阅读说明：本技术 用于与IoT设备进行数据收发的装置、方法及程序 (Apparatus, method, and program for data transceiving with IoT device ) 是由 安川健太 小熊崇 于 2018-10-10 设计创作，主要内容包括：为了加速IoT的普及,在用于进行与IoT设备的数据收发的装置中,谋求开销的降低。首先,在IoT设备(110)中发生某种事件。IoT设备(110)生成应发送的消息,并通过SMS对存储在IoT设备(110)中的第一服务器(101)的电话号码进行发送。第一服务器(101)在根据需要向IoT终端(110)通知接收到包含该消息的SMS数据之后,向第二服务器(102)传递该SMS数据。第二服务器(102)根据该SMS数据的消息中包含的发送目的地识别符,参照SMS数据中可能包含的发送目的地识别符与发送目的地的对应关系,来确定发送目的地。第二服务器(102)向第三外部服务器(123)发送从消息中除去发送目的地识别符后的部分或包含发送目的地识别符的消息的整体。(In order to accelerate the spread of IoT, an apparatus for transmitting and receiving data to and from IoT devices is required to reduce overhead. First, some event occurs in the IoT device (110). The IoT device (110) generates a message to be sent and sends the phone number of the first server (101) stored in the IoT device (110) by SMS. The first server (101) delivers the SMS data to the second server (102) after notifying the IoT terminal (110) of the receipt of the SMS data containing the message as needed. The second server (102) determines the destination by referring to the correspondence between the destination identifier and the destination that may be included in the SMS data, based on the destination identifier included in the SMS data message. The second server (102) transmits the entire message excluding the destination identifier or including the destination identifier to the third external server (123).)

1. An apparatus for transmitting or receiving data with an IoT device, the apparatus comprising:

a first server that receives SMS data containing messages from the IoT device; and

a second server that determines a transmission destination of the message or data corresponding thereto based on the SMS data,

the second server communicates with the destination over an IP network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1,

the destination is determined by referring to the correspondence between the destination identifier and the destination that can be included in the SMS data.

3. The apparatus of claim 2,

the sending destination identifier is included in the SMS data as part of a message.

4. The apparatus of claim 3,

the destination identifier is a number or a symbol having a predetermined number of bits or less.

5. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

the message is in binary format.

6. The apparatus of claim 5,

and the second server expands the SMS message into a text format and then sends the SMS message to the sending destination.

7. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,

the second server receiving data representing instructions for the IoT device from an external server via communication over an IP network and passing the data to the first server,

the first server sends SMS data containing the data or data corresponding thereto in a message to the IoT device,

the first server does not receive data from the IoT device for more than a specified time while sending the SMS data.

8. An apparatus for transmitting or receiving data with an IoT device, the apparatus comprising:

a first server that receives signaling data containing messages from the IoT device through signaling over a cellular network; and

a second server that determines a transmission destination of the message or data corresponding thereto based on the signaling data,

the second server communicates with the destination over an IP network.

9. A method for transmitting or receiving data with an IoT device, the method comprising:

a step of receiving signaling data containing messages from the IoT device through signaling over a cellular network; and

a step of determining a transmission destination of the message or data corresponding thereto based on the signaling data,

the transmission to the transmission destination is performed over an IP network.

10. A program for causing a computer to execute a method for making transmission or reception of data with an IoT device, the program being characterized in that,

the method comprises the following steps:

a step of receiving signaling data containing messages from the IoT device through signaling over a cellular network; and

a step of determining a transmission destination of the message or data corresponding thereto based on the signaling data,

the transmission to the transmission destination is performed over an IP network.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method, and a program for data transmission and reception with an IoT device.

Background

With the development of sensing technology and communication technology, devices connected to computer networks have increased, and the idea of Internet of Things, in which everything is networked, has become widespread. Hereinafter, the networked device is referred to as an "IoT device" without being limited to the internet.

The IoT devices may connect to a network, send collected data to a server, memory, etc., or receive a distribution of data from a server for which a secure connection must be established between the IoT devices and the server. As one method, the same or corresponding authentication information for performing communication in a predetermined communication scheme may be provided in advance to both the server and the device, and, for example, software that operates when the device is powered on may establish a connection with the server using the authentication information.

When the IoT device into which the SIM card is inserted is powered on, the IoT device authenticates the IMSI written in the SIM card by H L R/HSS, and becomes attached to the cellular network.

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

However, in the above-described communication method, a large overhead is generated for data that is originally intended to be transmitted and received. As an example, when it is considered that log data of 11 octets as shown in fig. 1 is transmitted from an IoT device capable of GPS tracking to a server, it is necessary to perform data processing of hundreds of octets such as establishment of GTP connection, establishment of TCP socket, HTTP POST request, HTTP POST response, disconnection of TCP socket, and disconnection of GTP connection. This overhead directly affects the power consumption in the IoT devices, with a large impact on continuous operating time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce overhead in an apparatus, a method, and a program for transmitting and receiving data to and from an IoT device in order to accelerate the spread of IoT.

Means for solving the problems

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for transmitting or receiving data to or from an IoT device, the apparatus including: a first server that receives SMS data containing messages from the IoT device; and a second server that determines a transmission destination of the message or data corresponding thereto based on the SMS data, the second server communicating with the transmission destination over an IP network.

In addition, according to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the destination is specified by referring to a correspondence relationship between a destination identifier that can be included in the SMS data and the destination.

In a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the destination identifier is included in the SMS data as a part of a message.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, the destination identifier is a number or a symbol having a predetermined number of digits or less.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is featured by, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, that the message is in a binary format.

In a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect, the second server expands the SMS message into a text format and transmits the expanded SMS message to the destination.

A seventh aspect of the present invention is summarized as that in any of the first to sixth aspects, the second server receives data representing an instruction to the IoT device from an external server through communication over an IP network, and transfers the data to the first server, the first server transmits SMS data including the data or data corresponding to the data in a message to the IoT device, and the first server does not receive the data from the IoT device for a predetermined time or longer when transmitting the SMS data.

An eighth aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for transmitting or receiving data to or from an IoT device, the apparatus including: a first server that receives signaling data containing messages from the IoT device through signaling over a cellular network; and a second server that determines a transmission destination of the message or data corresponding thereto based on the signaling data, the second server communicating with the transmission destination over an IP network.

A ninth aspect of the present invention is a method for transmitting or receiving data with an IoT device, the method including: a step of receiving signaling data containing messages from the IoT device through signaling over a cellular network; and a step of determining a transmission destination of the message or data corresponding thereto based on the signaling data, and transmitting the message or data to the transmission destination over an IP network.

A tenth aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute a method for transmitting or receiving data with an IoT device, the method including: a step of receiving signaling data containing messages from the IoT device through signaling over a cellular network; and a step of determining a transmission destination of the message or data corresponding thereto based on the signaling data, and transmitting the message or data to the transmission destination over an IP network.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, when using an SMS with limited capacity for communication between an IoT device and an external server, a destination identifier of a number or a symbol having a predetermined number of bits or less is introduced instead of directly describing the destination of the external server such as UR L in SMS data, and the identifier is converted to the destination on the receiving side of the SMS data, thereby enabling significant reduction in overhead without impairing cooperation with various external services.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of log data of GPS tracking.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of data transmission from an IoT device to an external server according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing a procedure of transmitting an instruction from an external server to an IoT device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(first embodiment)

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The inventors and the like found that, when the SIM card 111 is inserted into the IoT device 110, even if SMS is used instead of IP communication having large overhead, complicated processing can be performed in the same manner as IP communication, and overhead can be greatly compressed.

The apparatus 100 includes: a first server 101 that receives SMS data from the IoT device 110 into which the SIM card 111 is inserted; and a second server 102 that determines a transmission destination of a message included in the SMS data or data corresponding thereto, based on the SMS data. The transmission destination may be an external server that provides various services, and complicated processing can be realized. A first external server 121, a second external server 122 and a third external server 123 are shown in fig. 2. Communication between the IoT device 110 and the apparatus 100 is performed through SMS in a cellular network, and on the other hand, communication between the apparatus 100 and an external server may be IP communication.

The device 100 may be a communication device of an MNO (mobile network operator) and may be a communication device of an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) that provides a wireless communication service by connecting to a communication infrastructure of the MNO. An MVNE (virtual mobile communication service provider) that provides an auxiliary service for smooth operation of an MVNO exists between an MNO and the MVNO, and the MVNE also has a communication infrastructure for connecting with the communication infrastructure of the MNO to provide a wireless communication service. In this case, the device 100 may be an MVNE communication device. Further, the first server 101 of the device 100 may be a communication infrastructure of different carriers, as in the case where the second server 102 is a communication device of MVNE or MVNO.

The first server 101 is a server called an SMS center (SMSC) for sending or receiving SMS messages, and the second server 102 receives SMS data containing a message as body data from the first server 101, performs appropriate necessary processing on the message, and sends it to an appropriate recipient. The first server 101 and the second server 102 may be one or more instances on a public cloud or a private cloud, respectively, and particularly, the second server 102 may be designed by being divided into a plurality of instances according to functions. The first server 101 may assume part or all of the functionality of the second server 102.

Here, in the present specification, the "cloud" refers to a system that dynamically configures and provides computing resources such as CPUs, memories, storages, network bandwidths, and the like on a network as needed. For example, the cloud can be utilized by AWS or the like. In addition, the "public cloud" refers to a cloud that can be utilized by a plurality of tenants.

The IoT device 110 may be any device with the required communication functionality, having an identification code for an IMSI or the like for connecting to a cellular network. In order to perform IP communication in a cellular network, it is necessary to connect to a packet-switched network (PS), but in order to perform SMS-based communication, it is only necessary to connect to a circuit-switched network (CS), and therefore, a simplified device can be used in which functions required for connection to a PS are removed.

In this specification, description is mainly made using an example in which a SIM card is inserted into the IoT device 110, but an identification code such as an IMSI is not only stored in the physical SIM card 111, but also one or more IMSIs may be stored on a semiconductor chip (also referred to as "eSIM") embedded in the IoT device 110, and software may be piggybacked in a secure area within a module of the IoT device 110, on which one or more IMSIs are stored, and various ways may be considered in which the IoT device 110 directly or indirectly holds the identification code. In the IoT device 110, in addition to the identification code such as the IMSI, a telephone number such as the MSISDN of the device itself and a telephone number such as the MSISDN of the first server 101 serving as the SMSC are stored.

The first external server 121, the second external server 122, and the third external server 123 may be used for various purposes, respectively, for example, data transmission under HTTP to a local company server of an enterprise that uses the IoT device 110, data storage securely by HTTP over SS L/T L S, or data transfer to an instance or server of the same cloud or a different cloud in the case where the second server 102 is an instance or server on the cloud.

Each device described in this specification is not limited to a single physical device, and may be a plurality of devices that can access each other. The second server 102 includes a communication unit 102-1 such as a communication interface, a processor, a processing unit 102-2 such as a CPU, and a storage unit 102-3 including a memory, a storage device such as a hard disk, or a storage medium, and as shown in the figure, the processing unit 102-2 executes a program for performing each process stored in the storage device or the storage medium accessible from the storage unit 102-3 or the second server 102, whereby each function can be realized, and other devices can be realized by the same hardware. The program may include 1 or more programs, and may be recorded in a computer-readable storage medium to be a non-transitory program product.

Fig. 3 shows a sequence of data transmission from an IoT device to an external server according to the first embodiment of the present invention. First, in the IoT device 110, some event occurs (S301). For example, an example may be cited in which a timer is started and information acquired by a sensor of the IoT device 110 is desired to be transmitted to the third external server 123.

The IoT device 110 generates a message in which the acquired information is described, and transmits a phone number of the first server 101, which is stored in advance in the IoT device 110, by SMS (S302). The message includes a destination identifier for identifying a third external server 123, and the third external server 123 is a destination of at least a part of the message or data corresponding thereto. The destination identifier may be a 4-digit number such as 1001, 1002, 1003, 2000, or the like, and more generally, may be a predetermined number of digits or a number or a symbol of a predetermined number of digits or less. Since the message that can be transmitted by SMS has a very limited capacity of 140 octets or the like, it is preferable to use a binary format.

The first server 101 notifies the IoT terminal 110 of the reception of the SMS data containing the message as necessary (S303), and delivers the SMS data to the second server 102 (S304). At this time, the SMS data may include an identification code stored in the IoT terminal 110 or a telephone number of the IoT terminal 110 that is a transmission source that can be determined from the identification code.

The second server 102 refers to the correspondence between the destination identifier that can be included in the SMS data and the destination to determine the destination of transmission from the destination identifier included in the message of the SMS data (S305). the destination of transmission may be UR L on the IP network, often several tens of octets. in the case of a binary format, the second server 102 may also be developed into a format that is widely used on the server side in general, for example, a text-based format such as JSON or XM L, so as to be easily handled by the third server 123 that is the destination of transmission (S306).

The second server 102 transmits the whole of the message excluding the destination identifier or the message including the destination identifier to the third external server 123 (S307). As an example of the transmission, at least a part of the message or data corresponding thereto can be transmitted by an HTTP POST request in JSON form or the like.

As shown by the broken line in fig. 3, each device may be inactive when transmitting or receiving a result of transmission to or from each device. The period of activity of each device is indicated by a long rectangle.

Since the sending destination such as UR L of the external server occupies a large proportion of the capacity, it is not practical to use SMS with limited capacity for communication between the IoT device and the external server, but as described above, communication by SMS can be realized by introducing a sending destination identifier of a number or a symbol of a predetermined number of digits or less and converting the identifier into a sending destination on the receiving side of SMS data, without impairing cooperation with various external services, resulting in a significant reduction in overhead.

In the above description, the destination is specified based on the destination identifier, but the destination may be specified based on at least a part of a message of the SMS data or a telephone number of the transmission source included in or added to the SMS data in addition to or instead of the destination identifier.

In the present embodiment, the data transmission from the IoT device 110 to the first server 101 is performed by SMS over the cellular network, but the spirit of the present invention is not limited to SMS, and it is also possible to use signaling over a cellular network other than SMS. At this time, the data received by the first server 101 is referred to as "signaling data", and more specifically, may be defined as data that can be transmitted from the client and that can uniquely and securely determine the identification code used in the transmission at the received server side. For example, the signaling data may comprise a USSD based message.

In addition, if there is no recitation of "only ×× based only", "only ×× based only", "in the case of ×× only" such "only", it should be noted that additional information may also be considered in this specification.

Note that, for the sake of caution, in some methods, programs, terminals, devices, servers, or systems (hereinafter referred to as "methods and the like"), even if there is an aspect that an operation different from the operation described in the present specification is performed, each aspect of the present invention is directed to the same operation as any one of the operations described in the present specification, and the presence of an operation different from the operation described in the present specification does not mean that the method and the like are out of the scope of each aspect of the present invention.

(second embodiment)

In the second embodiment, for example, as a premise for transmission of sensor data as exemplified in the first embodiment, a command such as data acquisition is given from an external server. Data generated as a result of the operation according to the instruction can be transmitted to the external server according to the flow described in the first embodiment.

Fig. 4 shows a sequence of transmitting instructions from an external server to an IoT device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. First, some event occurs in the second external server 122 (S401). For example, the following situation may be considered: since the administrator of the IoT device 110 is aware of the situation on the terminal side, a button for executing the process of acquiring the sensor data is pressed in the IoT device 110.

The second external server 122 passes the instruction for the IoT device 110 to the Web API using the device identifier for identifying the IoT device 110 as a parameter and the above instruction as body data (S402). The device identifier may be, in addition to the phone number of the IoT device 110, an identification code of the IMSI or the like, a device name, or the like.

In the case where the received instruction is in a text format, the Web API may convert it into a binary format as necessary (S403). Then, when the device identifier is other than the phone number, the Web API determines the phone number of the IoT device 110 with reference to the correspondence between the device identifier and the phone number, and passes the phone number of the IoT device 110 and the instruction for the IoT device 110 or the data corresponding thereto to the second server 102 (S404). Although a server or an example providing the Web API is not illustrated in fig. 2, it may be provided separately from the second server 102 or may be provided in the second server 102. In addition, a Web API on another server or instance may also be included as the second server 102.

The second server 102 transmits a transmission request of SMS data in which a transmission destination is set to a phone number of the IoT device 110, an instruction to receive a message, or data corresponding thereto, to the first server 101 (S405). In this case, the source of the SMS data is a telephone number assigned to the first server 101 as the SMSC, but the message may include an external source for identifying the second external server 122 that has instructed the SMS data, an administrator that has instructed the SMS data from the second external server 122, or an identifier indicating the external source.

The first server 101 sends SMS data containing data representing the instruction or data corresponding thereto in a message to the IoT device 110 (S406). The IoT device 110 returns a reception confirmation response as necessary (S407), and executes the processing according to the instruction (S408).

Here, in the method of the present embodiment, one of the characteristics is that the IoT device does not require to be always on in order to receive an instruction or indication that it is not aware of when. In the case of IP communication instead of SMS communication, normally, a device such as NAT exists between servers, direct access from the servers is not possible, and each time a TCP/UDP session is established, state information is generated and held in the server, a firewall on the path, and each device such as NAT, and access from the server is possible. Further, since the state information is generally installed in a soft state in many cases and the expiration date is defined, a method called keepalive is often used in which empty data is transmitted from the device before the expiration date to maintain the state information. Moreover, the necessity of keepalive becomes a large overhead.

In contrast, in the SMS-based communication, since the incoming call of the message can be notified by paging the modem in the wake-up sleep mode, the first server 101 according to this embodiment can transmit the SMS data at an arbitrary timing and execute the command without periodically or intermittently transmitting the data to the IoT device 110. Since the first server 101 does not need keepalive, the SMS data can be transmitted even if the data from the IoT device 110 is not received for a prescribed time or more. For example, in IP communication, if keepalive of several minutes or more or several tens of minutes or more is not performed, it is difficult to access from a server at any time. However, according to the present embodiment, the IoT device 110 does not need to transmit data for such a long time.

More specifically, the data transmission frequency for keepalive depends on the expiration date of the status information in each device on the network path, and therefore cannot be determined in a general manner, but in a network that is not managed by itself, the setting can be changed, and therefore, in order to stably maintain the connectivity, it is necessary to set the data transmission frequency for keepalive in accordance with the shortest device. Particularly in UDP which is frequently used in IoT, a timer for maintaining a state is often shorter than TCP which is frequently used in an application which continues a session for a long time, and keepalive needs to be performed at a high frequency of several tens of seconds to several minutes.

As an example, consider the case where a Registration Update request is sent to a server every 1 minute as a keepalive in order to be able to perform a data acquisition command from the server at an arbitrary time using OMA L WM 2M.

Assuming that the request size is set to 80 octets and the response size is set to 80 octets, the amount of keepalive traffic per 1 day is 23 ten thousand and 40 octets, and 1 month is about 7MB, which results in a cost that cannot be ignored when the number of devices is large.

Furthermore, when the device is battery-driven, the device and the modem must be always active in order to perform the communication, which significantly shortens the battery life. In the sleep mode, when a command or instruction is waited for, there is a difference of tens of times or hundreds of times between SMS communication in which power is consumed by being activated for data transmission and IP communication in which data transmission must be continued at a high frequency for keepalive while being always activated.

Description of the symbols

100 device

101 first server

102 second server

102-1 communication section

102-2 processing section

102-3 storage unit

110 IoT device

111 SIM card

121 first external server

122 second external server

123 third external server.