DMS Discovery Server for Distributed Device Integration
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current Device Management Systems (DMS) face inefficiencies in integrating communication devices, particularly in distributed scenarios where client-side communication devices are not efficiently managed, leading to unnecessary sharing and reduced usability due to the lack of technical solutions for dynamic and temporary communication topologies.
Innovation Solution
An integrated system utilizing FDI and OPC UA components to discover and determine distributed operable communication servers and devices, allowing for efficient registration and management of communication devices, ensuring they are only accessible to the client that owns them, and enabling smart nested communication by directing requests through suitable paths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If communication devices are shared across multiple clients in a distributed DMS, then resource utilization is improved, but device usability and reliability deteriorate due to unauthorized access and conflicts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a discovery server as an intermediary component that mediates between communication devices and clients. The discovery server maintains a centralized registry of available communication devices and their locations, enabling clients to discover and access devices through the mediator without direct peer-to-peer conflicts. This intermediary layer ensures controlled access while maintaining resource sharing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The discovery server provides multiple functions including device registration, location tracking, discovery services, and access coordination. By consolidating these diverse functions into a single universal component, the system achieves efficient resource utilization while maintaining reliability through centralized control mechanisms.
2Ease of operation
If communication devices are bound to specific clients, then device usability is improved, but network efficiency deteriorates due to inability to share devices across the distributed system
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the system into distinct functional components: communication devices, clients, and a central discovery server. This segmentation allows devices to be logically associated with specific clients for usability while physically available to the network for sharing. The discovery server acts as the coordinating segment that manages the relationships between devices and multiple clients.
Solution Approach 2:
The discovery server serves as an intermediary that enables network-efficient device sharing while maintaining client-specific usability. It tracks which devices are available, their locations, and their associations with clients, allowing the network to optimize device allocation without compromising the ease of operation for individual clients.
3Reliability
If device integration follows traditional FDT approaches, then integration robustness is improved, but adaptability to distributed DMS architectures deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic device discovery and registration mechanisms that adapt to the distributed DMS architecture. Unlike static FDT approaches, the system dynamically registers devices with the discovery server, which then makes them available to appropriate clients based on current system state. This dynamic approach maintains robustness through structured protocols while adapting to distributed architectures.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes key integration parameters from the traditional FDT model, including the introduction of a discovery server registry, dynamic device location tracking, and decentralized client access patterns. These parameter changes enable adaptability to distributed architectures while maintaining integration robustness through standardized discovery and registration procedures.
4Measurement precision
If discovery and determination of communication devices is manual, then integration precision is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to time-consuming configuration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service mechanisms where communication devices automatically register themselves with the discovery server upon joining the network. The devices provide their own identification and location information without requiring manual configuration, thereby maintaining integration precision through structured registration while dramatically improving productivity through automated processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The discovery server pre-establishes the device registry and registration protocols before devices need to be accessed. By having the discovery infrastructure ready in advance and devices pre-configured with discovery capabilities, the system achieves precise device determination without manual intervention during operation, improving both precision and productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
An integration system and method, for a more efficient integration of communication devices in a distributed device management system (DMS), has several FDI and OPC UA components to be applied to and/or integrated in a DMS and providing one or more processing units, in particular at least one discovery unit as well as executable data structures, to discover and determine distributed operable communication servers and/or devices, in particular independent from their location, so to say independent whether they are located within the components of the DMS like for example the FDI servers, the FDI clients, OPC UA discovery servers or stand-alone in the engineering/control/field network, as well as to a corresponding DMS comprising said system and/or performing said method.