Self-describing Interfaces for Gateway Communication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies for interpreting data between gateways and peripheral devices require solutions to be implemented on both devices, leading to inefficiencies and increased development time due to the need for standardized interfaces and additional software installation.
Innovation Solution
A method where a gateway requests a device descriptor to self-describe its custom interfaces, allowing an interface agnostic application to translate the data without prior knowledge of the device, enabling interpretation and communication without additional software installation on the gateway.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If standard protocols and additional software are used to interpret data between gateways and peripheral devices, then communication reliability is improved, but device complexity and development time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The peripheral device autonomously generates and provides its own interface descriptor to the gateway, eliminating the need for the gateway to have prior knowledge of the device or require additional interpretation software. The device serves itself by embedding interface information in the descriptor, enabling the gateway to directly interpret data without complex software installations.
Solution Approach 2:
The interface descriptor is prepared in advance by the peripheral device, containing all necessary information about custom interfaces, data formats, and communication protocols. This preliminary preparation allows the gateway to immediately understand and interpret device data without requiring runtime software installation or complex interpretation logic.
2Adaptability or versatility
If custom interfaces are implemented on both gateways and peripheral devices, then communication capability is improved, but development time and software quality assurance increase
Solution Approach 1:
The interface descriptor acts as an intermediary document that bridges the peripheral device and the gateway. It contains standardized information about custom interfaces, allowing the gateway to interpret device data without requiring bespoke software development for each device-gateway pair. The descriptor mediates the communication by providing a universal interface description format.
Solution Approach 2:
The interface descriptor uses a universal data structure format that can describe any custom interface type. This single descriptor mechanism serves multiple functions: it describes device capabilities, defines data formats, specifies communication protocols, and enables gateway interpretation—all without requiring separate software solutions for each interface type.
3Measurement precision
If additional software is installed on gateways to interpret device data, then data interpretation accuracy is improved, but computing resources and network bandwidth increase
Solution Approach 1:
The peripheral device autonomously provides complete interface description information in the descriptor, enabling the gateway to directly interpret data using built-in logic. This eliminates the need for additional software installations that would consume computing resources, while maintaining accurate interpretation through the standardized descriptor format.
Data Source
AI summary
In one aspect, a request is sent to a device for a device descriptor that describes custom interfaces. The custom interfaces may be expressed according to a defined data structure. The device descriptor that describes the custom interfaces is received at a gateway. An interface agnostic application is executed to translate the device descriptor to the custom interfaces for consumption of the data described by the custom interfaces.