Distributed IoT Management Platform Automating Workflow Placement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Information processing systems for IoT devices face challenges in scalability, adaptability across different use cases and verticals, leading to increased costs and suboptimal performance due to high complexity and the need for excessive manual intervention.
Innovation Solution
An information processing system with a distributed management optimization platform that includes a configuration and deployment controller with a machine learning engine and insight optimizer, which automates the placement and execution of workflow processes across multiple locations within the IoT infrastructure, optimizing for various constraints and usage contexts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional single-vendor solutions are deployed for IoT systems, then implementation is straightforward for a particular use case, but scalability to larger numbers of devices and adaptation to other use cases is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a multi-vendor, standardized platform architecture that can handle multiple use cases across different verticals. The system uses common data models, standardized interfaces, and vendor-agnostic components that enable the same infrastructure to serve diverse IoT applications including smart cities, industrial IoT, and consumer IoT, eliminating the need for separate single-vendor solutions for each use case.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the IoT platform into independent, modular components including device management modules, data processing modules, and application modules from different vendors. Each module can be independently selected, configured, and scaled based on specific use case requirements, allowing flexible composition of system architecture without being locked into a single vendor's complete solution.
2Quantity of substance
If IoT systems are scaled to increasingly larger numbers of devices, then coverage and capability increase, but system complexity increases making deployment difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces standardized intermediaries including universal device profiles, common data models, and standardized communication protocols that act as mediators between diverse IoT devices and the backend system. These intermediaries abstract device-specific complexities, enabling scalable integration of large numbers of devices from different vendors without proportionally increasing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses parameter-based configuration and policy-driven management that allows operational parameters to be adjusted without changing system architecture. Management policies, resource allocation parameters, and device provisioning parameters can be dynamically modified to accommodate scaling requirements, maintaining manageable complexity even as device counts increase to millions.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual intervention is used in deploying IoT systems, then customization for specific use cases is achievable, but deployment time and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automated self-service capabilities including self-provisioning of devices, automatic configuration based on device profiles, and automated deployment workflows. The system can automatically detect device types, select appropriate vendor modules, configure parameters based on use case templates, and deploy without manual intervention, reducing deployment time from weeks to minutes while maintaining customization through automated policy enforcement.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses pre-configured templates, predefined device profiles, and prepared deployment packages that contain all necessary configurations and parameters for common use cases. These preliminary preparations allow rapid deployment by simply selecting and instantiating pre-packaged solutions, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual customization while still allowing adaptation through parameter modification.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus in one embodiment comprises a processing platform implementing an Internet of Things (IoT) distributed management system accessible to a plurality of user devices over at least one network. The processing platform is configured to determine IoT infrastructure for a given IoT deployment in at least one particular usage context, to control placement of multiple workflow processes for the IoT deployment over a plurality of distributed locations within the IoT infrastructure, and to manage execution of the workflow processes at the distributed locations in accordance with one or more constraints of the particular usage context. The IoT deployment comprises one or more IoT platforms each configured to interact with a different set of IoT devices. The placement of multiple workflow processes over the plurality of distributed locations illustratively provides a designated distribution of data, services, applications and analytics for the IoT deployment in the particular usage context.