File delivery to ambient internet of things devices

Abstract

The disclosure pertains to an ambient loT device is configured to receive a first portion of the file from the file delivery system during a first activation phase when the activation part detects a first activation signal. The first portion of the file may be associated with one or more first file portion identifiers. Furthermore, the ambient loT device is configured to receive a second portion of the file from the file delivery system during a second activation phase when the activation part detects a second activation signal. The second portion of the file may be associated with one or more second file portion identifiers. The ambient loT device may also be configured to reconstruct, and possibly install, the file by the processing part of the ambient loT device from at least the first portion of the file and the second portion of the file based on the one or more first file portion identifiers and the one or more second file portion identifiers.

Description

[0001] File delivery to ambient Internet of Things devices

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates to an ambient Internet of Things, loT, device, a file delivery system for file delivery of a file to one or more of such ambient loT devices and to a file delivery manager. In particular, the disclosure relates to an ambient Internet of Things device comprising an activation part and a processor part configured to receive a file from a file delivery system and to such a file delivery system and file delivery manager to manage delivery of the file to the ambient loT device from the file delivery system.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] 3GPP Technical Recommendation TR 22.840 is a study on ambient power-enabled loT. The document discloses use cases and requirements for ambient loT devices being battery-less devices with limited energy storage capability (a capacitor may be included) wherein the energy is provided through the harvesting of radio waves, light, motion, heat or any other power source that could be suitable.

[0006] Ambient Internet-of-Things, loT, devices are low complexity devices. The ambient loT devices may be embodied as a sticker, for example, and attached to a product of interest for inventory or product monitoring purposes. Using ambient loT, products may for example be monitored in a (global) logistic chain, from the source, e.g. a factory, wholesale market, or central logistics center, to their destination (s), e.g. a local distribution center, reseller warehouse^), business customer(s), or endusers. Ambient loT may also be used, for example, to collect sensor data from large amounts of low cost devices, where replacement of batteries to keep the devices powered is not an option.

[0007] SUMMARY

[0008] Due to the energy limitations, ambient loT devices are active for only short durations of time, i.e. have a short activation period. In addition, it is generally unknown and / or unpredictable when these devices become active. On the other hand, the inventors have realized that such low-complexity ambient loT devices may sometimes need to receive files of some size, such as, for example, a firmware (update) file and / or files containing plug-ins or configurations. These files may amount, for example, from more than 100 kBytes to some Mbytes, such as 3 or 5 Mbyte. The delivery speed to the ambient loT device may not be high enough to deliver the relatively large-size file to the ambient loT device within the activation period.

[0009] For this reason, amongst others, one aspect of the present disclosure pertains to an ambient Internet of Things, loT, device comprising an activation part configured to energize the ambient loT device upon detection of an activation signal during an activation phase and a processing part. The ambient loT device is configured to receive a file from a file delivery system. One example of such a file is a firmware file.

[0010] The ambient loT device is configured to receive a first portion of the file from the file delivery system during a first activation phase when the activation part detects a first activation signal. The first portion of the file may be associated with one or more first file portion identifiers. Furthermore, the ambient loT device is configured to receive a second portion of the file from the file delivery system during a second activation phase when the activation part detects a second activation signal. The second portion of the file may be associated with one or more second file portion identifiers. The ambient loT device may also be configured to reconstruct, and possibly install, the file by the processing part of the ambient loT device from at least the first portion of the file and the second portion of the file based on the one or more first file portion identifiers and the one or more second file portion identifiers.

[0011] Another aspect of the present disclosure amounts to a file delivery system configured to deliver a file to at least one ambient loT device. The file delivery system may be configured to obtain at least a first portion of the file in accordance with a first activation phase for activating the ambient loT device and a second portion of the file in accordance with a second activation phase for activating the ambient loT device.

[0012] It should be noted that a file portion may be obtained by the file delivery system by splitting the file in the file delivery system or by receiving one or more file portions from a system external to the file delivery system. Alternatively, the file delivery system may obtain the file portion by aggregating file sub-portions received from an external system or aggregating file sub-portions generated by the file delivery system.

[0013] The file delivery system may further be configured to deliver the first portion of the file to the ambient loT device during the first activation phase of the ambient loT device and to deliver the second portion of the file to the ambient loT device during the second activation phase of the ambient loT device. Again, the first portion of the file may be associated with one or more first file portion identifiers and the second portion of the file is associated with one or more second file portion identifiers. The one or more first file portion identifiers and / or one or more second file portion identifiers may be generated in or may be received by the file delivery system.

[0014] It should be noted that an edge server is understood herein to be a local server storing the one or more files close to the ambient loT devices. The edge server may be a control node or application server deployed in a location near the ambient loT devices. The server may be located in a non-public network deployed in a specific location (e.g. factory, warehouse, harbor, etc.) or may be part of an Edge Enablement Framework (e.g. according to 3GPP TS 23.558 , GSMA Operator Platform Group (GSMA OPG 0.2) or lfedge.org) and accessible via the home or visited PLMN. The edge server may also be an extreme / far edge device or fog computing device providing its resources as part of the edge-cloud continuum in 5G or 6G networks.

[0015] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a file delivery manager for use with the file delivery system as disclosed herein. The file delivery manager may coordinate delivery of one or more file portions to the ambient loT device and the activation of the ambient loT device.

[0016] By splitting the file in portions such that these file portions of the file fit into, i.e. can be transmitted during, the respective activation phases, the complete file can be delivered to an ambient loT device during multiple, possibly successive, activations of the ambient loT device. An activation phase is defined as the duration in time during which the ambient loT device has sufficient energy to receive, process and store at least one file portion. The file delivery system and ambient loT device may use the file portion identifiers to keep track of the delivered file portions and, for the ambient loT device, to order the file portions to reconstruct the file at the ambient loT device. Such file portion identifiers may, for example, include sequence or identity numbers for each portion of the file or a value representing an offset of the portion in the full file. It should be noted that a file portion may comprise a plurality of sub-portions, and that such sub-portion may also be associated with identifiers.

[0017] File delivery in portions is generally known, such as from RFC 7959 defining block-wise transfers of files using the Constrained Application Protocol, CoAP, allowing file transfer for Internet- of-Things devices. CoAP enables fragmentation of a file into multiple blocks of equal size and transfer of these blocks in a request-response manner. CoAP, however, is not suitable for file delivery to ambient loT devices, as such devices have neither an ability to send a request for a file portion first nor to receive equally sized portions of files because of the energy limitations and varying and unpredictable activation period durations.

[0018] In one embodiment, the ambient loT device comprises a transmitter part. The ambient loT device may be configured to transmit one or more acknowledgement signals for at least one of the first portion of the file and the second portion of the file using the transmitter part. The acknowledgement signals enable the file delivery system to keep track of which file portions have been successfully delivered. The file delivery system may perform actions on the file portions in response to receiving such acknowledgement signal(s), such as deletion of a file portion after detecting successful delivery of the file portion or retrying or forwarding of the file portion to another entity of the file delivery system after detecting failure of delivery of the file portion. It should be noted that acknowledgement signals may refer to at least one of positive acknowledgement indicating successful delivery and negative acknowledgement indicating failed delivery of the file portion. The energy for transmission of the acknowledgement signal by an ambient loT device may be acquired from the activation signal.

[0019] In one embodiment, the one or more acknowledgement signals may comprise one or more file portion identifiers identifying the received at least one of the first portion of the file, or sub-portions thereof, and the second portion of the file, or sub-portions thereof. The file portion identifiers facilitate determination in the file delivery system and / or in a file delivery manager, which file portions have been successfully delivered to the ambient loT device and / or for which file portions delivery failed.

[0020] In one embodiment, the one or more acknowledgement signals may be transmitted from the ambient loT device during at least one of the first activation phase for receiving the first portion of the file and the second activation phase for receiving the second portion of the file. The embodiment enables timely informing the file delivery system of which file portions have been successfully received at the ambient loT device. Alternatively, the ambient loT device may be configured to transmit an acknowledgement signal associated with the first activation phase at the start of a subsequent activation phase, such as the second activation phase, if the ambient loT device does not have enough power to transmit the acknowledgment signal during the first activation phase.

[0021] In one embodiment, the ambient loT device comprises a transmitter part. The ambient loT device may be configured to transmit an energy level indication using the transmitter part when receiving the activation signal. The file delivery system and / or file delivery manager may use the energy level indication to estimate the size of the file portion that can be transmitted to the ambient loT device. The energy level indication may be transmitted in response to the first activation signal or the second activation signal, for example.

[0022] In one embodiment, the file delivery system comprises at least a first edge server and a second edge server. The file delivery system may be configured to deliver the first portion of the file from the first edge server during the first activation phase of the ambient loT device and to deliver the second portion of the file from the second edge server during the second activation phase of the ambient loT device. The embodiment enables the ambient loT device to obtain the file from various edge servers, thereby enabling the ambient loT device to move between various locations in activation location areas associated with different edge servers while successfully obtaining the full file. The first edge server may be associated with a first activation location area and the second edge server may be associated with a second activation location area.

[0023] An activation location area indicates an area wherein an ambient loT device is activated or expected to be activated such that one or more file portions can actually be delivered to the one or more ambient loT devices from a particular edge server. The activation location information may, for that purpose, comprise or have been construed on the basis of knowledge of activation options in the location area, such as the presence of an activation source (including the telecommunications network itself over which the file is transferred and delivered), a separate electromagnetic radiation source, a heat source, and / or knowledge on motion / vibration of the devices during a particular time interval during which energy is collected. File portion transfer between edge servers may be coordinated by a file delivery manager and may enhance file delivery to the one or more ambient loT devices.

[0024] In one embodiment, the file delivery system is configured to be controlled by a file delivery manager, that may be comprised in the file delivery system or may be external to the file delivery system. The file delivery manager is particularly suitable to coordinate file delivery when multiple edge servers, at multiple activation location areas, are involved.

[0025] In one embodiment, the file delivery system is configured to receive the first portion of the file at the first edge server and the second portion of the file at the second edge server. The transmission of the file portions to the different edge servers may be performed in accordance with a transfer schedule accessible to the file delivery manager. The transfer schedule may be determined in accordance with a pre-set activation location schedule for the ambient loT device. The embodiment avoids the need to transfer file portions to edge servers that most likely are not able to deliver the file portion to the ambient loT device. If the activation locations of the ambient loT device are known with respect to the activation location areas associated to the edge servers, distribution of the file portions may account for the positions and activation phases at those activation locations of the ambient loT device.

[0026] In one embodiment, the file delivery system is configured to receive the first portion of the file and the second portion of the file at the first edge server and initiate transfer of the second portion of the file to the second edge server upon instruction by the file delivery manager. The embodiment facilitates transfer of the second portion of the file to another edge server associated with another activation location area when delivery of the second portion of the file has not occurred from the first edge server. In one embodiment, the instruction by the file delivery manager may have been triggered by detection of the ambient loT device being in or moving toward an activation location area associated with the second edge server. The embodiment enables transfer of the second portion of the file to the second edge server when the ambient loT device has moved to the activation location area associated with the second edge server before delivery of the second portion of the file has been attempted.

[0027] In one embodiment, the instruction by the file delivery manager may have been triggered by receipt of one or more acknowledgment signals, including negative acknowledgment signals, for delivery of the second portion of the file from the first edge server to the ambient loT device. The embodiment enables the transfer of the second portion of the file to the second edge server when transmission of the second portion of the file from the first edge server has failed or otherwise not occurred (and the ambient loT device is in the activation location area of the second edge server or has moved or is moving to said activation location area).

[0028] In one embodiment, the file delivery system is configured to be controlled by a file delivery manager, that may be comprised in the file delivery system or may be external to the file delivery system.

[0029] In one embodiment, the file delivery system may be configured to delete the first portion of the file from the first edge server upon instruction from the file delivery manager. The instruction from the file delivery manager may be based on one or more acknowledgement signals indicating receipt of the first portion of the file at one or more ambient loT device. The embodiment allows the first edge server to delete the first portion of the file when the first portion has successfully been delivered to the ambient loT device(s) under consideration.

[0030] In one embodiment, the file delivery system may be configured to delete the first portion of the file from the first edge server upon receipt of a file portion removal signal from the file delivery manager after transfer of the first portion of the file to the second edge server. The embodiment enables the first edge server to delete the first portion of the file when this first portion has not been delivered successfully to the ambient loT device(s) under consideration and the ambient loT device has moved to an activation location area of another edge server so that further attempts of delivery of the first portion from the first edge server are not likely to be performed soon.

[0031] In one embodiment, the file delivery system is configured to be controlled by a file delivery manager such that the size of the first portion of the file and the size of the second portion of the file is determined based on an estimated duration of resp. the first activation phase and the second activation phase or predicted duration thereof. The embodiment enables the file delivery manager to optimize the size of the one or more of the file portions so that these are deliverable during the corresponding activation phases.

[0032] In one embodiment, the file delivery manager is configured to estimate or predict the duration of at least one of the first activation phase and the second activation phase on the basis of one or more of the following factors, such as one or more energy level indications received from the ambient loT device, a type of the ambient loT device, information on an energy provisioning schedule for the ambient loT device and / or past behavior of the ambient loT device. In one embodiment, the file delivery system is configured to perform a splitting action on the file to obtain at least one of the first portion of the file and the second portion of the file in different sizes. Splitting the file in different sizes enables the file delivery system to deliver the file portions to the ambient loT device under different energy conditions where activation phases may have different duration. For example, it may be that it is known that the available energy in the second activation location area associated with the second edge server is less than for the first edge server, so that smaller second file portions can be transmitted from the second edge server.

[0033] In one embodiment, the file delivery system is configured to transmit the first portion of the file to the ambient loT device in a first size, to determine a failure to deliver the first portion to the ambient loT device in the first size and to deliver the first portion of the file to the ambient loT device in the second size, wherein, optionally, the second size of the first file portion is smaller than the first size. The embodiment accounts for delivery of the first portion of the file in different sizes in order to adapt to locally changing delivery conditions.

[0034] In some cases, a single file may need to be delivered to a group of ambient loT devices. This group may be defined in the file delivery manager as a group definition.

[0035] In one embodiment, the file delivery system is configured such that the obtained size of the first portion of the file and the obtained size of the second portion of the file is different for different ambient loT devices in the group of ambient loT devices. The embodiment accounts for different conditions that may exist for different ambient loT devices in the group, so that different sizes of the file portions may be suitable for adequate delivery of these file portions.

[0036] In one embodiment, the file delivery system is configured to receive the file or part of the file from a higher network node. The higher network node may or may not be part of the file delivery system itself. The file delivery system may be configured to perform a splitting action to split the file or part of the file into at least a first portion and second portion in different sizes for different ambient loT devices in the group of ambient loT devices. The embodiment allows for obtaining the appropriate sizes for the file portions in the edge server, for example, so that the edge server can receive only the single file or part of the file and does not need to store multiple copies of the content of the file in different file portions. The edge server may optionally receive a split schedule, for example from the file delivery manager, instructing the edge server how to split the file or part of the file for the different ambient loT devices in the group.

[0037] In one embodiment, the file portions disclosed herein for both the ambient loT device and the file delivery system may comprise a plurality of sub-portions. These sub-portions may, for example, form small, atomic chunks that allow for an efficient and quick construction of a file portion from these sub-portions, for example in an edge server. Each sub-portion may be associated with a distinct first file portion identifier resp. a distinct second file portion identifier.

[0038] As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, a method or a computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a "circuit," "module" or "system." Functions described in this disclosure may be implemented as an algorithm executed by a processor / microprocessor of a computer. Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied, e.g., stored, thereon.

[0039] Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of a computer readable storage medium may include, but are not limited to, the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of the present invention, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store, a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0040] A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0041] Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber, cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the person's computer, partly on the person's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the person's computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the person's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

[0042] Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the present invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor, in particular a microprocessor or a central processing unit (CPU), of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices create means for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0043] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function / act specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0044] The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0045] The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

[0046] Moreover, a computer program for carrying out the methods described herein, as well as a non- transitory computer readable storage-medium storing the computer program are provided.

[0047] Elements and aspects discussed for or in relation with a particular embodiment may be suitably combined with elements and aspects of other embodiments, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Embodiments of the present invention will be further illustrated with reference to the attached drawings, which schematically will show embodiments according to the invention. It will be understood that the present invention is not in any way restricted to these specific embodiments.

[0048] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0049] Aspects of the invention will be explained in greater detail by reference to exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings, in which: FIGS. 1A-1C are schematic illustrations of an embodiment of a file delivery manager, a file delivery system and an ambient loT device, respectively;

[0050] FIGS. 2A-2E are schematic illustrations of embodiments for file delivery from a file delivery system to one or more ambient loT devices;

[0051] FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a nomadic ambient loT device traveling between edge servers associated with activation location areas for file delivery to the nomadic ambient loT device;

[0052] FIGS. 4A and 4B are schematic time diagrams showing some steps for file delivery from multiple edge servers to an ambient loT device; and

[0053] FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment of a file delivery manager or a file delivery system or a part thereof as disclosed herein.

[0054] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] FIGS. 1A -1C are schematic illustrations of an embodiment of a file delivery manager 10, a file delivery system 20 and an ambient loT device 30, respectively.

[0056] FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of file delivery manager 10. One embodiment of the file delivery manager is a software program or suite of programs with software code portions configured to execute one or more steps of the file delivery manager 10 for file delivery from file delivery system 20 to one or more ambient loT devices 30. The computer system may be a general purpose computer system or may have one or more hardware components dedicated to perform one or more functions for initiation and / or coordination of delivery of a file to an ambient loT device 30. The software program may be represented by some software modules 11-15 as depicted in FIG. 1A and will be described below in more detail in reference to FIGS. 2A-2E and FIGS. 4A-4B. Briefly, module 11 comprises a file split module, module 12 comprises a file portion transfer module (and may include different implementations 12A, 12B as explained with reference to FIG. 4A and 4B, respectively), module 13 comprises an energy monitoring module, module 14 comprises a file delivery tracking module, module 15 comprises a file delivery instruction module and module 16 comprises a file portion removal module. It should be noted that the file delivery manager 10 may contain more modules or fewer modules than shown in FIG. 1 . File split module 11 may split the file into portions based on one or more criteria, including the duration of an activation phase, and executability of the file portion by the ambient loT device.

[0057] File delivery manager 10 is configured for use with the file delivery system 20, such as a system comprising one or more edge servers as disclosed herein. The file delivery manager 10 may be configured to coordinate delivery of one or more portions of a file, such as a file containing firmware, to the ambient loT device 30 and the activation of the ambient loT device 30. File delivery manager 10 may be contained in the file delivery system 20, be distributed between the file delivery system 20 and an external system (containing one or more of the modules 11-16) or be fully external to the file delivery system 20.

[0058] FIG. 1 B is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of a file delivery system 20, such as an edge server 20 or combination of edge servers 20A-20C as shown in FIG. 3. An edge server 20 may be associated with an activation location area ALA as will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3 and may be configured to receive and store one or more files to be delivered to one or more ambient loT devices 30 in such an activation location area ALA under coordination of the file delivery manager 10. The file delivery manager 10 and / or edge server 20 may further be configured to initiate activation of the one or more ambient loT devices 30 to deliver one or more portions of a file to the ambient loT device 30. Alternatively, or in addition, the edge server 20 may be configured to deliver the one or more file portions to the one or more ambient loT devices 30 upon indication of activation of the one or more ambient loT devices 30.

[0059] File delivery system 20 comprises a communication interface 21 for receiving the one or more files transferred under coordination from the file delivery manager 10 and a communication interface 22 for delivery of the one or more file portions to one or more ambient loT devices 30 through a network, such as a 3GPP standard compliant telecommunications network, and for receipt of one or more acknowledgement signals from the ambient loT device 30. Communication interfaces 21 , 22 may be similar or identical interfaces and may be configured as a single interface.

[0060] Furthermore file delivery system 20 comprises a processing unit 23 and a memory 24 configured to store one or more file portions or sub-portions for delivery of the one or more file portions to the ambient loT device 30. Processing unit 23 is configured to process requests from file delivery manager 10, such as a request to transmit file delivery status information

[0061] FIG. 1C is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of an ambient loT device 30. The ambient loT device 30 comprises a processing part 31 , a storage part 32 for storing one or more files delivered from file delivery system 20 upon activation and a transceiver part 33 for wirelessly receiving and transmitting radio signals, including receiving of one or more file portions and transmission of one or more acknowledgement signals. The device 30 may further comprise an activation part 34 configured to harvest energy from external energy sources and one or more sensors 35, or connectors therefore. It should be appreciated that device 30 may comprise a plurality of sensors 35 or connectors therefore. Examples of sensors include a location sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a light sensor, a pressure sensor, a motion sensor etc.

[0062] The ambient loT device 30 does not have an internal energy source (a capacitor may be included though) and is required to harvest external power as mentioned above for its activation. The ambient loT device 30 is configured to harvest energy to activate at least the processing part 31 and the storage part 32 and, optionally, transceiver part 33 and sensor 35. Power supply lines to these parts are indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 1 C. Signaling lines are indicated by the dashed-dotted lines in FIG. 1C.

[0063] FIGS. 2A-2E are schematic illustrations of embodiments for file delivery from a file delivery system 20, comprising e.g. an edge server, to one or more ambient loT devices 30.

[0064] FIG. 2A shows an activation source ACT for activating ambient loT device 30. Activation source ACT may including a source from a telecommunications network (possibly the same network over which one or more file portions are delivered to the ambient loT device 30), a separate electromagnetic radiation source, a heat source, and / or a motion or vibration source for the devices during a particular time interval during which energy can be collected through activation part 34. While activation source ACT is drawn in FIGS. 2A-2E to be external to file delivery system 20, it is noted that the activation source ACT may be integral to file delivery system 20.

[0065] File delivery system 20 is shown to have obtained three file portions together constituting a file F. The first portion of file F has been assigned file portion identifier ID1 , the second portion of the file F is assigned file portion identifier ID2 and the third portion of the file F is assigned file portion identifier ID3. It should be noted that file F may be divided into more or fewer portions, with corresponding identifiers. The file delivery system 20 may be configured to assign of the file portion identifiers to the portions of the file, when the file portions are generated at the file delivery system 20 or received by the file delivery system 20.

[0066] The ambient loT device 30 is configured to receive a first portion of the file F from the file delivery system 20 during a first activation phase when the activation part 34 of the ambient loT device 30 detects a first activation signal from activation source ACT. Furthermore, the ambient loT device 30 is configured to receive a second portion of the file F from the file delivery system 20 during a second activation phase when the activation part 34 detects a second activation signal from the activation source ACT and a third portion of the file F from the file delivery system 20 during a third activation phase when the activation part 34 detects a third activation signal from the activation source ACT. It is noted that the third portion of the file F may also be received during the second activation phase if the second activation phase lasts long enough.

[0067] File delivery manager 10 (not shown in FIG. 2A, but possibly embodied within the file delivery system 20) may coordinate splitting of the file F into portions using file split module 11 , such that these file portions of the file F fit into, i.e. can be transmitted during, the respective activation phases.

[0068] The ambient loT device 30 is configured to reconstruct, and possibly install, the file F by the processing part 31 of the ambient loT device 30 from the first portion, second portion and third portion of the file F based on first file portion identifier ID1 , second file portion identifier ID2 and third file portion identifier ID3. File delivery system 20 may use these file portion identifiers to keep track of the file portions delivered to the ambient loT device 30.

[0069] FIG. 2B shows an activation source ACT configured to activate ambient loT device 30 and may be identical to activation source ACT in FIG. 2A.

[0070] The dashed arrow indicates a possible signal with information obtained from the ambient loT device 30 regarding its energy state. File delivery manager 10, possibly contained in the file delivery system 20, may detect the signal and process the information in energy monitoring module 13. File delivery manager 10 may determine on the basis of this information that ambient loT module 30 has some additional energy from another source (e.g. due to vibrations) so that a first portion of file F may be larger in size when the ambient loT device 30 is also activated by activation source ACT. This is schematically shown in FIG. 2B by the larger file portion with file portion identifier ID1 . Subsequent activations from activation source ACT result in smaller file portions transmitted from file delivery system 20 with corresponding file portion identifiers ID2, ID3 and ID4. Again, the ambient loT device 30 is configured to reconstruct, and possibly install, the file F by the processing part 31 of the ambient loT device 30 from the first portion, second portion, third portion and fourth portion of the file F based on first file portion identifier ID1 , second file portion identifier ID2, third file portion identifier ID3 and fourth file portion identifier ID4. The file portion identifiers ID1-ID4, respectively also enable the file delivery system 20 to keep track of the delivered portions for the file F.

[0071] FIG. 2C is a schematic illustration of another embodiment for the file delivery system 20, wherein keeping track of the delivered portions of the file F by the file delivery system 20 (or possibly in the file delivery manager 10 using delivery tracking module 14) is exemplified using one or more acknowledgement signals.

[0072] Again, FIG. 2C shows an activation source ACT similar to the activation source ACT in FIG. 2A and / or FIG. 2B. FIG. 2C shows an embodiment wherein file delivery system 20 delivers a first portion of the file F identified by file portion identifier ID1 to ambient loT device 30 during an activation phase when activated by activation source ACT. Delivery of this file portion is not successful, e.g. caused by an interference spike, and ambient loT device 30 uses processor 31 and transceiver part 33 to emit a negative acknowledgement signal NAK as shown in FIG. 2C. The NAK signal may be transmitted using the energy from the activation signal ACT during the activation phase also energizing the ambient loT device to receive and process the file portion identified by file portion identifier ID1 . The negative acknowledgement signal NAK may include file portion identifier ID1 to identify the file portion failed to be delivered. However, file delivery system 20 may also infer from the time of receipt of the NAK signal that this signal corresponds to the file portion identified by file portion identifier ID1 . As a consequence, file delivery system 20 may be triggered to retransmit the same portion of the file once again, as shown in FIG. 2C. When all portions of file F have been received successfully, ambient loT device 30 may reconstruct and store the file F based on file portion identifiers ID1-ID3.

[0073] Generally, in one embodiment, the ambient loT device 30 may be aware that it has received all portions of file F. In another embodiment, the ambient loT device 30 may receive additional information, for example contained in the last portion of the file (here the portion with identifier ID4). Yet another example is that the file delivery manager 10 sends an additional messages, when ambient loT device 30 is activated, indicating that the ambient loT device 30 may start installing or processing the file F, i.e. an implicit indication that the full file F is received by the ambient loT device 30.

[0074] FIG. 2D is a schematic illustration of a file delivery system 20 configured to deliver a file F to an ambient loT device 30 in file portions during multiple activation phases.

[0075] File delivery system 20 receives the file F. It should be noted that in FIG. 2D, the file delivery system 20 is configured to receive the file F or part of the file F from a higher network node. File delivery system 20 may also receive sub-portions of the file F. The higher network node may or may not be part of the file delivery system 20 itself.

[0076] File delivery system 20 may receive or generate sub-portions of the file F and store them as shown in FIG. 2D. These sub-portions may, for example, form small, atomic chunks that allow for an efficient and quick construction of a file portion from these sub-portions, for example in the file delivery system 20, to be transmitted during an activation phase. The size of the atomic chunks can be optimized based on the file size or structure. To assess the activation duration of the ambient loT device 30 for each activation and determine the appropriate size of the file portion to transmit for each activation cycle, the file delivery manager 10 may receive from the device an indication on its energy level upon activation, as will be described in further detail below, which might be used by the file delivery manger to calculate the remaining time for which the ambient loT device 30 will be active. The expected duration of an activation phase might also be predicted based on past behavior of the device, a profile of the device type, or based on a pre-programmed power provisioning schedule. This can also be calculated by the system based on signal strength, or based on how much RF energy the system has provided to the ambient loT device 30.

[0077] The file delivery system 20 is configured to construct portions of the file F to be transmitted to ambient loT device 30 from these sub-portions. The sub-portions enable the file delivery system 20 to adjust the size of the portions of the file F to be transmitted dynamically, for example based on measurements, predictions, or on information from the ambient loT device 30 as shown in FIG. 2D.

[0078] The sub-portions may have been assigned individual sub-portion identifiers in addition to the file portion identifiers ID1-ID4 so that the sub-portions can be identified separately. For example, in FIG. 2D, the sub-portions of the first portion of the file F can be identified a ID1-1 , ID1-2, ID1-3, ID1-4 and ID1-5. Likewise, the sub-portions of the second portion of the file F can be identified as ID2-1 , ID2-2 and ID2-3. This enables the file delivery system 20 to keep track of which sub-portions have been delivered at the ambient loT device 30, for example using acknowledgement signals per sub-portion.

[0079] Like in the embodiment of FIG. 2B, file delivery system 20 may determine that ambient loT device 30 has additional energy and decide to transmit a large portion of the file using the sub-portions stored therein and applying file portion identifier ID1 for the portion. Alternatively, the large file portion may be constructed and transmitted based on a prediction (e.g. based on history data from similar ambient loT devices 30) of the available energy in the ambient loT device 30. Upon next activations, when less energy is available at the ambient loT device 30, file delivery system 20 provides smaller portions, containing fewer sub-portions, with file portion identifiers ID2-ID4 from which ambient loT device 30 can reconstruct file F.

[0080] FIG. 2E is a schematic illustration of a further embodiment of a file delivery system 20 using sub-portions to obtain portions of a file to deliver to ambient loT devices 30A, 30B. File delivery system 20 receives sub-portions of the file F and an instruction 15A, for example from instruction generation module 15 of file manager 10, how to split the sub-portions per ambient loT device 30A, 30B.

[0081] Again an activation source ACT is shown activating both ambient loT devices 30A, 30B. FIG. 2E shows two arrows from the activation source ACT, which may be generated simultaneously but result in different durations of the activation phases for ambient loT device 30A as compared to ambient loT device 30B. Such a difference in duration for different ambient loT devices may result from having different hardware or a different distance to the activation source ACT, for example. The information 15A from file delivery manager 10 may take such differences into account.

[0082] As shown in FIG. 2E, upon activation of the ambient loT device 30A, file delivery system 20 transmits sub-portions 1-5 into the first file portion identified by file portion identifier ID1 . For ambient loT device 30B, possibly have a shorter activation duration, only sub-portions 4-6 are contained in the first portion identified by file portion identifier ID1 . Upon further activations, further sub-portions can be included in one more portions of the file to be transmitted to the ambient loT devices. It should be noted that aspects of the embodiments of FIGS. 2A-2E may be combined. For example, portions of a file F constructed from sub-portions as shown in FIGS. 2D and 2E may be combined with transmission of acknowledgement signals as explained with reference to FIG. 2B. As another example, file delivery systems 20 applying sub-portions as shown in FIGS 2D and 2E may still construct portions of the file of equal size, such as shown in FIG. 2A.

[0083] Furthermore, if the transmission link from file delivery system 20 to ambient loT device 30 is not stable at a certain location, and the transmission of bigger file portions fails, the file delivery system 20 might determine to split the file portion into smaller portions and attempt delivery of these smaller portions. For example, in FIG. 2C, upon receipt of the negative acknowledgement signal NAK, the portion of the file to be (re)transmitted may be smaller, possibly resulting in the need to transmit a further portion with file portion identifier ID4 (not shown in FIG. 2C) to complete the file delivery. If the sequence order is used to keep track of the portions that are delivered to the ambient loT device 30, then the order number for other portions of the file that have already been delivered might need to be updated. Alternatively, the file delivery system 20 might provide an additional sequence order for the sub-portions within the file part being transmitted, which the ambient loT device 30 can use to reconstitute the file portion and determine its order in the file.

[0084] To determine the order of transmission of the file portions, the file delivery system 20 may prioritize delivery of certain file portions over others based on for example their importance for running the firmware. For example, the first portion may be mandatory for running the firmware, or those related to security may be delivery with priority, while delivery of portions relating to optional plugins might be delayed to later activation phases. In that case, the file delivery system 20 may include the identifier of each portion in the file to allow reconstructing in the right order.

[0085] In the embodiments of FIGS. 2A-2E, it is assumed that the ambient loT device 30, 30A, 30B, receives at least a first portion of the file F identified by the first file identifier ID1 and a second portion of the file F identified by the second file identifier ID2 from a single file delivery system, for example from a single edge server or a limited amount of edge servers associated with a single activation location area ALA. When an ambient loT device 30 is nomadic, for example travels along a logistic route, the ambient loT device 30 may travel outside an activation location area ALA before it has received all portions of the file F, so that one more further edge servers associated with different activation location areas ALA may need to send additional file portions to enable ambient loT device 30 to receive and reconstruct the file F. An example of such a situation is shown in FIG. 3.

[0086] In FIG. 3, one or more ambient loT devices 30, which may be attached to products as a sticker, for example, are shown to travel over some geographic distance, for example along a logistics route covered by a telecommunications network comprising a core network ON and a radio access network RAN comprising a plurality of base station BS. File delivery manager 10 is shown to be integrated in the file delivery system 20, for example in edge server 20A. Alternatively, file delivery manager 10 may be arranged, at least in part, external to the file delivery system 20, such as on a computer system attached to network NW as shown by the dashed box 10 in FIG. 3.

[0087] The core network ON is connected to a plurality of edge servers 20A-20C. The edge servers 20A-20C are local servers located in proximity to the ambient loT devices 30 in an activation location area ALA i.e. a location area where the ambient loT devices 30 can be activated. The local servers are located in or relatively close to their respective ALA and the ambient loT devices 30 in that ALA, typically located much closer to the ALA, for example, than the file transfer manager 10. In FIG. 10, edge server 20A is associated with activation location area ALA-A, edge server 20B is associated with activation location area ALA-B and edge server 20C is associated with activation location area ALA-C.

[0088] As an example, products with ambient loT devices 30 may be road transported during which ambient loT devices 30 may sense and store humidity and / or temperature, for example, to monitor travel conditions of the products. As soon as the products arrive in a first location, for example a warehouse, covered by an activation location area ALA-A associated with edge server 20A of a file delivery system 20, humidity and temperature during transport can be verified to ensure that the products were transported under appropriate conditions.

[0089] The products with ambient loT devices 30 may then be transported further to a second warehouse, wherein the warehouse area is covered by activation location area ALA-B associated with edge server 20B of file delivery system 20. Activation location area ALA-B is shown to have a dedicated activation source DAS configured to activate ambient loT devices 30 by electromagnetic waves (light or RF, for example). One or more of the products with the ambient loT devices 30 may subsequently be transported to a reseller having a shop in activation location area ALA-C associated with the edge server 20C. The ambient loT devices 30 may pass other edge servers during transport that do not have activation location areas ALA, i.e. areas where the ambient loT devices 30 are not (expected) to be activated. Accordingly, such edge servers are not suitable for delivery of one or more file portions to the ambient loT devices 30.

[0090] FIGS. 4A and 4B are schematic illustrations of embodiments to provide a file to one or more ambient loT devices 30 from a plurality of edge servers 20A-20B. Ambient loT devices 30 may each store one or more files. Such a file may have a considerable size, for example larger than 1 Mbyte. Such a file may need to be provisioned to or updated on the ambient loT devices 30. In the following, an example of provisioning or updating a firmware file on a nomadic ambient loT device 30 crossing multiple activation location areas ALA-A, ALA-B in FIG. 3 associated with edge server 20A, 20B respectively.

[0091] In FIG. 4A, file delivery manager 10 applies file portion transfer module 12 applying a pre-set transfer schedule 12A to decide when and to which edge server 20A, 20B respective portions of the firmware file should be transferred. The transfer schedule is based on an expected route for the ambient loT device 30 enabling pre-planning the splitting of the file. For example, if the firmware file is split into three portions, and the ambient loT device 30 is expected to be activated in two different activation location areas. This allows the planning of the firmware file transfer, and to only send the relevant portions to be transferred to the edge servers 20A, 20B. If the device unexpectedly moves from a certain location before receiving all parts that it was scheduled to receive, the file delivery manager 11 can move those remaining portions to an edge server in a the next activation location area, such as ALA-C associated with edge server 20C in FIG. 3.

[0092] File delivery manager 10 initiates transfer of the firmware file stored at computer system COMP in step S1 . File delivery manager 10 may run on computer system COMP or on a different computer system. File delivery manager 10 may instruct computer system COMP to split the firmware file in three portions and to transfer which portion(s) to which edge server 20A, 20B. Moreover, file delivery manager 10 may assign file portion identifiers ID1 , ID2, and ID3 to the file portions.

[0093] In step S2, the first portion and second portion of the firmware file are transferred to edge device 20A at an appropriate time scheduled by pre-set transfer schedule 12A. The time is selected such that the file portions are stored for delivery to the ambient loT device 30 before or when the ambient loT device 30 arrives in the activation location area ALA-A associated with edge server 20A. Furthermore, the pre-set transfer schedule 12A may also determine that the third portion of the file is transferred to edge server 20B because it is known from the schedule that the ambient loT devices 30 will be in the activation location area ALA-B associated with the edge server 20B as the next destination. The transfer of said file portion is shown by step S3. It should be noted that instead of file portions, sub-portions of the file may be transmitted in steps S2 and / or S3 from which edge server(s) 20A and / or 20B may construct file portions as explained with reference to FIGS. 2D and 2E.

[0094] When the ambient loT device 30 arrives in the activation location area ALA-A and is activated, indicated by A, for an activation duration AT, the file portion with file portion identifier ID1 may be delivered to the ambient loT device 30 as shown by step S4. Another activation A may result in delivery of the second file portion with file portion identifier ID2 as shown by step S5.

[0095] Instead of transfer of the third file portion to edge server 20B prior to a delivery attempt of the first and second file portions from edge server 20A as shown by steps S4 and S5, file delivery manager 10, using file delivery tracking module 14, may request or wait for file delivery status information, as shown by the dashed arrow S6 from edge server 20A. The file delivery status information may indicate that the first and / or second portion of the file has not been delivered to the ambient loT device 30. As a result, as shown by dashed arrows S7 and S8, file delivery manager 10 may determine, using pre-set transfer schedule 12A, that the file portion with file portion identifier ID2 need to be transferred to edge server 20B, for example. Alternatively, file delivery manager 10 may instruct edge server 20A to transfer the second portion directly to edge server 20B, for example, when such a transfer is more efficient.

[0096] Irrespective of when the third portion of the file is transferred to edge server 20B, step S9 shows delivery of the third portion of the file identifier by the third file portion identifier ID3 from edge server 20B to the ambient loT device 30 when activated A in activation location area ALA-B.

[0097] FIG. 4B depicts another embodiment of delivery of a firmware file to ambient loT device 30 from edge servers 20A, 20B. Ambient loT device 30 arrives in activation location area ALA-A associated with edge server 20A. Activation A of ambient loT device 30 in activation location area ALA-A associated with edge server 20A may be detected in step S10 by file delivery manager 10 using file portion transfer module 12. Activation can be detected when the ambient loT device 30 attempts to register in the core network ON (similar to normal UEs), or be based on the ambient loT device 30 sending a message, such a connection-less encrypted message or an activation notification to the network.

[0098] The file delivery manager 10, using file transfer module 12 comprising an activation location function 12B, may detect the presence of the ambient loT device 30 in the activation location area ALA-A associated with the edge server 20A. The file delivery manager 10 may determine the activation location area ALA or the area may be determined in the core network CN as shown in FIG. 3. If configured to do so, also edge server 20A may determining the activation location area. File delivery manager 10 using file split module 11 may split the firmware file in two parts with file portion identifiers ID1 and ID2. The file delivery manager 10 may then initiate transfer of a first portion of the file with file portion identifier ID1 to edge server 20A in steps S11 and S12.

[0099] When the ambient loT device 30 of which activation was detected becomes activated, A, again, the first portion of the file may be delivered from edge server 20A to this ambient loT device 30 as shown by step S13. The ambient loT device may return a negative acknowledgement signal NAK indicating failed delivery of the first portion of the file to this device. This step is shown by step S14.

[0100] Another attempt, following another activation A, as shown in step S15 may be successful resulting an in acknowledgement signal being received in step S16. In step S17, edge server 20A reports to the file delivery manger 10 that delivery of the first portion with file portion identifier ID1 has succeeded. It is noted that the ambient loT device 30 may be configured to transmit negative acknowledgement signal NAK in step S14 at the start of the second activation phase, i.e. during the activation phase containing at least step S15, if the ambient loT device 30 does not have enough power to transmit during the preceding activation phase, i.e. in step S14 as shown in FIG. 4B.

[0101] The ambient loT device 30 may be transported from ALA-A to ALA-B associated with edge server 20B. Activation, A, of the ambient loT device 30 in ALA-B, possibly from dedicated activation source DAS as shown in FIG. 3, may be detected by file delivery manager 10 again in step S18. Assisted by the information of successful delivery of the first file portion from the edge server 20A, file delivery manager 10 determines that (only) the second file portion with file portion identifier ID2 needs to be transferred to the edge server 20B. This is shown by steps S19 and S20.

[0102] Step S21 indicates transmission of a file portion removal signal to the edge server 20A from file portion removal module 16 associated with the activation location area ALA-A to free up storage space at the edge server 20A.

[0103] When the ambient loT device 30 is activated, A, in activation location area ALA-B, the second file portion with file portion identifier ID2 may be delivered from edge server 20B to the ambient loT device 30 as shown in step S22 and a positive acknowledgment ACK may be transmitted from the ambient loT device 30 back to the edge server 20B as in step S23.

[0104] Edge server 20B may report a file delivery status indication in step S24 to file delivery manager 10 from which the file delivery manager 10 may conclude that transfer of the firmware file to the ambient loT device has been completed. Accordingly, file delivery manager 10 may transmit a file removal signal, using file portion removal module 16, back to edge server 20B in step S25.

[0105] The operation as described in FIGS. 4A and 4B allows for the progressive delivery of a file to an ambient loT device that may become inactive and move to a different area before a relatively large file can be delivered, by transferring one or more portions of a file following their mobility to the closest edge server 20 and resuming the delivery of the file at the device’s location once they receive energy and become active again. This procedure can be repeated over multiple steps and locations, e.g. also in ALA-C as shown in FIG. 3, until the full file is delivered correctly to the ambient loT devices 30. Delivery of the file portions from a file delivery system 20 to an ambient loT device 30 may be performed in a variety of ways. One example is triggered by the ambient loT device sending a lightweight communication message, with the configuration file from an edge server 20 included in a lightweight communication response message from network to ambient loT device 30. Yet another example includes, when the presence of the group of ambient loT devices 30 is detected in an activation location area ALA, the transfer of a common configuration file may be broadcast securely. This secure broadcast can for example be implemented as described in co-pending patent application EP23213643.2.

[0106] Further embodiments of aspects disclosed herein have been considered by the inventors. For example, groups of ambient loT devices 30 may need to be provisioned with a file and portions of the file can be delivered to the ambient loT devices 30 differently for different activation phases, such as already described with reference to FIG. 2E. If the same file is to be delivered, the file delivery manager 10 may benefit from a group definition The obtained size of the first portion of the file and the obtained size of the second portion of the file may be different for different ambient loT devices in the group of ambient loT devices.

[0107] In the context of multiple edge servers 20A-20C, as described with reference to FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, one or more file portions may need to be delivered to a plurality of ambient loT devices 30. To that end, the file delivery manager 10 may be configured to obtain a group definition of the group of ambient loT devices 30 and to manage transfer of file portions to the one or more edge servers 20A- 20C in accordance with the group definition. The group definition allows the file delivery manager 10 to transfer file portions to edge servers for a group of ambient loT devices 30 based on the activation location information of only one or just a few ambient loT devices 30. The group definition may be provided to the file delivery manager 10 by the owner of the ambient loT devices.

[0108] FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing system according to a disclosed embodiment, e.g. computer for a file delivery manager 10. As shown in FIG. 5, the processing system 50 may include at least one processor 51 coupled to memory elements 52 through a system bus 53. As such, the processing system may store program code within memory elements 52. Further, the processor 51 may execute the program code accessed from the memory elements 52 via a system bus 53. In one aspect, the processing system may be implemented as a computer system that is suitable for storing and / or executing program code. It should be appreciated, however, that the processing system 50 may be implemented in the form of any system including a processor and a memory that is capable of performing the functions described within this specification.

[0109] The memory elements 52 may include one or more physical memory devices such as, for example, local memory 54 and one or more bulk storage devices 55. The local memory may refer to random access memory or other non-persistent memory device(s) generally used during actual execution of the program code. A bulk storage device may be implemented as a hard drive or other persistent data storage device. The processing system 50 may also include one or more cache memories (not shown) that provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times program code must be retrieved from the bulk storage device 55 during execution. I nput / output (I / O) devices depicted as an input device 56 and an output device 57 optionally can be coupled to the processing system. Examples of input devices may include, but are not limited to, a space access keyboard, a pointing device such as a mouse, or the like. Examples of output devices may include, but are not limited to, a monitor or a display, speakers, or the like. Input and / or output devices may be coupled to the processing system either directly or through intervening I / O controllers.

[0110] In an embodiment, the input and the output devices may be implemented as a combined input / output device (illustrated in FIG. 5 with a dashed line surrounding the input device 56 and the output device 57). An example of such a combined device is a touch sensitive display, also sometimes referred to as a “touch screen display” or simply “touch screen” that may be provided with the UE. In such an embodiment, input to the device may be provided by a movement of a physical object, such as e.g. a stylus or a finger of a person, on or near the touch screen display.

[0111] A network adapter 58 may also be coupled to the processing system to enable it to become coupled to other systems, computer systems, remote network devices, and / or remote storage devices through intervening private or public networks. The network adapter may comprise a data receiver for receiving data that is transmitted by said systems, devices and / or networks to the processing system 50, and a data transmitter for transmitting data from the processing system 50 to said systems, devices and / or networks. Modems, cable modems, and Ethernet cards are examples of different types of network adapter that may be used with the processing system 50.

[0112] As pictured in FIG. 5, the memory elements 52 may store an application 59. In various embodiments, the application 59 may be stored in the local memory 54, the one or more bulk storage devices 55, or apart from the local memory and the bulk storage devices. It should be appreciated that the processing system 50 may further execute an operating system (not shown in FIG. 5) that can facilitate execution of the application 59. The application 59, being implemented in the form of executable program code, can be executed by the processing system 50, e.g., by the processor 51 . Responsive to executing the application, the processing system 50 may be configured to perform one or more operations or method steps described herein.

[0113] In one aspect of the present invention, one or more components of the base station selection support system and / or user device for use with such a base station selection support system, as disclosed herein may represent processing system 50 as described herein.

[0114] Various embodiments of the invention may be implemented as a program product for use with a computer system, where the program(s) of the program product define functions of the embodiments (including the methods described herein). In one embodiment, the program(s) can be contained on a variety of non-transitory computer-readable storage media, where, as used herein, the expression “non-transitory computer readable storage media” comprises all computer-readable media, with the sole exception being a transitory, propagating signal. In another embodiment, the program(s) can be contained on a variety of transitory computer-readable storage media. Illustrative computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to: (i) non-writable storage media (e.g., read-only memory devices within a computer such as CD-ROM disks readable by a CD-ROM drive, ROM chips or any type of solid-state non-volatile semiconductor memory) on which information is permanently stored; and (ii) writable storage media (e.g., flash memory, floppy disks within a diskette drive or hard-disk drive or any type of solid-state random-access semiconductor memory) on which alterable information is stored. The computer program may be run on the processor 51 described herein.

[0115] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will further understood that the terms "comprises" and / or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof. The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the implementations in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the claims. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles and some practical applications of the present invention, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the present invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Claims

CLAIMS1 . An ambient Internet of Things, loT, device comprising an activation part configured to energize the ambient loT device upon detection of an activation signal during an activation phase and a processing part, wherein the ambient loT device is configured to receive a file from a file delivery system, wherein the ambient loT device is configured to: receive a first portion of the file from the file delivery system during a first activation phase when the activation part detects a first activation signal, wherein the first portion of the file is associated with one or more first file portion identifiers; receive a second portion of the file from the file delivery system during a second activation phase when the activation part detects a second activation signal, wherein the second portion of the file is associated with one or more second file portion identifiers; reconstruct the file by the processing part of the ambient loT device from at least the first portion of the file and the second portion of the file based on the one or more first file portion identifiers and the one or more second file portion identifiers.

2. The ambient loT device according to claim 1 , wherein the ambient loT device comprises a transmitter part and wherein the ambient loT device is configured to transmit one or more acknowledgement signals for at least one of the first portion of the file and the second portion of the file using the transmitter part, and wherein, optionally, one or more of the following applies: the one or more acknowledgement signals comprise one or more file portion identifiers identifying the received at least one of the first portion of the file, or sub-portions thereof, and the second portion of the file, or sub-portions thereof; and the one or more acknowledgement signals are transmitted during at least one of the first activation phase for receiving the first portion of the file and the second activation phase for receiving the second portion of the file.

3. The ambient loT device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the ambient loT device comprises a transmitter part and wherein the ambient loT device is configured to transmit an energy level indication using the transmitter part when receiving the activation signal, such as the first activation signal or the second activation signal.

4. A file delivery system configured to deliver a file to at least one ambient loT device, wherein the file delivery system is configured to: obtain at least a first portion of the file in accordance with a first activation phase for activating the ambient loT device and a second portion of the file in accordance with a second activation phase for activating the ambient loT device;deliver the first portion of the file to the ambient loT device during the first activation phase of the ambient loT device, wherein the first portion of the file is associated with one or more first file portion identifiers; deliver the second portion of the file to the ambient loT device during the second activation phase of the ambient loT device, wherein the second portion of the file is associated with one or more second file portion identifiers.

5. The file delivery system according to claim 4, wherein the file delivery system comprises at least a first edge server and a second edge server, wherein the file delivery system is configured to: deliver the first portion of the file from the first edge server during the first activation phase of the ambient loT device; deliver the second portion of the file from the second edge server during the second activation phase of the ambient loT device.

6. The file delivery system according to claim 5, wherein the file delivery system is configured to be controlled by a file delivery manager, wherein the file delivery system is configured to at least one of: receive the first portion of the file at the first edge server and the second portion of the file at the second edge server in accordance with a transfer schedule accessible to the file delivery manager, wherein the transfer schedule is determined in accordance with a pre-set activation location schedule for the ambient loT device; receive the first portion of the file and the second portion of the file at the first edge server and initiate transfer of the second portion of the file to the second edge server upon instruction by the file delivery manager, wherein the instruction is triggered by at least one of: detection of the ambient loT device being in or moving toward an activation location area associated the second edge server; and receipt of one or more negative acknowledgement signals for delivery of the second portion of the file at the ambient loT device;7. The file delivery system according to one or more of the preceding claims 5-6, wherein the file delivery system is configured to be controlled by a file delivery manager, wherein the file delivery system is configured to at least one of: delete the first portion of the file from the first edge server upon instruction from the file delivery manager, wherein the instruction is based on one or more acknowledgement signals indicating receipt of the first portion of the file at the at least the ambient loT device; delete the first portion of the file from the first edge server upon receipt of a file portion removal signal from the file delivery manager after transfer of the first portion of the file to the second edge server.

8. The file delivery system according to one or more of the preceding claims 4-7, wherein the file delivery system is configured to be controlled by a file delivery manager and wherein the size of the first portion of the file and the size of the second portion of the file is determined based on an estimated duration of resp. the first activation phase and the second activation phase, or predicted duration thereof.

9. The file delivery system according to claim 8, wherein the file delivery manager is configured to estimate or predict the duration of at least one of the first activation phase and the second activation phase on the basis of one or more of the following factors: one or more energy level indications received from the ambient loT device; a type of the ambient loT device; information on an energy provisioning schedule for the ambient loT device; past behavior of the ambient loT device.

10. The file delivery system according to one or more of the preceding claims 4-9, wherein the file delivery system is configured to perform a splitting action on the file to obtain at least one of the first portion of the file and the second portion of the file in different sizes.11 . The file delivery system according to claim 10, wherein the file delivery system is configured to: transmit the first portion of the file to the ambient loT device in a first size; determine a failure to deliver the first portion to the ambient loT device in the first size; deliver the first portion of the file to the ambient loT device in the second size, wherein, optionally, the second size is smaller than the first size.

12. The file delivery system according to one or more of the preceding claims 4-10, wherein the file is to be delivered to a group of ambient loT devices, wherein the obtained size of the first portion of the file and the obtained size of the second portion of the file is different for different ambient loT devices in the group of ambient loT devices.

13. The file delivery system according to claim 9, wherein the file delivery system comprises at least one edge server and wherein the edge server is configured to: receive the file or part of a file from a higher network node; perform a splitting action to split the file or part of the file into at least a first portion and second portion in different sizes for different ambient loT devices in the group of ambient loT devices, wherein, optionally, the edge server receives a split schedule from the file delivery manager to perform the splitting action.

14. The ambient loT device according to one or more of the claims 1-3 or the file delivery system according to one or more of the claims 4-13, wherein at least one of the first portion of the file and the second portion of the file comprises a plurality of sub-portions, wherein each sub-portion is associated with a distinct first file portion identifier resp. a distinct second file portion identifier.

15. A file delivery manager for use with the file delivery system according to one or more of the claims 4-13, wherein the file delivery manager is, optionally, located external to the file delivery system.

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