Hierarchical Metadata Matching for Sensor Data Trading
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing Sensing Data Trading Market (SDTM) faces inefficiencies due to redundant metadata storage and processing loads, as attribute information from sensing devices is described together as one piece of metadata, leading to unnecessary memory usage and calculation during metadata matching.
Innovation Solution
An instruction system that acquires and hierarchizes metadata from sensors and applications, performs matching between hierarchy levels, calculates inter-level matching degrees, and transmits data flow control instructions to manage data transmission efficiently, reducing redundant data storage and processing loads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If metadata is stored as one piece containing all attribute information for each sensor, then the metadata structure is simple, but the amount of redundant data increases and processing load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments metadata into hierarchical levels (Level-1: sensor-specific attributes, Level-2: group-specific attributes, Level-3: system-wide attributes). This segmentation allows shared attributes to be stored once at higher levels while sensor-specific attributes are stored at lower levels, eliminating redundancy without increasing structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a hierarchical dimension to the metadata structure, organizing attributes across multiple levels rather than storing all attributes flatly for each sensor. This dimensional change enables efficient storage by allowing attributes to be inherited across hierarchy levels, reducing the total quantity of metadata while maintaining a systematic structure.
2Reliability
If all metadata is processed during matching, then comprehensive matching is achieved, but processing time and CPU load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The matching process is segmented by hierarchy levels. The system performs matching sequentially from Level-1 to Level-3, allowing early termination when a match is found at a higher level. This segmentation reduces processing time while maintaining comprehensive matching by ensuring all relevant levels are checked in order.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary filtering at higher hierarchy levels before detailed matching at lower levels. By checking group-specific and system-wide attributes first, the system can quickly eliminate non-matching sensors without performing full attribute comparison, thereby reducing processing time while preserving matching accuracy.
3Loss of information
If redundant metadata is stored for each sensor, then individual sensor metadata is complete, but memory usage and database load increase
Solution Approach 1:
Metadata is segmented into hierarchical levels where Level-1 contains sensor-specific attributes, Level-2 contains group-specific attributes, and Level-3 contains system-wide attributes. This segmentation ensures that each sensor's complete metadata can be reconstructed by combining attributes from relevant levels, maintaining information completeness while storing shared attributes only once.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested hierarchy where Level-3 attributes contain system-wide information, Level-2 attributes contain group-specific information that may reference Level-3, and Level-1 attributes contain sensor-specific information that may reference both Level-2 and Level-3. This nesting allows complete sensor metadata to be represented compactly by storing only the unique attributes at each level.
Data Source
AI summary
An instruction device includes: an acquiring unit configured to acquire provided metadata, which is attribute information relating to one or more attributes of sensing data, the provided metadata having one or more hierarchy levels that contain information shared by a plurality of sensors; an acquiring unit configured to acquire usable metadata, which is attribute information relating to one or more attributes of an application; a matching unit configured to perform matching between the provided metadata and the usable metadata for each hierarchy level, calculate, for each hierarchy level, an inter-level matching degree that indicates a degree of matching in the hierarchy level, and extract a sensor capable of providing the sensing data that satisfies a request of the application, based on an overall matching degree; and an instruction unit configured to transmit a data flow control instruction that specifies the application and the extracted sensor.