Connected Device System Self-Service Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
In connected lighting systems, integrating devices from third-party manufacturers or newly designed devices can be challenging due to a lack of knowledge about their specific characteristics, leading to difficulties in integration and control.
Innovation Solution
A connected device system that uses a master network device and a device to be integrated, where the device announces itself in the wireless network and provides an upgrade server offering a digital asset indicative of its characteristics, allowing the master network device to detect and retrieve this information using the ZigBee protocol, facilitating seamless integration and control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If devices from third-party manufacturers or newly designed devices are integrated into the connected lighting system, then the adaptability and versatility of the system is improved, but the difficulty of integration and control increases due to lack of knowledge about specific device characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
The device itself provides the information about its characteristics through an upgrade server that stores and makes available digital assets. This self-service approach eliminates the need for external databases or manual configuration, allowing the device to autonomously provide its own characterization data to the master control unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The device pre-stores information about its characteristics in an upgrade server before integration into the system. This preliminary action ensures that when the device is added to the network, the master control unit can immediately retrieve necessary information without requiring real-time queries or manual input, streamlining the integration process.
2Loss of information
If the master network device retrieves digital assets from the device's upgrade server, then the information completeness about device characteristics is improved, but the communication time and network load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system retrieves only the specific digital assets or information portions that are necessary for integration and control, rather than transferring all possible device data. This selective approach ensures information completeness for operational needs while minimizing unnecessary communication overhead and time consumption.
3Ease of operation
If the device provides an upgrade server in the wireless network, then the ease of integration is improved through self-provisioning of information, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The upgrade server, originally designed for firmware updates, is made multi-functional by also storing and providing digital assets that describe device characteristics. This universal approach allows a single component to serve multiple purposes: both updating device software and providing integration information, thereby reducing the need for separate information storage mechanisms.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention provides a connected device system, comprising a master network device (2) and a device (5) to be integrated into the connected device system (1). The connected device system is adapted to connect the master network device and the device via a wireless network (4). When being added to the wireless network, the device announces itself in the wireless network and provides an upgrade server in the wireless network. The upgrade server makes available for retrieval a digital asset indicative of a characteristic of the device. The master network device detects the device in the wireless network based on the announcement, searches for the upgrade server of the device in the wireless network in response to the detection of the device, and retrieves the digital asset from the upgrade server of the device. This leads to an improved way of integrating the device into the connected device system.