IoT Prototyping Platform Using Sensor Hub Emulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Building prototypes of Internet-enabled devices (IoT devices) is expensive and time-consuming due to the complexity of integrating multiple physical components and different communication protocols, as well as the need for embedded software development.
Innovation Solution
A platform that allows for rapid prototyping of IoT devices by using an emulated environment with a sensor hub and prototyping platform, enabling developers to connect sensors and actuators without requiring hardware integration or writing embedded software from scratch, and allowing easy addition of new devices through module-based services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional hardware integration and embedded software development are used to build IoT device prototypes, then the prototype can be fully functional, but the process becomes expensive and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of physical hardware components through software emulators. The sensor hub and various sensors/actuators are replicated as software modules that simulate physical device behavior, allowing developers to prototype without actual hardware. This virtual copying approach maintains functional equivalence while dramatically reducing prototyping time and cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces physical mechanical integration with software-based simulation. Instead of physically connecting sensors, actuators, and processing units, the system uses software modules that emulate these components' behaviors. The sensor hub software manages virtual connections and data flows, substituting the complex mechanical assembly process with software configuration.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple different physical components and communication protocols are integrated, then the IoT device can support diverse sensors and actuators, but the integration complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal sensor hub software platform that can manage multiple types of sensors and actuators through a common interface. The hub software provides standardized protocols for communicating with diverse hardware components, allowing a single software framework to handle various sensor and actuator types without requiring separate integration logic for each component.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor hub acts as an intermediary layer between diverse sensors/actuators and the processing system. It translates different communication protocols into a unified internal representation, shielding the rest of the system from protocol variations. This intermediary approach maintains versatility while reducing integration complexity by centralizing protocol handling.
3Reliability
If embedded software is written from scratch for each prototype, then the software can be optimized for specific requirements, but the development time and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the software system into reusable modules: a core sensor hub software framework and separate sensor/actuator driver modules. Each sensor and actuator has its own independently developable module that interfaces with the common hub framework. This segmentation allows optimization of each module while enabling reuse across different prototypes, significantly improving development efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent provides pre-written software frameworks and template code for common sensor and actuator implementations. Developers can start with these pre-prepared components and only modify what is necessary for their specific application, rather than writing all software from scratch. This preliminary action reduces development time while maintaining optimization capabilities through targeted customization.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for prototyping Internet-enabled devices. One of the methods includes receiving a prototype program defining functionality of a proposed Internet-enabled device having a plurality of sensors and one or more actuators. A sensor hub receives a registration request through a prototyping API for each of the connected sensors and the one or more actuators. The sensor hub initializes each of the connected sensors and the one or more connected actuators, obtains a status of each registered connected sensor, provides the obtained status of each connected sensor to the prototyping system through the prototyping API, receives requested actions corresponding to functionality specified in the prototype program, and executes each of the requested actions on a corresponding connected actuator.