Rules Engine Message Routing via MQTT Hierarchical Topics
Solution Overview
Problem
Complex systems with rules engines face difficulties in managing and maintaining proper configurations, especially in routing decisions and actions, which can be time-consuming and prone to interference with the timely execution of rules.
Innovation Solution
A system that integrates a rules engine with a router configured to programmatically route results of rule execution using a hierarchical structure, supporting a publish/subscribe connectivity protocol like MQTT, allowing automatic publication of rule outputs to specific topics and enabling multiple processes to subscribe and process results without needing external interfaces or synchronization of configuration data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a rules engine is integrated with external interfaces for routing decisions, then routing flexibility is improved, but system complexity and configuration maintenance difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the rules engine with a message broker (publish/subscribe system) into a single integrated component. The rules engine directly publishes results to topics and subscribes to input topics without external routing interfaces. This consolidation eliminates the need for separate routing configuration while maintaining routing flexibility through topic-based publication and subscription mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The message broker serves multiple functions: it acts as the routing mechanism, the data distribution system, and the communication interface. The same publish/subscribe infrastructure handles both rule result distribution and sensor data input, eliminating the need for separate specialized interfaces and reducing overall system complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If additional software components are added for routing and configuration management, then routing control capability is improved, but ease of operation and maintenance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The rules engine autonomously publishes results to appropriate topics and subscribes to input topics using topic names derived from its own configuration. The system self-manages its routing without requiring external routing components or complex configuration synchronization. Each rule automatically determines its publication topic based on its configuration, eliminating manual routing setup.
Solution Approach 2:
The message broker acts as an intermediary that simplifies communication between the rules engine and other system components. Instead of the rules engine directly interfacing with multiple target systems, all communication goes through the standardized publish/subscribe mechanism, which handles routing, filtering, and distribution automatically based on topic subscriptions.
3Adaptability or versatility
If complex additional functions are added to enhance rules, then functional capability is improved, but execution time and stability are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments complex processing into two distinct phases: rule evaluation (time-critical) and result processing (flexible). The rules engine executes rules and publishes results without waiting for result processing, while complex additional functions process the published results asynchronously through subscriptions. This separation ensures that rule execution speed is not affected by the complexity of result processing functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The rules engine continuously executes rules and publishes results without interruption, maintaining steady execution flow. Complex additional functions continuously subscribe and process results in parallel, ensuring that useful actions (rule evaluation and result processing) continue simultaneously without blocking each other, thereby maintaining high execution throughput.
Data Source
AI summary
A networked system for managing a physical intrusion detection/alarm includes tiers devices and a rules engine and router to interact with the rules engine and rule engine results, where the router is configured to feed inputs to and receive outputs from the rules engine, and the router further configured to programmatically route results of rule execution by the rules engine to a hierarchical structure stored in computer storage for access by subscriber devices.