Wearable devices system, wearable device, gateway device and method for operating a wearable devices system
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- WORKAROUND GMBH
- Filing Date
- 2026-01-29
- Publication Date
- 2026-08-06
Smart Images
Figure EP2026052323_06082026_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
[0001] Wearable devices system, wearable device, gateway device and method for operating a wearable devices system
[0002] The invention relates to a wearable devices system, a wearable device, a gateway device and a method for operating a wearable devices system.
[0003] Wearable devices systems having a plurality of wearable devices are known, for example with sensor modules, such as barcode scanners, or portable display units including screens, for example from DE 102020 106 369 and US 2021 / 014910 Al.
[0004] In such systems, the wearable devices are worn by a user and communicate with a stationary data exchange partner, like an enterprise resource planning system and / or a warehouse management system, via a connectivity device carried by the user. The connectivity device controls the flow of data to and from the wearable devices and to and from the data exchange partner.
[0005] In known systems, it is necessary for the user to not only carry the wearable device but also the connectivity device that establishes a connection to a system control or a customer system as the wearable device itself is not capable of doing so due to its limited computing resources.
[0006] This drastically increases the complexity and costs of the wearable devices system as the connectivity devices are additional devices that have to be acquired set-up and maintained for each user.
[0007] It is thus the object of the invention to provide a wearable devices system that is less complex and less cost intensive.
[0008] For this purpose, a wearable device system is provided with a plurality of wearable devices and a gateway device for communicating with at least one data exchange partner for the wearable devices. The gateway device is configured to execute a messaging protocol server. The wearable devices havea wireless communication module and are configured to connect to the messaging protocol server as messaging protocol clients using the wireless communication module. The gateway device is further configured to:
[0009] receive, from one of the wearable devices (24), at least one messaging protocol message (M) having payload data (P) included therein, and transmit the payload data (P) included in the messaging protocol message (M) received from the wearable device (24) to an assigned data exchange partner (60) of the at least one data exchange partner (60), and / or
[0010] receive payload data (P) from one of the at least one data exchange partner (60), create at least one messaging protocol message (M) including the received payload data (P), and transmit the at least one messaging protocol message (M) to an assigned wearable device (24) of the wearable devices (24).
[0011] By introducing a gateway device having a messaging protocol server, it is possible to configure the gateway device to communicate with the wearable devices in a way, and in particular using a communication protocol, that is suitable for the limited resources of the wearable devices themselves. Thus, the connectivity devices are no longer necessary as communication between the wearable devices and the gateway may be carried out directly.
[0012] The wireless communication module is, for example, a WLAN wickless communication module.
[0013] The number of wearable devices may be between or equal 2 to 50, for example.
[0014] In an aspect, the messaging protocol is an application layer protocol, works on top of the TCP / IP stack, is a machine-to-machine communication protocol, and / or a publish-and-subscribe messaging transport protocol, in particularwherein the messaging protocol is the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol and the messaging protocol server is a MQTT broker. This way, a very efficient and reliable messaging protocol may be used that is easily implemented.
[0015] For example, the gateway device is a MQTT broker.
[0016] It is also conceivable that the message protocol is WebSocket or Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) plus Transport Layer Security (TLS).
[0017] In order to increase compatibility, the gateway device, in particular the message protocol server, may be configured to transmit payload data to and / or receive payload data from the at least one data exchange partner using the message protocol or a different communication protocol, in particular TCP or WebSocket.
[0018] In case that the message protocol is used, the at least one data exchange partner may be configured to connect to the messaging protocol server as a messaging protocol client.
[0019] In an embodiment, the gateway device is stationary allowing to set up a well-defined and reliable infrastructure.
[0020] For example, the gateway device and / or the messaging protocol server are virtualized and / or executed on a host server, reducing the costs of the system further. In this case, the host server may be regarded as the gateway device.
[0021] In an aspect, at least one of the at least one data exchange partner is a terminal device for use by a user, in particular located at the shop floor. The terminal device is, for example a personal computer, a laptop, a smartphone, a smart glass and / or a tablet. This way, the wearable devices may function as a human interface device for the terminal device.The user of terminal device is in particular the user of one of the wearable devices, and the terminal device may be assigned to the wearable device of the user.
[0022] In addition or alternatively, at least one of the at least one data exchange partner is a customer system, like a warehouse management system or an enterprise resource planning system so that data can be transferred in and out of the customer system at ease.
[0023] In an aspect, at least one of the at least one data exchange partner is a system control for the wearable device and / or the gateway device, allowing control of the wearable device without increased complexity.
[0024] The customer system and / or the system control may be located in the same network or remotely, for example as one or more cloud servers.
[0025] The terminal devices and / or the system control may be part of the wearable device systems. The customer system and / or the system control may be a system different from the wearable device system.
[0026] There may be just a single data exchange partner or a plurality of data exchange partners, for example a plurality of terminal devices, a customer system and a system control.
[0027] In an embodiment, the connection between the gateway device and the at least one data exchange partner is a cable-bound network connection, for example a LAN connection, a wireless network connection, and / or a connection via the internet, providing reliability and flexibility.
[0028] For covering large shop floors, the wearable devices system may comprise a WLAN access point connected cable-bound by LAN or wirelessly by WLAN to the gateway device, wherein the connection between the gateway device and the wearable devices is established by means of the WLAN access point.If the WLAN access point is connected to the gateway device wirelessly via WLAN, then the gateway device comprises a WLAN wireless communication module.
[0029] In addition or alternatively, the gateway device may have a wireless communication module, in particular a WLAN or a Bluetooth module, wherein the connection between the gateway device and at least one of the wearable devices is a direct wireless connection between the gateway device and the respective wearable device, reducing the amount of hardware needed.
[0030] It is conceivable that some wearable devices connect wirelessly directly to the gateway device, while others connect to the gateway device via an access point.
[0031] In an embodiment, the payload data received from and transmitted to the wearable devices has a first data type and the payload data received from and transmitted to the at least one data exchange partner has a second data type, wherein the gateway device is configured to convert the payload data received from the wearable devices from the first data type into the second data type before transmitting the payload data to the assigned data exchange partner and vice versa. By converting the payload data from first data type into the second data type and vice versa, the data type used to communicate with the wearable devices is adapted to the limited resources of the wearable device without changing the requirements regarding the communication with the data exchange partner.
[0032] For example, the first data type may be serialized data packages, in particular based on Google's Protobuf. The second data type is, for example, human-readable, in particular using a mark-up language. The mark-up language may be JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) or YAML.In order to effectively route the exchanged data, the gateway device, in particular the message protocol server, may have registered the wearable devices and the at least one data exchange partner in conjunction with a mapping by which the wearable devices are assigned to at least one of the at least one data exchange partner, and vice versa.
[0033] In particular, each wearable device is assigned to at least one data exchange partner.
[0034] It is conceivable that two or more wearable devices are assigned to the same data exchange partner. The assigned data exchange partner may be regarded as having two or more wearables device connected to it.
[0035] It is also conceivable that the messaging protocol message received from the wearable devices have included therein a topic identifier and / or recipient identifier, wherein the protocol message server is configured to select the assigned data exchange partner based on the topic identifier and / or recipient identifier.
[0036] The topic identifier is in particular an identifier unique to the specific wearable device, like its serial number. The assignment may be made by using topics and / or topic identifiers, for example if MQTT is used as the messaging protocol.
[0037] In an aspect, the wearable devices comprise a scanner module, in particular a code reader; an output means, in particular a display a beeper and / or a speaker; and / or an input means, in particular a microphone, at least one button and / or touch-sensitive display, providing a broad functionality for the user.
[0038] In order to increase the ergonomics, the wearable devices system may comprise a plurality of articles of clothing, in particular hand garments, each designed to attach one or more of the plurality of wearable device to the body of the user, in particular wherein the article of clothing has an actuatingelement which is connected to the wearable device such that it serves as an input means for the wearable device and / or can actuate the wearable device.
[0039] In an embodiment, the wearable device is configured:
[0040] to receive information about the wireless connection to establish, information about the message protocol server, and / or information about the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner the wearable device is to be assigned to, and
[0041] to establish the wireless connection based on the received information, to connect to the message protocol server based on the received information, and / or to send an assignment message to the message protocol server including the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner the wearable device is to be assigned to based on the received information, respectively.
[0042] This way, the wearable device is capable of establishing the wireless connection, of connecting to the message protocol server and / or of providing information about the data exchange partners to be assigned to on its own accord.
[0043] The information about the wireless connection to establish may include the SSID and the authentication information needed, like a password, a key and / or a certificate, to join the respective wireless network. The authentication framework of the respective wireless network may be the Extensible Authentication Protocol-Transport Layer Security, called EAP-TLS.
[0044] The information about the message protocol server may be the network address of the message protocol server.For example, the messaging protocol server is configured to register the newly connected wearable device and update the mapping accordingly, in particular based on the information included in the assignment message.
[0045] In an aspect, the wearable device is configured to receive the information about the wireless connection to establish, the information about the message protocol server, and / or the information about the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner the wearable device is to be assigned to by at least one of the following:
[0046] using the scanner module, in particular by reading a code having encoded the information therein;
[0047] temporarily connecting to the gateway device using a different wireless protocol, in particular Bluetooth, and receiving the information via the temporary wireless connection;
[0048] receiving the information by a cable bound connection, in particular using a USB connection, for example in a charger for the wearable device;
[0049] receiving the information through input via an input means of the wearable device, in particular a touch-sensitive display;
[0050] receiving the information through voice input from the user via a microphone of the wearable device.
[0051] This way, the information is received by the wearable device with no or little effort by the user.
[0052] In an embodiment the wearable device is configured to - upon or after termination of the wireless connection, termination of the connection to the message protocol server and / or termination of the assignment to the assigned data exchange partner - discard or store the previously received informationabout the wireless connection to establish, discard or store the previously received information about the message protocol server, and / or discard or store the previously received information about the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner the wearable device had been assigned to, respectively. By discarding the information, misconnections that could occur the next time the wearable device is used, for example by a different user and / or for a different task, are avoided reliably. By storing information, the wearable devices are usable again more quickly.
[0053] The respective information to be stored may be stored in a way that it survives a reboot of the wearable device.
[0054] For example, the wearable device stores all information (i.e. the information about the wireless connection to establish, about the message protocol server, and about the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner the wearable device had been assigned to).
[0055] In other cases, the wearable device may store some information and discard some other information, e.g. it may store information about the wireless connection to establish and about the message protocol server, and discard information about the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner it had been assigned to. It is also conceivable that the information about some data exchange partners, in particular about a customer system and / or a system control, are stored, and other information about some data exchange partners, in particular about a terminal device, is discarded.
[0056] The instructions to the wearable device which information to store and which to discard is transferred to the wearable device by the system control and / or the gateway device and / or provided by a user or administrator.
[0057] For ease of use, one of the wearable devices and / or the gateway device, in particular the message protocol server, may be configured to terminate thewireless connection between the one of the wearable devices and the wireless network, the connection between the one of the wearable devices and the message protocol server, and / or the assignment between the one of the wearable devices and the assigned data exchange partner, if the one of the wearable device and / or the gateway device, in particular the message protocol server, does not receive any activity request from the other or from the user for a predetermined period of time, is inserted into a charging station, is connected to a charging cable, is assigned to a new data exchange partner, scans a disconnect barcode, receives a respective command from the system control and / or receives a respective input from the user.
[0058] In an embodiment, the wearable devices system comprises a plurality of gateway devices and / or a plurality of message protocol servers, wherein two or more of the plurality of gateway devices and / or two or more of the plurality of message protocol servers form a cluster, in particular wherein the gateway devices and / or the message protocol servers of the cluster each are assigned an IP-address and / or the message protocol servers of the cluster each are assigned a DNS-name or the cluster is assigned a single DNS-name which resolves to the IP-addresses of the gateway devices and / or the message protocol servers of the cluster. By providing a plurality of gateway devices and / or a plurality of message protocol servers, the reliability of the wearable devices system is improved as the single gateway or message protocol server is no longer a single point of failure.
[0059] The cluster may be regarded as defined by a list of IP-addresses of the gateway devices and / or the message protocol servers that shall be part of the cluster. For example, the list of IP-addresses may be distributed to the wearable devices and / or provided to the wearable devices by a DNS-service.
[0060] For above mentioned purpose, it is also provided a wearable device for a wearable devices system as described above, in particular wherein the wearable device comprises a WLAN wireless communication module.The features and advantages described with respect to the wearable devices system also apply to the wearable device and vice versa.
[0061] It is also provided for above mentioned purpose a gateway device for a wearable devices system as described above, in particular wherein the gateway device comprises a wireless communication module, more particularly a WLAN wireless communication module.
[0062] The features and advantages described with respect to the wearable devices system and / or the wearable device also apply to the gateway device and vice versa.
[0063] For above mentioned purpose, there is further provided a method for operating a wearable devices system, in particular as described above, with a plurality of wearable devices and a gateway device for communicating with at least one data exchange partner for the wearable devices, wherein the wearable devices have a wireless communication module, wherein the method comprises:
[0064] executing a messaging protocol server by the gateway device, and
[0065] connecting by the wearable device to the messaging protocol server as messaging protocol clients using the wireless communication module, and
[0066] receiving, by the message protocol server, from one of the wearable devices, at least one messaging protocol message having payload data included therein, and transmitting, by the message protocol server, the payload data included in the at least one messaging protocol message received from the wearable device to an assigned data exchange partner of the at least one data exchange partner, and / or
[0067] receiving, by the message protocol server, payload data from one of the at least one data exchange partner, create at least one messagingprotocol message including the received payload data, and transmitting, by the message protocol server, the at least one messaging protocol message to an assigned wearable device of the wearable devices;
[0068] in particular wherein the gateway device, in particular the message protocol server, has registered the wearable devices and the at least one data exchange partner in conjunction with a mapping by which the wearable devices are assigned to at least one of the at least one data exchange partner and vice versa.
[0069] The features and advantages described with respect to the wearable devices system, the wearable device and / or the gateway device also apply to the method and vice versa. Further, the device and components described to be configured for a specific task may carry out the task in the method and vice versa.
[0070] Further features and advantages will be apparent from the following description as well as the accompanying drawings, to which reference is made. In the drawings:
[0071] Fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a shop floor with a wearable devices system according to an embodiment of the invention with wearable devices according to an embodiment of the invention and a gateway device according to an embodiment of the invention,
[0072] Fig. 2 a hand garment and a wearable device of Figure 1 in a more detailed schematic view,
[0073] Fig. 3 the wearable device of Figure 2 in a perspective view,
[0074] Fig. 4 a schematic diagram of the network of the system of Figure 1, Fig. 5 a schematic flowchart of a method for operating the wearable devices system according to an embodiment of the invention,Fig. 6 a schematic diagram illustrating the data transfer between a wearable device, a gateway device and a data exchange partner according to an embodiment of the invention,
[0075] Fig. 7 a diagram similar to that of Figure 4 showing schematically the network of a wearable devices system according to a second embodiment of the invention, and
[0076] Fig. 8 a diagram similar to that of Figure 7 showing schematically the network of a wearable devices system according to a third embodiment of the invention.
[0077] Figure 1 shows a schematic view of a shop floor 10, e.g. a warehouse or a manufacturing plant having a plurality of workstations, shelves or other places to carry out tasks by users W.
[0078] A system 12 is used at least partially on the shop floor 10 and comprises a wearable devices system 14 and a customer system 16. Further, several workstations 18 are located on the shop floor 10.
[0079] The wearable devices system 14 comprises a system control 20, a gateway device 22, several wearable devices 24, optional WLAN access points 25 (Fig. 7) and, optionally, terminal devices 26.
[0080] The system control 20 controls the wearable devices system 14 and is, for example, an application running on a server (single server or distributed server), like a cloud server or a server on premise. The system control 20 may be located in the same Local Area Network (LAN) as the gateway device 22 or remotely.
[0081] The system control 20 comprises, for example, a server (single server or distributed server) on which a software for controlling the wearable devices 24 and the gateway devices 22 is executed.The customer system 16 may be a server (single server or distributed server) on which a software receiving data obtained by the wearable devices 24 is executed such as an enterprise resource planning system (ERP system) and / or a warehouse management system (WMS). Both servers may be a local server or a cloud server. The customer system 16 may be located in the same Local Area Network (LAN) as the gateway device 22 or remotely. The customer system 16 and the system control 20 may be located on the same server.
[0082] The system control 20 may have an interface, like a dashboard, to provide information to a supervising user.
[0083] The terminal devices 26 are device to be used by the users W during execution of their task, for example a personal computer, a laptop, a smartphone, a smart glass and / or a tablet. The terminal devices 26 may be fixedly positioned at certain places of the shop floor 10 and are connected to the system control 20.
[0084] The wearable devices 24 are worn by the users W, e.g. workers working on the shop floor 10. For example, each user W carries one or more wearable devices 24.
[0085] To his end, the wearable devices system 14 comprises articles of clothing 27 (Fig. 2), for example hand garments 28, with a mount 30 for detachably mounting the wearable devices 24 to the user W. The article of clothing 27 is worn by the user W.
[0086] One of the wearable devices 24 and the mount 30, e.g. the hand garment 28 including the mount 30, form a wearable system.
[0087] Figure 2 shows schematically and as an example a wearable system in an unworn state with the hand garment 28 and one of the wearable devices 24.
[0088] The hand garment 28 of this example is a glove or a glove-like garment as described in DE 102021 126552 Al or US 2023 / 0112442 ALThe hand garment 28 and with that the mount 30 and the wearable devices 24 have a transverse direction T and a longitudinal direction L.
[0089] In the shown example, the transverse direction T extends in the transverse direction of the user's hand, when the hand garment 28 is being worn.
[0090] The longitudinal direction L is perpendicular to the transverse direction T and corresponds to the longitudinal direction of the user's hand, i.e. the direction of the fingers of an outstretched hand.
[0091] It is also conceivable that the transverse direction T extends in the longitudinal direction of the user's hand, and that the longitudinal direction L corresponds to the transverse direction of the user's hand.
[0092] The hand garment 28 comprises the mount 30 with a receiving space, a dorsal section 31, a fastening section 32, an actuating section 34, an actuating element 36, a conductor 38, and electric contacts 40.
[0093] The dorsal section 31 is located on the back of the hand (dorsum) of the user W when the hand garment 28 is being worn and covers at least parts of the dorsum.
[0094] In the shown embodiment, the actuating section 34 extends from the dorsal section and covers the metacarpophalangeal joint of the index finger of the hand of the user W when the hand garment 28 is being worn.
[0095] It is conceivable that the actuating section 34 is located at a different part of the user's hand when the hand garment 28 is being worn.
[0096] The fastening section 32 extends from the dorsal section 31 or, as in the shown example, from the actuating section 34. The fastening section 32 extends at least partly along the palm of the hand of the user W and attaches detachably to the dorsal section 31 or the actuating section 34 when the handgarment 28 is being worn. As such, the fastening section 32 fastens the dorsal section 31 at the back of the user's hand.
[0097] To this end, the fastening section 32 comprises a strap 41 extending across the palm of the user's hand. In cases that the hand garment 28 is a glove, the fastening section 32 may be the palmar section of the glove.
[0098] The actuating element 36 may be a push button or a capacitive sensor and is located in or at the actuating section 34. In the shown embodiment, the actuating element 36 is thus positioned at the index finger or the metacarpophalangeal joint of the index finger of the user's hand when the hand garment 28 is being worn.
[0099] The actuating element 36 is connected to the electric contacts 40 via the conductor 38, for example one or more cables or a flex-PCB integrated into the actuating section 34 and the dorsal section 31.
[0100] The electric contacts 40 are accessible from the receiving space.
[0101] The mount 30 is permanently fixed to the dorsal section 31, for example by sewing, and it is configured to receive the wearable device 24 in the receiving space.
[0102] It is also conceivable that the mount 30 is releasably fixed to the dorsal section, e.g. by a hook-and-loop fastener.
[0103] When mounted in the mount 30, the wearable device 24, more precisely electric contacts of the wearable device 24, contact the electric contacts 40 on the dorsal section 31 so that the actuating element 36 is electrically connected to the wearable devices 24. The actuating element 36 is thus an input means for the wearable device 24.When the hand garment 28 with the mounted wearable device 24 is worn by the user U, the user U can easily activate the wearable device 24 by actuating the actuating element 36 with the thumb.
[0104] The wearable device 24 comprises, in the shown embodiment, a housing 42, a scanner module 44, a control unit 46, a wireless communication module 48, an output means 50, an input means 52 and electric contacts.
[0105] The output means 50 may comprise a display 51, a beeper 62 and / or a speaker 64. In case of a touch sensitive display, the display may also be an input means 52. Other input means 52 may be at least one button or a microphone 53.
[0106] The wearable devices 24 may provide haptic, visual and / or audible feedback by respective other output means 50, e.g. one or more LEDs and / or a speaker.
[0107] The scanner module 44, the control unit 46 and the wireless communication module 48 are located within the housing 42.
[0108] The control unit 46 and the scanner module 44 may be formed as a single part, or a part of the scanner module 44, for example a decoder, is integrated into the control unit 46.
[0109] The scanner module 44 may be realized as a code reader.
[0110] The code reader (which may be a scan engine), which may comprise a camera and a decoder, is an optical code reader configured to read machine-readable codes, like barcodes, two-dimensional codes, for example QR codes, data matrix codes or the like, or any other optical machine-readable code.
[0111] It is also conceivable that the code reader is another type of code reader, for example for reading RFID-tags.The wireless communication module 48 is configured to establish a wireless communication connection with one of the gateway device 22 or one of the wireless access point 25.
[0112] The wireless communication module 48 is, for example, a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) wireless communication module, i.e. WLAN enabled module.
[0113] It is also conceivable that the wireless communication module 48 is a Bluetooth module, in particular a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) module, e.g. for communicating wirelessly under the Bluetooth or BLE Standard, or that the wearable device 24 comprise a Bluetooth module in addition to the wireless communication module 48.
[0114] The gateway devices 22 are stationary. For example, as shown in the first embodiment, the gateway device 22 may have a wireless communication module 54.
[0115] The wireless communication module 54 may be a WLAN or a Bluetooth wireless communication module.
[0116] For example, the wireless communication module 54 is a WLAN module acting as an access point for the wearable devices 24, allowing direct connections between the wearable devices 24 and the gateway device 22.
[0117] The gateway device 22 further has a computing unit 56 (Fig. 4) with a processor and a memory, wherein the computing unit 56 is configured to execute a messaging protocol server.
[0118] It is also conceivable that the gateway device 22 is virtualized and thus executed on a host server. In particular, the messaging protocol server may be executed on a host server. In this case, the host server may be regarded as the gateway device 22.The messaging protocol server is a server for a specific messaging protocol.
[0119] The messaging protocol is, for example, an application layer protocol being a machine-to-machine communication, a publish and subscribe messaging transport protocol that works on top of the TCP / IP stack.
[0120] For example, the messaging protocol is the MQTT protocol and the messaging protocol server executed by the gateway device 22 is a MQTT broker. As such, the gateway device 22 may be regarded as an MQTT broker itself.
[0121] It is also conceivable that the message protocol is WebSocket or TCP plus TLS.
[0122] Further, the gateway device 22 has a network adapter 58 for communication in cable-bound networks like a LAN adapter.
[0123] Figure 4 shows very schematically a network diagram of the system 12 with the wearable devices system 14 and the customer system 16.
[0124] The gateway device 22 is shown in the middle, and shown to the right of the gateway device 22 are the customer system 16 (depicted as a cloud system), three terminal devices 26 located at the shop floor 10 and the system control 20.
[0125] These devices are connected to the gateway device 22 by a cable-bound network connection, e.g. a LAN and / or internet connection.
[0126] It is also conceivable that some of these devices are also connected, at least with a part of the communication connection, wirelessly to the gateway device 22.
[0127] For example, the connection to the customer system 16 is established via an internet connection.It is also conceivable that the system control 20 may be a system different from the wearable devices system 14, and thus accessible via an internet connection.
[0128] The terminal devices 26, the customer system 16 and the system control 20 are in communication with the wearable devices 24 and exchange data with them via the gateway device 22.
[0129] For the sake of simplicity, the terminal devices 26, the customer system 16 and the system control 20, even though they are very different systems and devices, are referred to as data exchange partners 60. The data exchange partners 60 assigned to a specific wearable device 24 are referred to as assigned data exchange partners 60.
[0130] The communication connection between the data exchange partners 60 and the gateway device 22 may make use of the message protocol, in which case the data exchange partners 60 are also connected to the messaging protocol server as messaging protocol clients.
[0131] The communication connection may also make use of a different communication protocol, for example WebSocket or TCP.
[0132] It is also conceivable that other systems, devices or components are data exchange partners 60 in the sense of the invention, i.e. that they communicate with one or more of the wearable devices 24 via the gateway device 22 using the messaging protocol.
[0133] On the left hand side of the gateway device 22 in Figure 4, the wearable devices 24 are shown. They are, in the shown embodiment, directly connected to the gateway device 22 via a direct wireless connection, e.g. a WLAN connection, using the wireless communication modules 48 of the wearable devices 24 and the wireless communication module 54 of the gateway deviceThe wearable devices 24 are connected to the messaging protocol server as messaging protocol clients, in particular MQTT clients.
[0134] Each of the wearable devices 24 is assigned to at least one of the data exchange partners 60 to exchange data with this specific data exchange partners 60.
[0135] For example, a wearable device 24 is assigned to the customer system 16 to transfer data into the system and receive instructions from the customer system 16, and, at the same time, assigned to the system control 20 to receive instructions from the system control 20 but also for telemetry, statistics and / or device management purposes.
[0136] It is also conceivable that the customer system 16 represents more than one data exchange partner 60 that a wearable device 24 may be assigned to, e.g. having different instances registered with the messaging protocol server. For example, the customer system 16 may represent a data exchange partner for each workstation 18 or each task that may be carried out on the shop floor 10. By way of such detailed assignments, the customer system 16 is capable of identifying the data received from the wearable devices 24 more precisely.
[0137] Alternatively or in addition, one of the wearable devices 24 may also be assigned to one of the terminal devices 26 to serve as an input means for the respective terminal device 26.
[0138] For example, the terminal device 26 is used by the same user W that also wears the respective wearable device 24 so that, from the user perspective, the connection between the wearable device 24 and the terminal device 26 is such as a direct connection between these devices.
[0139] These assignments are stored by the gateway device 22, in particular the messaging protocol server on the computing unit 56 as a mapping, which wearable device 24 is assigned to which one of the data exchange partners 60.To this end, all of the wearable devices 24 and all of the data exchange partners 60 are registered with the message protocol server.
[0140] It is conceivable that two or more wearable devices 24 are assigned to the same data exchange partner 60, which is in particular the case for the customer system 16 and the system control 20.
[0141] For communication within the wearable devices system 14 a method exemplarily shown in the flowchart of Figure 5 is carried out. Further, Figure 6 illustrates the payload data and protocols used in the communication between one of the wearable devices 24 and an assigned data exchange partner 60.
[0142] For example, one of the wearable devices 24, referred to now as simply “the wearable device 24” for the ease of description, would like to send data, referred to as “payload data” P in the following, to, the data exchange partners 60 assigned to it, called assigned data exchange partners 60 in the following, for the ease of reference. It is to be noted, that the assigned data exchange partners 60 may also be just a single “assigned data exchange partner” 60. To do so, the wearable device 24 sends payload data P to the gateway device 22 (si).
[0143] The payload data is in a first data type optimized for the communication to the wearable device 24 which has low computing capability. For example, the first data type may be serialized data packages that allow efficient encoding and decoding of the payload data P.
[0144] For example, the first data type is a platform agnostic, serialized data based on Google's Protobuf, in particular WAPI being is a proprietary protocol develop by the applicant.
[0145] The payload data is sent in a plurality of messages M according to the messaging protocol, in the explained example MQTT messages.The messaging protocol messages M are then received by the gateway device 22 (S2).
[0146] After reception, the gateway device 22 determines at S3 the assigned data exchange partners 60 that need to receive the respective received payload data P.
[0147] The payload data P received from the wearable device 24 is then, at S4, converted from the first data type into a second data type suitable for the assigned data exchange partners 60.
[0148] The second data type is in particular a human-readable data type, for example using a markup language. Suitable markup languages are JSON or YAML.
[0149] It is quite possible that the data exchange partners 60 necessitate different data types, so that the gateway device 22 converts the payload data P from the first data type into different second data types.
[0150] It is also conceivable that one of the assigned data exchange partners 60 accepts or needs the payload data P in the first data type so that no conversion takes place.
[0151] Then, the payload data P converted into the second data type is transmitted to the assigned data exchange partners (S5) and received it (S6).
[0152] The transmission of the payload data P to the assigned data exchange partners 60 may be carried out by using a protocol different to the messaging protocol as described above.
[0153] For data transfer in the reverse direction, payload data P is send from one of the assigned data exchange partners 60 to the gateway device 22 using the second data type (Bl).The payload data P is then received by the gateway device 22 (B2) and the assigned wearable device 24, i.e. the wearable device 24 assigned to the data exchange partners 60 that has sent the payload data P, is determined by the gateway device 22 using the mapping (B3).
[0154] Then, the payload data is converted from the second data type into the first data type (B4) and transmitted from the gateway device 22 to the respective assigned wearable device 24 using the messaging protocol in the same maimer as described above (B5).
[0155] The payload data P in the first data type is then received by the respective wearable device 24 (B6) and may be used by it because it is available in the first data type.
[0156] The payload data P has thus been successfully transmitted from the wearable device 24 to the data exchange partners 60 and vice versa via the gateway device 22 without the need for a connectivity device dedicated to the very specific wearable device 24. The wearable devices system is simplified.
[0157] It is also conceivable that the messaging protocol messages M received from the wearable device 24 have included therein a topic identifier and / or a recipient identifier, wherein the protocol message server selects the respective data exchange partner 60 based on the topic identifier and / or on the recipient identifier.
[0158] The topic identifier is, for example, an identifier unique to the specific wearable device 24, like its serial number.
[0159] In order for a wearable device 24 to be added to the wearable devices system 14 and assigned to one or more data exchange partners 60, the wearable device 24 has to carry out a coupling sequence.In the beginning, the wearable device 24 is not part of any wireless network, has no connection to the protocol server or has not assigned any data exchange partners 60.
[0160] To start coupling, the wearable device 24 receives information about the wireless connection that has to be established, for example the SSID of the wireless network to join and authentication information needed to join the wireless network, like a password, a key and / or a certificate (Cl). The authentication framework of the wireless network to join may be the Extensible Authentication Protocol-Transport Layer Security, called EAP-TLS
[0161] At C2, the wearable device 24 receives information about the message protocol server, for example a name, a DNS-name, or IP-address and / or a type of message protocol.
[0162] Further, the wearable device 24 receives information about the one or more data exchange partners 60 it is to be assigned to (C3).
[0163] The wearable device 24 may receive this information in various different ways.
[0164] For example, the wearable device 24 may be pointed at a code that has this information encoded therein and is made to scan the code using the scanner module 44. The information may also be received by the wearable device 24 by temporarily connecting to the gateway device 22 using a different wireless protocol, for example Bluetooth instead of WLAN, and then receiving the necessary information through this temporary Bluetooth connection.
[0165] A further way of receiving the necessary information is by a cable-bound connection. For example, the wearable devices 24 are charged in a charger when not in use. The physical or cable-bound connection to the charger is, forexample, of a USB-type that may also be used to transfer data and thus the necessary information to the wearable device 24.
[0166] In addition or alternatively, the information may be received by the wearable device 24 by inputting the information on the input means 52.
[0167] It is also conceivable that the information is received by voice input from a user W using a microphone as an input means 52 of the wearable device 24. In this case, the user W speaks the necessary information into the wearable device 24.
[0168] Once the above described information has been gathered by the wearable device 24, the wearable device 24 uses this information to establish the wireless connection to the gateway device 22 (C4) and to connect to the message protocol server (C5). It further sends an assignment message to the message protocol server that includes an identifier of the one or more data exchange partners 60 that the wearable device 24 is to be assigned to (C6).
[0169] Then, the gateway device 22, in particular the message protocol server, registers the wearable device 24 and includes the assigned data exchange partners 60 received with the assignment message in its mapping (C7).
[0170] The assignment may be made via topics and / or topic identifiers, for example if MQTT is used as the messaging protocol.
[0171] The wearable device 24 is then ready to use and ready to exchange data with its assigned data exchange partners 60 using the gateway device 22.
[0172] It is not necessary that all of the above mentioned information about the wireless network, the message protocol server and the assigned data exchange partners 60 is transferred to the wearable device 24 each time the configuration changes. For example, if a user W is assigned to a different workstation 18 during his / her shift, and with that, for example a differentterminal device 26 or instance of the customer system 16, only the new assignment to data exchange partners 60 has to been transferred to the wearable device 24, which may be done by scanning a code at the workstation 18 the user has then to work at. Of course, the other above-mentioned ways of receiving the information by the wearable device 24 may also be used.
[0173] Also, it is possible that the message protocol server changes and / or the wireless network changes independently from the other information.
[0174] For disconnection, for example at the end of a shift, the wireless connection has to be terminated, the connection to the message protocol server has to be terminated and the assignments to the assigned data exchange partners 60 have to be terminated.
[0175] To this end, the wearable device 24 or the gateway device 22 may terminate the connection of the wearable device 24 to the wireless network, the connection between the wearable device 24 and the protocol server and / or the assignment, if the wearable device 24 or the gateway device, respectively has not receive any activity request from the other or from the user W for a predetermined period of time, is inserted into the charging station, is connected to the charging cable, is assigned to a new data exchange partner, scans a disconnect code, receives a respective command from the system control 20 and / or receives a respective input from the user W.
[0176] The termination of the wireless connection, the connection to the message protocol server and the termination of the assignments do not have to happen always at the same time, but only one of these connections / assignments may be terminated by the ways discussed above.
[0177] Once one, two or all of the above-mentioned connections or assignments are terminated, the wearable device 24 and / or the gateway device 22 discards the respective information about the connection and / or assignments.For example, the wearable device 24 discards the previously received information about the wireless connection to establish, the information about the message protocol server and the information about the assigned data exchange partner 60 (C8).
[0178] In a different scenario, the wearable device 24 stores all information (i.e. the information about the wireless connection to establish, about the message protocol server, and about the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner the wearable device had been assigned to).
[0179] In yet a different scenario, the wearable device 24 may store some information and discard some other information, e.g. it may store information about the wireless connection to establish and about the message protocol server, and discard information about the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner it had been assigned to.
[0180] It is also conceivable that the information about some data exchange partners, in particular about a customer system and / or a system control, are stored by the wearable device 24, and other information about some data exchange partners, in particular about a terminal device, is discarded.
[0181] The respective information to be stored is stored in a way that it survives a reboot of the wearable device 24.
[0182] The instructions to the wearable device 24 which information to store and which to discard is transferred to the wearable device 24 by the system control 20 and / or the gateway device 22 and / or provided by a user and / or administrator.
[0183] Figures 7 and 8 show a second and third embodiment of a wearable devices system 14, respectively, that substantially correspond to the first embodiment. Thus, in the following only the differences are discussed and the same and functionally the same components are labeled with the same reference signs.The features of the second and third embodiment may be combined with one another.
[0184] In this embodiment, the wearable devices system 14 comprises a plurality of WLAN access points 25 (two in the shown example) that are connected by a cable-bound connection, e.g. LAN, to the gateway device 22.
[0185] It is also conceivable that the WLAN access points 25 are connect wirelessly by WLAN to the gateway device 22. In this case, the gateway device 22 comprises a WLAN module.
[0186] In this embodiment, it is possible that the gateway device 22 does not comprise a wireless communication module 54 itself.
[0187] The wearable devices 24 wirelessly connect to one of the WLAN access points 25 so that their connection to the gateway device 22 and the message protocol server is established via the respective WLAN access point 25.
[0188] In this way, it is not necessary for the wearable device 24 to be within range of the gateway device 22 in order to make use of the gateway device 22 to communicate with the data exchange partners 60.
[0189] This drastically expands the range in which the wearable devices 24 may be operated.
[0190] Further, it is conceivable that only one gateway device 22 with a message protocol server is present in one network.
[0191] In the third embodiment a plurality of gateway devices 22 and / or a plurality of message protocol servers are present in the same network but the wearable devices 24 are connected to only one of those message protocol servers at a time.
[0192] For example, for each workstations 18 a dedicated message protocol server and / or dedicated gateway device 22 may be present.Alternatively or in addition, two or more of the plurality of gateway devices 22 and / or the plurality of message protocol servers form a cluster 61, as illustrated in Figure 8.
[0193] Each of the gateway devices 22 and / or the message protocol servers of the cluster 61 is assigned a physical IP-address.
[0194] Alternatively or in addition, each of the gateway devices 22 and / or the message protocol servers of the cluster 61 is assigned a DNS-name.
[0195] The list of the physical IP-addresses and / or DNS-names of the gateway devices 22 and / or the plurality of message protocol servers of the cluster 61 is provided to the wearable devices 24 as a lists of endpoints to connect to.
[0196] It is also conceivable that the cluster 61 is provided with a single DNS-address, which resolves into the physical IP-addresses of the gateway devices 22 and / or the plurality of message protocol servers of the cluster 61.
[0197] At C2, the wearable devices 24 receive the IP-addresses, the DNS-names and / or the DNS-name of the cluster 61 as a list of endpoints to connect to. The IP-addresses, the DNS-names and / or the DNS-name of the cluster 61 are transmitted to the wearable devices 24, for example, as part of the information about the message protocol server.
[0198] If the one of the gateway device 22 or message protocol servers fails or disconnects, another gateway device 22 or message protocol server of the cluster 61 may be contacted by the wearable devices 24 and assume the failed device ’s / server’s functionality. This ensures uninterrupted communication for the wearable devices 24 and thus the end-users.
[0199] By using a cluster of gateway devices 22 and / or message protocol servers instead of a single gateway device 22 and / or message protocol server, the reliability of the wearable devices system 10 is in increased as the gateway device 22 and / or the message protocol server does not longer constitute a single point of failure.It is also conceivable that the NAT device is software based and implemented on a server in the network, for example a server of the customer system, or on a cloud server.
Claims
32Claims1. Wearable devices system with a plurality of wearable devices (24) and a gateway device (22) for communicating with at least one data exchange partner (60) for the wearable devices (24),wherein the gateway device (22) is configured to execute a messaging protocol server,wherein the wearable devices (24) have a wireless communication module (48) and are configured to connect to the messaging protocol server as messaging protocol clients using the wireless communication module (48), andwherein the gateway device (22) is further configured to:- receive, from one of the wearable devices (24), at least one messaging protocol message (M) having payload data (P) included therein, and transmit the payload data (P) included in the messaging protocol message (M) received from the wearable device (24) to an assigned data exchange partner (60) of the at least one data exchange partner (60), and / or- receive payload data (P) from one of the at least one data exchange partner (60), create at least one messaging protocol message (M) including the received payload data (P), and transmit the at least one messaging protocol message (M) to an assigned wearable device (24) of the wearable devices (24).
2. Wearable devices system according to claim 1, characterized in that the messaging protocol is an application layer protocol, works on top of the TCP / IP stack, is a machine-to-machine communication protocol, and / or a publish-and-subscribe messaging transport protocol, in particular wherein the messaging protocol is the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol and the messaging protocol server is a MQTT broker.
333. Wearable devices system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the gateway device (22), in particular the message protocol server, is configured to transmit payload data (P) to and / or receive payload data (P) from the at least one data exchange partner (60) using the message protocol or a different communication protocol, in particular Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or WebSocket.
4. Wearable devices system according any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the gateway device (22) is stationary; and / or in that the gateway device (22) and / or the messaging protocol server are virtualized and / or executed on a host server.
5. Wearable devices system according any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one data exchange partner (60) comprises a terminal device (26) for use by a user (W); a customer system (16), like a warehouse management system or an enterprise resource planning system; and / or a system control (20) for the wearable device (24) and / or for the gateway device (22).
6. Wearable devices system according any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the connection between the gateway device (22) and the at least one data exchange partner (60) is a cable-bound network connection, for example a LAN connection, a wireless network connection, and / or a connection via the internet.
7. Wearable devices system according any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wearable devices system (14) comprises a WLAN access point (25) connected cable-bound by LAN or wirelessly by WLAN to the gateway device (22), wherein the connection between the gateway device (22) and the wearable devices (24) is established by means of the WLAN access point (25), and / or in that the gateway device (22) has a wireless communication module (54), in particular a WLAN or a Bluetooth module, wherein the connection between the gateway device (22) and at least one ofthe wearable devices (24) is a direct wireless connection between the gateway device (22) and the respective wearable device (24).
8. Wearable devices system according any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the payload data (P) received from and transmitted to the wearable devices (24) has a first data type and the payload data (P) received from and transmitted to the at least one data exchange partner (60) has a second data type, wherein the gateway device (22) is configured to convert the payload data (P) received from the wearable devices (24) from the first data type into the second data type before transmitting the payload data (P) to the respective assigned data exchange partner (60) and vice versa.
9. Wearable devices system according any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the gateway device (22), in particular the message protocol server, has registered the wearable devices (24) and the at least one data exchange partner (60) in conjunction with a mapping by which the wearable devices (24) are assigned to at least one of the at least one data exchange partner (60), and vice versa.
10. Wearable devices system according any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wearable devices (24) comprise a scanner module (44), in particular a code reader; an output means (50), in particular a display, a beeper (62) and / or a speaker (64); and / or an input means (52), in particular a microphone (53), at least one button and / or touch-sensitive display.
11. Wearable devices system according any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wearable devices system (14) comprises a plurality of articles of clothing (27), in particular hand garments (28), each designed to attach one or more of the plurality of wearable device (24) to the body of the user (W), in particular wherein the article of clothing (27) has an actuating element (36) which is connected to the wearable device (24) such that it serves as an input means for the wearable device (24) and / or can actuate the wearable device (24).
12. Wearable devices system according any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wearable devices (24) are configured:- to receive information about the wireless connection to establish, information about the message protocol server, and / or information about the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner (60) the wearable device (24) is to be assigned to, and- to establish the wireless connection based on the received information, to connect to the message protocol server based on the received information, and / or to send an assignment message to the message protocol server including the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner (60) the wearable device (24) is to be assigned to based on the received information, respectively.
13. Wearable devices system according to claim 12, characterized in that the wearable device (24) is configured to receive the information about the wireless connection to establish, the information about the message protocol server, and / or the information about the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner (60) the wearable device (24) is to be assigned to by at least one of the following:- using the scanner module (44), in particular by reading a code having encoded the information therein;- temporarily connecting to the gateway device (22) using a different wireless protocol, in particular Bluetooth, and receiving the information via the temporary wireless connection;- receiving the information by a cable bound connection, in particular using a USB connection, for example in a charger for the wearable device;- receiving the information through input via an input means (52) of the wearable device, in particular a touch-sensitive display;36- receiving the information through voice input from the user (W) via a microphone (53) of the wearable device (24).
14. Wearable devices system according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that, the wearable devices (24) are configured to, upon or after termination of the wireless connection, termination of the connection to the message protocol server, and / or termination of the assignment to the assigned data exchange partner (60), discard or store the previously received information about the wireless connection to establish, discard or store the previously received information about the message protocol server, and / or discard or store the previously received information about the one or more of the at least one data exchange partner (60) the wearable device (24) had been assigned to, respectively.
15. Wearable devices system according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that one of the wearable devices (24) and / or the gateway device (22), in particular the message protocol server, is configured to terminate the wireless connection between the one of the wearable devices (24) and the wireless network, the connection between the one of the wearable devices (24) and the message protocol server, and / or the assignment between the one of the wearable devices (24) and the assigned data exchange partner (60), if the one of the wearable device (24) and / or the gateway device (22), in particular the message protocol server, does not receive any activity request from the other or from the user (W) for a predetermined period of time, is inserted into a charging station, is connected to a charging cable, is assigned to a new data exchange partner (60), scans a disconnect barcode, receives a respective command from the system control (20) and / or receives a respective input from the user (W).
16. Wearable devices system according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wearable devices system (14) comprises a plurality of gateway devices (22) and / or a plurality of message protocol servers,37wherein two or more of the plurality of gateway devices (22) form a cluster (61) and / or two or more of the plurality of message protocol servers form a cluster (61), in particular wherein the gateway devices (22) and / or the message protocol servers of the cluster (61) each are assigned an IP-address, the gateway devices (22), and / or the message protocol servers of the cluster (61) each are assigned a DNS-name, or the cluster (61) is assigned a single DNS-name which resolves to the IP-addresses of the gateway devices (22) and / or the message protocol servers of the cluster (61).
17. Wearable device for a wearable devices system (14) according to any of the preceding claim, in particular wherein the wearable device (24) comprises a WLAN wireless communication module (48).
18. Gateway device for a wearable devices system (14) according to any of the claims 1 to 16, in particular wherein the gateway device (22) comprises a wireless communication module (54).
19. Method for operating a wearable devices system (14), in particular according to any of the claims 1 to 16, with a plurality of wearable devices (24) and a gateway device (22) for communicating with at least one data exchange partner (60) for the wearable devices (24), wherein the wearable devices (24) have a wireless communication module (48), wherein the method comprises:- executing a messaging protocol server by the gateway device (22), and - connecting by the wearable devices (24) to the messaging protocol server as messaging protocol clients using the wireless communication module (48), and- receiving, by the message protocol server, from one of the wearable devices (24), at least one messaging protocol message (M) having payload data (P) included therein, and transmitting, by the message protocol server, the payload data (P) included in the at least one messaging protocol message (M) received from said wearable device(24) to an assigned data exchange partner (60) of the at least one data exchange partner (60), and / or- receiving, by the message protocol server, payload data (P) from one of the at least one data exchange partner (60), create at least one messaging protocol message (M) including the received payload data (P), and transmitting, by the message protocol server, the at least one messaging protocol message (M) to an assigned wearable device (24) of the wearable devices (24);in particular wherein the gateway device (22), in particular the message protocol server, has registered the wearable devices (24) and the at least one data exchange partner (60) in conjunction with a mapping by which the wearable devices (24) are assigned to at least one of the at least one data exchange partner (60) and vice versa.