannot be modified or expanded as the application changes.

[0053] The other is a general-purpose intelligent terminal, which has many external interfaces and complex designs, and can meet the application of two or more occasions. It can meet different application requirements by setting internal software, modifying application parameters, or disassembling hardware modules. This type of module generally covers the interface requirements of most applications, and has multiple interface modes for network connection, such as Bluetooth, 2.4G wireless, Zigbee, BLE and other interfaces.

[0054] The terminals in this solution include both single-function terminals such as devices with RS485 interface and Ethernet interface, and general-purpose intelligent terminals such as devices with 2.4G wireless, Zigbee, and BLE interface.

[0055] Embodiment 3: This embodiment can be applied in combination with embodiment 1 or 2, or can be applied alone.

[0056] like Figure 3 As shown, specifically, the elastic gateway includes: a main control module, a 4G communication module, a wireless communication module, an Ethernet port, an RS485 communication module, and a power management module.

[0057] The above-mentioned elastic gateway includes an uplink channel and a downlink channel, wherein the uplink channel is connected to the cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform respectively through 4G and / or Ethernet channels, and the downlink channel includes a wired downlink channel and a wireless downlink channel, wherein the wired downlink channel includes an RS485 channel and an Ethernet channel; wherein the wireless downlink channel includes a 2.4G wireless channel, Zigbee, and BLE.

[0058] Embodiment 4: This embodiment uses the Internet of Things gateway application as an example to illustrate the elastic gateway method, including the following steps:

[0059] S1: The cloud application platform obtains the terminal device communication protocol;

[0060] Optionally, the terminal device communication protocol includes short-range protocols such as BLE; long-range cellular communication protocols such as Zigbee and Lora, where Lora (Long range) is a modulation technology that provides a longer communication distance compared to similar technologies. Since Lora modulation is a physical layer, it can also be used for different protocols and different network architectures, such as Mesh (wireless mesh network), point-to-point, etc. Lora can be summarized into the following protocols: LoraWAN protocol, CLAA network protocol, Lora private network protocol, Lora data transparent transmission;

[0061] Wired communication protocols such as USB protocol, RS232 protocol, RS485 protocol, Modbus, M-Bus protocol, etc.

[0062] S2: The cloud application platform adds a protocol template to store the terminal device status reported by the elastic gateway;

[0063] S3: The device protocol in the cloud application platform retrieves the device status information instruction, which is integrated into the cloud application platform Z instruction and sent to the elastic gateway.

[0064] The above steps are followed by:

[0065] S4: After receiving the Z command from the elastic gateway, the terminal device feeds back the current device status to the cloud application platform for confirmation. The cloud application platform sends confirmation information to the elastic gateway, and the gateway stores the command information and exits this operation.

[0066] S5: The terminal device reports the terminal device status information according to the regular reporting time set by the elastic gateway.

[0067] Specifically, Figure 3 As shown, the main purpose of the cloud network management platform is to configure the system parameters of the elastic gateway, including network parameters such as device IP address, MAC address, gateway, terminal device serial number, password settings, etc.

[0068] The cloud application platform is mainly responsible for issuing D and Z instructions and receiving feedback information from the elastic gateway. It also receives A instructions reported by the elastic gateway. Specifically, A instructions refer to instructions uploaded by the gateway after self-learning.

[0069] Specifically, the cloud application platform sends the D instruction to the elastic gateway, which is then parsed and distributed to the terminal device through the routing table in the elastic gateway. The terminal device then feeds back the routing table information in the elastic gateway to the cloud application platform.

[0070] Specifically, the cloud application platform sends the Z instruction to the elastic gateway, which is parsed and distributed to the terminal device through the routing table in the elastic gateway. The terminal device data is fed back to the self-learning table in the elastic gateway. The terminal data is stored through the cloud application platform storage command and fed back to the cloud application platform through the routing table.

[0071] Specifically, after a terminal device is connected to the elastic gateway, the self-learning table in the elastic gateway will send a self-learning A instruction to the terminal device, and the terminal device will report data feedback to the routing table in the elastic gateway, and then feedback to the cloud application platform;

[0072] like Figure 5 The following is a diagram showing the data flow from the cloud application platform, which mainly includes the following steps:

[0073] S1: The cloud application platform issues a D instruction;

[0074] The D instruction is a control instruction issued by the cloud application platform. The instruction is sent to the elastic gateway and then forwarded to the terminal device according to the existing routing table in the elastic networking gateway;

[0075] S2: Elastic gateway determines ID cache;

[0076] When the D instruction is sent, the gateway needs to go through the cache table. Since the instruction contains an ID, the gateway searches for the sending channel in the cache table based on the ID, such as 485 channel, 2.4g channel, 433 channel, etc.

[0077] S21: If there is an ID cache, go to step S3;

[0078] S22: Otherwise, the designated channel sends D and Z instructions;

[0079] S3: multicast D command;

[0080] When the D instruction is sent, the gateway cannot find the cache device through the cache table, so it will send the instruction through each channel. If the channel has data feedback, a corresponding relationship will be established.

[0081] S4: The terminal device data is returned and the ID cache is added to the elastic gateway;

[0082] The terminal data returned is based on the defined data type, usually in hexadecimal format.

[0083] S5: terminal data reporting to cloud application platform;

[0084] The S22 step further includes the following steps:

[0085] S23: Terminal data returns;

[0086] S24: Terminal data reporting platform.

[0087] The cloud application platform also issues Z instructions, which specifically include the following data flow steps:

[0088] S1: The cloud application platform issues a Z instruction;

[0089] Specifically, Z instructions refer to learning instructions issued by the cloud application platform, which are stored in the elastic gateway Flash memory and periodically obtain the terminal device status;

[0090] S2: Elastic gateway determines the local database;

[0091] The Z instruction is a learning instruction. After the platform sends the instruction to the gateway, it first determines whether the instruction exists. Each Z instruction has a serial number. If it exists, it will be overwritten and updated. If it does not exist, it will be added.

[0092] S21: If yes, go to step S3;

[0093] S22: Otherwise, execute S23 and S24 in the step of issuing the D instruction;

[0094] S3: multicast Z command;

[0095] When the D command is issued, the gateway cannot find the cache device through the cache table, so it will issue the command through each channel. If there is data feedback from the channel, a corresponding relationship will be established.

[0096] S4: Terminal data is returned and instructions are added to the local database;

[0097] The data format returned by the Z and D instructions is defined by the terminal, and the platform only parses it according to the known protocol.

[0098] S5: Terminal data reporting platform.

[0099] Specifically, the data flow is described below using a specific channel as an example:

[0100] like Figure 6 The data flow diagram of the Ethernet channel is shown, which includes the following steps:

[0101] S1: The cloud application platform sends instructions to the Ethernet port;

[0102] S2: Determine the Ethernet card communication mode;

[0103] The Ethernet card communication modes include: UDP mode, TCP SERVER mode, TCP CLIENT mode, any one of the three or a combination of any two of them, and terminal devices involving all three.

[0104] S3: Data is returned and reported.

[0105] like Figure 7 As shown, the wireless channel is used as an example to illustrate, including the following steps:

[0106] S1: The cloud application platform issues instructions;

[0107] S2: Determine whether the cache exists;

[0108] S21: If yes, go to S3;

[0109] S22: otherwise, proceed to S5;

[0110] S3: specify a wireless mode to send;

[0111] S4: Data return and reporting;

[0112] S5: Send in multi-channel wireless mode;

[0113] S6: According to the returned data, bind a specific wireless channel and go to S4.

[0114] like Figure 8 As shown, taking the RS485 channel as an example, the following steps are included:

[0115] S1: The cloud application platform issues instructions;

[0116] S2: Determine whether the cache exists;

[0117] S21: If yes, go to S3;

[0118] S22: otherwise, proceed to S5;

[0119] S3: specify a RS485 port to send;

[0120] S4: Data return and reporting;

[0121] S5: Multiple RS485 channels are sent simultaneously;

[0122] S6: According to the returned data, bind a specific RS485 channel and go to S4.

[0123] The above is a specific description of the preferred implementation of the present invention, but the invention is not limited to the embodiments. Those skilled in the art can make various equivalent modifications or substitutions without violating the spirit of the present invention. These equivalent modifications or substitutions are all included in the scope defined by the claims of this application.

Claims

1. A flexible gateway system, characterized in that: include: Cloud application platform, cloud network management platform, elastic gateway, The cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform are respectively connected to the elastic gateway; The cloud application platform is responsible for issuing D and Z instructions and receiving feedback information from the elastic gateway, and also receives A instructions reported by the elastic gateway; wherein D instruction is a control instruction issued by the cloud application platform, which is issued to the elastic gateway and then forwarded to the terminal device according to the existing routing table, and its processing steps specifically include: (1) The cloud application platform issues the D instruction; (2) The elastic gateway determines the ID cache; if there is an ID cache, the D command is multicast; otherwise, the D command is sent through each channel; (3) The terminal device data is returned and an ID cache is added to the elastic gateway; (4) Report terminal data to the cloud application platform; The Z instruction is a learning instruction issued by the cloud application platform and stored in the Flash memory of the elastic gateway. It communicates with the terminal device regularly to obtain the device status. Its processing steps include: (1) The cloud application platform issues a Z instruction; (2) The elastic gateway determines the local database and multicasts the Z instruction if it exists; otherwise, the D instruction is sent through each channel; (3) Terminal data is returned and instructions are added to the local database; (4) Report terminal data to the cloud application platform; The terminal device is connected to the elastic gateway through the following channels: Ethernet channel: receiving instructions through the Ethernet port, determining the Ethernet card communication mode, and returning and reporting data; wherein the Ethernet card communication mode includes: UDP mode, TCP SERVER mode, TCP CLIENT mode; Wireless channel: Determine whether the cache exists. If it does, specify the wireless mode to send and return the report. If it does not exist, send it in multi-channel wireless mode and bind the specific channel according to the returned data; RS485 channel: Determine whether the cache exists. If it does, specify the RS485 port to send and return the report. If it does not exist, multiple RS485s are sent at the same time and the specific channel is bound according to the returned data. A command is a self-learning command initiated by the gateway after the terminal device is connected. After the terminal device is connected to the elastic gateway, the self-learning table in the elastic gateway sends the self-learning A command to the terminal device, and establishes the corresponding relationship between the terminal device parameters and the channel through the feedback data of the terminal device; The elastic gateway system is used to implement an elastic gateway method, the method comprising: S1: The cloud application platform obtains the device communication protocol of the terminal device through the self-learning table of the elastic gateway; S2: The cloud application platform adds the corresponding protocol template according to the self-study table and stores the device status reported by the elastic gateway; S3: The cloud application platform retrieves the corresponding device status information instruction based on the self-learning table, integrates the status information instruction into the platform Z instruction, and sends it to the elastic gateway; S4: After receiving the Z instruction, the elastic gateway selects a channel port according to the routing table and sends it to the terminal device. The terminal device feedbacks the current device status. After the cloud application platform confirms the status, it sends a confirmation message to the elastic gateway. The elastic gateway stores the Z instruction information and exits this operation. S5: The elastic gateway sends Z instructions regularly according to the set regular reporting time to obtain the terminal device status information.

2. The elastic gateway system according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a terminal device for uploading communication protocol instructions.

3. A flexible gateway system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The cloud application platform includes an instruction sending module, an instruction processing module, an instruction storage module, and an instruction receiving module; the instruction sending module is used to send control instructions and / or learning instructions issued by the cloud application platform; the instruction processing module is used to process relevant instructions of the cloud application platform, and the instruction storage module is used to store instructions received, sent and / or to be processed by the cloud application platform; the instruction receiving module is used to receive communication protocol instructions uploaded by the terminal device.

4. The elastic gateway system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The elastic gateway includes: a main control module, a mobile communication module, a wireless communication module, a wired communication module, and a power management module.

5. According to the elastic gateway system described in claim 4, the elastic gateway also includes an uplink channel and a downlink channel, the uplink channel is connected to the cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform respectively through a mobile communication channel and / or an Ethernet communication channel, and the downlink channel includes a wired downlink channel and a wireless downlink channel.

6. The elastic gateway system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cloud application platform and the cloud network management platform are opened in the form of web pages.

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