Sensor Broker Deployment for Multi-Protocol Service Onboarding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing distributed systems face challenges in seamlessly integrating and utilizing sensor devices due to hardware and software protocol differences, requiring manual configurations and limiting sensor use to a single application, which is inefficient in dynamic environments.
Innovation Solution
The deployment of universal sensor brokers that interact with various sensor types, allowing for dynamic discovery, integration, and utilization of sensor devices as services across the distributed system, eliminating the need for manual configuration and enabling scalability and resiliency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual configuration methods are used for sensor integration, then protocol compatibility can be achieved, but system complexity and integration time increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a broker as an intermediary component that sits between applications and sensor devices. This broker handles protocol translation and communication, allowing sensor devices with different protocols to be integrated without requiring manual configuration for each device. The broker mediates the communication, resolving protocol incompatibilities automatically.
Solution Approach 2:
The broker is designed as a universal component that can handle multiple sensor protocols simultaneously. Instead of creating specialized integration code for each sensor type, the universal broker provides multi-protocol support, enabling a single component to serve multiple functions across diverse sensor devices.
2Ease of operation
If sensor devices are bound to single applications, then configuration simplicity is maintained, but system flexibility and resource utilization decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the relationship between sensors and applications by introducing the broker as an intermediate layer. Instead of direct one-to-one binding, the sensor-broker-application architecture allows multiple applications to connect to the same sensor through the broker, enabling resource sharing while maintaining simple configuration for each application.
Solution Approach 2:
The broker creates virtual representations or copies of sensor interfaces that can be accessed by multiple applications simultaneously. Each application interacts with its own broker interface, which is a virtual copy of the actual sensor connection, allowing multiple applications to use the same physical sensor without direct conflicts.
3Productivity
If dynamic sensor discovery and deployment are implemented, then system scalability improves, but computational overhead and deployment complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service mechanisms where the broker automatically discovers sensor devices, detects their protocols, and configures appropriate communication handlers without human intervention. The system performs self-configuration and automatic registration, eliminating manual deployment steps while managing the complexity internally within the broker.
Solution Approach 2:
The broker performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring protocol handlers and communication templates in advance. When a new sensor is discovered, the broker can quickly deploy appropriate configuration based on pre-prepared templates, significantly reducing deployment time while managing complexity through advance preparation.
Data Source
AI summary
Certain aspects of the disclosure provide a method, comprising discovering a sensor device, over a connection, by a discovery node of a distributed system; deploying a custom broker, by the discovery node, to connect to the sensor device, wherein the deploying of the custom broker is based on a common protocol of the custom broker and the sensor device; connecting the discovery node to the sensor device via the custom broker; reading, by the custom broker, data from the sensor device; onboarding the sensor device onto the distributed system, wherein the onboarding comprises mapping a unique sensor device identifier from the data to metadata associated with one or more applications on the distributed system; and adding sensor device data to a sensor device inventory on the distributed system, to represent the sensor device as a resource abstraction, wherein the resource abstraction can be instantiated as a service.