JP2020008928A - Gateway device and data transfer method - Google Patents

Abstract

To realize filtering capable of reducing the data volume of sensor data while suppressing processing load and flexibly coping with change of a system configuration.SOLUTION: A gate way device transfers sensor data acquired from a plurality of sensors to a computer, maintains list map management information which is used to manage a list map being information designating an element to be acquired from array type data, generates conversion data being array type data from the sensor data when acquired sensor data from the sensor, generates sensor information by acquiring an arbitrary element of the conversion data on the basis of the list map to be stored in the list map management information, and transmits the sensor information to the computer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for transmitting sensor data of a gateway device connected to a plurality of sensors.

  The use of systems that attach sensors to various IoT devices and utilize the values (sensor data) measured by the sensors is expanding.

  The sensor data is transmitted to a server that performs analysis and the like via a gateway device or the like. However, when sensor data is transmitted from all sensors, there is a problem that a network load and a processing load on a server increase.

  Therefore, various techniques are being studied as a technique for transmitting sensor data. For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a sensor data collection system that reduces the load on a server and the amount of communication and ensures real-time operation for highly urgent data. Patent Document 2 describes a sensor data processing method for effectively reducing the amount of sensor data without missing important sensor data for abnormality determination.

JP 2015-28742 A JP 2018-84854 A

  Since sensor data is an array of bits, data compression as described in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 may not be able to efficiently reduce the amount of sensor data to be transmitted.

  Therefore, if the gateway device can perform filtering to acquire only the data necessary for the service from the values included in the sensor data and transmit only the acquired values to the server, the data amount can be efficiently reduced. .

  However, it is necessary to set the filtering on the gateway device. In addition, it is necessary to add or change the setting of filtering with the addition of the service or the change of the service content. In order to set, add, and change the filtering, it is necessary to update the firmware of the gateway device or replace the gateway device. Since the number of gateway devices included in the system is enormous, there is a problem that the operation cost of the system increases.

  Further, since the sensor data is often data in the XML format, it is necessary to perform a full-text search in order to obtain a value matching the filtering setting from the sensor data. Therefore, the conventional filtering has a problem that the processing load is large.

  The present invention provides a system and a method for realizing filtering for reducing a data amount of sensor data, which can suppress a processing load and can flexibly respond to a change in system configuration.

  A typical example of the invention disclosed in the present application is as follows. That is, a gateway device for transferring sensor data obtained from a plurality of sensors to at least one computer, comprising a computing device, a storage device connected to the computing device, and an interface connected to the computing device, The storage device stores list map management information for managing a list map, which is information for specifying an element to be obtained from array-type data, and the arithmetic device includes, via the interface, at least one of the sensors. When the sensor data is obtained, conversion data that is array-type data is generated from the sensor data, and an arbitrary element of the conversion data is obtained based on the list map stored in the list map management information. Generating sensor information, and transmitting the sensor information to the at least one computer. To trust.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the filtering for reducing the data amount of sensor data which can suppress processing load and can respond flexibly to the change of a system configuration can be implement | achieved.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a system according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a gateway device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of conversion data according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of data structure definition information according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a list map according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a list map management method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of list map management information according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a flow of a process executed by the gateway device according to the first embodiment. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed when the gateway device according to the first embodiment receives a list map registration request. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed when the gateway device according to the first embodiment transmits sensor information. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed when the gateway device according to the second embodiment transmits sensor information. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed when the gateway device according to the second embodiment transmits sensor information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not construed as being limited to the description of the embodiments below. It is easily understood by those skilled in the art that the specific configuration can be changed without departing from the spirit or spirit of the present invention.

  In the structures of the invention described below, the same or similar structures or functions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the system according to the first embodiment.

  The system includes a gateway device 100, a plurality of sensors 110, and a plurality of servers 120. The system shown in FIG. 1 includes M sensors 110 and N servers 120.

  The gateway device 100 connects to a plurality of sensors 110 and a plurality of servers 120 via a network. The network is a WAN (Wide Area Network), a LAN (Local Area Network), or the like. The connection method of the network may be either wireless or wired.

  Note that the gateway device 100 may be directly connected to the plurality of sensors 110, or may be directly connected to the plurality of servers 120.

  The sensor 110 measures a value related to the monitoring object. The monitoring object is, for example, a home appliance or the like. The sensor 110 transmits sensor data 140 including a plurality of item values such as measured values to the gateway device 100. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the type of the monitoring object and is not limited to the type of the value measured by the sensor 110.

  The gateway device 100 generates the sensor information 150 using the sensor data 140 acquired from the sensor 110, and transmits the sensor information 150 to the server 120.

  More specifically, the gateway device 100 generates the sensor information 150 by converting the sensor data 140 into a two-dimensional array and acquiring a predetermined element (item value) of the two-dimensional array using a list map. The list map is information for specifying elements to be obtained from a two-dimensional array (array-type data). In the following description, a two-dimensional array generated by converting the sensor data 140 will be referred to as converted data.

  The gateway device 100 manages a list map set in each server 120 as described later. Therefore, the sensor information 150 transmitted to each server 120 does not always match. Since the sensor information 150 includes only the elements acquired from the sensor data 140, the data amount is small.

  The server 120 performs a process using the sensor information 150. For example, processing such as state analysis of the monitoring object is executed. The present invention is not limited to the processing executed by server 120.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the gateway device 100 according to the first embodiment.

  The gateway device 100 has a processor 200, a memory 201, and a network interface 202. The processor 200, the memory 201, and the network interface 202 are connected to each other via an internal bus or the like.

  The gateway device 100 may include a storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and an SSD (Solid State Drive), an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and an output device such as a display and a touch panel. Further, the gateway device 100 may have an IO interface connected to external input devices and output devices.

  The processor 200 is an arithmetic device having at least one arithmetic core, and executes a program stored in the memory 201. The processor 200 operates as a functional unit (module) that implements a specific function by executing processing according to a program. In the following description, when processing is described with the functional unit as the subject, it indicates that the processor 200 is executing a program for realizing the module.

  The memory 201 stores a program executed by the processor 200 and information used by the program. Further, the memory 201 includes a work area temporarily used by the program. The memory 201 may be either a volatile memory or a nonvolatile memory. The programs and information stored in the memory 201 will be described later.

  The network interface 202 is an interface for connecting to an external device via a network.

  Here, programs and information stored in the memory 201 will be described. The memory 201 stores a program that implements the control unit 210. Further, the memory 201 stores data structure definition information 220 and list map management information 230.

  The data structure definition information 220 stores the definition information of the conversion data. Details of the data structure of the converted data and the data structure definition information 220 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B.

  The list map management information 230 stores list map information. Details of the data structure of the list map and the list map management information 230 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C.

  The control unit 210 controls the entire gateway device 100. The control unit 210 includes a list map registration unit 211, a pre-processing unit 212, a data generation unit 213, and a transmission unit 214.

  The list map registration unit 211 receives a list map registration request from the server 120, and registers the list map information in the list map management information 230. The preprocessing unit 212 converts the sensor data 140 acquired from the sensor 110 into conversion data with reference to the data structure definition information 220. The data generation unit 213 generates the sensor information 150 by referring to the list map management information 230 and obtaining a predetermined item value from the conversion data. The transmission unit 214 transmits the sensor information 150 to the server 120.

  Each of the functional units included in the control unit 210 may combine a plurality of functional units into one functional unit, or may divide one functional unit into a plurality of functional units for each function.

  FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the conversion data according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the data structure definition information 220 according to the first embodiment.

  The data structure 300 shows the data structure of the conversion data. The conversion data is defined as a two-dimensional array as shown in FIG. 3A. The alphabet of each element represents the identification information of the item value. In the first embodiment, the horizontal direction of the converted data is called a row, and the vertical direction is called a column. Note that the sensor data 140 acquired from the sensor 110 does not necessarily need to include item values corresponding to all elements.

  The data structure definition information 220 stores an entry including an ID 301, a data name 302, and an element 303. One entry corresponds to one element of the conversion data.

  The ID 301 is a field for storing entry identification information. The data name 302 is a field for storing identification information of the item value stored in the element. The element 303 is a field for storing identification information for specifying an element of the conversion data. The element 303 stores, for example, a combination of a row number and a column number.

  FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a list map according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating a method of managing the list map according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4C is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the list map management information 230 according to the first embodiment.

  As shown in the data structure 400, the list map can be handled as bitmap information corresponding to the converted data (two-dimensional array). Elements with circles indicate elements to be acquired. The data structures of the list map and the conversion data are set so as to correspond to each other.

  In the first embodiment, the list map is managed in a data format different from the bitmap in order to reduce the data amount of the information managed by the gateway device 100. Here, a management method of the list map in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4B.

  Treat one row of the list map as a bit string. In FIG. 4B, each row of the list map is treated as a 4-digit bit string. The value of an element with a circle is “1”, and the value of an element without a circle is “0”.

  By converting the bit string into a two-digit numerical value expressed in a decimal system, the element (bit) to be obtained can be specified for each row. Further, it is handled as information for specifying an element for obtaining a value obtained by combining numerical values calculated from each bit string (each row), that is, information of a list map.

  In the following description, a numerical value calculated from a list map represented as information in a bitmap format based on a rule as shown in FIG. 4B is described as a registered value.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the bit strings in each row are “1001,” “0000,” “0100,” and “0001,” so that the decimal values are “09,” “00,” “04,” It becomes "01". Therefore, the registered value of the list map shown in FIG. 4A is calculated as “09000401”.

  The list map management information 230 stores an entry including an ID 401, a list map 402, and a destination 403. One entry corresponds to one list map.

  The ID 401 is a field for storing entry identification information. The list map 402 is a field for storing a registered value of the list map. The destination 403 is a field for storing destination information of the server 120 that transmits the sensor information 150. The destination 403 stores, for example, an IP address.

  By managing the list map not as data in the bitmap format but as numerical values as shown in FIG. 4B, the management of the list map can be facilitated. In addition, the amount of data to be managed can be reduced by expressing the list map not as binary data but as a two-digit numerical value expressed in a decimal system.

  Next, processing executed by the gateway device 100 will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a flow of a process executed by the gateway device 100 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed when the gateway device 100 according to the first embodiment receives a list map registration request. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed when the gateway device 100 according to the first embodiment transmits the sensor information 150. Here, a process executed when one sensor data 140 is received from one sensor 110 will be described.

  First, a management method of the list map will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The list map registration unit 211 of the control unit 210 receives a list map registration request for registering the list map 500 from the server 120 (Step S101).

  The list map registration request includes information on the list map 500. Information regarding the list map 500 may be, for example, information in a bitmap format in which “1” is set to an element for acquiring a value and “0” is set to another element, or a registered value.

  Note that the server 120 may initiatively transmit the list map registration request, or may transmit the list map registration request as a response to the inquiry from the list map registration unit 211.

  Next, the list map registration unit 211 of the control unit 210 updates the list map management information 230 based on the list map registration request (Step S102), and thereafter ends the processing. Specifically, the following processing is executed.

  The list map registration unit 211 acquires information on the list map and destination information of the server 120 from the list map registration request.

  If the information on the list map is a bitmap corresponding to the data structure of the conversion data, the list map registration unit 211 converts the bit string corresponding to each row of the bitmap into a decimal based on the rule shown in FIG. 4B. The registered value is calculated by converting to a numerical value and combining the numerical values in each line.

  When the destination information of the server 120 is not included in the list map registration request as the registration information, the list map registration unit 211 acquires the IP address and the like from the header of the packet corresponding to the list map registration request.

  The list map registration unit 211 adds an entry to the list map management information 230 and sets identification information in the ID 401 of the added entry. The list map registration unit 211 sets the registration value in the list map 402 of the added entry, and sets the destination information of the server 120 as the destination 403. The above is the description of the processing in step S102.

  Next, a method of transmitting the sensor information 150 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When receiving the sensor data 140 from the sensor 110, the preprocessing unit 212 of the control unit 210 generates conversion data from the sensor data 140 with reference to the data structure definition information 220 (Step S201).

  Specifically, the preprocessing unit 212 obtains the item values to be set for each element of the two-dimensional array (conversion data) from the sensor data 140, and sets the obtained item value for each element to convert the conversion data 510. Generate. Note that an element whose item value is not included in the sensor data 140 is blank. A triangle in the conversion data 510 indicates that a value is stored in the element.

  Next, the data generation unit 213 of the control unit 210 starts loop processing of the list map (Step S202).

  Specifically, the data generation unit 213 selects a target entry from the entries registered in the list map management information 230.

  Next, the data generation unit 213 of the control unit 210 generates the sensor information 150 based on the list map 402 of the target entry and the sensor data 140 (Step S203). Specifically, the following processing is executed.

  The data generation unit 213 converts the registered value set in the list map 402 into binary data, and acquires an element (item value) of an arbitrary row of the converted data 510 based on the binary data.

  When the registered value set in the list map 402 is a registered value corresponding to the list map 500, the data generation unit 213 acquires an element in which the circle of the list map 500 and the triangle of the conversion data 510 overlap. That is, elements corresponding to 1 row and 4 columns, 3 rows and 2 columns, and 4 rows and 4 columns are obtained.

  The data generation unit 213 generates the sensor information 150 including the element obtained from the conversion data 510, and outputs the sensor information 150 to the transmission unit 214. At this time, the data generation unit 213 outputs the destination information of the server 120 stored in the destination 403 of the target entry to the transmission unit 214 together with the sensor information 150. The above is the description of the process in step S203.

  Next, the transmission unit 214 of the control unit 210 transmits the sensor information 150 to the server 120 corresponding to the destination information of the server 120 (Step S204).

  Next, the data generation unit 213 of the control unit 210 determines whether the processing has been completed for all entries of the list map management information 230 (Step S205).

  When it is determined that the processing has not been completed for all the entries of the list map management information 230, the data generation unit 213 of the control unit 210 returns to Step S202, and selects a new target entry.

  When it is determined that the processing has been completed for all entries of the list map management information 230, the data generation unit 213 of the control unit 210 ends the processing.

  The gateway device 100 can generate the sensor information 150 with a reduced data amount by acquiring a predetermined element of the conversion data (two-dimensional array) based on the list map.

  This processing does not require the data search processing for the sensor data 140 performed in the conventional filtering, and thus has an advantage that the processing load is low and the processing speed is high. Further, since the amount of data to be transmitted to the server 120 can be reduced without performing compression processing, it is possible to suppress an increase in processing load and transmit data efficiently.

  When a service or server 120 is added, desired sensor information 150 can be transmitted by registering a list map corresponding to the service or server 120 to be added. When the service is changed, the item value included in the sensor information 150 can be changed by updating the corresponding list map. Furthermore, when deleting a service or server 120, the list map corresponding to the service or server 120 to be deleted may be deleted.

  Therefore, the gateway device 100 can flexibly and easily respond to a change in the system configuration (addition, change, and deletion of a service, and addition and deletion of the server 120).

  In the first embodiment, a list map is defined for the sensor data 140 of one sensor 110. In the second embodiment, a list map is defined for the sensor data 140 of a plurality of sensors 110. Hereinafter, the second embodiment will be described focusing on differences from the first embodiment.

  The configuration of the system of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. The configuration of the gateway device 100 according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment.

  In the second embodiment, the data structure definition information 220 is different. Specifically, the conversion data is defined so that one column corresponds to the sensor data 140 transmitted by one sensor 110. Note that data of a plurality of sensors 110 may be associated with one column.

  By using the conversion data and the list map as described above, the gateway device 100 can select the sensor data 140 to be transmitted and the item value (element) acquired from the selected sensor data 140.

  The processing executed when a list map registration request is received is the same as the processing of the first embodiment. The process executed when transmitting the sensor information 150 is partially different from the process of the first embodiment. FIGS. 8 and 9 are flowcharts illustrating an example of a process performed when the gateway device 100 according to the second embodiment transmits the sensor information 150.

  The gateway device 100 executes the processing shown in FIG. 8 or FIG. First, the processing shown in FIG. 8 will be described.

  When receiving the sensor data 140 from one sensor 110, the preprocessing unit 212 of the gateway device 100 generates conversion data from the sensor data 140 with reference to the data structure definition information 220 (Step S201).

  Specifically, the preprocessing unit 212 obtains item values to be set for each element of the two-dimensional array (conversion data) from the sensor data 140, and sets the obtained item value for each element.

  Next, the preprocessing unit 212 of the gateway device 100 determines whether the generation of the conversion data has been completed (Step S211).

  For example, the preprocessing unit 212 determines whether an empty row exists in the rows of the two-dimensional array. In this embodiment, since the rows of the two-dimensional array are associated with the sensor data 140, an empty row indicates that the sensor data 140 required to generate the conversion data has not been acquired. Therefore, when an empty row exists in the rows of the two-dimensional array, the preprocessing unit 212 determines that the generation of the conversion data has not been completed.

  When it is determined that the generation of the conversion data has not been completed, the preprocessing unit 212 of the gateway device 100 shifts to a waiting state (Step S212), and returns to Step S201.

  When it is determined that the generation of the conversion data has been completed, the preprocessing unit 212 of the gateway device 100 outputs the conversion data to the data generation unit 213. After that, the gateway device 100 executes the processing from step S202 to step S205.

  Next, the processing shown in FIG. 9 will be described.

  When receiving the sensor data 140, the pre-processing unit 212 of the gateway device 100 stores the received sensor data 140 in the work area of the memory 201 (Step S221).

  Next, the preprocessing unit 212 of the gateway device 100 determines whether or not all the sensor data 140 necessary to generate the conversion data has been received (Step S222).

  When it is determined that all the sensor data 140 necessary for generating the conversion data have not been received, the preprocessing unit 212 of the gateway device 100 shifts to a waiting state (Step S223), and returns to Step S221.

  When it is determined that all the sensor data 140 necessary to generate the conversion data have not been received, the pre-processing unit 212 of the gateway device 100 executes the processing from step S201 to step S205.

  According to the second embodiment, since a plurality of sensor data 140 can be processed collectively, efficient transmission of the sensor information 150 can be realized.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and includes various modifications. Further, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described above. Further, a part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of one embodiment can be added to the configuration of another embodiment. Further, for a part of the configuration of each embodiment, it is possible to add, delete, or replace another configuration.

  In addition, each of the above-described configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, and the like may be partially or entirely realized by hardware, for example, by designing an integrated circuit. In addition, the above-described configurations, functions, and the like may be implemented by software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that implements each function. Information such as a program, a table, and a file for realizing each function may be stored in a storage device such as a memory, an HDD and an SSD, or a recording medium such as an IC card, an SD card, and an optical disk. In addition, control lines and information lines indicate those which are considered necessary for explanation, and do not necessarily indicate all control lines and information lines on a product. For example, it may be considered that almost all components are actually connected to each other.

100 Gateway device 110 Sensor 120 Server 140 Sensor data 150 Sensor information 200 Processor 201 Memory 202 Network interface 210 Control unit 211 List map registration unit 212 Preprocessing unit 213 Data generation unit 214 Transmission unit 220 Data structure definition information 230 List map management information

Claims (8)

A gateway device for transferring sensor data obtained from a plurality of sensors to at least one computer,
A computing device, a storage device connected to the computing device, and an interface connected to the computing device,
The storage device stores list map management information for managing a list map, which is information for specifying elements to be obtained from array-type data,
The arithmetic unit includes:
Via the interface, when acquiring the sensor data from at least one of the sensors, generates conversion data that is array-type data from the sensor data,
Based on the list map stored in the list map management information, to generate sensor information by obtaining any element of the conversion data,
A gateway device for transmitting the sensor information to the at least one computer. The gateway device according to claim 1, wherein
The gateway device, wherein the list map is a value defined using a numerical value calculated based on a bit string corresponding to a row of the array representing the conversion data. The gateway device according to claim 2, wherein
From the at least one computer, if a bitmap corresponding to the array representing the conversion data is received as information for setting the list map, the bitmap is included in the bitmap and a row of the array representing the conversion data is included. Based on the corresponding bit string, calculate the numerical value,
A gateway device, wherein a value obtained by combining the numerical values calculated from each row of the array representing the conversion data is registered as the list map in the list map management information. The gateway device according to claim 3, wherein
The list map management information stores destination information of a computer serving as a transmission destination of the sensor information and an entry in which the list map is associated,
The arithmetic unit includes:
Selecting the list map from the list map management information,
Based on the selected list map, generate the sensor information,
A gateway device, wherein the sensor information is transmitted to the at least one computer based on the destination information associated with the selected list map. A data transfer method executed by a gateway device that transfers sensor data obtained from a plurality of sensors to at least one computer,
The gateway device has a computing device, a storage device connected to the computing device, and an interface connected to the computing device,
The storage device stores list map management information for managing a list map, which is information for specifying elements to be obtained from array-type data,
The data transfer method includes:
The arithmetic device, via the interface, when acquiring the sensor data from at least one of the sensor, from the sensor data, a first step of generating conversion data that is array-type data,
A second step in which the computing device generates sensor information by acquiring any element of the conversion data based on the list map stored in the list map management information;
A third step of transmitting the sensor information to the at least one computer by the arithmetic device. The data transfer method according to claim 5, wherein
The data transfer method according to claim 1, wherein the list map is a value defined using a numerical value calculated based on a bit string corresponding to a row of an array representing the conversion data. The data transfer method according to claim 6, wherein
When the arithmetic device receives, from the at least one computer, a bitmap corresponding to an array representing the conversion data as information for setting the list map, the bitmap is included in the bitmap, and the conversion data is included in the bitmap. Calculating the numerical value based on a bit string corresponding to a row of the array to be represented;
Registering a value obtained by combining the numerical values calculated from each row of the array representing the conversion data in the list map management information as the list map. The data transfer method according to claim 7, wherein
The list map management information stores destination information of a computer serving as a transmission destination of the sensor information and an entry in which the list map is associated,
The second step is
The computing device selects the list map from the list map management information,
The computing device, based on the selected list map, the step of generating the sensor information,
The third step includes a step in which the arithmetic unit transmits the sensor information to the at least one computer based on the destination information associated with the selected list map. Transfer method.

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