Digital twin application low-code development system based on micro-service architecture

Abstract

A digital twinning application low-code development system based on a micro-service architecture comprises a digital twinning application low-code platform client, a digital twinning application low-code platform server and a developer custom micro-service module, and allows developers to develop and deploy custom micro-services in the platform. Newly-added micro-services are integrated into a development process of digital twin applications, so that the expansibility of functions of the development platform is improved; meanwhile, the micro-service is operated in the cloud, a complex calculation task is executed, and a calculation result is fed back to the client, so that the problem that the calculation capability of the development platform is limited by the end side is solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a technology in the field of digital twins, specifically a low-code development system for digital twin applications based on a microservices architecture. Background Technology

[0002] In current digital twin application development practices, low-code development platforms have become crucial tools for improving application development efficiency and reducing the coding skill requirements for developers. These platforms help developers quickly and efficiently build digital twin applications with minimal coding by providing visual resource model management tools, interactive 3D scene building tools, attribute-configurable large-screen interface editing tools, and one-click application publishing and sharing tools. However, as the functionality of digital twin applications becomes increasingly complex, the existing features of low-code development platforms, with their limited scalability, struggle to meet the customized needs developers require in specific digital twin applications. Furthermore, when developers want to extend the functionality of existing low-code development platforms, they must perform secondary development based on the platform's source code, leading to increased workload and difficulty. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To address the aforementioned shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention proposes a low-code development system for digital twin applications based on a microservice architecture. This system allows developers to develop and deploy custom microservices within the platform and integrate new microservices into the development process of digital twin applications, thereby improving the scalability of the development platform's functions. Simultaneously, by running microservices in the cloud to perform complex computational tasks and feeding the computation results back to the client, the system solves the problem of the development platform's computing power being limited by the client side.

[0004] This invention is achieved through the following technical solution:

[0005] This invention relates to a low-code development system for digital twin applications based on a microservice architecture, comprising: a low-code platform client for digital twin applications, a low-code platform server for digital twin applications, and developer-defined microservice modules. The low-code platform client manages resource models, constructs a large-screen display interface, and builds a 3D scene based on the developer's interactive operations in a visual interface. The low-code platform server performs persistent cloud storage and permission management based on the serialized data sent by the client. The developer-defined microservice modules parse parameters and create computation tasks based on the input data carried in the microservice call request, and return data conforming to the agreed response format to the client to present the microservice computation results.

[0006] The aforementioned low-code development platform client for digital twin applications includes: a resource model management unit, a large-screen interface editing unit, and a 3D scene building unit. The resource model management unit contains image, music, and video resources required for developers to upload digital twin applications; the large-screen interface editing unit contains a large-screen interface editing tool based on attribute configuration for layout and positioning; and the 3D scene building unit contains an interactive scene building tool that organizes the logical structure of the scene through root nodes, group nodes, and model nodes.

[0007] The aforementioned low-code development platform server for digital twin applications includes: a resource model management service unit, a large-screen interface editing service unit, a 3D scene construction service unit, an application publishing and sharing service unit, and a custom microservice management service unit. Specifically: the resource model management service unit uploads 3D model resources, images, videos, and fonts uploaded by developers to the cloud provider's object storage service and stores file metadata in the server's relational database, resulting in a resource model material library that developers can use in digital twin application development projects; the large-screen interface editing service unit performs database storage update operations based on the serialized data of the large-screen interface edited by the client, obtaining an intermediate result of the large-screen interface construction persistently saved in the cloud. The 3D scene building service unit processes the database storage update operation based on the serialized data information of the 3D scene edited by the client, and obtains the intermediate results of 3D scene building and model attribute editing that are persistently saved in the cloud. The application publishing and sharing service unit changes the visibility state of the application and generates a publicly accessible application address based on the developer's permission configuration on the client, resulting in a digital twin application that is easy to spread and access. The custom microservice management service registers and discovers the microservices deployed by the developer, verifies the availability of microservices, modifies the callable permissions of microservices, and forwards microservice call requests from the client and the application side based on the developer's microservice management operations on the client, resulting in a secure and complete microservice call chain.

[0008] The developer-defined microservice module includes: a request parameter parsing unit, a computation task creation unit, and a response result generation unit. Specifically: the request parameter parsing unit parses the parameters carried in the microservice call instruction and verifies whether the parameters contain all the parameters required for the computation task; the computation task creation unit performs complex calculations using a developer-provided computation program based on the required data compiled by the request parameter parsing unit; and the response result generation unit organizes the computation results into a pre-defined response data format and returns it to the client, triggering a pre-defined callback function on the client to present the results of the cloud computation. Technical effect

[0009] This invention supports developers in creating and deploying custom microservices that adhere to API call conventions. The development platform server supports the registration, API testing, and call permission configuration of custom microservices, while the development platform client supports triggering deployed and registered custom microservices through configuration and script API calls. Compared to existing technologies, this invention saves developers the time and effort required to deeply understand the development platform's source code and perform secondary development, allowing developers to focus solely on the functionality itself, thereby improving the efficiency of digital twin application developers in implementing custom functions. Furthermore, since the development platform client and the developed digital twin applications are limited by the computing power of the edge hardware devices, complex and time-consuming calculations can be performed through cloud computing, thus enriching the performance of the digital twin applications developed on the platform. Attached Figure Description

[0010] Figure 1 This is a flowchart of the present invention;

[0011] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the system of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0012] like Figure 1 As shown, this embodiment relates to an implementation method for a low-code development system for digital twin applications based on a microservice architecture, specifically including:

[0013] Step 1: During the development phase, developers use their familiar development environment, programming language, and middleware to write microservices. Microservices need to be able to correctly parse agreed request parameters, execute computational logic, and process the results into the agreed response format.

[0014] Step 2: The developer deploys the microservice to the cloud and registers the microservice's address in the management interface of the digital twin low-code development platform, enabling the development platform to discover and access the microservice deployed by the developer.

[0015] Step 3: During the invocation phase, prepare the parameters for a microservice test request on the management interface of the development platform, trigger the microservice, and check whether the response result of the test request is correct.

[0016] Step 4: Configure the usage of microservices in the development platform's management interface. Microservices can replace the system's default services, such as replacing the system's default 3D model upload service for model format conversion and lightweight processing; they can be triggered by developers in large-screen editing tools during application development, such as automatically beautifying the layout and style of UI components on the canvas through AI layout microservices; they can be triggered by developers in 3D scene building tools during application development, such as automatically calculating the scene's navigation grid through navigation grid generation microservices; and they can also be triggered by users of digital twin applications after application release through interactive events, such as automatically analyzing the movement paths of intelligent agents in real-time scenes through movement planning microservices.

[0017] Step 5: Microservices can be triggered within the configured callable permissions by configuring APIs or calling APIs in custom scripts. For example, a 3D model format conversion microservice can be configured with the model upload preprocessing logic in the model management tool, and then the configured microservice will be automatically triggered every time a developer uploads a new 3D model file; another example is the circulation planning microservice, which can be triggered via system APIs in the custom script of button click events.

[0018] Step 6: After the microservice is triggered, it will send stateless data to the registered microservice container in the system. The microservice written by the user will create a computing task after parsing the request parameters and execute it in the cloud.

[0019] Step 7: After the created computation task is completed, the microservice will process the computation result into an agreed response format and send it back to the client. When the computation is successfully completed in the cloud, the client's preset callback function will be triggered to present the computation result of the microservice or for use in subsequent stages.

[0020] like Figure 2As shown in this embodiment, a low-code development system for digital twin applications based on a microservice architecture is involved. The custom microservice modules include: a 3D model conversion microservice unit, a 3D model lightweighting microservice unit, a navigation mesh generation microservice unit, a large-screen AI layout and beautification microservice unit, and a scene movement planning microservice unit. Specifically, the 3D model conversion microservice unit performs the developer-defined model format conversion process in the cloud, utilizing stronger cloud computing power to complete the format conversion calculation faster without consuming system resources on the edge device; the 3D model lightweighting microservice unit... The development platform flexibly introduces new simplified algorithms on demand and utilizes cloud computing power for simplified calculations of high complexity. The navigation mesh generation microservice unit introduces navigation mesh generation capabilities to the development platform, requiring only minor secondary development based on the Recast library, which can significantly reduce the development workload. The large-screen AI layout and beautification microservice unit and the scene flow planning microservice unit provide these two capabilities through cloud microservice units. Only the hardware conditions for cloud deployment need to be considered, without considering the differences in terminal devices of different developers, providing a feasible way to introduce these two capabilities into the low-code development platform for digital twin applications.

[0021] In existing technical solutions, adding complex custom functionalities to a platform requires developers to perform secondary development based on the source code of the low-code development platform for digital twin applications. Developers add additional basic functionalities by writing code on top of the platform's source code, creating a new low-code development platform for digital twin applications, and then developing digital twin applications on that platform. Extending platform functionality through this approach requires developers to have a deep understanding of the project's source code, making secondary development quite difficult; furthermore, each time a new function is added, the development platform needs to be rebuilt and redeployed, making the process cumbersome. In addition, under this approach, the computing power relied upon by the platform is still provided locally by the client; when the client's computing resources are limited, complex functionalities cannot be implemented.

[0022] Compared with existing technologies, this invention supports developers in adding complex custom functions to the development platform by deploying custom microservices, which can improve the development efficiency of digital twin application developers. By introducing the computing power of cloud microservices, this invention overcomes the limitation of insufficient computing power of edge hardware and helps to enrich the types of high-computational-cost functions in digital twin applications.

[0023] The above-described specific implementations can be partially adjusted by those skilled in the art in different ways without departing from the principles and purpose of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention is defined by the claims and is not limited to the above-described specific implementations. All implementation schemes within the scope of the claims are bound by the present invention.

Claims

1. A low-code development system for digital twin applications based on a microservice architecture, characterized in that, include: The low-code platform for digital twin applications consists of a client, a server, and developer-defined microservice modules. The client manages resource models, constructs large-screen displays, and builds 3D scenes based on developer interactions within a visual interface. The server performs persistent cloud storage and access control on the serialized data sent by the client. The developer-defined microservice modules parse parameters and create computation tasks based on the input data carried in microservice call requests, returning data conforming to the agreed-upon response format to the client to present the microservice computation results.

2. The low-code development system for digital twin applications based on a microservice architecture as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The aforementioned low-code development platform client for digital twin applications includes: a resource model management unit, a large-screen interface editing unit, and a 3D scene building unit. The resource model management unit contains image, music, and video resources required for developers to upload digital twin applications; the large-screen interface editing unit contains a large-screen interface editing tool based on attribute configuration for layout and positioning; and the 3D scene building unit contains an interactive scene building tool that organizes the logical structure of the scene through root nodes, group nodes, and model nodes.

3. The low-code development system for digital twin applications based on a microservice architecture as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The aforementioned low-code development platform server for digital twin applications includes: a resource model management service unit, a large-screen interface editing service unit, a 3D scene construction service unit, an application publishing and sharing service unit, and a custom microservice management service unit. Specifically: the resource model management service unit uploads 3D model resources, images, videos, and fonts uploaded by developers to the cloud provider's object storage service and stores file metadata in the server's relational database, resulting in a resource model material library that developers can use in digital twin application development projects; the large-screen interface editing service unit performs database storage update operations based on the serialized data of the large-screen interface edited by the client, obtaining an intermediate result of the large-screen interface construction persistently saved in the cloud. The 3D scene building service unit processes the database storage update operation based on the serialized data information of the 3D scene edited by the client, and obtains the intermediate results of 3D scene building and model attribute editing that are persistently saved in the cloud. The application publishing and sharing service unit changes the visibility state of the application and generates a publicly accessible application address based on the developer's permission configuration on the client, resulting in a digital twin application that is easy to spread and access. The custom microservice management service registers and discovers the microservices deployed by the developer, verifies the availability of microservices, modifies the callable permissions of microservices, and forwards microservice call requests from the client and the application side based on the developer's microservice management operations on the client, resulting in a secure and complete microservice call chain.

4. The low-code development system for digital twin applications based on a microservice architecture as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The developer-defined microservice module includes: a request parameter parsing unit, a computation task creation unit, and a response result generation unit. Specifically: the request parameter parsing unit parses the parameters carried in the microservice call instruction and verifies whether the parameters contain all the parameters required for the computation task; the computation task creation unit performs complex calculations using a developer-provided computation program based on the required data compiled by the request parameter parsing unit; and the response result generation unit organizes the computation results into a pre-defined response data format and returns it to the client, triggering a pre-defined callback function on the client to present the results of the cloud computation.

5. A method for implementing a low-code development system for digital twin applications based on a microservice architecture of any one of the systems described in claims 1-4, specifically comprising: Step 1: During the development phase, write microservices to correctly parse the agreed request parameters, execute the calculation logic, and process the results into the agreed response format; Step 2: Deploy the microservice to the cloud and register the microservice address in the management interface of the digital twin low-code development platform so that the development platform can discover and access the microservice deployed by the developer. Step 3: During the invocation phase, prepare the parameters for a microservice test request on the management interface of the development platform, trigger the microservice, and check whether the response result of the test request is correct. Step 4: Configure the microservice usage in the development platform's management interface; replace the system's default service with the microservice. It can be triggered by developers in the large-screen editing tool during the application development stage, by developers in the 3D scene building tool during the application development stage, or by users of the digital twin application through interactive events after the application is released. Step 5: Within the configured callable permissions, microservices are triggered by configuring or calling APIs in custom scripts. After configuring the model upload preprocessing logic in the model management tool, the configured microservices will be automatically triggered every time a developer uploads a new 3D model file. Step 6: After the microservice is triggered, stateless data is sent to the registered microservice container in the system. After parsing the request parameters, the microservice creates a computing task and executes it in the cloud. Step 7: After the created computation task is completed, the microservice will process the computation result into an agreed response format and send it back to the client. When the computation is successfully completed in the cloud, the client's preset callback function will be triggered to present the computation result of the microservice or for use in subsequent stages.

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