WO2016085456A1

WO2016085456A1 - Internet of things caching to the cloud

Info

Publication number: WO2016085456A1
Application number: PCT/US2014/067188
Authority: WO
Inventors: David H. NGUYEN; Vijo CHERIAN
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy; Nokia Usa Inc.
Priority date: 2014-11-24
Filing date: 2014-11-24
Publication date: 2016-06-02

Abstract

In some example embodiments there is provided a method. The method may include receiving, by a wireless access point including a cache, a request regarding at least one portion of data to be sent to a cloud service via the wireless access point; accessing, by the wireless access point, transfer status information regarding the at least one portion of data; sending, by the wireless access point, a response based on at least the transfer status information, the response indicating whether a user equipment is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point; and receiving, based on the response, the at least one portion of data sent by the user equipment, wherein the wireless access point stores the at least one portion of data at the cache until transmission to the cloud service.

Description

INTERNET OF THINGS CACHING TO THE CLOUD

FIELD

[001] The subject matter described herein relates to wireless communications.

BACKGROUND

[002] The Internet of Things (IoT) and other machine-based communication networks are increasingly being deployed. As a consequence, networks are being deployed to support the needs of IoT. These networks may support IoT devices having limited power, limited communication, limited memory, and/or limited overall capabilities.

SUMMARY

[003] In some example embodiments there is provided a method. The method may include receiving, by a wireless access point including a cache, a request regarding at least one portion of data to be sent to a cloud service via the wireless access point; accessing, by the wireless access point, transfer status information regarding the at least one portion of data; sending, by the wireless access point, a response based on at least the transfer status information, the response indicating whether a user equipment is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point; and receiving, based on the response, the at least one portion of data sent by the user equipment, wherein the wireless access point stores the at least one portion of data at the cache until transmission to the cloud service.

[004] In some variations, one or more of the features disclosed herein including the following features can optionally be included in any feasible combination. The transfer status information may include a first indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been received from the user equipment. The transfer status information may include a second indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been sent to the cloud service. The transfer status information may include a third indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been received by the cloud service. The transfer status information may include information tracked by the user equipment to indicate whether at least one of the cloud service or the wireless access point receive the at least one portion of data. The transfer status information may include information tracked by the wireless access point track to indicate whether at least one of the user equipment or the cloud service may receive the at least one portion of data. The transfer status information may include information tracked by the cloud service to indicate whether the at least one portion of data is received at the cloud service. The wireless access point may query in response to the received request, the cloud service for the transfer status information. The transfer status information may include information representative of at least one other wireless access point storing at least another portion of data awaiting transmission to the cloud service, when the user equipment moves from a coverage area of the wireless access point to another coverage area of the other wireless access point. The wireless access point may store the at least one portion of data to the cache. The wireless access point may send the stored at least one portion of data to the cloud service. The transfer status information may be updated based on at least the storing and the sending.

[005] In some example embodiments there is provided a method. The method may include sending a request regarding at least one portion of data to be sent to a cloud service via a wireless access point including a cache; receiving a response from the wireless access point, wherein the response is based on at least transfer status information and indicates whether the user equipment is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point; and sending, based on the received response, the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point including the cache where the at least one portion of data is stored until transmission to the cloud service.

[006] In some variations, one or more of the features disclosed herein including the following features can optionally be included in any feasible combination. The transfer status information may include information tracked by the user equipment to indicate whether at least one of the cloud service or the wireless access point receive the at least one portion of data.

[007] The above-noted aspects and features may be implemented in systems, apparatuses, methods, and/or computer-readable media depending on the desired configuration. The details of one or more variations of the subject matter described herein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Features and advantages of the subject matter described herein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. In some exemplary embodiments, one of more variations may be made as well as described in the detailed description below and/or as described in the following features.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[008] In the drawings,

[009] FIGs. 1-C depict examples of systems including an intermediary access point including cache, in accordance with some example embodiments;

[010] FIG. 2 depicts a process for intermediate cache storage, in accordance with some example embodiments;

[011] FIG. 3 depicts an example of another process for intermediate cache storage, in accordance with some example embodiments; and

[012] FIG. 4 an example of an apparatus, in accordance with some example embodiments.

[013] Like labels are used to refer to the same or similar items in the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[014] The Internet of Things (IoT) generally refers to Internet connected nodes including simple sensors, actuators, and other smart objects, examples of which includes temperature sensors, moisture sensors, monitors, imaging sensors, remote cameras, light actuators, security devices, heaters, coolers, household appliances, and any other device. These IoT devices are usually configured to have limited central processing, memory, communication, and/or power resources to enable low cost and thus enabling semi-ubiquitous deployments. For example, one or more IoT devices may be deployed to gather information, such as traffic information as well as other types of data, and wirelessly forward the collected data to other devices, such as a cloud-based service for processing of the collected traffic data.

[015] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to connected devices, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) devices and the like, and, in particular, to for example, IoT devices configured to upload data to a cloud service via an intermediary device including cache.

[016] Connected devices, such as IoT devices, may send data to the cloud for processing including storage. For example, an IoT device, such as a fitness sensor, an image sensor/camera, and/or the like, may send data to a cloud service server coupled to a network, such as the Internet. If the data connection has a relatively slow rate compared to the file size, transferring information by the IoT device to the cloud service may take a relatively long time. During this transfer time, the connection may be lost for a variety of reasons, and the connection loss may cause the file transfer to the cloud service to be incomplete, causing a poor/frustrating user experience. Indeed, a user of an IoT or other device should not have to be concerned with the specific amount of time it takes to upload files to the cloud service and associated delays, especially if the IoT prevents other actions until the uploading is complete. Moreover, these types of delays burden the limited power, communication, memory, and/or processing resources of the IoT device.

[017] In some example embodiments, there is provided a system in which caching is provided along the transmission path by intermediate devices between the IoT device and the cloud service. As such, the IoT device can quickly send files to the cloud service via an intermediate device, such as a wireless access point having a cache. In this way, the IoT can, in some example embodiments, quickly upload the files to a wireless access point, where the files are cached awaiting transmission to the cloud service. Moreover, this so-called quick upload to the wireless access point and cache may, in some example implementations, reduce the delays that burden the limited power, communication, memory, and/or processing resources of the IoT device.

[018] Although some of the examples described herein refer to IoT devices and sensors, other types of user equipment may be used as well.

[019] In some example embodiments, the user equipment, such as an IoT device and the like, transmits a file to a cloud service via the intermediate device, such as a wireless access point including cache, where the file (for example, data) is stored awaiting transmission to the cloud service. The wireless access point may include transfer status information representative of the progress of the file transmission (or portion of the file) from the user equipment, wireless access point, and cloud service.

[020] Moreover, each of the user equipment, wireless access point, and cloud service may, in some example embodiments, have transfer status information regarding the status of the data transmission. If the transmission is interrupted, the user equipment, wireless access point, and/or cloud service can each initiate a resumption of the transmission from an appropriate point, such as from the last successfully received transmission. As the status information is available at the user equipment, access point, and/or cloud service, resumption at an appropriate point can occur regardless of whether the connection loss is between the user equipment and wireless access point or between the access point and the cloud service.

[021 ] Referring to the previous example of an IoT device, if the IoT device transmits a relatively large file (for example, videos or photos), the IoT may be able to quickly offload the larger file (or portion thereof) via for example a local link, such as a WiFi link and the like, to the wireless access point, where the larger file (or portion thereof) is cached awaiting transmission to the cloud service via for example a slower cellular link, wired link, and/or wired link (although the link to the cloud service may not be slower in some implementations, the access point may be shared among IoT devices so access to the access point uplink to the cloud server may be delayed due to congestion as well). During this wait for transmission to the cloud service (which may be prolonged in cases where the link to the cloud service is slower or more congested than the local link between the user equipment and wireless access point), the intermediate point caching enables recovery if there is an interruption in a connection between the user equipment and wireless access point and/or an interruption in a connection between the wireless access point and the cloud service. For example, the user equipment may move from wireless access point to wireless access point without worrying if a previous file transmission was successfully received and stored at the cloud service as the intermediary wireless access point can provide caching and indicate to the user equipment where in the transmission sequence to resume file transmission when a failure occurs.

[022] Although some of the examples described herein refer to the link between the user equipment and the wireless access point as a WiFi link, other types of radio technologies may be used as well including Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, and cellular radio access technologies. For example, the link may be implemented as a cellular link, in which case access point 1 16A may be implemented as a base station or another apparatus (such as another user equipment).

[023] FIG. 1A depicts an example system 100 including a user equipment 1 14A, one or more wireless access points 116A-C, and a cloud-based service 120, in accordance with some example embodiments.

[024] The user equipment 114A may be implemented as an IoT device, such as a sensor, an actuator, and/or a machine with limited processing, memory, communication, and/or power capabilities, when compared to for example a smart phone and the like. For example, the IoT device may be implemented as a wearable sensor that transmits pictures and/or video to a cloud service, in some example implementations. Although user equipment 114A is described as an IoT in the example of FIG. 1A, user equipment may also be implemented as a smartphone, a cell phone, and/or any other radio-based processor device.

[025] The user equipment 114A may also include a cloud service application (CSA) 180 for transferring data to cloud service 120, in accordance with some example embodiments. For example, the CSA may be implemented as any type of application that at least sends data from user equipment 114A to the cloud service 120 (including CSA 184) via wireless access point 1 16A including CSA 182A and cache 190A. The CSA 180 may also be configured to provide one or more of the operations disclosed herein with respect to the intermediate point caching (see, for example, process 200 and 300 below). [026] In some example embodiments, user equipment 114A may transmit a file XYZ 172 to cloud service 120 via wireless access point 116A, where cache 190A is located. The user equipment may successfully transmits portions 1-4 of file XYZ to access point 116A and cache 190A before the transmission is interrupted due to for example a connection loss, out of range, handover or move to another wireless access point, and/or any other reason. For example, user equipment 114A may move out of range of access point 1 16A and enter the coverage area of access point 1 116B causing a connection loss between user equipment 1 14A and access point 116A. From the perspective of the user equipment 114A, portions 1-4 of file XYZ have been sent to the cloud service before losing the connection, even though some of the portions may be cached at access point 1 16A while awaiting transmission to cloud service 120.

[027] When user equipment 1 14A re-establishes a connection to an access point (for example, access point 116B and/or any other access point including wireless access point 116A), user equipment 1 14A can resume the data transfer where it left off by reviewing transfer status information at user equipment 114A and then (based on that review) querying the wireless access point and/or cloud service. Referring to the previous example, user equipment 114A may query wireless access point 1 16B regarding whether transmission should resume at portion 5 of file XYZ, and wireless access point 1 16B may respond with an indication representing yes transmission should start at portion 5.

[028] In some example embodiments, each of the user equipment, access point, and cloud service (or the corresponding CSA 180, 182A-C, and/or 184) may have transfer status information. This transfer status information may indicate the status of the data transmission, so if the transmission is interrupted (for example, due to a move to another handover as well as other reasons), the user equipment, access point, and/or cloud service can each initiate a resumption of the transmission from an appropriate point, such as after the last successfully received transmission. Furthermore, access point 1 16A including cache 190A and CSA 182A may, in some example embodiments, have sufficient transfer status information to initiate retransmission of a file (or portions thereof) if the connections between the user equipment and wireless access point are disrupted or the connections between the wireless access point and cloud service are disrupted.

[029] In some example embodiments, the transfer status information may indicate one or more of the following: whether a portion of the file has been sent by the user equipment; whether a portion of the file has been received and cached at the access point, and/or whether a portion of the file has been successfully received at the cloud service. As noted, if each of the user equipment, access point, and cloud service has transfer status information, a disruption in the transfer can be recovered by user equipment, access point, and cloud service regardless of whether the interruption was between the user equipment and access point or between the access point and cloud service.

[030] FIG. 2 depicts an example of a process 200 for transferring data via a cache storage at an access point in accordance with some example embodiments. The description of FIG. 2 also refers to FIG. 1A.

[031] At 202, user equipment 114A may enter the coverage area of an access point 116A, and may establish a connection, in accordance with some example embodiments. For example, access point 116A may comprise a WiFi access point. When this is the case, user equipment 114A may detect a broadcast by access point 1 16A and couple to access point 1 16A to establish a WiFi connection. Although some of the examples describe the type of connection between the user equipment and wireless access point as a WiFi link, other types of links may be used as well as noted above.

[032] In some example embodiments, a determination may be made, at 204, regarding whether the access point 1 16A, user equipment 1 14A, and/or cloud service 120 support the intermediate access point caching disclosed herein. In the example of FIG. 1A, access point 116A includes cache 190A and a cloud service application 182A, and the cloud service 120 also includes a CSA 184, so access point 1 16A, user equipment 1 14A, and cloud service 120 support intermediate access point caching as disclosed herein. To illustrate further, the user equipment, access point, and/or cloud service may send one or more capabilities message indicating to other device support for intermediate access point caching. Moreover, the access point may broadcast the availability intermediate access point caching.

[033] At 210, the user equipment 1 14A may send a file (or query the state of a file transfer) to the cloud service 120 via access point 116A, in accordance with some example embodiments.

[034] If user equipment 114A has not attempted to send (or has a record of sending) a file such as file XYZ to the cloud service 120, the user equipment may initiate the sending of file XYZ to cloud service 120 via access point 116A. In some example embodiments, user equipment 114A may also send an identifier for the file XYZ or XYZ portion 1 at 210. This identifier may be unique in the sense it enables the user equipment, access point, and/or cloud service to identify the file. To illustrate, the user equipment 1 14A may send an identifier that uniquely identifies the file and/or portions of the file. In the example of FIG. 1, the file name XYZ may uniquely identify the file to be sent to the cloud service. The portions of the file to be sent may also be indicated to the wireless access point and/or cloud service, which in this example corresponds to values 1-12. In some example embodiments, the user equipment may signal the size of the file or number of portions as well.

[035] If user equipment 114A has a record of sending a file or portion thereof, the user equipment may, at 210, query the access point 116A and/or cloud service 120 regarding the file transfer status, in accordance with some example embodiments. For example, if user equipment 114A has a record of sending portions 1-4 of file XYZ to cloud service 120, user equipment 1 14A may query access point 1 16A to inquire whether file XYZ portion "5" has been received by the access point and/or cloud service.

[036] If the access point 1 16A does know the status of the transfer (which in this example, is whether portion 5 of file XYZ has been received at the access point and/or cloud service), access point 116A may respond to the user equipment at 216 without querying the cloud service. If the access point does not know the state of the transfer (which in this example, is whether portion 5 of file XYZ has been received at the access point and/or cloud service), access point 116A may query at 212 cloud service 120 and wait for a response at 214. As noted, the access point and cloud service may each track the progress or status of transfer of the file transfer XYZ from the user equipment to the cloud service.

[037] The response at 216 may indicate that portion 5 of file XYZ has not been received by access point 116A and/or cloud service 120. Based on the response at 218, user equipment 1 14A may resume, at 220, transmission with portion 5 of file XYZ.

[038] In some example embodiments, user equipment 1 14A may resume transmission at 220 without regard to whether the previously sent portions 1-4 for example are cached at 190A or stored at cloud service 120. In some instances, one or more portions 1 -4 may be at cache 190A, but access point may still respond with the 5 (or a yes, to proceed with the 5 transmission) as from the user equipment perspective it is the next portion to be sent to the cloud service via the intermediary access point. In some example embodiments, the response at 216 may specify to the user equipment which portions are at the access point and which are at the cloud service. This added granularity in the transfer status information may enable enhanced control of the transfer by the user equipment. For example, the user equipment may retransmit the already sent portions 1-4 to another wireless access point (for example, a wireless access point that is better situated, due to data rate or congestion, to send the portions to the cloud service)

[039] Although the previous example described the request 210 and response at 216 indicating the proposed 5 portion to be sent by the user equipment, this is merely an example as the request and response may provide to the user equipment the last successful portion received (for example, portion 4, which indicates to the user equipment to send the next portion 5).

[040] In some example embodiments, the response at 220 may indicate that no connection between access point 116A and the cloud service 120 is available, in which case the user equipment 114A may inhibit transmission to the access point 1 16A.

[041] In the previous example, each of the user equipment, access point, and cloud service may maintain file transfer status information. For example, the user equipment 1 14A may record a file name, a unique identifier, and/or an indicator of portion sent/received and/or may record whether there is an acknowledgement of successful receipt at the access point and/or cloud service. The access point may also record file name, unique identifier, and/or portion indicator for data received from the user equipment, record file name, unique identifier, and/or portion indicator for data sent to the cloud service. The access point may also record whether there is an acknowledgement of successful receipt by the cloud service. The cloud service may record file name, unique identifier, and/or portion indicator for data received from the access point for a given user equipment and/or file. Moreover, the transfer status information may be exchanged or shared among the user equipment, access point(s), and/or cloud service via a direct request (for example, a query or request and response) or via a broadcast. The transfer status information may thus enable recovery of a disruption in the transfer, and the user equipment, access point, and/or cloud service can each recover the transmission regardless of whether the interruption was between the user equipment and access point or the access point and cloud service.

[042] If the connection to access point 1 16A is terminated, user equipment 1 14A may establish a connection to access point 1 16B. FIG. IB depicts user equipment 1 14A after moving out of the coverage area of access point 116A and entering into the coverage area of access point 1 16B. In the example depicted, user equipment 1 14A has recorded as part of file transfer status information that portions 1-5 of file XYZ have been transferred but portions 6-12 remain to be sent. Moreover, user equipment 1 14A may also include as part of file transfer state information an indication that portions 1-2 have been successfully provided to the cloud service but portions 3-5 are in cache 190A at access point 116A.

[043] FIG. 3 depicts an example of a process 300 for transferring data via a cache at an intermediate wireless access point in accordance with some example embodiments. The description of FIG. 3 also refers to FIG. IB. Operations 202-220 may be implemented in a manner as described above with respect to FIG. 2, so the following description begins at operation 305.

[044] At 305, a connection may be terminated, in accordance with some example embodiments. For example, the connection between user equipment 114A and access point 1 16A may be terminated due to for example user equipment 114A being out of the coverage area of wireless access point 116A. At 307, user equipment 1 14A may come into range of an access point 116B and establish a connection, in accordance with some example embodiments. For example, user equipment 114A may couple via WiFi to access point 116B. At 309, a determination may be made regarding whether the access point 116B supports the intermediate access point caching in accordance with some example embodiments. In this example, access point 1 16B includes cache 190B and a cloud service application 182B, so it may indicate (via for example, capabilities messages) to the user equipment 1 14A and/or cloud support for intermediate access point caching.

[045] At 312, the user equipment 1 14A may send a query to access point 1 16B regarding the status of the transfer of a given file, in accordance with some example embodiments. In the FIG. IB example, user equipment 114A may send an indication that it has a record of having sent portions 1-5 of file XYZ. This indication may indicate the file name and the portion that still needs to be sent, for example, 6.

[046] If access point 116B does know the status of the transfer (which in this example, is whether portion 6 of file XYZ has been received at one of the access points and/or cloud service), access point 1 16B may respond to the user equipment at 320 without querying the cloud service. If the access point 116B does not know the state of the transfer (which in this example, is whether portion 6 of file XYZ has been received at the access point and/or cloud service), access point 116B may query at 315 cloud service 120 and wait for a response at 318. As noted, the access point and cloud service may each track the progress of transfer of the file transfer XYZ from the user equipment to the cloud service. As such, the response may include status information as well. For example, the response at 318 and 320 may indicate that portion 6 of file XYZ has not been received by access point 116A and/or cloud service 120. Based on the response at 318 and 320, user equipment 114A may resume at 330 transmissions with portion 6 of file XYZ. [047] In some example embodiments, if a wireless access point has a connection to cloud service 120, the wireless access point may (for files at the AP that have not been transferred to the cloud), query at 315 for the status of the transfer (for example, using a file name, unique file identifier, portion indicator, and the like) to determine whether the cloud service has successfully received the file. If the cloud service has successfully received the file, the wireless access point may record the transfer as part of transfer status information for the file. The wireless access point may delete from cache the file or portion thereof when the cloud service indicates successful receipt. If not successfully received at the cloud service, the AP may then send the file (or portion thereof) to the AP.

[048] If cloud service is not available, there can be multiple copies of the file (or portions thereof) on multiple APs. When this is the case, uploading to the cloud service may be initiated by one or more wireless access points. When this is the case, the cloud service can respond to the query in such a way as to control what wireless access point send to the cloud service. For example, the cloud service can respond at 214 or 318 with an indication of what portion should be sent by a given wireless access point, and respond to another wireless access point with another indication for another portion that should be sent to the wireless access point. When the cloud service obtains the file (or portion thereof), it can respond to one or more wireless access points to stop sending a given file (or portion of the file).

[049] FIG. 1C depicts user equipment 1 14A after moving out of the coverage area of access point 116B and entering into the coverage area of access point 1 16C. In the example depicted, user equipment 1 14A has recorded as part of file transfer status information that portions 1-7 of file XYZ have been transferred but portions 8-12 remain to be sent. At 195 A, user equipment 114A may query the access point 1 16C by asking has file XYZ portion 8 been received, in accordance with some example embodiments. In response, wireless access point 116C may query at 195B cloud service 120 regarding the transfer status of file XYZ portion 8, and cloud service 120 may respond, at 195C, with an indication to proceed with the transmission of file XYZ portion 8, which is forwarded to user equipment 114A at 195C, so that user equipment 114A can begin transmission of file XYZ portion 8.

[050] In example embodiments, wireless access point 1 16A and wireless access point 1 16B may be allowed to continue to send file portions 3-5 and portions 3-7, unless directed otherwise by for example cloud service 120 and/or user equipment 1 14A (for example, via the cloud service). To illustrate further, the cloud service 120 may allow each wireless access point 1 16A-B to continue until the file XYZ is received successfully (for example, portions 1-12 are received at the cloud service). This scheme of having multiple access point send the portions of the data file may enhance the speed at which the overall file is uploaded to the cloud server. Cloud service 120 may signal wireless access point 1 16A or wireless access point 1 16B to cease the transmission when file XYZ is received. For example, if cloud service 120 receives file XYZ portions 3-7 before wireless access point 1 16A has the opportunity to send all of portions 3-5 of file XYZ, cloud service 120 may signal at 195E wireless access point 116A to terminate the transmission of file XYZ portions 3-5. Although some of the examples refer to sending portions 1-12 in sequence, the portions may be sent out of sequence as well, and the file may comprise other quantity of portions including a single portion.

[051] FIG. 4 depicts an example of an apparatus 400, in accordance with some example embodiments. The apparatus 400 may comprise a user equipment, such as a IoT device, smart phone, cell phone, wearable radio device (for example, an IoT fitness sensor or other type of IoT device), and/or any other radio based device including a wireless access point such as wireless access points 1 16A-C.

[052] The cloud service 120 may comprise an apparatus, such as a server having at least one processor and at least one memory including program code which when executed provides the operations disclosed herein with respect to the cloud service 120. Moreover, the cloud service may include wired and/or wireless connections to networks including the Internet. The cloud service may also include one or more aspects of the apparatus 400 as described further below. Furthermore, the cloud service may provide a variety of services including processing, storage, social network, and/or any other service.

[053] In some example embodiments, apparatus 400 may also include a radio communication link to a cellular network, or other wireless network. The apparatus 400 may include at least one antenna 12 in communication with a transmitter 14 and a receiver 16. Alternatively transmit and receive antennas may be separate.

[054] The apparatus 400 may also include a processor 20 configured to provide signals to and from the transmitter and receiver, respectively, and to control the functioning of the apparatus. Processor 20 may be configured to control the functioning of the transmitter and receiver by effecting control signaling via electrical leads to the transmitter and receiver. Likewise, processor 20 may be configured to control other elements of apparatus 130 by effecting control signaling via electrical leads connecting processor 20 to the other elements, such as a display or a memory. The processor 20 may, for example, be embodied in a variety of ways including circuitry, at least one processing core, one or more microprocessors with accompanying digital signal processor(s), one or more processor(s) without an accompanying digital signal processor, one or more coprocessors, one or more multi- core processors, one or more controllers, processing circuitry, one or more computers, various other processing elements including integrated circuits (for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or the like), or some combination thereof. Apparatus 400 may include a location processor and/or an interface to obtain location information, such as positioning and/or navigation information. Accordingly, although illustrated in as a single processor, in some example embodiments the processor 20 may comprise a plurality of processors or processing cores.

[055] Signals sent and received by the processor 20 may include signaling information in accordance with an air interface standard of an applicable cellular system, and/or any number of different wireline or wireless networking techniques, comprising but not limited to Wi-Fi, wireless local access network (WLAN) techniques, such as, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, 802.16, and/or the like. In addition, these signals may include speech data, user generated data, user requested data, and/or the like. [056] The apparatus 400 may be capable of operating with one or more air interface standards, communication protocols, modulation types, access types, and/or the like. For example, the apparatus 400 and/or a cellular modem therein may be capable of operating in accordance with various first generation (1G) communication protocols, second generation (2G or 2.5G) communication protocols, third-generation (3G) communication protocols, fourth-generation (4G) communication protocols, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) communication protocols (for example, session initiation protocol (SIP) and/or the like. For example, the apparatus 400 may be capable of operating in accordance with 2G wireless communication protocols IS- 136, Time Division Multiple Access TDMA, Global System for Mobile communications, GSM, IS-95, Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA, and/or the like. In addition, for example, the apparatus 400 may be capable of operating in accordance with 2.5G wireless communication protocols General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), and/or the like. Further, for example, the apparatus 400 may be capable of operating in accordance with 3G wireless communication protocols, such as, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Time Division- Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and/or the like. The apparatus 130 may be additionally capable of operating in accordance with 3.9G wireless communication protocols, such as, Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), and/or the like. Additionally, for example, the apparatus 400 may be capable of operating in accordance with 4G wireless communication protocols, such as LTE Advanced and/or the like as well as similar wireless communication protocols that may be subsequently developed.

[057] It is understood that the processor 20 may include circuitry for implementing audio/video and logic functions of apparatus 400. For example, the processor 20 may comprise a digital signal processor device, a microprocessor device, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, and/or the like. Control and signal processing functions of the apparatus 400 may be allocated between these devices according to their respective capabilities. The processor 20 may additionally comprise an internal voice coder (VC) 20a, an internal data modem (DM) 20b, and/or the like. Further, the processor 20 may include functionality to operate one or more software programs, which may be stored in memory. In general, processor 20 and stored software instructions may be configured to cause apparatus 400 to perform actions. For example, processor 20 may be capable of operating a connectivity program, such as, a web browser. The connectivity program may allow the apparatus 400 to transmit and receive web content, such as location-based content, according to a protocol, such as, wireless application protocol, wireless access point, hypertext transfer protocol, HTTP, and/or the like.

[058] Apparatus 400 may also comprise a user interface including, for example, an earphone or speaker 24, a ringer 22, a microphone 26, a display 28, a user input interface, and/or the like, which may be operationally coupled to the processor 20. The display 28 may, as noted above, include a touch sensitive display, where a user may touch and/or gesture to make selections, enter values, and/or the like. The processor 20 may also include user interface circuitry configured to control at least some functions of one or more elements of the user interface, such as, the speaker 24, the ringer 22, the microphone 26, the display 28, and/or the like. The processor 20 and/or user interface circuitry comprising the processor 20 may be configured to control one or more functions of one or more elements of the user interface through computer program instructions, for example, software and/or firmware, stored on a memory accessible to the processor 20, for example, volatile memory 40, non-volatile memory 42, and/or the like. The apparatus 400 may include a battery for powering various circuits related to the mobile terminal, for example, a circuit to provide mechanical vibration as a detectable output. The user input interface may comprise devices allowing the apparatus 400 to receive data, such as, a keypad 30 (which can be a virtual keyboard presented on display 28 or an externally coupled keyboard) and/or other input devices.

[059] Moreover, the apparatus 400 may include a short-range radio frequency (RF) transceiver and/or interrogator 64, so data may be shared with and/or obtained from electronic devices in accordance with RF techniques. The apparatus 400 may include other short-range transceivers, such as an infrared (IR) transceiver 66, a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver 68 operating using Bluetooth wireless technology, a wireless universal serial bus (USB) transceiver 70, and/or the like. The Bluetooth transceiver 68 may be capable of operating according to low power or ultra-low power Bluetooth technology, for example, Wibree, Bluetooth Low-Energy, and other radio standards. In this regard, the apparatus 400 and, in particular, the short-range transceiver may be capable of transmitting data to and/or receiving data from electronic devices within a proximity of the apparatus, such as within 10 meters. The apparatus 400 including the Wi-Fi or wireless local area networking modem may also be capable of transmitting and/or receiving data from electronic devices according to various wireless networking techniques, including 6LoWpan, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi low power, WLAN techniques such as IEEE 802.11 techniques, IEEE 802.15 techniques, IEEE 802.16 techniques, and/or the like.

[060] The apparatus 400 may comprise memory, such as, a subscriber identity module (SIM) 38, a removable user identity module (R-UIM), and/or the like, which may store information elements related to a mobile subscriber. In addition to the SIM, the apparatus 400 may include other removable and/or fixed memory. The apparatus 400 may include volatile memory 40 and/or non-volatile memory 42. For example, volatile memory 40 may include Random Access Memory (RAM) including dynamic and/or static RAM, on-chip or off-chip cache memory, and/or the like. Nonvolatile memory 42, which may be embedded and/or removable, may include, for example, read-only memory, flash memory, magnetic storage devices, for example, hard disks, floppy disk drives, magnetic tape, optical disc drives and/or media, nonvolatile random access memory (NVRAM), and/or the like. Like volatile memory 40, non-volatile memory 42 may include a cache area for temporary storage of data. At least part of the volatile and/or non- volatile memory may be embedded in processor 20. The memories may store one or more software programs, instructions, pieces of information, data, and/or the like which may be used by the apparatus for performing functions of the user equipment including executing for example the cloud service application (CSA). The memories may comprise an identifier, such as an international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) code, capable of uniquely identifying apparatus 400. The functions may include one or more of the operations disclosed herein including the process flow at FIGs. 2 and 3 for example. The memories may comprise an identifier, such as an international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) code, capable of uniquely identifying apparatus 400. In the example embodiment, the processor 20 may be configured using computer code stored at memory 40 and/or 42 to provide the operations, such as receiving, by a wireless access point including a cache, a request regarding at least one portion of data to be sent to a cloud service via the wireless access point; accessing, by the wireless access point, transfer status information regarding the at least one portion of data; and responding, by the wireless access point, with a response to the request, the response indicating whether a user equipment is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point, wherein the wireless access point stores the at least one portion of data at the cache until transmission to the cloud service. The memory 40 may also store among other things transfer status information including includes a first indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been received from the user equipment, second indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been sent to the cloud service, and a third indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been received by the cloud service.

[061] Some of the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented in software, hardware, application logic, or a combination of software, hardware, and application logic. The software, application logic, and/or hardware may reside in memory 40, the control apparatus 20, or electronic components disclosed herein, for example. In some example embodiments, the application logic, software or an instruction set is maintained on any one of various conventional computer-readable media. In the context of this document, a "computer-readable medium" may be any non-transitory media that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer or data processor circuitry. A computer- readable medium may comprise a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that may be any media that can contain or store the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer. Furthermore, some of the embodiments disclosed herein include computer programs configured to cause methods as disclosed herein (see, for example, the process 200, 300, and the like).

[062] Without in any way limiting the scope, interpretation, or application of the claims appearing below, a technical effect of one or more of the example embodiments disclosed herein is to reduce, at an IoT device, delays caused by transmission delays associated with sending data to a cloud service or server.

[063] Without in any way limiting the scope, interpretation, or application of the claims appearing below, another technical effect of one or more of the example embodiments disclosed herein is enhanced operation of the IoT due to reduced burden with respect to the power, processing, communication, and memory demands on an IoT device, which typically has limited power, processing, communication, and memory. [064] Without in any way limiting the scope, interpretation, or application of the claims appearing below, another technical effect of one or more of the example embodiments disclosed herein is seamless handovers between wireless access points.

[065] Without in any way limiting the scope, interpretation, or application of the claims appearing below, another technical effect of one or more of the example embodiments disclosed herein is increased data transfer speeds between at least the IoT device and the access point.

[066] The subject matter described herein may be embodied in systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desired configuration. For example, the systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles described herein can be implemented using one or more of the following: electronic components such as transistors, inductors, capacitors, resistors, and the like, a processor executing program code, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), an embedded processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or combinations thereof. These various example embodiments may include implementations in one or more computer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which may be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device. These computer programs (also known as programs, software, software applications, applications, components, program code, or code) include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and may be implemented in a high-level procedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As used herein, the term "machine-readable medium" refers to any computer program product, computer- readable medium, computer-readable storage medium, apparatus and/or device (for example, magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions. Similarly, systems are also described herein that may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory may include one or more programs that cause the processor to perform one or more of the operations described herein.

[067] Although a few variations have been described in detail above, other modifications or additions are possible. In particular, further features and/or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. Moreover, the example embodiments described above may be directed to various combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed features and/or combinations and subcombinations of several further features disclosed above. In addition, the logic flow depicted in the accompanying figures and/or described herein does not require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. Other embodiments may be within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED:

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a wireless access point including a cache, a request regarding at least one portion of data to be sent to a cloud service via the wireless access point;

accessing, by the wireless access point, transfer status information regarding the at least one portion of data;

sending, by the wireless access point, a response based on at least the transfer status information, the response indicating whether a user equipment is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point; and

receiving, based on the response, the at least one portion of data sent by the user equipment, wherein the wireless access point stores the at least one portion of data at the cache until transmission to the cloud service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transfer status information comprises a first indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been received from the user equipment.

3. The method of claims 1-2, wherein the transfer status information comprises a second indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been sent to the cloud service.

4. The method of claims 1-3, wherein the transfer status information comprises a third indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been received by the cloud service.

5. The method of claims 1-4, wherein the transfer status information includes information tracked by the user equipment to indicate whether at least one of the cloud service or the wireless access point receive the at least one portion of data.

6. The method of claims 1-5, wherein the transfer status information includes information tracked by the wireless access point track to indicate whether at least one of the user equipment or the cloud service receive the at least one portion of data.

7. The method of claims 1-6, wherein the wherein the transfer status information includes information tracked by the cloud service to indicate whether the at least one portion of data is received at the cloud service.

8. The method of claims 1-7, further comprising:

querying, by the wireless access point in response to the received request, the cloud service for the transfer status information.

9. The method of claims 1-8, wherein the transfer status information comprises information representative of at least one other wireless access point storing at least another portion of data awaiting transmission to the cloud service, when the user equipment moves from a coverage area of the wireless access point to another coverage area of the other wireless access point.

10. The method of claims 1-9, further comprising:

storing, by the wireless access point, the at least one portion of data to the cache.

11. The method of claims 1-10, further comprising:

sending, by the wireless access point, the stored at least one portion of data to the cloud service.

12. The method of claims 10-1 1, further comprising:

updating the transfer status information based on at least the storing and the sending.

13. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one processor, the at least one memory, and the computer program code configured to cause the apparatus to at least:

receive, by the apparatus including a cache, a request regarding at least one portion of data to be sent to a cloud service via the apparatus;

access, by the apparatus, transfer status information regarding the at least one portion of data;

send, by the apparatus, a response based on at least the transfer status information, the response indicating whether a user equipment is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the apparatus; and receive, based on the response, the at least one portion of data sent by the user equipment, wherein the apparatus stores the at least one portion of data at the cache until transmission to the cloud service.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the transfer status information comprises a first indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been received from the user equipment.

15. The apparatus of claims 13-14, wherein the transfer status information comprises a second indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been sent to the cloud service.

16. The apparatus of claims 13-15, wherein the transfer status information comprises a third indication of whether the at least one portion of data has been received by the cloud service.

17. The apparatus of claims 13-16, wherein the transfer status information includes information tracked by the user equipment to indicate whether at least one of the cloud service or the wireless access point receive the at least one portion of data.

18. The apparatus of claims 13-17, wherein the transfer status information includes information tracked by the wireless access point track to indicate whether at least one of the user equipment or the cloud service receive the at least one portion of data.

19. The apparatus of claims 13-18, wherein the wherein the transfer status information includes information tracked by the cloud service to indicate whether the at least one portion of data is received at the cloud service.

20. The apparatus of claims 13-19, further comprising:

querying, by the apparatus in response to the received request, the cloud service for the transfer status information.

21. The apparatus of claims 13-20, wherein the transfer status information comprises information representative of at least one other wireless access point storing at least another portion of data awaiting transmission to the cloud service, when the user equipment moves from a coverage area of the wireless access point to another coverage area of the other wireless access point.

22. The apparatus of claims 13-21, further comprising:

storing, by the apparatus, the at least one portion of data to the cache.

23. The apparatus of claims 13-22, further comprising:

sending, by the apparatus, the stored at least one portion of data to the cloud service.

24. The apparatus of claims 22-23, further comprising:

25. The apparatus of claims 13-24, wherein the apparatus comprises a wireless access point.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform at least the following:

27. A method comprising:

sending a request regarding at least one portion of data to be sent to a cloud service via a wireless access point including a cache;

receiving a response from the wireless access point, wherein the response is based on at least transfer status information and indicates whether the user equipment is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point; and sending, based on the received response, the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point including the cache where the at least one portion of data is stored until transmission to the cloud service.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the transfer status information includes information tracked by the user equipment to indicate whether at least one of the cloud service or the wireless access point receive the at least one portion of data.

29. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

send a request regarding at least one portion of data to be sent to a cloud service via a wireless access point including a cache;

receive a response from the wireless access point, wherein the response is based on at least transfer status information and indicates whether the apparatus is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point; and

sending, based on the received response, the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point including the cache where the at least one portion of data is stored until transmission to the cloud service.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the apparatus tracks whether at least one of the cloud service or the wireless access point receive the at least one portion of data.

31. The apparatus of claims 29-30, wherein the apparatus comprises a user equipment.

32. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform at least the following:

receiving a response from the wireless access point, wherein the response is based on at least transfer status information and indicates whether the user equipment is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point; and

33. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, by the apparatus including a cache, a request regarding at least one portion of data to be sent to a cloud service via the apparatus;

means for accessing, by the apparatus, transfer status information regarding the at least one portion of data;

means for sending, by the apparatus, a response based on at least the transfer status information, the response indicating whether a user equipment is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the apparatus; and

receiving, based on the response, the at least one portion of data sent by the user equipment, wherein the apparatus stores the at least one portion of data at the cache until transmission to the cloud service.

34. An apparatus comprising:

means for sending a request regarding at least one portion of data to be sent to a cloud service via a wireless access point including a cache;

means for receiving a response from the wireless access point, wherein the response is based on at least transfer status information and indicates whether the user equipment is able to proceed with transmission of the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point; and

means for sending, based on the received response, the at least one portion of data to the wireless access point including the cache where the at least one portion of data is stored until transmission to the cloud service.