IoT Device Onboarding Across Multiple Connectivity Protocols
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge of connecting diverse IoT devices from various vendors into a unified ecosystem is hindered by a lack of a universal language for interoperability, leading to customer dissatisfaction, increased costs, and security vulnerabilities in IoT deployments.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a device provisioning protocol (DPP) architecture with a diplomat and configurator facilitates secure and reliable onboarding of IoT devices across multiple connectivity protocols, enabling seamless integration and authentication through public key cryptographic techniques.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple connectivity protocols are used to support diverse IoT devices, then device compatibility and interoperability are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a gateway device that acts as an intermediary between IoT devices using different connectivity protocols. The gateway translates messages between protocols, enabling communication without requiring each device to support multiple protocols directly. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining device compatibility through protocol translation while keeping individual device complexity low.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway device is designed with multi-functionality to handle multiple connectivity protocols simultaneously. It can receive messages from devices using various protocols (WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc.) and forward them appropriately, making the system universally compatible without requiring each component to be complex.
2Reliability
If manual configuration and authentication are required for IoT device onboarding, then security can be ensured, but onboarding time and customer frustration increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring security credentials and authentication mechanisms during device manufacturing. Devices come with pre-provisioned security certificates and keys, so that during onboarding, authentication occurs automatically without requiring manual security configuration by the user. This maintains security while dramatically reducing onboarding time.
Solution Approach 2:
The onboarding process is designed to be self-service oriented, where the gateway automatically discovers devices, performs authentication, and configures connections without user intervention. The system handles security verification automatically, eliminating the need for customers to manually configure security settings while maintaining strong security standards.
3Device complexity
If a centralized authentication system is used for all IoT devices, then security management is simplified, but network latency and single point of failure risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the authentication system into distributed authentication nodes rather than a single centralized server. Each gateway or cluster of gateways can perform local authentication, dividing the centralized function into multiple decentralized units. This reduces network latency by performing authentication locally while maintaining simplified management through standardized authentication protocols across all nodes.
Data Source
AI summary
In some implementations, a network onboarding system may receive, over a first connectivity protocol, a uniform resource identifier (URI) for an IoT device. The network onboarding system may authenticate, over the first connectivity protocol, the IoT device based on the URI. The network onboarding system may exchange, with the IoT device, over the first connectivity protocol, a set of IoT device credentials with a set of onboarding credentials for an IoT network. The network onboarding system may configure a notify message that includes the IoT device credentials for transmission over a second connectivity protocol. The network onboarding system may perform, by the network onboarding system, a filtered discovery of the IoT device over the second connectivity protocol. The network onboarding system may onboard, over the second connectivity protocol, the IoT device onto the IoT network.