CN116803059A - Apparatus, network, method and computer program for configuring a distributed intelligent network - Google Patents

Apparatus, network, method and computer program for configuring a distributed intelligent network Download PDF

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Publication number
CN116803059A
CN116803059A CN202280011614.2A CN202280011614A CN116803059A CN 116803059 A CN116803059 A CN 116803059A CN 202280011614 A CN202280011614 A CN 202280011614A CN 116803059 A CN116803059 A CN 116803059A
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network
gateway device
temporary
information
temporary gateway
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P·戴克斯勒
B·厄尔德曼
L·T·罗曾达尔
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Signify Holding BV
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Signify Holding BV
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Priority claimed from PCT/EP2022/050604 external-priority patent/WO2022157060A1/en
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Abstract

The present invention relates to a network device 110 for configuring a network 100 to enable the network to work with a gateway device 130. When the gateway device is present in the network, the gateway device is adapted to act as a gateway within the network, wherein the gateway device is not in the network during configuration. The network device is adapted to provide information indicative of characteristics of the network and related to the gateway device, store the information such that the gateway device can access the information, and configure the network based on the information such that the gateway device can act as a gateway when present in the network, wherein the network is configured as if the gateway device were present in the network. Thus, the utilization of gateway devices not used for network installation can be simplified.

Description

Apparatus, network, method and computer program for configuring a distributed intelligent network
Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device, a network comprising the device, a method and a computer program for configuring a distributed intelligent network to enable the network to work with temporary gateway devices.
Background
Today, independent home or office automation and control systems (e.g., intelligent lighting systems) are becoming increasingly popular in both consumer and professional fields. During installation of such a system, the system is provided with a specific set of rules that allow the system to autonomously manage and control its intended home or office applications. However, in many cases, a need arises to reconfigure the system or to provide new software to the system. For this reason, most home or office application network systems are provided with a fixed gateway, i.e. a device that is a permanent part of the network, which allows the network to connect to the internet or other networks in the vicinity of the system. However, if a network refers to a distributed intelligent network, i.e. a network in which tasks related to network control and functionality are distributed among all network devices without fixedly assigning tasks to specific network devices, it is often difficult to provide one device with the ability to form a fixed gateway. In this case, a temporary gateway is typically connected to the distributed intelligent network for configuration purposes. Such temporary gateways are known to the system and can be connected to and disconnected from the system to act as gateways whenever necessary. However, introducing new temporary gateway devices to the network is often time consuming, difficult, or even requires the presence of temporary gateway devices for installing the network during the installation process. It is therefore desirable to provide a possibility that allows the system to work with temporary gateway devices that do not exist at the time of installation or previous configuration of the distributed intelligent network.
Disclosure of Invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device, a network comprising the device, a method and a computer program allowing to simplify the use of a temporary gateway device by a distributed intelligent network, which temporary gateway device is different from the temporary gateway device used during installation of the distributed intelligent network.
In a first aspect of the invention a network configuration device for configuring a distributed intelligent network to enable the network to work with a temporary gateway device is presented, wherein the temporary gateway device is adapted to act as a gateway within the network when the temporary gateway device is present in the network, wherein the temporary gateway device is not present in the network during configuration, wherein the network configuration device comprises a) a network information providing unit for providing network information indicative of characteristics of the network, wherein the network information is related to the gateway device for performing its role as gateway in the network, b) an information storing unit for storing the network information such that the temporary gateway device can access the network information for the purpose of performing its role as gateway in the network, and c) a configuration unit for configuring the network based on the network information such that the temporary gateway device can act as gateway when present in the network, wherein the network is configured as if the temporary gateway device is present in the network.
Since the information storage unit stores network information so that the temporary gateway device can access the information for the purpose of joining the network and functioning as a gateway, the temporary gateway device can directly access the information and join the network without having to first negotiate with the network for provision of the information. Furthermore, since the configuration unit is adapted to configure the network based on the network information such that the temporary gateway device may act as gateway when present in the network, wherein the network is configured as if the temporary gateway device were present in the network, the network is already configured if the temporary gateway device joins the network after configuration with the configuration unit, and the temporary gateway device may directly start to act as gateway for the network without having to first configure the network for its tasks. Thus, a time-consuming and complicated installation procedure of the temporary gateway device as a gateway in the network can be omitted and the temporary gateway device can be used directly with the network. Thus, the utilization of temporary gateway devices not used for network installation can be simplified.
The network configuration device is adapted to configure the distributed intelligent network to enable the network to operate with a temporary gateway device, wherein the temporary gateway device is adapted to act as a gateway within the network when the temporary gateway device is present in the network. In particular, the temporary gateway device is not in the network during configuration by the network configuration device. Furthermore, the network configuration device may be further adapted to configure the distributed intelligent network to enable the network to operate with more than one, preferably a plurality of different temporary gateway devices, which gateway devices may preferably be used simultaneously with the distributed intelligent network.
The network configuration device may be any device, for example, a stand-alone device adapted to configure a distributed intelligent network. Alternatively, the network configuration device may be part of another device, such as a smart phone, a personal computer, a laptop, a user interface, etc. Furthermore, for the configuration of a distributed intelligent network, multiple network configuration devices may also be used in parallel. Additionally or alternatively, the functionality provided by the network configuration device may also be distributed over a plurality of individual devices, which then together form the network configuration device.
Typically, the network has three basic functions (sensing, control and actuator functions) distributed over the device. The control function may be provided by a sensor or switch provided in the network, may be provided by one or more actuators of the network (e.g. lighting devices), or may be provided by a dedicated device (e.g. a hub/gateway device), whereby the hub/gateway device may provide intelligence by itself or by communicating with devices in the cloud, for example. The latter possibility refers to a centralized control architecture, since all events are managed by a central dedicated device. For example, in such a centralized system, sensor events arrive at a central device, and the central device determines which lamps need to be controlled. A distributed network refers to a network that does not provide such a central control function and omits a dedicated central device.
A distributed intelligent network refers to a network configured to share network tasks (e.g., control of functional tasks of the network) among some or all of the network devices that are part of the network. In particular, a distributed intelligent network does not include specific network devices that fixedly assign tasks to the network. The term "intelligent" in this context indicates that the distributed intelligent network is adapted to redistribute network tasks between network devices based on conditions. For example, if a first network device is assigned a task to control communication between network devices, but suddenly the communication between the first network device and the remaining network devices is disturbed, this task to control communication may be provided to a second network device, in which case the second network device provides better communication between all network devices. Thus, in general, distributed intelligent networks also do not include a centralized and fixed gateway device that provides communication between the network and, for example, the internet.
In general, a gateway refers to a device configured to allow a network to communicate with another network (e.g., the internet, another network in an area, internal or external cloud storage, etc.), where the communication of the network with the other network is provided and controlled by the gateway. The communication between the networks provided by the gateway may be a "direct" communication, in which the gateway is connected to both networks at the same time; or "indirect" communication, in which the gateway is connected to both networks at different times, such that in this case the communication between the networks is time-shifted by the gateway. For example, the gateway may first connect to the first network and receive messages for the second network, and then disconnect from the first network. After a period of time, the gateway may then connect to the second network and pass the message of the first network to the second network. Preferably, the gateway device is adapted to provide direct communication between two networks by connecting to both networks simultaneously. Temporary gateway devices then refer to gateway devices that are not permanently present in the network, but may be connected to the network in case the network requires gateway tasks. If the task is no longer needed, the temporary gateway device may be disconnected. The temporary gateway device may be any device providing the corresponding functionality. Preferably, the temporary gateway device is part of a handheld and portable computer device that provides connectivity to other networks, such as the internet. For example, the temporary gateway device may be represented by an application installed on a smart phone, tablet, laptop, user interface, or the like.
The network information providing unit is adapted to provide network information indicating characteristics of the network. The network information providing unit may be a storage unit on which the network information is stored, and the network information may be retrieved from the storage unit. Furthermore, the network information providing unit may be a retrieving unit for retrieving network information from at least one network device, e.g. being part of a network that should be configured, wherein the network information providing unit is then adapted to provide the received network information. Furthermore, the network information providing unit may also receive network information as input from the user, e.g. via a user interface, and may then be adapted to provide the received network information. Network information refers to information on the network related to the gateway device performing its task as a gateway in the network. In particular, the network information may include information about network credentials, network addresses, information about network devices, information about network packets, information about network security measures, information about permissions given to temporary gateway devices, and the like.
The information storage unit (which may also be regarded as an information storage controller) is adapted to store network information such that the temporary gateway device may access the information for the purpose of acting as a gateway in the network. In particular, the information storage unit may be adapted to store network information such that the temporary gateway device may access the information before and/or after joining the network. In particular, network information necessary for joining the network may be stored so that the temporary gateway device may access the information before joining the network, and information available for a task as a gateway may be stored so that the temporary gateway device may access the information after having joined the network. For example, the information storage unit may be adapted to store the network information on an external memory or an internal memory of the network, or may be adapted to distribute the network information in the network, e.g. based on the storage capabilities of the network device. In a preferred embodiment, the information storage unit is adapted to store the network information in the virtual cloud storage such that the temporary gateway device can access the information in the virtual cloud storage for the purpose of acting as a gateway for the network. Virtual cloud storage refers to computing storage external to a distributed intelligent network and is accessible by multiple devices, particularly by temporary gateway devices. Virtual cloud storage may refer to computing storage provided in the field, particularly in the same building or by the same company as a distributed intelligent network, e.g., providing storage services that are accessible only by residents of the building or employees of the company. However, virtual cloud storage may also be storage provided in a global network (such as the internet), which may be accessed by multiple users.
In a further preferred embodiment the information storage unit is adapted to store at least network information on at least one network device of the network, the network information being different from the data necessary for the temporary gateway device to access the network. For example, the information storage unit may store information (such as security measures) necessary for the temporary gateway device to join the network in the virtual cloud storage or any other external storage so that the temporary gateway device can access the information before joining the network. However, other network information (e.g., network device addresses, network device packets, etc.) relevant to the temporary gateway device performing its task as a gateway, which is not necessary for joining the network, may be stored by the information storage unit in the storage of at least one network device of the network, such that the temporary gateway device may access this portion of the network information after it has joined the network. In a preferred embodiment, the information storage unit is adapted to store the network information by distributing the network information to different network devices based on the network information. For example, the network information may comprise information about the storage capabilities or communication bandwidths of the network devices of the network, and the information storage unit may be adapted to distribute the network information to different network devices for storage based on the network device information. In particular, the information storage unit may be adapted to store more network information on the network device than other network devices of the network, including higher storage capacity, higher communication bandwidth, more connections to other network devices, etc. In such embodiments, the temporary gateway device may then join the network using network information stored outside the network, and may then search the network device itself for other information related to performing its task as a gateway in the network. Preferably, in this case, the information storage unit is adapted to store information about the distribution of network information only on one specific network device or outside the network, such that the information about the distribution of network information can be easily accessed by the temporary gateway device before or after having joined the network.
The configuration unit is adapted to configure the network based on the network information such that the temporary gateway device may act as a gateway when present in the network, wherein the network is configured as if the temporary gateway device were present in the network. In particular, the configuration unit may use the network information to prepare one or more of the network devices to allow contact with the temporary gateway device, or may configure security measures of the network such that the temporary gateway device (e.g. a particular temporary gateway device) is allowed to join the network. In particular, the network is configured as if the temporary gateway device is present in the network, i.e. as if the temporary gateway device has joined the network. For example, in this case, the configuration unit may simulate as a temporary gateway device, or generally act as a temporary gateway device during configuration. Preferably, in order to simulate a temporary gateway device, the configuration unit may be provided with information about the non-existing temporary gateway device, e.g. via a connection to a storage device storing the information (e.g. cloud storage), or by an input of a user of the configuration device. The information may refer to an identity of the temporary gateway device, information about a user of the temporary gateway device, credentials of the temporary gateway device, etc. Furthermore, the configuration unit may be adapted to implement temporary gateway device information, which refers to specific behavior expected by a temporary gateway device (preferably a possible proxy device) of the network device. These specific actions may refer to specific beacon patterns, announcements, etc., and may also be part of the information about the temporary gateway device.
Preferably, the configuration unit is adapted to configure the network based on the network information such that more than one temporary gateway device may act as gateway when present in the network, in particular when present in the network at the same time. Further, in this case, the network is configured as if there is more than one temporary gateway device in the network. In this case, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network, for example by defining access rights, permissions, allocations between the network device and the temporary gateway device, etc. for the different temporary gateway devices.
In an embodiment, the configuration unit is adapted to configure reporting functions of the network such that the network performs reporting functions as if the temporary gateway device were present in the network. Reporting functionality may refer to any functionality that includes reporting information from one or more network devices of a network to a gateway, where the gateway may then provide the reported information to other networks, such as the internet, a management network in a facility for managing the functionality of different networks, another network in the vicinity of the network, and so forth. In particular, the network (i.e., the network device) performs reporting functions as if the temporary gateway device were present in the network. Thus, the network device provides a report, for example, to a specific network address, which refers to the network address occupied by the temporary gateway device when present in the network, or the network device broadcasts or multicasts a report, and assumes that the temporary gateway device is present in the network to receive the report.
In a preferred embodiment, the configuring of the reporting function as if the temporary gateway device were present in the network comprises configuring the reporting function such that reporting messages sent to the temporary gateway device when the temporary gateway device is not present in the network are less frequent and/or have a different message time pattern than when the temporary gateway device is present in the network. For example, when no temporary gateway device is present in the network, the configuration unit may configure the network such that the reporting message is sent in time when the communication traffic of the network (i.e. the communication traffic between network devices of the network) is low, in particular below a predetermined threshold. This prevents the network from suffering from network delays caused by reporting messages sent for non-existent temporary gateway devices. In general, a network device that sends reports at regular intervals may be notified, for example, by a potential proxy of a temporary gateway device that is not present in the network and may then be configured by a configuration unit to reduce reporting frequency, preferably to zero.
In one embodiment, configuring the reporting function as if the temporary gateway device were present in the network includes configuring the reporting function such that when the temporary gateway device is not present in the network, a reporting message is stored to the temporary gateway device such that when the temporary gateway device joins the network, the stored reporting message is provided to the temporary gateway device. The stored report messages provided to the temporary gateway device may refer to all report messages sent since the last connection of the temporary gateway device to the network, a subset of these sent reports, the last N report messages before joining (where N may be determined, for example, by the user), a summary, or a compressed form of information in the report (e.g., statistics on the information), and so forth. For example, in such an embodiment, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that at least one network device of the network receives all or some of the report messages and stores the report messages in its memory such that it may provide the report messages to the temporary gateway device after it has joined the network, e.g. as described above.
In an embodiment, the configuration unit is adapted to configure the network such that tasks performed by one or more network devices of the network relating to the management of joining and memorization of temporary gateway devices are distributed between the network devices based on the network information. For example, the network information may comprise device information indicating device characteristics of the network devices of the network, such as storage capacity, connectivity, etc., such that the configuration unit may be adapted to assign tasks related to the management of joining and memorization of the temporary gateway device to the network device most suitable for the task. Furthermore, the network information may also comprise information about the locations of the network devices (e.g. about their surroundings), such that the configuration unit may be adapted to distribute tasks related to the joining and the management of the temporary gateway device based on the information about the surroundings of the network devices. An exemplary application of such an embodiment is where the network information comprises information that one of the network devices is located near a door of the room, such that it would be advantageous when the temporary gateway device can join the network via the network device near the door. In this example, it is also advantageous if the tasks related to the joining of temporary gateway devices and the management of memory are also mainly distributed to network devices in the vicinity of the door. However, in another example, tasks may also be propagated over a network, i.e. provided by a plurality of devices including devices distributed over a large area (e.g. an open office) such that there is always network device available which can manage the joining and memorization of temporary gateway devices. Furthermore, some nodes may be excluded from providing such functionality based on their location in space, e.g., because they must provide more important functionality or are not suitable for such tasks.
In an embodiment, the configuration unit is adapted to configure the network such that when the temporary gateway device joins the network, a network device is selected that can act as a proxy such that the temporary gateway device joins the network via one or more of the selected proxy network devices. An agent may be considered a device that acts as an intermediary between the temporary gateway device and the network such that requests or messages from the temporary gateway device are sent to the network via the agent, and vice versa. The temporary gateway device may join the network via one of the selected proxy network devices or via more than one of the selected network devices. In particular, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that it is communicated to the temporary gateway device, whether it may join the network using one of the selected proxy network devices or using more than one of the selected proxy network devices. For example, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that this information is provided to the temporary gateway device, optionally together with rules for selecting and connecting to one or more of the selected proxy network devices. In particular, the configuration unit is adapted to configure the network by selecting a network device that can act as a proxy for the temporary gateway device based on the network information (e.g. based on device information being part of the network information). Furthermore, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the selected network device such that it may act directly as a proxy. For example, the selected network device may be configured as if the temporary gateway device has been in contact with the selected network device.
In a preferred embodiment, the configuration unit is adapted to configure the network such that addressing information of the network is stored and maintained by the selected proxy network device such that the addressing information of the network can be used by the temporary gateway device when the temporary gateway device joins the network. Addressing information may refer to any addressing scheme used by a network for addressing a particular network device that sends and/or receives messages. For example, if the network refers to a Zigbee network, the addressing information may refer to a Zigbee address map. The addressing information then allows the temporary gateway device to communicate directly with the network device without delay.
In a preferred embodiment, the configuration unit is adapted to configure the selected proxy network device such that the temporary gateway device may communicate with the network by using the identity of the proxy network device through which the temporary gateway device joins the network, or such that the temporary gateway device may communicate with the network by replacing the network identity of the proxy network device through which it is connected to the network with its own network identity as long as the temporary gateway device is present in the network, or such that the temporary gateway device may communicate with the network using both the identity of the temporary gateway device and its own identity. The identity of the proxy network device in the network may refer to, for example, a network address of the proxy network device in the network, and the temporary gateway device may use the network address when communicating with the network. Thus, network devices other than proxy network devices do not have to learn additional network addresses for communicating with temporary gateway devices that can simply send messages to the temporary gateway devices by using the network addresses of the proxy network devices. In this case, the temporary gateway device has the same permissions as the proxy network device. Alternatively, the temporary gateway device may replace the identity of the proxy network device with its own network identity. An advantage of this embodiment is that the temporary gateway device may be provided with a different set of permissions than the proxy network device, which may be advantageous when the temporary gateway device should be used to configure the network in such a way that the proxy network device is not allowed to do so, or when the temporary gateway device is not allowed to perform certain operations on the network while the proxy network is allowed to do these operations. Further, alternatively, the temporary gateway device may communicate with the network using both the identity of the temporary gateway device and its own identity at the same time, for example by using two network addresses which may be provided with different sets of permissions.
In an embodiment, the network configuration device further comprises a security element, wherein the security element is adapted to configure the network such that the security measures are in place when the temporary gateway device wants to join the network. The security measure may be, for example, a password requested by the temporary gateway device when the temporary gateway device wants to join the network. Furthermore, the security measures may also relate to the identity of the temporary gateway device that is kept in the network, so that the temporary gateway device first has to show that it matches the identity when it wants to join the network. Thus, with this embodiment, it is possible to prevent an unauthorized temporary gateway device from joining the network and possibly using the license of the authorized temporary gateway device in the network.
In a further aspect of the invention, a network is presented, wherein the network comprises a plurality of network devices and has been configured by a network configuration device according to claim 1.
In another aspect of the invention a network configuration method for configuring a distributed intelligent network to enable the network to work with a temporary gateway device is presented, wherein the temporary gateway device is adapted to act as a gateway within the network when the temporary gateway device is present in the network, wherein the temporary gateway device is not present in the network during configuration, wherein the network configuration method comprises the steps of:
Providing network information indicative of characteristics of the network, wherein the network information is associated with the gateway device for performing its task as a gateway in the network,
storing the network information so that the temporary gateway device can access the network information for the purpose of performing its task as a gateway of the network, and
the network is configured based on the network information such that the temporary gateway device may act as a gateway when present in the network, wherein the network is configured as if the temporary gateway device were present in the network.
In a further aspect of the invention a computer program for configuring a distributed intelligent network is presented, wherein the computer program comprises program code means for causing a network configuration device as defined in claim 1 to carry out the steps of the method as defined in claim 14, wherein the computer program is carried out by the network configuration device.
It shall be understood that the network configuration device of claim 1, the network of claim 13, the network configuration method of claim 14 and the computer program of claim 15 have similar and/or identical preferred embodiments, in particular as defined in the dependent claims.
It is to be understood that the preferred embodiments of the invention may also be any combination of the dependent claims or the above embodiments with the corresponding independent claims.
These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from and will be elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.
Drawings
In the following figures:
FIG. 1 schematically and exemplarily illustrates an embodiment of a network of a plurality of network devices including a network configuration device, and
fig. 2 shows a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method for configuring a network.
Detailed Description
Fig. 1 schematically and exemplarily shows an embodiment of a network, in particular a distributed intelligent network 100 with a plurality of network devices 120, wherein the distributed intelligent network 100 comprises a network configuration device 110. The distributed intelligent network 100 is formed by network devices 120, the network devices 120 communicating with each other via communication signals 121 and maintaining the distributed intelligent network 100. The network device 120 is preferably a smart lighting device, but may also refer to other smart devices having other functional capabilities. In general, smart devices are considered devices that include, in addition to their primary functions, for example, their lighting functions, additional functions (e.g., network functions, communication functions, sensing functions, etc.). Signal 121 is used to maintain the network or for communication between network devices 120. The network configuration device 110 is adapted to communicate with the network 100, in particular with at least one of the network devices 120, by using wired or wireless communication signals 114. The network configuration device 110 may be a stand-alone device or may be integrated in one of the network devices 120 or may be integrated in another functional device adapted to communicate with at least one of the network devices 120. Preferably, the network configuration device 110 is part of a handheld device (such as a smart phone, tablet computer, or any other portable computing device).
In general, network configuration device 110 is adapted to configure distributed intelligent network 100 to enable the network to work with temporary gateway device 130. As indicated by the dashed line in fig. 1, temporary gateway device 130 is not present during configuration of distributed intelligent network 100. When the temporary gateway device 130 is present in the distributed intelligent network 100, it should act as a gateway for the distributed intelligent network 100 and may communicate with the distributed intelligent network 100, for example via communication signals 131.
The network configuration device 110 includes a network information providing unit 111, an information storage unit 112, and a configuration unit 113. The network information providing unit 111 is adapted to provide network information indicative of characteristics of the distributed intelligent network 100. In particular, the network information is related to the temporary gateway device 130 for performing its task as a gateway in the network. For example, the network information may refer to access information for the distributed intelligent network 100, network device information indicating characteristics of at least one of the network devices 120, such as functions, storage capabilities, communication capabilities, tasks in the network, the local environment of the network device, network communication information (such as network addresses for communication between the network devices 120, communication channels for communication, network protocols), and so forth.
The information storage unit 112 is then adapted to store the network information so that the temporary gateway device 130 can access the network information for the purpose of joining the network and performing its task as a gateway in the network. For example, the information storage unit 112 may be adapted to store network information in a virtual cloud storage provided by an owner of the distributed intelligent network 100. Temporary gateway device 130 may then be adapted to access the virtual cloud storage and the network information provided on the virtual cloud storage not only prior to joining distributed intelligent network 100, but also during or after joining distributed intelligent network 100. Thus, the information storage unit 112 may be adapted to store network information, for example in a data format known to the temporary gateway device 130, or in a data format generally known for exchanging information between different devices, in particular between network devices. Further, the information storage unit 112 may be adapted to store the network information in a storage location, which may be provided to the temporary gateway device 130 directly (e.g. via a communication between the network configuration device 110 and the temporary gateway device 130 at a certain point in time) or indirectly (e.g. via a user who knows the storage location of the network information and provides the knowledge to the temporary gateway device 130).
The configuration unit 113 is adapted to configure the distributed intelligent network 100 based on the network information provided by the network information providing unit 111 such that the temporary gateway device 130 may act as a gateway when present in the network. In particular, the configuration unit 113 is adapted to configure the distributed intelligent network 100 as if the temporary gateway device 130 is present in the distributed intelligent network 100. For example, the configuration unit 113 may configure the network 100 by configuring the reporting function of the distributed intelligent network 100 to the temporary gateway device 130 as if the temporary gateway device 130 already exists in the distributed intelligent network 100. Furthermore, the configuration unit 113 may be adapted to configure the distributed intelligent network 100, for example by configuring at least one of the network devices 120 such that when the temporary gateway device 130 joins the distributed intelligent network 100, they may act directly as proxy devices for the temporary gateway device 130. Other examples and embodiments of the configuration of the distributed intelligent network 100 provided by the configuration unit 113 will be explained in more detail below.
An exemplary application of the configuration device as described above is the case: wherein a lighting installer (e.g. an electrician) establishes a distributed intelligent lighting network, wherein subsequently, after the electrician has left for several weeks, the building manager arrives and wants to add his/her smartphone as a temporary gateway device to the network. Since in this example the distributed intelligent lighting network does not include network devices (such as smart lights) with sufficient processing power to perform gateway tasks, the gateway should virtually run on the facility manager's smart phone. Furthermore, the facility manager is often unfamiliar with the installation software necessary to install and configure the network, but is more familiar with management software that may include visualizations for managing the lighting functions of the network. In this case, the lighting installer may have configured the network using, for example, a configuration device as part of its installed software and/or hardware to accept the smart phone of the facility manager running its own software as a temporary gateway for the short duration of the distributed intelligent lighting network setup. In this case, the lighting installer/electrician does not need to physically exist when the facility manager uses his/her smartphone as a temporary gateway device. In this case, however, the network configuration device may comprise a security element adapted to add as a security element the consent required by the electrician, which consent may be performed remotely via the installed software or cloud system. For example, the consent may involve the security element being adapted to generate a ephemeral access code, which is transmitted to the temporary gateway device. The ephemeral access code may allow, for example, the temporary gateway device to access network information from the cloud environment, such as Zigbee network credentials, node packets, and other relevant network information of the distributed intelligent lighting network. Alternatively, the network information (e.g., zigbee network credentials) may be directly transmitted to the temporary network device, e.g., via SMS, email, or the like.
In many applications, more than one distributed intelligent network coexist in each building. Thus, depending on the location of the facility manager smartphone within the building, at a given moment, a first network of a first floor may be connected to the smartphone as a temporary gateway device, while a second network on a second floor is not connected to the temporary gateway device and continues to operate in an independent manner. Thus, in such embodiments, a single smartphone may act as a temporary gateway device for multiple independent distributed intelligent networks. Thus, cumbersome and expensive installation of a (IP-based) backbone network connecting e.g. a plurality of gateways on different floors via ethernet cables can be omitted.
The above-described network configuration device allows the temporary gateway device to smoothly join the network if the temporary gateway device, for example, reenters an area where the distributed intelligent network is installed. For example, the configuration unit: the network devices may be adapted to be configured such that they can handle temporary gateway devices that may "leave", for example, in the case where the temporary gateway device is an iPad on a conference room wall that is occasionally dead; and the distributed intelligent network may be configured to forget or remember the temporary gateway device. Furthermore, the network may be provided with a forewarning by the temporary gateway device that the temporary gateway device is starting or is about to disappear from the network. Furthermore, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure a detection mechanism of the at least one network device for detecting a re-occurrence of the temporary gateway device, and may be adapted to configure a detection mechanism for detecting how the network device of the temporary gateway device shares the information with other network devices in the network. Furthermore, the network configuration device may be adapted to configure decision criteria for the temporary gateway device to join. For example, it may be configured whether to allow the temporary gateway device to enter the network, or to use a collaboration mechanism (e.g., majority voting and/or arbitration among multiple temporary gateway devices). Thus, the above-described embodiments allow a temporary gateway device (e.g., a smart phone as a temporary gateway device) to seamlessly join a network at any time after network installation. In particular, the above embodiments describe how to implement temporary gateway functionality of a distributed intelligent network without requiring that temporary gateway devices were physically present in the network space, especially during network installation.
Typically, the configuration device immediately configures the network device as if a temporary gateway device, such as a smart phone of an administrator of a facility that does not exist during setup of the distributed intelligent lighting network by the installer, is already part of the system. For example, the information storage unit may be adapted to store network information (e.g., network credentials, addresses, device information, packets, etc.) in the virtual cloud storage for later use. The temporary gateway device may then access the network information in the virtual cloud storage and immediately begin working in the network upon arrival. In one embodiment, the configuration unit may additionally or alternatively be adapted to configure the reporting function of the network to temporary gateway devices not currently present in the building/area. In particular, the configuration unit may be adapted to add reporting functions to the network for later use. This has the advantage that the addition of reporting functions when the temporary gateway device joins the network can be avoided, which may lead to a longer delay before the network can be controlled and/or data from the network is available to the temporary gateway device. The configuration of reporting functions may include some functions that keep reports valid for the period of time when the temporary gateway device is not present in the network.
The configuration device may be adapted to perform different configurations of reporting functions. For example, the reporting function may be configured to switch data records without a temporary gateway device. Alternatively or additionally, the reporting function may be configured to switch to a lower reporting frequency without the temporary gateway device. Furthermore, the reporting function may be configured to stop reporting when the temporary gateway device is not in the network. The reporting function may be configured by the configuration unit such that it is performed by employing broadcast messages to all other network devices and, if present, to the temporary gateway device as well. This has the following advantages: when the temporary gateway device is not present in the network, the reporting will not fail, which would be the case when unicast reporting to the temporary gateway device is used. Furthermore, if the network device is configured to act as a proxy for the temporary gateway device, the reporting function may be configured to send all reports to the proxy device via unicast or broadcast. The configuration unit may then configure the agent to store the report, a selection of the report, or a summary/aggregation of the reporting information (e.g., statistics of the information provided by the report), depending on the storage capabilities of the agent device. Then, when the temporary gateway device connects, it can read out the information from the proxy device.
The configuration units may additionally or alternatively be adapted to install different networks in the same area (e.g. the same house or facility) to utilize the same radio frequency channels, e.g. in case their respective spaces are linked to each other in daily use. This may simplify simultaneous interaction (if necessary) of the temporary gateway device (e.g. a facility manager's smartphone) with multiple networks.
In some applications, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that the identity (e.g. configuration or address) of the temporary gateway device is fixed. This may be advantageous when the temporary gateway device is a dedicated box or gateway robot/drone that only occasionally enters the network once, for example to change network configuration, check network/device health, or provide a software upgrade. In this case, the temporary gateway device may have its own IEEE address, short address, etc., and may use this address every time it joins the network.
In some other applications, for example, in case the smart phone is occasionally connected into the network by a proxy node using a bluetooth low energy connection, the temporary gateway device may be connected by a different proxy node each time. The configuration unit may for example be adapted to configure the network such that the temporary gateway device may use the identity (e.g. address, device capabilities, etc.) of the proxy network device through which it is connected to the network. This embodiment is advantageous if the task to be performed by the temporary gateway device does not require any special permissions. Such general tasks may involve adding some network devices to the distributed security network, changing reporting frequencies, binding, configuring sensors/switches, reading device statistics, functional control (e.g., lighting control), etc. In this case, when the temporary gateway device is disconnected from the network, only information related to the gateway role remains in the network, and not information related to the host proxy network device remains in the network. For example, while all network devices may cease reporting energy consumption once the temporary gateway device leaves, the proxy network device to which the temporary gateway device is connected should remain operational in the network, e.g., so that it may still react to occupancy detection in its area.
In an alternative embodiment, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that the temporary gateway device may replace the identity of the proxy network device to which it is connected with its own identity, at least in the part required for the task to be performed. For example, if the temporary gateway device is assuming the role of a trust center, the network device expects the trust center command to come from a specific address (e.g., IEEE address and short address 0x0000 as stored previously) and be protected with a previously established trust center link key. The network configuration device may be adapted to provide such parameters to the proxy network device so that the temporary gateway device may utilize this information. In some embodiments, the proxy network device may be configured to obtain the address of the temporary gateway device. However, it may then not provide its functionality to the network. For example, if the occupancy sensor binds with the IEEE address of the light proxy node, but the address is replaced by the trust center IEEE address used by the temporary gateway device, the light will cease responding to the occupancy event for the duration of the temporary gateway device connection. However, if network information on configuration information related to the proxy network device is provided by the information storage unit so that the temporary gateway device can access the information, this can be prevented. In some embodiments, at least a portion of this information may be stored on other network devices, such as a green power agent that controls the switching/sensors of the network devices or forwards green power communications to the network information. Alternatively or additionally, the information storage unit may be adapted to make the information available in the virtual cloud storage. The temporary gateway device may also be adapted to manipulate the information such that it reflects the identity that the temporary gateway device will use in the network, e.g. it may add a second unicast binding to the sensor controlling the proxy network device or may replace an existing unicast binding. The temporary gateway device may then exchange identities with the proxy network device. Once all temporary gateway device tasks are completed, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to restore the configuration that was changed before it was disconnected from the network to its original state. Furthermore, the proxy device may also be configured to act at least briefly as two network devices, one including its own addressing and functionality, and the other with the addressing and functionality of the connected temporary gateway.
In one embodiment, to support the temporary gateway device when selecting an agent for connecting to the network from the selected agent network devices, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the selected agent device to transmit information indicating its usefulness to the temporary gateway device. For example, the selected proxy network device may be adapted to send a beacon message comprising information about any one of: their status in the network, the number of neighboring network devices, the number of stored network information or messages, etc. However, the temporary gateway device may also be configured to store information about the usefulness of a proxy network device selected from previous connections to the network, and then make a decision on the connection based on that information. Furthermore, the temporary gateway device may simply connect to the same selected proxy network device each time. This allows for example to reuse all information and connection routines of the device each time. In particular, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure such a "favorite" proxy network device for the network, for example by configuring the selected proxy network device such that after one of the selected proxy network devices has been connected to the temporary gateway device, the selected proxy network device is indicated as a favorite selected proxy network device of the temporary gateway device. In this case, the network may be configured such that information of a specific temporary gateway device or another network to which the specific temporary device should be connected is always transmitted and stored on a favorite proxy device of the temporary gateway device. Furthermore, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that if the temporary gateway device wants to connect to the network, only the corresponding favorite proxy device is available to the temporary gateway device.
In one embodiment, a temporary gateway device, for example provided as part of a smart phone, may include its own dedicated proxy node, and it may be adapted to configure it appropriately for the network to be joined. In this way, the configuration of the network devices in the network remains unmodified and any special means/interfaces may also be omitted, for example to read/write IEEE addresses and link keys.
For many applications, this would be advantageous when the temporary gateway device could utilize a mesh network, i.e. be able to communicate with a remote network device from one location. For example, in the case where the temporary gateway device performs maintenance actions of the network using the Zigbee communication protocol, the user may first open dedicated maintenance software on the temporary gateway device and then the temporary gateway device may be configured to initiate bluetooth low energy scanning.
In the first scenario, it is assumed that the user has not yet known which of potentially many found networks should be connected to, so he/she first sets the temporary gateway device to scan in the vicinity of the temporary network device. The temporary gateway device is then adapted to collect advertisements of combined radios of nearby network devices, wherein the PAN-ID indicates whether the network device is part of the network. The temporary gateway device is then adapted to present the scan results (e.g. network and node identities) to the user, wherein the ordering may be random, but preferably may also refer to ordering by RSSI and/or by PAN-ID. The user may then select one of the networks/network devices provided in the report. The temporary gateway device is then configured to establish a bluetooth low energy connection to the node. Thereafter, the temporary gateway device is adapted to open an overview of the selected network, e.g. a list of network devices with unknown states or with last known states and time stamps, during running of the maintenance software.
In another scenario, the temporary gateway device automatically starts to discover the current status of all network devices of the network, such as the on/off status or brightness of the lighting network devices. Alternatively, the status of the entire network or individual network devices may be discovered as desired. In another scenario, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to store static information about the network device, e.g. information including the activation endpoint, simple descriptors, identity of the device type, etc., such that the information does not need to be rediscovered.
In one example, the temporary gateway device may be adapted by sending a read attribute request (on/off) to a network device using an IEEE address using a list of network devices to identify the target network device. If the network device is not a neighbor of the active proxy network device, this results in the broadcast of an NWK addr req command first to find the network short address of the target network device and a RREQ (route request) command second to find the route from the proxy network device to the target network device. If multiple network devices are queried for a short period of time, this may exceed the default Zigbee broadcast budget of 9 broadcasts, e.g., 9 seconds. In this case, the temporary gateway device may send an M2O RREQ (multi-pair route request) command where all network devices in the network create a path back to it, but not yet send a RREC (route record) command reply because this is triggered only by unicast communications. The temporary gateway device may then be adapted to read the NT (neighbor table) and/or Address Map (AM) of the proxy network device, wherein the AM comprises a mapping of IEEE addresses to network short addresses of devices in the network. However, in some cases, the NT and/or AM and/or routing tables in the proxy device may also be populated even before the proxy device connects with the temporary gateway device (e.g., based on link state or other messages sent in the network, and/or messages actively sent by the proxy device), where the RREQ and/or NWK addr req command(s) sent by the temporary gateway device may be omitted, and the NT and/or AM may be read directly by the temporary gateway device. Furthermore, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to provide a source routed message to each router that is a neighbor of the active proxy network device, which in turn queries for some useful state. Further, the network device may trigger a unicast RREC message or, in the case of a proxy network device's neighbor, may skip the trigger because the destination (i.e., the proxy network device) is in its neighbor table. The proxy network device or the temporary gateway device may be adapted to store updates of the source route when the RREC message is received. Furthermore, the network device is adapted to send a unicast status response. The temporary gateway device is then adapted to read the NT of the particular network device, e.g. by applying a source route unicast procedure, and store a list of devices accessible at a 2-hop distance. If the network device is accessible via a plurality of 1-hop neighbors, as seen in the neighbor's link state message, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to select the one with the best LQI (link quality indication). To extend it beyond the 2-hop distance, a mgmt_lqi_req query may be sent to network devices at the 2-hop distance to receive their neighbor list. The above step of receiving a useful state from a network device may be repeated for devices at a distance of 2 hops or more to eventually collect data from all nodes in the network. Because the temporary gateway device is adapted to discover network devices using topology information of the network, it may also use this information to store source routes in order to limit the amount of memory required. For example, for each device in the network, the temporary gateway device may store a previous hop en route to that network device so that the temporary gateway device can build the entire source path. In such a scenario, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to store the routing information for each network device only once, even though it will likely be present in the NTs of a plurality of other network devices. For example, if the link cost to the subsequent neighbor is better, the temporary gateway device may take the first appearance of the network device or replace it with the subsequent appearance.
As an alternative, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to store source routes from previous connections to the network to send M2O RREQ messages and then send status requests in any order. The temporary gateway device may then be adapted to update the received RREC.
As a further alternative, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to store the source route and address of the active proxy network device from a previous connection to the network. In this case, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to recalculate the route of the current access point if the temporary gateway device is connected to the network using a different access point (e.g. another configured proxy network device). For example, the temporary gateway device was previously connected to proxy a, and it stores routes to B and D: a, B, A, D; and routing to C: a, B and C. If it is now connected at D, it can recalculate the route as: D-A, D-A-B; D→A→B→C as the first approximation. The temporary gateway device may be adapted to subsequently send M2O RREQ messages, send status requests in any order, and update the RREC upon receipt. Further, instead of calculating the source route and the first route for any given location, the complete NT/network topology information may be stored. Another option is that the configuration unit has selected and configured some preferred proxy network devices to which the temporary gateway device may be connected, as already described above. These selected proxy network devices may be configured, inter alia, to continue maintaining routes even without temporary gateway devices. The connectivity status may be provided when the temporary gateway device discovers a preferred proxy network device. However, the user of the temporary gateway device may still decide to connect to the non-preferred proxy network device at the cost of additional delay associated with route discovery. Once the current status of all/some of the network devices is known and the routes are established, they can be manually controlled/OTA upgraded, etc. using the temporary gateway device.
In some applications, it may also be advantageous to clear the route to the temporary gateway device after the temporary gateway device has left the network. The configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network to follow the following exemplary routine for removing the many-to-one entry created by the active proxy network device. The network may be configured to first send an leave message with rejoining that should clear the network layer rather than the application support layer and higher layers. However, if the temporary gateway device has the task of a trust center, this may lead to a possible interruption of the Zigbee end device and to a collapse of the whole network. Furthermore, the request is communicated only through a single hop.
Alternatively, the network may be configured such that the temporary gateway device takes another short address during the time of the bluetooth low energy connection and leaves that address once the connection is closed. In this case, however, the temporary gateway device does not respond to unicast of its regular address and if the temporary gateway device acts as a trust center, the entire network is parsed again.
Alternatively, the network (and in particular the selected proxy network device) may be configured to allow two short addresses in parallel at the proxy network device, a regular short address and a short address of the proxy network device itself, during the time of the bluetooth low energy connection. For example, the Zigbee green power protocol allows transmission from an additional address but does not allow reception. In this case the configuration unit may be adapted to extend the MAC address, store both addresses, or change the MAC address to promiscuous mode and filter at a higher layer.
Alternatively, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that a new proprietary/standard command is defined, which optionally announces the concentrator and turns off the concentrator again, wherein the last message results in the removal of the M2O route to the device. Additionally, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that new means are defined for indicating in the M2O RREQ message that the route to the temporary gateway device is transient. In this case, it may be configured such that if the route is not refreshed for a period of time, it will automatically be removed by all network devices storing it after a timeout without requiring a special purge action. The refresh period of the M2O RREQ message may be defined as part of a communication standard, the network may be adapted to receive the parameter from the temporary gateway device, or the network may be configured to provide the temporary gateway device with an expected value of the parameter.
Alternatively, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that a new proprietary/standard "short leave" command is defined to indicate that the device leaves the network briefly. Optionally, the transmitted short leave command may also include the cause of the leave and the expected duration of the leave. As a result, some information about the device (e.g., routing) may be removed and other information (e.g., binding, reporting, etc.) may be marked as briefly disabled/inactive. Furthermore, the information to be removed and briefly disabled may be part of a short leave command so that the leave device can control how the information is handled. For example, if the temporary gateway device may be connected to the same proxy network device in the future, e.g., facility staff always enters an office building from an elevator, the network may be configured to machine learn where in the network the person connected to the mobile temporary gateway device is and deactivate rather than remove the information. If the temporary gateway device is likely to be connected at a different proxy network device each time, the network may be configured to remove all information about the temporary gateway device. This configuration is preferred for the case where the network is configured such that the temporary gateway device (if a smartphone) uses its own identity instead of the identity of the proxy network device through which it is connected. As an extension, standard/proprietary means may be defined for the network device to indicate whether it is expected to join the network briefly or permanently. The temporary gateway device may then be set to be transient. In this way, the other device is instructed to treat the temporary gateway device as well as the ephemeral device in the network, e.g. not to select it as the parent device of the Zigbee end device, or to avoid using it as an intermediate node if multiple next hops would be available leading to the same cost when constructing the route, a permanent next hop may be preferable. Furthermore, if the path cost through a permanent next hop would be slightly higher within a defined threshold than the path cost through the next hop of the transient device, a more costly stable path is still preferred because it has a lower risk of having to be rediscovered due to the disappearance of the transient network device. As a further alternative, the configuration unit may configure the network such that new network level routing commands are defined for selectively removing routes.
Essentially, the temporary gateway device may appear at a random access point in the network and only be present/active in the network at selected times, so it may not have ready available routes for the network devices with which it needs to communicate. Furthermore, given the temporary nature of the temporary gateway device existing in the network and the unknown location of the next rejoin of the network, the tasks associated with enabling communication with the temporary gateway device (such as addressing and routing) should have minimal impact on the network. In one embodiment, if a bluetooth low energy is used in the network to connect from the temporary gateway device to a network device having combined bluetooth low energy and Zigbee capabilities, the temporary gateway device is preferably capable of connecting to any one of the network devices, but not a specific one. Thus, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that the temporary gateway device may enter the Zigbee network using another network device as a proxy network device each time when connected to the distributed intelligent lighting network.
The presence/entry of the temporary gateway device is preferably announced, e.g., by the temporary gateway device or by an agent connected to the temporary gateway device on behalf of the temporary gateway device sending an M2O RREQ to establish a route to the temporary gateway device and implicitly announce the presence of the temporary gateway device to network devices in the network. Furthermore, it is preferable that the configuration unit configures the network such that the network device added to the network without the temporary gateway device performing the TC role is configured to delay the TCLK update procedure until the gateway exists on the network. The announcement procedure as described above may then be used to trigger the start of the procedure.
Currently, firmware updates of a network (e.g., a distributed intelligent lighting network having many network devices that utilize gateway devices) are a problem for professional installers. Due to the potential problem of firmware updates for large mesh networks, an installer is preferably present whenever an Over The Air Update (OTAU) is performed. However, in many cases, OTAU is very time consuming, which results in idle waiting time for the installer. In this case, the use of the temporary gateway device may ensure that the firmware update is installed more reliably and more quickly. For such applications, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network devices in the network to locally act as an interactive OTAU server for its immediate network devices. In addition, the network may also be configured to use "OTAU broadcast" commands, as all/many network devices typically require the same code.
Smartphones that serve as temporary gateway devices for OTAU purposes can be implemented in many forms. For example, a smartphone/tablet may be attached to a desk or wall of a conference room, where the conference room may feature a distributed intelligent network. The smart phone/tablet may virtually run a gateway application, e.g., an application that displays an ambient light effect synchronized with content played on another device of the network. However, the smartphone/tablet requires periodic charging, which means that occasionally the tablet is dead, for example, in the event that someone has disconnected a charger plugged into the tablet in a meeting room, or has shut down some of the building power powering the tablet for maintenance reasons. Thus, the gateway tends to disappear and thus the above-described configuration device may be used to prepare (i.e. configure) the network accordingly.
The smart phone as a temporary gateway device may also be attached to a cleaning cart for home management/maintenance personnel, a robotic vacuum cleaner, or some device carried by security personnel who must regularly patrol all areas of the building, or implemented on the mobile device of one or more building occupants. This has the following advantages: the temporary gateway device traverses the building on a regular basis and can therefore periodically read out data or provide data to devices in all networks in the building. The temporary gateway device may have a permanent or transient data plan to connect with the outside world, such as a 3G, 4G, 5G, etc. network connection or Wi-Fi connection. In one example, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to utilize a wired connection to transmit aggregated building data to a building management network or cloud server when the temporary gateway device is securely docked/charged in/to the trusted facility management base station. The temporary gateway device may be adapted to operate one interface at a time, e.g. it may perform a first task via the facility manager application network, disconnect, perform any tasks it has in the lighting control network, and may leave the distributed intelligent lighting network again and, if necessary, reconnect to the building owner network again and report the result. Temporary gateway devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets or notebooks) may feature Zigbee interfaces, such as embedded or as pluggable dongles. Alternatively, the temporary gateway device may be able to tunnel Zigbee traffic through another transport protocol (e.g., bluetooth low energy connection). A personal lighting control application running on a corporate smartphone is used as a temporary gateway device used by building occupants (e.g., employees of a tenant) to, for example, control lighting in a conference room, which may be extended under control from, for example, a vendor and/or facility managed cloud to provide additional tasks/modules, such as real-time clock updates, OTAU, schedule reconfiguration, collection of maintenance data from a particular room, etc. These tasks can be accomplished by a company's released handset as a temporary gateway device, completely invisible to the smartphone user, to avoid user interference with maintenance. Some functions, such as a reset of the temporary gateway device, or even a telephone function (e.g. power down), may be temporarily blocked. In order to ensure that the information provided or collected by the temporary gateway device is trusted, even if the temporary gateway device itself is not trusted, the information may be protected in such a way that it may not be manipulated by the temporary gateway device itself, e.g. the information may be encrypted or signed. This may be the primary temporary gateway device operating mode or "emergency mode", for example when emergency security patches need to be applied to the network. Depending on the selected mode of operation and the urgency of the update, additional actions may be activated when the user initiates the basic functions of the temporary gateway device, or the temporary gateway device may be activated as a background process under cloud control.
In the case of a distributed temporary gateway, it is advantageous if network coverage is guaranteed. The temporary gateway device may be configured to report to the virtual cloud storage the individual networks/devices that it detects in its vicinity. The virtual cloud storage may then be configured to check if there are any pending tasks, e.g., data provisioning/readout for those detected devices, and instruct the temporary gateway device to perform certain actions on certain networks/devices if needed. Alternatively, the network configuration device may configure the network to define the networks/devices and tasks for which a particular temporary gateway device is responsible. This may be based on, for example, a typical movement or control pattern of the temporary gateway device, e.g. being located at an employee's desk location, etc. To ensure complete coverage, dedicated users may be assigned to areas that employees do not go to very often or areas that have not yet been updated, so that a quick implementation of safety critical software updates to all devices in the network is ensured.
For efficiency, the update/maintenance action may be a hybrid solution. For example, instead of addressing all network devices on a particular network, the temporary gateway device may update the software of one particular network device on the network, e.g., via OTAU or piece-wise configuration software addition/removal. The configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that the network device may further distribute software images and/or information in its network and collect its status, or collect status and maintenance data, e.g. from the network, such that reports are ready when the temporary gateway device is connected again.
In addition to configuring network devices of the network for network and control operations, an installer of the distributed intelligent network may also configure at least one network device using the network configuration device as part of his/her installation device for subsequent integration with other temporary gateway devices (e.g., maintenance applications of a facility manager running on a smart phone of a building owner).
As part of its gateway function, each such temporary gateway device may have at least one of the following tasks: (i) A connection function in which it connects the network interface of the first network to the second network, for example, it provides a Zigbee-bluetooth low energy interface between the user's smartphone and the network device, and/or (ii) a control function in which it is responsible for controlling the data flow between the two interfaces, for example, for aggregating or filtering data exposed by the first network, and filtering, properly addressing or blocking queries and commands from the second network. For example, in the case of a Zigbee to bluetooth low energy interface, the selected temporary gateway device may be programmed with a bluetooth low energy service of the second network in addition to/instead of any service on which it is installed so that it may be discovered and used by the second network.
Managing the joining and memorization of temporary gateway devices requires some processing resources within the distributed intelligent network. Typically, for example, in a distributed intelligent lighting network, all network devices are resource constrained. Thus, a network configuration device connected to the distributed intelligent network may be adapted to inventory network devices present in the network as part of the network information, and then to configure the network to assign tasks related to temporary gateway management to the network devices. Once the configuration devices disappear, the network devices may continue to perform their tasks. The configuration device, which may be part of the first temporary gateway device connected to the network, is adapted to distribute the processing across the network devices in a very simple manner due to its processing power. Thus, within the network itself, no arbitration process and central coordination are required.
The configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network such that the proxy function is implemented as a shared function in some or all network devices based on the network information. For example, the network information may indicate that storing the entire network information may be too many for one node due to memory/processing issues, but that different network devices may cooperate such that neighboring nodes may each store a portion of the network information. The configuration unit may then be adapted to configure the network accordingly. The temporary gateway device may then connect to each of those network devices that include partial network information one by one to quickly retrieve complete network information. The establishment of the network information distribution between the network devices by the configuration unit may be established during an initialization of the network access or when a temporary gateway device comprising the configuration device is first contacted with the network.
Further, the configuration device may be adapted to configure the network such that each network device stores at least a portion of the network information, for example by using some digital relationship between the network devices. For example, a network device whose MAC address ends in binary code 000 may store information of all network devices whose MAC addresses end in binary code 000 in the network. In this way, each network device stores only 1/8 of the network information, which allows network devices with low storage capability to be included as well. In this example, the temporary gateway device may connect to 8 network devices to obtain all network information required. Based on the known numerical relationships, the temporary gateway device can infer in what order the 8 network devices are connected. The temporary gateway device may be adapted to connect first to a network device whose address ends with binary code 000, then to a network device whose address ends with binary code 001, etc. Alternatively, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to be connected to a network device, wherein the network device is configured by the configuration unit such that in this case the network device collects data that it does not have itself from neighboring network devices.
In one example, the network may be adapted to communicate with and maintain the network using Zigbee communication protocols. In the Zigbee protocol, two types of network addresses are used, an IEEE address of 8 bytes as the MAC/long address of a network device, which is fixed during its lifetime, and a network address of 2 bytes as a short address, which is obtained when joining the network and which can be changed, for example, when address conflicts have to be resolved. The configuration device may be adapted to store network information, e.g. as a configuration backup, e.g. in the cloud or even in the temporary gateway device. In particular, as the network information, an IEEE address for unicast communication with the network device may be stored because it is fixed. Additionally or alternatively, a group network address for multicast communication may also be stored as network information. However, when unicast communication is performed using the Zigbee protocol, a network address of a destination is required. Typically, in the Zigbee protocol, a mapping of IEEE addresses to network addresses is maintained for all network devices. Thus, the temporary gateway device may utilize the mapping to access information about the network address. In particular, if a higher layer requests unicast communication with an IEEE address whose network address is unknown, the Zigbee protocol indicates that the network address is found by transmitting a broadcast nwk_addr_req communication.
In particular in the case when a temporary gateway device is requested to communicate quickly with a large number of devices, for example in order to obtain the current state of the network, the above mentioned possibilities lead to a plurality of broadcast messages, which may lead to serious network congestion and/or delays. Thus, the network configuration device may be adapted to store the mapping of addresses as network information such that the temporary gateway device may directly access the information, e.g. by accessing a virtual cloud storage or a storage of the network device. In this embodiment, the network configuration device may be adapted to store an address map of all network devices in a memory of a selected proxy network device through which the temporary gateway device may be connected to the network. Alternatively, if the address mapping is too large for the network configuration device, the data may also be stored on multiple network devices, as already described above. In particular, based on the network information, the configuration unit may be adapted to determine which network device comprises a capability that allows the network device to store a proxy address map having addresses of the entire network, and to select such network device as a proxy network device. Furthermore, in case the at least one network device comprises bluetooth low energy communication capabilities in addition to Zigbee communication capabilities, the network configuration device may be adapted to configure the network device such that if it is a direct neighbor of the selected proxy network device, the current short address is transmitted to the temporary gateway device via bluetooth low energy without any Zigbee communication being involved. Additionally or alternatively, the network configuration device may be adapted to configure the network such that the selected proxy network device and/or all network devices keep track of all long/short address mappings, for example by broadcasting all changes to the network devices and/or monitoring route related messages sent by other devices on the network. The network may then be configured, for example, as an application function to share this network information with the temporary gateway device via bluetooth low energy when the temporary gateway device is connected to the network. Further, the network and/or temporary gateway device may be configured to check whether network information stored by the virtual cloud or provided by at least one of the network devices is correct, e.g., up-to-date. For example, the configuration device may be adapted to configure the network device such that it is ensured that the tunneling service characteristics (e.g. for pushing Zigbee frames directly from the temporary gateway device over a bluetooth low energy connection with the proxy network device) use unicast to provide two addresses for the current communication partner (i.e. the network device). Furthermore, to ensure that the address provided by the virtual cloud storage is up-to-date, for example, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to send a unicast ieee_addr_req communication to the network address before using it. However, such checking may also be omitted if the expected address changes little, e.g., if the configuration device is no longer present and no device is added to the network. If a change occurs in this case such that the address information is no longer correct, the temporary gateway device may fail to communicate with the network device. In this case, the temporary gateway device may then be adapted to react as known.
In one embodiment, the configuration device may be adapted to configure the network such that each selected proxy network device stores address information for the entire network, such as Zigbee address mapping. In this case, the configuration device may be adapted to use the network information to determine which network devices have the respective capabilities. Typically, for example, for Zigbee protocols, network devices store only address information of the network devices with which they communicate, e.g., coordinator devices, binding devices, neighbor routers, zigbee end devices, child devices, etc. Thus, the configuration unit may be adapted to configure the network to provide dedicated functions which may always be run on the selected proxy network device, i.e. not only when the temporary gateway device is connected, wherein the dedicated functions are adapted to store and update address information. For example, the functionality may be configured to utilize Device announcements (device_announces) and RREQ commands and/or active network discovery at least at the beginning of the network. Depending on which network devices are selected as proxy network devices, all selected network devices may be configured to perform such functions. In particular, if all network devices of the network are selected as proxy network devices, all network devices of the network may run the functionality.
In one embodiment, the configuration unit selects only one proxy network device to connect with the temporary gateway device. In this case the temporary gateway device is always connected via that selected proxy network device. The configuration device may then be adapted to specifically configure the selected proxy network device to be ready to work with the temporary gateway device. For example, the selected proxy network device may be configured to maintain up-to-date address information. The information storage unit may be adapted to store address information (e.g. bluetooth low energy and/or Zigbee addresses) of the selected proxy network device as network information in the virtual cloud storage or other location so that the temporary gateway device can access it. Potentially, this information may also be stored in relation to other network devices in the network area, such as the radio range of the selected network device, so that a user (e.g. maintenance personnel) may be guided to reach the vicinity of the selected proxy network device, e.g. with a light effect. For example, the user's temporary gateway device may be adapted to utilize a plan view in order to guide the user to the selected proxy network device, e.g., by instructing the user to approach a window, by guiding the user with bluetooth low energy beacons transmitted in a certain direction by a regular grid of network devices, etc. In one embodiment, the network may be configured to allow the temporary gateway device to initially connect to any network device in the network, wherein the temporary gateway device may then be adapted to send a broadcast command requesting the selected proxy network device to identify itself. Transmitting such messages as a broadcast overcomes all addressing problems and the need for the reverse path to transmit any responses.
In general, the configuration unit may be adapted to select possible proxy network devices using the network information. For example, the type of network device may be used as the network information. In one example, the proxy function may be implemented in a network device type that has a lower count than other device types in the network, e.g., a wall switch network device of a room may be selected instead of a lighting network device. In such an example, the storage unit may be adapted to store the network device type as network information such that the temporary gateway device may access it and be aware that it needs to be connected to an optical switching device as a proxy network device, for example, instead of one of the lighting network devices. After configuration, the temporary gateway device may be made aware of the storage location and may, for example, download a list of selected proxy network devices or device types that it may connect to within the network. Based on the network information, e.g. location information about the network device, the configuration unit may be adapted to select the proxy network device such that a sufficient density of such devices is provided at any location in the building. Alternatively, the network may be configured to provide information about the type of proxy network device or network devices that should be connected via bluetooth low energy, e.g. the proxy network device may add a flag in its announcement indicating that it may be used as a proxy network device for the temporary gateway device and/or via Zigbee communication, e.g. the temporary gateway device may be connected to any network device, and then provided with information about which network device is the selected proxy network device or includes proxy capabilities for the tasks it needs to perform.
In one embodiment, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to discover the network information itself, e.g. to check for address updates, etc., when joining the network. In order to make the update affordable to the user, the temporary gateway device may be adapted to show the progress of the network update, for example, where the node to be checked is grayed out and as such the nodes that have been checked and available for communication are visible. The user may have initiated some action on the node that has been checked. Furthermore, the network may be configured such that once a connection with the proxy network device has been established, some operations may be performed, such as controlling all lamps in a group or controlling a group of lamps using multicast, assuming that the group id is known a priori to the temporary gateway device. This may in particular be such an operation that does not require e.g. route discovery or listing short addresses used in the network.
Typically, as part of the normal operation of a communication protocol (e.g., zigbee protocol), the proxy network device maintains up-to-date the address of the network device with which it communicates. Thus, optionally, the information about several addresses maintained by the network devices may be part of the network information, and the configuration unit may be adapted to select one network device as a proxy network device that maintains the most addresses or maintains several addresses exceeding a predetermined threshold, e.g. network devices in the middle of a room/area surrounded by many network devices may take precedence over network devices at the network edge. Alternatively, the network may be configured by the configuration unit such that the number of maintained addresses is available to the temporary gateway device (e.g. as part of a bluetooth low energy beacon) and may be explicitly considered by the temporary gateway device for selecting the network device to be used as a proxy.
Fig. 2 schematically and exemplarily illustrates a network configuration method for configuring a distributed intelligent network, such as distributed intelligent network 100, in order to enable a distributed intelligent network to operate with a temporary gateway device, such as temporary gateway device 130. The network configuration method 200 comprises a first step 210 of providing network information indicative of characteristics of the distributed intelligent network 100, wherein the network information is related to the gateway device 130 for performing its task as a gateway in the network 100. In step 220, the provided network information is stored so that temporary gateway device 130 may access the information for the purpose of performing its task as a gateway of the network. For example, according to one of the above embodiments, network information may be stored in this step. Further, in step 230, the distributed intelligent network 100 is configured based on the network information such that the temporary gateway device 130 may act as a gateway when present in the network. In particular, the distributed intelligent network 100 is configured as if there were a temporary gateway device 130 in the network. For example, according to one of the above embodiments, a distributed intelligent network may be configured during this step. In general, temporary gateway device 130 is not part of the distributed intelligent network or may not even exist in the vicinity of distributed intelligent network 100 during all steps 210, 220, and 230.
Although the above embodiments provide mainly details regarding embodiments in which the network utilizes Zigbee communication protocols, these embodiments may also be used with other communication protocols in which the corresponding communication functions of these protocols may then be used instead of Zigbee functions.
Although the above embodiments mainly provide details regarding embodiments in which the network refers to a distributed intelligent lighting network (i.e. a network mainly comprising lighting devices and mainly providing lighting functions), the described embodiments may also be adapted to networks with other functions, such as entertainment functions, home or office management functions, etc.
Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.
In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality.
A single unit or device may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.
A process performed by one or more elements or devices (e.g., providing network information, storing network information, or configuring a network) may be performed by any other number of elements or devices. For example, these processes may be performed by a single device or multiple different devices. These processes may be implemented as program code means of a computer program and/or as dedicated hardware.
A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium, supplied together with or as part of other hardware; but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the internet, or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems.
Any reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the scope.
The present invention relates to a network device for configuring a network to enable the network to operate with a gateway device, wherein the gateway device is adapted to act as a gateway within the network when the gateway device is present in the network, wherein the gateway device is not in the network during the configuration. The network device is adapted to provide information indicative of characteristics of the network and related to the gateway device, store the information such that the gateway device can access the information, and configure the network based on the information such that the gateway device can act as a gateway when present in the network, wherein the network is configured as if the gateway device were present in the network. Thus, the utilization of gateway devices not used for network installation can be simplified.

Claims (15)

1. A network configuration device for configuring a distributed intelligent network (100) comprising a plurality of network devices to enable the network to operate with a temporary gateway device (130), wherein the temporary gateway device (130) is adapted to act as a gateway within the network when the temporary gateway device (130) is present in the network, wherein the network configuration device (110) comprises:
a network information providing unit (111) for providing network information indicative of characteristics of the network, wherein the network information is associated with a gateway device for performing its task as a gateway in the network,
an information storage unit (112) for storing the network information so that the temporary gateway device (130) can access the network information for the purpose of performing its task as a gateway of the network, and
a configuration unit (113) for configuring the network based on the network information when the temporary gateway device (130) is not in the network, such that the temporary gateway device (130) may act as a gateway when present in the network, wherein the network is configured by preparing one or more of the network devices of the plurality of network devices to allow contact of the temporary gateway device and/or by configuring security measures of the network such that the temporary gateway device is allowed to join the network, as if the temporary gateway device (130) were present in the network.
2. The network configuration device according to claim 1, wherein the information storage unit (112) is adapted to store the network information in a virtual cloud storage such that the temporary gateway device (130) can access the information in the virtual cloud storage for the purpose of joining the network.
3. Network configuration device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the information storage unit (112) is adapted to store at least network information on at least one network device (120) of the network, the network information being different from the data necessary for the temporary gateway device (130) to access the network.
4. A network configuration device according to claim 3, wherein the information storage unit (112) is adapted to store the network information by distributing the network information to different network devices (120) of the plurality of network devices based on the network information.
5. The network configuration device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the configuration unit (113) is adapted to configure reporting functions of the network such that the network performs the reporting functions as if the temporary gateway device (130) were present in the network.
6. The network configuration device of claim 5, wherein the configuring of the reporting function as if the temporary gateway device (130) were present in the network comprises configuring the reporting function such that reporting messages sent to the temporary gateway device (130) when the temporary gateway device (130) were not present in the network are less frequent and/or have a different message temporal pattern than when the temporary gateway device (130) was present in the network.
7. The network configuration device of claim 5, wherein the configuring of the reporting function as if the temporary gateway device (130) were present in the network comprises configuring the reporting function such that a reporting message to the temporary gateway device (130) is stored when the temporary gateway device (130) is not present in the network such that the stored reporting message is provided to the temporary gateway device (130) when the temporary gateway device (130) joins the network.
8. The network configuration device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the configuration unit (113) is adapted to configure the network such that tasks performed by one or more of the network devices (120) of the plurality of network devices related to the management of joining and memorization of the temporary gateway device (130) are distributed among the network devices (120) based on the network information.
9. The network information device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the configuration unit (113) is adapted to configure the network such that when the temporary gateway device (130) joins the network, a network device (120) of the plurality of network devices that can act as a proxy is selected such that the temporary gateway device (130) joins the network via one of the selected proxy network devices.
10. The network configuration device according to claim 9, wherein the configuration unit (113) is adapted to configure the network such that addressing information of the network is stored and maintained by the selected proxy network device such that when the temporary gateway device (130) joins the network, an addressing information map of the network is available to the temporary gateway device (130).
11. The network configuration device according to any of claims 9 or 10, wherein the configuration unit (113) is adapted to configure the selected proxy network device such that the temporary gateway device (130) can communicate with the network by using the identity of the proxy network device through which the temporary gateway device (130) joins the network, or such that the temporary gateway device (130) can communicate with the network by replacing the network identity of its proxy network device (130) connected to the network with its own network identity as long as the temporary gateway device (130) is present in the network, or such that the temporary gateway device (130) can communicate with the network using both the identity of the temporary gateway device (130) and its own identity.
12. The network configuration device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the network configuration device (110) further comprises a security element, wherein the security element is adapted to configure the network such that security measures are in place when the temporary gateway device (130) wants to join the network.
13. A network comprising a plurality of network devices (120) and having been configured by the network configuration device (110) according to claim 1.
14. A network configuration method for configuring a distributed intelligent network (100) comprising a plurality of network devices to enable the network to operate with a temporary gateway device (130), wherein the temporary gateway device (130) is adapted to act as a gateway within the network when the temporary gateway device (130) is present in the network, wherein the network configuration method (200) comprises the steps of:
providing network information (210) indicative of characteristics of the network, wherein the network information is associated with a gateway device for performing its task as a gateway in the network,
storing the network information (220) such that the temporary gateway device (130) can access the network information for the purpose of performing its task as a gateway of the network, and
When the temporary gateway device (130) is not in the network, the network (230) is configured based on the network information such that the temporary gateway device (130) may act as a gateway when present in the network, wherein the network is configured by preparing one or more of the network devices of the plurality of network devices to allow contact of the temporary gateway device and/or by configuring security measures of the network such that temporary gateway devices are allowed to join the network as if the temporary gateway device (130) were present in the network.
15. A computer program for configuring a distributed intelligent network (100), wherein the computer program comprises program code means for causing a network configuration device (110) as defined in claim 1 to carry out the steps of the method (200) as defined in claim 14, wherein the computer program is executed by the network configuration device (110).
CN202280011614.2A 2021-01-25 2022-01-13 Apparatus, network, method and computer program for configuring a distributed intelligent network Pending CN116803059A (en)

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PCT/EP2022/050604 WO2022157060A1 (en) 2021-01-25 2022-01-13 Device, network, method and computer program for configuring a distributed intelligence network

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