IoT Protocol Handler for Cross-Protocol Translation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing complexity of IoT protocols and proprietary standards in wireless communications poses a challenge for seamless communication between devices of different manufacturers, leading to incompatibility and difficulties in updating standards within IoT networks.
Innovation Solution
A protocol handler system is introduced, comprising a protocol component and an IoT protocol translator component, which aggregates and translates communication protocols across various standards and proprietary protocols, enabling seamless communication between client devices and servers by mapping relationships and updating parameters, rules, and formats within an IoT network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple different communication protocols and proprietary standards are supported in IoT networks, then device compatibility and communication capability are improved, but system complexity and difficulty of maintenance increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a gateway device as an intermediary component that mediates between client devices using different protocols and the server. The gateway contains a protocol translator that converts between multiple proprietary protocols and a standardized IoT protocol, allowing devices from different manufacturers to communicate without directly supporting each other's protocols. This mediator approach resolves the contradiction by centralizing protocol translation functionality, thereby improving device compatibility while containing system complexity within the gateway rather than distributing it across all devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway device is designed with multi-functionality to handle multiple communication protocols simultaneously. It can translate between various proprietary protocols (Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth Low Energy, etc.) and the standardized IoT protocol, making it a universal interface for diverse devices. This universal gateway approach allows the system to support many different protocols without requiring each client device to be complex, thus improving adaptability while managing complexity through consolidation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If proprietary protocols from different manufacturers are translated into a standardized IoT protocol, then interoperability between devices is improved, but translation accuracy and data integrity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The protocol translator performs parameter changes by mapping protocol-specific parameters from proprietary protocols to standardized IoT protocol parameters. The system identifies corresponding parameters between different protocols and transforms their values, data types, and formats while preserving the semantic meaning. This parameter mapping approach maintains data integrity by ensuring that translated parameters accurately represent the original device states and commands, thereby achieving both interoperability and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms to verify translation accuracy. The gateway device monitors translated communications and can detect errors or inconsistencies in the protocol translation process. By incorporating feedback loops that validate data integrity after translation, the system ensures that interoperability is achieved without compromising the reliability of transmitted information.
Data Source
AI summary
A protocol handler communicatively coupled to client devices in an internet of things (IoT) network can operate to update manufacturer specific parameters for corresponding different protocols. A protocol component of the protocol handler can map updates from different manufacturers or different manufacturer servers to a translator dataset of a look-up table. The updates can be mapped to an IoT protocol as IoT parameters based on the associations of the look-up table between the different protocols. An IoT translator component can translate communications back and forth from manufacturers or their servers of different communications protocols to one or more of the client devices and vice versa, in which the client devices are associated with different protocols, and can also communicate to one another via the IoT translator in the IoT protocol.