IoT Gateway Event-Command Linking for Heterogeneous Device Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing IoT solutions lack mechanisms to effectively link event notifications and control commands across heterogeneous devices, limiting the automation of logically related activities.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that allow users to link event notifications from a source device to commands on a target device, enabling automatic execution of these commands when the event notification is detected, through mechanisms such as storing trigger definitions on a control device or pushing them to the source device, allowing for direct invocation on target devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If existing IoT solutions are used, then devices can be connected and communicate, but mechanisms to link event notifications and control commands across heterogeneous devices are lacking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a gateway device as an intermediary that receives event notifications from source devices and translates them into control commands for target devices. The gateway maintains a mapping between event types and control commands, enabling heterogeneous devices to work together without direct integration. This mediator approach resolves the contradiction by providing adaptability through event-command linking while managing complexity centrally in the gateway rather than in each device pair.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway device performs multiple functions: receiving event notifications from diverse source devices, translating events into appropriate control commands, and sending commands to various target devices. This multi-functional approach enables the system to handle heterogeneous device connections universally, improving adaptability without requiring separate integration mechanisms for each device type combination.
2Extent of automation
If manual configuration of device control is implemented, then users can control individual devices, but automation of routine activities requires significant user configuration effort
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-defining mappings between event notifications and control commands in the gateway. Once configured, these mappings are automatically applied when events occur, eliminating the need for users to manually configure automation logic each time. This resolves the contradiction by enabling automation while reducing configuration effort to a single setup phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway automatically detects event notifications from source devices and autonomously translates and executes appropriate control commands without requiring continuous user intervention. The system serves itself by maintaining and applying the event-command mappings automatically, achieving high automation with minimal operational user effort after initial configuration.
3Productivity
If event notifications are broadcast without linking mechanisms, then devices can operate independently, but automated response to specific events cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway acts as an intermediary that captures event notification information and preserves the linkage between events and appropriate control commands. By maintaining this mapping information centrally, the system prevents loss of event-command relationships while enabling automated responses, thus improving productivity without losing critical linkage information.
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes a feedback loop where event notifications trigger automated control commands through the gateway's mapping mechanism. The gateway monitors events, retrieves the appropriate command mappings, executes commands, and can log the event-response relationships. This feedback mechanism ensures event-command linkage information is preserved and utilized for automated responses, enhancing productivity.
Data Source
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AI summary
Mechanisms to trigger commands on target devices when source devices broadcast certain notifications to thereby automate common, routine, or otherwise related activities among heterogeneous devices are provided. For example, when a source device broadcasts a notification that arrives at a control device, a trigger that links the notification to a command on the target device may be defined and stored at the control device, which may then automatically invoke the command on the target device when the source device broadcasts the notification again in the future. In other use cases, the trigger and the linked command may be pushed to the broadcasting source device, which may then invoke the command on the target device when broadcasting the notification in the future, or a listener may be configured on the target device such that the target device may invoke the command in response to locally detecting the notification linked thereto.