U.S. patent application number 14/588104 was filed with the patent office on 2016-04-14 for alarm profile for a fabric network.
The applicant listed for this patent is Google Inc.. Invention is credited to Jay D. Logue, Robert Szewczyk.
Application Number | 20160104369 14/588104 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 55314811 |
Filed Date | 2016-04-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160104369 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Szewczyk; Robert ; et
al. |
April 14, 2016 |
ALARM PROFILE FOR A FABRIC NETWORK
Abstract
Methods and systems for transferring alarm information by
sending an alarm message containing information about an alarm. The
alarm message includes an alarm counter indicator that indicates
whether an alarm status has changed from a previous alarm message.
The alarm message also includes one or more indications of alarm
conditions indicating an alarm state or an alarm source.
Furthermore, the alarm message includes an alarm length that
indicates a number of alarm conditions included in the alarm
message.
Inventors: |
Szewczyk; Robert;
(Sunnyvale, CA) ; Logue; Jay D.; (San Jose,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Google Inc. |
Mountain View |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
55314811 |
Appl. No.: |
14/588104 |
Filed: |
December 31, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62061593 |
Oct 8, 2014 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
340/506 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 8/65 20130101; G05B
2219/2642 20130101; G08B 17/10 20130101; H04L 41/0816 20130101;
H04L 61/1511 20130101; H04L 63/08 20130101; H04L 67/06 20130101;
H04L 12/2818 20130101; H04L 12/2803 20130101; H04L 61/1541
20130101; G08B 29/02 20130101; G05B 19/042 20130101; H04L 43/0805
20130101; H04L 67/10 20130101; H04L 65/1069 20130101; H04L 67/02
20130101; H04L 67/141 20130101; H04L 67/303 20130101; H04L 67/26
20130101; H04W 12/04 20130101; F24F 11/30 20180101; H04L 45/74
20130101; H04L 45/02 20130101; H04L 67/12 20130101; F24F 11/62
20180101; H04L 41/0806 20130101; H04L 12/283 20130101; G06F 16/38
20190101; H04W 4/80 20180201; H04L 63/0823 20130101; G08B 25/001
20130101; H04L 12/281 20130101; H04L 12/2823 20130101; H04L 29/06
20130101; H04L 67/143 20130101; H04L 69/28 20130101; G05B 15/02
20130101; G06F 16/33 20190101 |
International
Class: |
G08B 29/02 20060101
G08B029/02 |
Claims
1. A method for transferring alarm information between devices in a
mesh network, comprising: sending an alarm message containing
information about an alarm, wherein the alarm message comprises: an
alarm counter indicator that includes a value that is configured to
be changed to indicate that an alarm status has changed from a
previous alarm message; one or more indications of alarm conditions
indicating an alarm state or an alarm source; and an alarm length
that indicates a number of alarm conditions included in the alarm
message; and hushing the alarm using an alarm status update
message, wherein hushing the alarm comprises: allowing a first
remote device to hush the alarm through a remote connection via a
first alarm status update message; and blocking a second remote
device from hushing the alarm through the remote connection via a
second alarm status update message.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the alarm status update message
comprises: an alarm update counter indicator that matches to the
alarm counter indicator of the alarm message corresponding to the
alarm to which the alarm status update is updating; and one or more
update indications of alarm conditions being updated.
3. (canceled)
4. The method of claim 1, wherein allowing the first remote device
to hush the alarm and blocking the second remote device from
hushing the alarm is based at least in part on a device type of the
first remote device and the second remote device.
5. The method of claim 1, comprising: propagating the alarm to one
or more devices in a fabric, wherein propagating the alarm within
the fabric comprises sending the alarm message to a first device
type without sending the alarm message to a second device type.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises an
originating node identifier that identifies an originating device
within a fabric or network that originated the alarm, wherein the
originating node identifier comprises a 64-bit Internet Protocol
(IP) unique identifier used to identify the originating device to a
specific device within a specific fabric or network.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises an extended
location identifier for an originating device within a fabric or
network that originated the alarm, wherein the extended location
identifier comprises an 128-bit identifier of the originating
device as a specific device within a specific fabric and a specific
network.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the value comprises an 8-bit
value that indicates an alarm version for the alarm message
indicating whether the alarm state has been updated, wherein the
alarm counter indicator starts at an initial value and, the alarm
counter indicator is incremented each time the alarm status is
updated.
9. The method of claim 8, comprising: resolving the alarm that
corresponds to the alarm message; and in response to resolving the
alarm, resetting the alarm counter indicator to the initial once
the alarm has been resolved, wherein the initial value indicates
that no current alarm exists or the alarm has been resolved.
10. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having stored
thereon instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause a
processor to: send an alarm message containing information about an
alarm, wherein the alarm message comprises: an alarm counter
indicator that includes a value that is configured to be changed to
indicate that an alarm status has changed from a previous alarm
message; one or more indications of alarm conditions indicating an
alarm state or an alarm source; and an alarm length that indicates
a number of alarm conditions included in the alarm message; and
hush the alarm using an alarm status update message, wherein
hushing the alarm comprises: allow a first remote device to hush
the alarm through a remote connection via a first alarm status
update message; and block a second remote device from hushing the
alarm through the remote connection via a second alarm status
update message.
11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 10,
wherein the alarm source indicates a sensor type from which the
alarm originated, wherein the sensor type comprises a smoke sensor,
a temperature sensor, a carbon monoxide sensor, a natural gas
sensor, a humidity sensor, and a security alarm.
12. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 10,
wherein sending the alarm message comprises: sending the alarm
message as a multicast message that is to be propagated to
neighboring devices to which communication may be established; or
sending the alarm message as a unicast message that is addressed to
one or more destination devices.
13. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 11,
wherein sending the alarm message comprises resending the alarm
message periodically while the alarm has not been resolved and a
threshold duration for alarm resending has not been surpassed.
14. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 11,
wherein when the alarm source is null or not explicitly listed in
the an alarm condition of the one or more alarm conditions, the
alarm state for the alarm condition comprises a standby state for
the alarm that indicates that a current alarm is not active.
15. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 11,
wherein when the one or more indications of alarm conditions
comprise an implicit indication of alarm condition when explicit
indications of alarm conditions are missing from the alarm message
when the alarm length is set, wherein an implicit indication of
alarm conditions indicate that the alarm message comprises an all
clear signal.
16. An electronic device, comprising: a network interface; memory;
and a processor configured to: send an alarm message containing
information about an alarm, wherein the alarm message comprises: an
alarm counter indicator includes a value that is configured to be
changed to indicate that an alarm status has changed from a
previous alarm message; one or more indications of alarm conditions
indicating an alarm state or an alarm source; and an alarm length
that indicates a number of alarm conditions included in the alarm
message; and hush the alarm using an alarm status update message,
wherein hushing the alarm comprises: allow a first remote device to
hush the alarm through a remote connection via a first alarm status
update message; and block a second remote device from hushing the
alarm through the remote connection via a second alarm status
update message.
17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the processor is
configured to receive, via the network interface from another
device, an incoming alarm message that comprises: an incoming alarm
counter indicator that corresponds to the alarm counter indicator;
one or more indications of incoming alarm conditions corresponding
to the one or more indications of alarm conditions; and an incoming
alarm length that corresponds to the alarm length.
18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the processor is
configured to propagate the incoming alarm message as the sent
alarm message, wherein the processor is configured to wait to send
the alarm message until a timer has elapsed that manages how
quickly message should be propagated through the network.
19. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the processor is
configured to rebroadcast the alarm message after a rebroadcast
timer has elapsed, and wherein the processor is configured to limit
a number of rebroadcasts to based on device rebroadcast limit value
for the electronic device, based on a fabric rebroadcast limit
value for a fabric on which the electronic device resides, or based
on a network rebroadcast limit value for a network on which the
electronic device resides.
20. The electronic device of claim 16, comprising one or more
sensors configured to measure conditions around the electronic
device, wherein when a condition of the conditions exceeds a
threshold value, the processor is configured to include an
indication for the condition in the one or more indications of
alarm conditions to alarm other devices in the network about the
status of the condition.
21. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the alarm counter
indicator is configured to be incremented when a new alarm state
occurs and decremented when a current alarm state has been
resolved.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Application Ser. No. 62/061,593, filed Oct. 8, 2014, entitled
"FABRIC NETWORK," which is incorporated by reference herein in its
entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] This disclosure relates to data communication profiles for
systems, devices, methods, and related computer program products
for smart buildings, such as a smart home. This disclosure relates
to a fabric network that couples electronic devices using one or
more network types and an alarm profile configured to enable the
one or more electronic devices to propagate alarms throughout the
network.
[0003] Some homes today are equipped with smart home networks to
provide automated control of devices, appliances and systems, such
as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning ("HVAC") systems,
lighting systems, alarm systems, and home theater and entertainment
systems. Furthermore, some of these smart devices may include
sensors that are used to alarm on various conditions. However,
since the devices may of different types with different
capabilities, it may be difficult to propagate alarms through
devices on the network.
[0004] This section is intended to introduce the reader to various
aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the
present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This
discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with
background information to facilitate a better understanding of the
various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should
be understood that these statements are to be read in this light,
and not as admissions of prior art.
SUMMARY
[0005] A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set
forth below. It should be understood that these aspects are
presented merely to provide the reader with a brief summary of
these certain embodiments and that these aspects are not intended
to limit the scope of this disclosure. Indeed, this disclosure may
encompass a variety of aspects that may not be set forth below.
[0006] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and
methods a fabric network that includes one or more logical networks
that enables devices connected to the fabric to communicate with
each other using a list of protocols and/or profiles known to the
devices. The communications between the devices may follow a
typical message format that enables the devices to understand
communications between the devices regardless of which logical
networks the communicating devices are connected to in the fabric.
Within the message format, a payload of data may be included for
the receiving device to store and/or process. The format and the
contents of the payload may vary according to a header (e.g.,
profile tag) within the payload that indicates a specific profile
(including one or more protocols) and/or a type of message that is
being sent according to the profile with the message header and/or
payload causing a specific response in the receiving device.
[0007] According to some embodiments, two or more devices in a
fabric may communicate using various profiles. For example, in
certain embodiments, a data management profile, a network
provisioning profile, or a core profile (including status reporting
protocols) that are available to devices connected to the fabric.
Using the profiles, devices may send or request information to or
from other devices in the fabric in an understood message format.
Using an alarm profile, an alarm that originates at one smart
device may be propagated to various devices within the network.
[0008] Various refinements of the features noted above may exist in
relation to various aspects of the present disclosure. Further
features may also be incorporated in these various aspects as well.
These refinements and additional features may exist individually or
in any combination. For instance, various features discussed below
in relation to one or more of the illustrated embodiments may be
incorporated into any of the above-described aspects of the present
disclosure alone or in any combination. The brief summary presented
above is intended only to familiarize the reader with certain
aspects and contexts of embodiments of the present disclosure
without limitation to the claimed subject matter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood
upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference
to the drawings in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device having
that may be interconnected with other devices using a fabric
network, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0011] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a home environment in
which the general device of FIG. 1 may communicate with other
devices via the fabric network, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0012] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI) model that characterizes a communication
system for the home environment of FIG. 2, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0013] FIG. 4 illustrates the fabric network having a single
logical network topology, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0014] FIG. 5 illustrates the fabric network having a star network
topology, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0015] FIG. 6 illustrates the fabric network having an overlapping
networks topology, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0016] FIG. 7 illustrates a service communicating with one or more
fabric networks, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0017] FIG. 8 illustrates two devices in a fabric network in
communicative connection, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0018] FIG. 9 illustrates a unique local address format (ULA) that
may be used to address devices in a fabric network, in accordance
with an embodiment;
[0019] FIG. 10 illustrates a process for proxying periphery devices
on a hub network, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0020] FIG. 11 illustrates a tag-length-value (TLV) packet that may
be used to transmit data over the fabric network, in accordance
with an embodiment;
[0021] FIG. 12 illustrates a general message protocol (GMP) that
may be used to transmit data over the fabric network that may
include the TLV packet of FIG. 11, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0022] FIG. 13 illustrates a message header field of the GMP of
FIG. 12, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0023] FIG. 14 illustrates a key identifier field of the GMP of
FIG. 12, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0024] FIG. 15 illustrates an application payload field of the GMP
of FIG. 12, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0025] FIG. 16 illustrates a profile library that includes various
profiles that may be used in the application payload field of FIG.
15;
[0026] FIG. 17 illustrates a status reporting schema that may be
used to update status information in the fabric network, in
accordance with an embodiment;
[0027] FIG. 18 illustrates a profile field of the status reporting
schema of FIG. 17, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0028] FIG. 19 illustrates a protocol sequence that may be used to
perform a software update between a client and a server, in
accordance with an embodiment;
[0029] FIG. 20 illustrates an image query frame that may be used in
the protocol sequence of FIG. 19, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0030] FIG. 21 illustrates a frame control field of the image query
frame of FIG. 20, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0031] FIG. 22 illustrates a product specification field of the
image query frame of FIG. 20, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0032] FIG. 23 illustrates a version specification field of the
image query frame of FIG. 20, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0033] FIG. 24 illustrates a locale specification field of the
image query frame of FIG. 20, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0034] FIG. 25 illustrates an integrity types supported field of
the image query frame of FIG. 20, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0035] FIG. 26 illustrates an update schemes supported field of the
image query frame of FIG. 20, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0036] FIG. 27 illustrates an image query response frame that may
be used in the protocol sequence of FIG. 19, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0037] FIG. 28 illustrates a uniform resource identifier (URI)
field of the image query response frame of FIG. 27, in accordance
with an embodiment;
[0038] FIG. 29 illustrates a integrity specification field of the
image query response frame of FIG. 27, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0039] FIG. 30 illustrates an update scheme field of the image
query response frame of FIG. 27, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0040] FIG. 31 illustrates a communicative connection between a
sender and a receiver in a bulk data transfer, in accordance with
an embodiment;
[0041] FIG. 32 illustrates a SendInit message that may be used to
initiate the communicative connection by the sender of FIG. 31, in
accordance with an embodiment;
[0042] FIG. 33 illustrates a transfer control field of the SendInit
message of FIG. 32, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0043] FIG. 34 illustrates a range control field of the SendInit
message of FIG. 33, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0044] FIG. 35 illustrates a SendAccept message that may be used to
accept a communicative connection proposed by the SendInit message
of FIG. 32 sent by the sender of FIG. 32, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0045] FIG. 36 illustrates a SendReject message that may be used to
reject a communicative connection proposed by the SendInit message
of FIG. 32 sent by the sender of FIG. 32, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0046] FIG. 37 illustrates a ReceiveAccept message that may be used
to accept a communicative connection proposed by the receiver of
FIG. 32, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0047] FIG. 38 illustrates an alarm propagation between various
smart devices using an alarm profile, in accordance with an
embodiment;
[0048] FIG. 39 illustrates an alarm profile message distribution
between three devices in a smart network using multicast
distribution, in accordance with an embodiment;
[0049] FIG. 40 illustrates an alarm profile message distribution
for a unicast message between two devices in a smart network, in
accordance with an embodiment;
[0050] FIG. 41 illustrates an alarm profile message distribution
for a unicast message between two devices in a smart network when
an alarm condition changes at an originating device, in accordance
with an embodiment; and
[0051] FIG. 42 illustrates an alarm profile message distribution
for a unicast message between two devices in a smart network when a
remote device sends an alarm update message, in accordance with an
embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0052] One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure
will be described below. These described embodiments are only
examples of the presently disclosed techniques. Additionally, in an
effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments,
features of an actual implementation may not be described in the
specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of
any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design
project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to
achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with
system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary
from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be
appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and
time consuming, but may nevertheless be a routine undertaking of
design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill
having the benefit of this disclosure.
[0053] When introducing elements of various embodiments of the
present disclosure, the articles "a," "an," and "the" are intended
to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms
"comprising," "including," and "having" are intended to be
inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than
the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that
references to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" of the present
disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the
existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the
recited features.
[0054] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to an
efficient fabric network that may be used by devices and/or
services communicating with each other in a home environment.
Generally, consumers living in homes may find it useful to
coordinate the operations of various devices within their home such
that of their devices are operated efficiently. For example, a
thermostat device may be used to detect a temperature of a home and
coordinate the activity of other devices (e.g., lights) based on
the detected temperature. In this example, the thermostat device
may detect a temperature that may indicate that the temperature
outside the home corresponds to daylight hours. The thermostat
device may then convey to the light device that there may be
daylight available to the home and that thus the light should turn
off.
[0055] In addition to operating these devices efficiently,
consumers generally prefer to use user-friendly devices that
involve a minimum amount of set up or initialization. That is,
consumers may generally prefer to purchase devices that are fully
operational after performing a few number initialization steps that
may be performed by almost any individual regardless of age or
technical expertise.
[0056] With the foregoing in mind, to enable to effectively
communicate data between each other within the home environment,
the devices may use a fabric network that includes one or more
logical networks to manage communication between the devices. That
is, the efficient fabric network may enable numerous devices within
a home to communicate with each other using one or more logical
networks. The communication network may support Internet Protocol
version 6 (IPv6) communication such that each connected device may
have a unique local address (LA). Moreover, to enable each device
to integrate with a home, it may be useful for each device to
communicate within the network using low amounts of power. That is,
by enabling devices to communicate using low power, the devices may
be placed anywhere in a home without being coupled to a continuous
power source (e.g., battery-powered).
[0057] I. Fabric Introduction
[0058] By way of introduction, FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a
general device 10 that may that may communicate with other like
devices within a home environment. In one embodiment, the device 10
may include one or more sensors 12, a user-interface component 14,
a power supply 16 (e.g., including a power connection and/or
battery), a network interface 18, a processor 20, and the like.
Particular sensors 12, user-interface components 14, and
power-supply configurations may be the same or similar with each
devices 10. However, it should be noted that in some embodiments,
each device 10 may include particular sensors 12, user-interface
components 14, power-supply configurations, and the like based on a
device type or model.
[0059] The sensors 12, in certain embodiments, may detect various
properties such as acceleration, temperature, humidity, water,
supplied power, proximity, external motion, device motion, sound
signals, ultrasound signals, light signals, fire, smoke, carbon
monoxide, global-positioning-satellite (GPS) signals,
radio-frequency (RF), other electromagnetic signals or fields, or
the like. As such, the sensors 12 may include temperature
sensor(s), humidity sensor(s), hazard-related sensor(s) or other
environmental sensor(s), accelerometer(s), microphone(s), optical
sensors up to and including camera(s) (e.g., charged coupled-device
or video cameras), active or passive radiation sensors, GPS
receiver(s) or radiofrequency identification detector(s). While
FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment with a single sensor, many
embodiments may include multiple sensors. In some instances, the
device 10 may includes one or more primary sensors and one or more
secondary sensors. Here, the primary sensor(s) may sense data
central to the core operation of the device (e.g., sensing a
temperature in a thermostat or sensing smoke in a smoke detector),
while the secondary sensor(s) may sense other types of data (e.g.,
motion, light or sound), which can be used for energy-efficiency
objectives or smart-operation objectives.
[0060] One or more user-interface components 14 in the device 10
may receive input from the user and/or present information to the
user. The user-interface component 14 may also include one or more
user-input components that may receive information from the user.
The received input may be used to determine a setting. In certain
embodiments, the user-input components may include a mechanical or
virtual component that responds to the user's motion. For example,
the user can mechanically move a sliding component (e.g., along a
vertical or horizontal track) or rotate a rotatable ring (e.g.,
along a circular track), the user's motion along a touchpad may be
detected, or motions/gestures may be detected using a contactless
gesture detection sensor (e.g., infrared sensor or camera). Such
motions may correspond to a setting adjustment, which can be
determined based on an absolute position of a user-interface
component 104 or based on a displacement of a user-interface
components 104 (e.g., adjusting a setpoint temperature by 1 degree
F. for every 10.degree. rotation of a rotatable-ring component).
Physically and virtually movable user-input components can allow a
user to set a setting along a portion of an apparent continuum.
Thus, the user may not be confined to choose between two discrete
options (e.g., as would be the case if up and down buttons were
used) but can quickly and intuitively define a setting along a
range of possible setting values. For example, a magnitude of a
movement of a user-input component may be associated with a
magnitude of a setting adjustment, such that a user may
dramatically alter a setting with a large movement or finely tune a
setting with s small movement.
[0061] The user-interface components 14 may also include one or
more buttons (e.g., up and down buttons), a keypad, a number pad, a
switch, a microphone, and/or a camera (e.g., to detect gestures).
In one embodiment, the user-input component 14 may include a
click-and-rotate annular ring component that may enable the user to
interact with the component by rotating the ring (e.g., to adjust a
setting) and/or by clicking the ring inwards (e.g., to select an
adjusted setting or to select an option). In another embodiment,
the user-input component 14 may include a camera that may detect
gestures (e.g., to indicate that a power or alarm state of a device
is to be changed). In some instances, the device 10 may have one
primary input component, which may be used to set various types of
settings. The user-interface components 14 may also be configured
to present information to a user via, e.g., a visual display (e.g.,
a thin-film-transistor display or organic light-emitting-diode
display) and/or an audio speaker.
[0062] The power-supply component 16 may include a power connection
and/or a local battery. For example, the power connection may
connect the device 10 to a power source such as a line voltage
source. In some instances, an AC power source can be used to
repeatedly charge a (e.g., rechargeable) local battery, such that
the battery may be used later to supply power to the device 10 when
the AC power source is not available. In certain embodiments, the
power supply component 16 may include intermittent or reduced power
connections that may be less than that provided via an AC plug in
the home. In certain embodiments, devices with batteries and/or
intermittent or reduced power may be operated as "sleepy devices"
that alternate between an online/awake state and an offline/sleep
state to reduce power consumption.
[0063] The network interface 18 may include one or more components
that enable the device 10 to communicate between devices using one
or more logical networks within the fabric network. In one
embodiment, the network interface 18 may communicate using an
efficient network layer as part of its Open Systems Interconnection
(OSI) model. In certain embodiments, one component of the network
interface 18 may communicate with one logical network (e.g., WiFi)
and another component of the network interface may communicate with
another logical network (e.g., 802.15.4). In other words, the
network interface 18 may enable the device 10 to wirelessly
communicate via multiple IPv6 networks. As such, the network
interface 18 may include a wireless card, Ethernet port, and/or
other suitable transceiver connections.
[0064] The processor 20 may support one or more of a variety of
different device functionalities. As such, the processor 20 may
include one or more processors configured and programmed to carry
out and/or cause to be carried out one or more of the
functionalities described herein. In one embodiment, the processor
20 may include general-purpose processors carrying out computer
code stored in local memory (e.g., flash memory, hard drive, random
access memory), special-purpose processors or application-specific
integrated circuits, other types of hardware/firmware/software
processing platforms, and/or some combination thereof. Further, the
processor 20 may be implemented as localized versions or
counterparts of algorithms carried out or governed remotely by
central servers or cloud-based systems, such as by virtue of
running a Java virtual machine (JVM) that executes instructions
provided from a cloud server using Asynchronous Javascript and XML
(AJAX) or similar protocols. By way of example, the processor 20
may detect when a location (e.g., a house or room) is occupied, up
to and including whether it is occupied by a specific person or is
occupied by a specific number of people (e.g., relative to one or
more thresholds). In one embodiment, this detection can occur,
e.g., by analyzing microphone signals, detecting user movements
(e.g., in front of a device), detecting openings and closings of
doors or garage doors, detecting wireless signals, detecting an IP
address of a received signal, detecting operation of one or more
devices within a time window, or the like. Moreover, the processor
20 may include image recognition technology to identify particular
occupants or objects.
[0065] In some instances, the processor 20 may predict desirable
settings and/or implement those settings. For example, based on
presence detection, the processor 20 may adjust device settings to,
e.g., conserve power when nobody is home or in a particular room or
to accord with user preferences (e.g., general at-home preferences
or user-specific preferences). As another example, based on the
detection of a particular person, animal or object (e.g., a child,
pet or lost object), the processor 20 may initiate an audio or
visual indicator of where the person, animal or object is or may
initiate an alarm or security feature if an unrecognized person is
detected under certain conditions (e.g., at night or when lights
are off).
[0066] In some instances, devices may interact with each other such
that events detected by a first device influences actions of a
second device using one or more common profiles between the
devices. For example, a first device can detect that a user has
pulled into a garage (e.g., by detecting motion in the garage,
detecting a change in light in the garage or detecting opening of
the garage door). The first device can transmit this information to
a second device via the fabric network, such that the second device
can, e.g., adjust a home temperature setting, a light setting, a
music setting, and/or a security-alarm setting. As another example,
a first device can detect a user approaching a front door (e.g., by
detecting motion or sudden light pattern changes). The first device
may cause a general audio or visual signal to be presented (e.g.,
such as sounding of a doorbell) or cause a location-specific audio
or visual signal to be presented (e.g., to announce the visitor's
presence within a room that a user is occupying).
[0067] With the foregoing in mind, FIG. 2 illustrates a block
diagram of a home environment 30 in which the device 10 of FIG. 1
may communicate with other devices via the fabric network. The
depicted home environment 30 may include a structure 32 such as a
house, office building, garage, or mobile home. It will be
appreciated that devices can also be integrated into a home
environment that does not include an entire structure 32, such as
an apartment, condominium, office space, or the like. Further, the
home environment 30 may control and/or be coupled to devices
outside of the actual structure 32. Indeed, several devices in the
home environment 30 need not physically be within the structure 32
at all. For example, a device controlling a pool heater 34 or
irrigation system 36 may be located outside of the structure
32.
[0068] The depicted structure 32 includes multiple rooms 38,
separated at least partly from each other via walls 40. The walls
40 can include interior walls or exterior walls. Each room 38 can
further include a floor 42 and a ceiling 44. Devices can be mounted
on, integrated with and/or supported by the wall 40, the floor 42,
or the ceiling 44.
[0069] The home environment 30 may include multiple devices,
including intelligent, multi-sensing, network-connected devices
that may integrate seamlessly with each other and/or with
cloud-based server systems to provide any of a variety of useful
home objectives. One, more or each of the devices illustrated in
the home environment 30 may include one or more sensors 12, a user
interface 14, a power supply 16, a network interface 18, a
processor 20 and the like.
[0070] Example devices 10 may include a network-connected
thermostat 46 that may detect ambient climate characteristics
(e.g., temperature and/or humidity) and control a heating,
ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system 48. Another example
device 10 may include a hazard detection unit 50 that can detect
the presence of a hazardous substance and/or a hazardous condition
in the home environment 30 (e.g., smoke, fire, or carbon monoxide).
Additionally, entryway interface devices 52, which can be termed a
"smart doorbell", can detect a person's approach to or departure
from a location, control audible functionality, announce a person's
approach or departure via audio or visual means, or control
settings on a security system (e.g., to activate or deactivate the
security system).
[0071] In certain embodiments, the device 10 may include a light
switch 54 that may detect ambient lighting conditions, detect
room-occupancy states, and control a power and/or dim state of one
or more lights. In some instances, the light switches 54 may
control a power state or speed of a fan, such as a ceiling fan.
[0072] Additionally, wall plug interfaces 56 may detect occupancy
of a room or enclosure and control supply of power to one or more
wall plugs (e.g., such that power is not supplied to the plug if
nobody is at home). The device 10 within the home environment 30
may further include an appliance 58, such as refrigerators, stoves
and/or ovens, televisions, washers, dryers, lights (inside and/or
outside the structure 32), stereos, intercom systems, garage-door
openers, floor fans, ceiling fans, whole-house fans, wall air
conditioners, pool heaters 34, irrigation systems 36, security
systems, and so forth. While descriptions of FIG. 2 may identify
specific sensors and functionalities associated with specific
devices, it will be appreciated that any of a variety of sensors
and functionalities (such as those described throughout the
specification) may be integrated into the device 10.
[0073] In addition to containing processing and sensing
capabilities, each of the example devices described above may be
capable of data communications and information sharing with any
other device, as well as to any cloud server or any other device
that is network-connected anywhere in the world. In one embodiment,
the devices 10 may send and receive communications via a fabric
network discussed below. In one embodiment, fabric may enable the
devices 10 to communicate with each other via one or more logical
networks. As such, certain devices may serve as wireless repeaters
and/or may function as bridges between devices, services, and/or
logical networks in the home environment that may not be directly
connected (i.e., one hop) to each other.
[0074] In one embodiment, a wireless router 60 may further
communicate with the devices 10 in the home environment 30 via one
or more logical networks (e.g., WiFi). The wireless router 60 may
then communicate with the Internet 62 or other network such that
each device 10 may communicate with a remote service or a
cloud-computing system 64 through the Internet 62. The
cloud-computing system 64 may be associated with a manufacturer,
support entity or service provider associated with a particular
device 10. As such, in one embodiment, a user may contact customer
support using a device itself rather than using some other
communication means such as a telephone or Internet-connected
computer. Further, software updates can be automatically sent from
the cloud-computing system 64 or devices in the home environment 30
to other devices in the fabric (e.g., when available, when
purchased, when requested, or at routine intervals).
[0075] By virtue of network connectivity, one or more of the
devices 10 may further allow a user to interact with the device
even if the user is not proximate to the device. For example, a
user may communicate with a device using a computer (e.g., a
desktop computer, laptop computer, or tablet) or other portable
electronic device (e.g., a smartphone) 66. A webpage or application
may receive communications from the user and control the device 10
based on the received communications. Moreover, the webpage or
application may present information about the device's operation to
the user. For example, the user can view a current setpoint
temperature for a device and adjust it using a computer that may be
connected to the Internet 62. In this example, the thermostat 46
may receive the current setpoint temperature view request via the
fabric network via one or more underlying logical networks.
[0076] In certain embodiments, the home environment 30 may also
include a variety of non-communicating legacy appliances 68, such
as old conventional washer/dryers, refrigerators, and the like
which can be controlled, albeit coarsely (ON/OFF), by virtue of the
wall plug interfaces 56. The home environment 30 may further
include a variety of partially communicating legacy appliances 70,
such as infra-red (IR) controlled wall air conditioners or other
IR-controlled devices, which can be controlled by IR signals
provided by the hazard detection units 50 or the light switches
54.
[0077] As mentioned above, each of the example devices 10 described
above may form a portion of a fabric network. Generally, the fabric
network may be part of an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model
90 as depicted in FIG. 4. The OSI model 90 illustrates functions of
a communication system with respect to abstraction layers. That is,
the OSI model may specify a networking framework or how
communications between devices may be implemented. In one
embodiment, the OSI model may include six layers: a physical layer
92, a data link layer 94, a network layer 96, a transport layer 98,
a platform layer 100, and an application layer 102. Generally, each
layer in the OSI model 90 may serve the layer above it and may be
served by the layer below it.
[0078] Keeping this in mind, the physical layer 92 may provide
hardware specifications for devices that may communicate with each
other. As such, the physical layer 92 may establish how devices may
connect to each other, assist in managing how communication
resources may be shared between devices, and the like.
[0079] The data link layer 94 may specify how data may be
transferred between devices. Generally, the data link layer 94 may
provide a way in which data packets being transmitted may be
encoded and decoded into bits as part of a transmission
protocol.
[0080] The network layer 96 may specify how the data being
transferred to a destination node is routed. The network layer 96
may also provide a security protocol that may maintain the
integrity of the data being transferred. The efficient network
layer discussed above corresponds to the network layer 96. In
certain embodiments, the network layer 96 may be completely
independent of the platform layer 100 and include any suitable IPv6
network type (e.g., WiFi, Ethernet, HomePlug, 802.15.4, etc).
[0081] The transport layer 98 may specify a transparent transfer of
the data from a source node to a destination node. The transport
layer 98 may also control how the transparent transfer of the data
remains reliable. As such, the transport layer 98 may be used to
verify that data packets intended to transfer to the destination
node indeed reached the destination node. Example protocols that
may be employed in the transport layer 98 may include Transmission
Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
[0082] The platform layer 100 includes the fabric network and
establishes connections between devices according to the protocol
specified within the transport layer 98 and may be agnostic of the
network type used in the network layer 96. The platform layer 100
may also translate the data packets into a form that the
application layer 102 may use. The application layer 102 may
support a software application that may directly interface with the
user. As such, the application layer 102 may implement protocols
defined by the software application. For example, the software
application may provide serves such as file transfers, electronic
mail, and the like.
[0083] II. Fabric Device Interconnection
[0084] As discussed above, a fabric may be implemented using one or
more suitable communications protocols, such as IPv6 protocols. In
fact, the fabric may be partially or completely agnostic to the
underlying technologies (e.g., network types or communication
protocols) used to implement the fabric. Within the one or more
communications protocols, the fabric may be implemented using one
or more network types used to communicatively couple electrical
devices using wireless or wired connections. For example, certain
embodiments of the fabric may include Ethernet, WiFi, 802.15.4,
ZigBee.RTM., ISA100.11a, WirelessHART, MiWi.TM., power-line
networks, and/or other suitable network types. Within the fabric
devices (e.g., nodes) can exchange packets of information with
other devices (e.g., nodes) in the fabric, either directly or via
intermediary nodes, such as intelligent thermostats, acting as IP
routers. These nodes may include manufacturer devices (e.g.,
thermostats and smoke detectors) and/or customer devices (e.g.,
phones, tablets, computers, etc.). Additionally, some devices may
be "always on" and continuously powered using electrical
connections. Other devices may have partially reduced power usage
(e.g., medium duty cycle) using a reduced/intermittent power
connection, such as a thermostat or doorbell power connection.
Finally, some devices may have a short duty cycle and run solely on
battery power. In other words, in certain embodiments, the fabric
may include heterogeneous devices that may be connected to one or
more sub-networks according to connection type and/or desired power
usage. FIGS. 4-6 illustrate three embodiments that may be used to
connect electrical devices via one or more sub-networks in the
fabric.
[0085] A. Single Network Topology
[0086] FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the fabric 1000 having a
single network topology. As illustrated, the fabric 1000 includes a
single logical network 1002. The network 1002 could include
Ethernet, WiFi, 802.15.4, power-line networks, and/or other
suitable network types in the IPv6 protocols. In fact, in some
embodiments where the network 1002 includes a WiFi or Ethernet
network, the network 1002 may span multiple WiFi and/or Ethernet
segments that are bridged at a link layer.
[0087] The network 1002 includes one or more nodes 1004, 1006,
1008, 1010, 1012, 1014, and 1016, referred to collectively as
1004-1016. Although the illustrated network 1002 includes seven
nodes, certain embodiments of the network 1002 may include one or
more nodes interconnected using the network 1002. Moreover, if the
network 1002 is a WiFi network, each of the nodes 1004-1016 may be
interconnected using the node 1016 (e.g., WiFi router) and/or
paired with other nodes using WiFi Direct (i.e., WiFi P2P).
[0088] B. Star Network Topology
[0089] FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative embodiment of fabric 1000
as a fabric 1018 having a star network topology. The fabric 1018
includes a hub network 1020 that joins together two periphery
networks 1022 and 1024. The hub network 1020 may include a home
network, such as WiFi/Ethernet network or power line network. The
periphery networks 1022 and 1024 may additional network connection
types different of different types than the hub network 1020. For
example, in some embodiments, the hub network 1020 may be a
WiFi/Ethernet network, the periphery network 1022 may include an
802.15.4 network, and the periphery network 1024 may include a
power line network, a ZigBee.RTM. network, a ISA100.11a network, a
WirelessHART, network, or a MiWi.TM. network. Moreover, although
the illustrated embodiment of the fabric 1018 includes three
networks, certain embodiments of the fabric 1018 may include any
number of networks, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, or more networks. In fact,
some embodiments of the fabric 1018 include multiple periphery
networks of the same type.
[0090] Although the illustrated fabric 1018 includes fourteen
nodes, each referred to individually by reference numbers
1024-1052, respectively, it should be understood that the fabric
1018 may include any number of nodes. Communication within each
network 1020, 1022, or 1024, may occur directly between devices
and/or through an access point, such as node 1042 in a
WiFi/Ethernet network. Communications between periphery network
1022 and 1024 passes through the hub network 1020 using
inter-network routing nodes. For example, in the illustrated
embodiment, nodes 1034 and 1036 are be connected to the periphery
network 1022 using a first network connection type (e.g., 802.15.4)
and to the hub network 1020 using a second network connection type
(e.g., WiFi) while the node 1044 is connected to the hub network
1020 using the second network connection type and to the periphery
network 1024 using a third network connection type (e.g., power
line). For example, a message sent from node 1026 to node 1052 may
pass through nodes 1028, 1030, 1032, 1036, 1042, 1044, 1048, and
1050 in transit to node 1052.
[0091] C. Overlapping Networks Topology
[0092] FIG. 6 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the fabric
1000 as a fabric 1054 having an overlapping networks topology. The
fabric 1054 includes networks 1056 and 1058. As illustrated, each
of the nodes 1062, 1064, 1066, 1068, 1070, and 1072 may be
connected to each of the networks. In other embodiments, the node
1072 may include an access point for an Ethernet/WiFi network
rather than an end point and may not be present on either the
network 1056 or network 1058, whichever is not the Ethernet/WiFi
network. Accordingly, a communication from node 1062 to node 1068
may be passed through network 1056, network 1058, or some
combination thereof. In the illustrated embodiment, each node can
communicate with any other node via any network using any network
desired. Accordingly, unlike the star network topology of FIG. 5,
the overlapping networks topology may communicate directly between
nodes via any network without using inter-network routing.
[0093] D. Fabric Network Connection to Services
[0094] In addition to communications between devices within the
home, a fabric (e.g., fabric 1000) may include services that may be
located physically near other devices in the fabric or physically
remote from such devices. The fabric connects to these services
through one or more service end points. FIG. 7 illustrates an
embodiment of a service 1074 communicating with fabrics 1076, 1078,
and 1080. The service 1074 may include various services that may be
used by devices in fabrics 1076, 1078, and/or 1080. For example, in
some embodiments, the service 1074 may be a time of day service
that supplies a time of day to devices, a weather service to
provide various weather data (e.g., outside temperature, sunset,
wind information, weather forecast, etc.), an echo service that
"pings" each device, data management services, device management
services, and/or other suitable services. As illustrated, the
service 1074 may include a server 1082 (e.g., web server) that
stores/accesses relevant data and passes the information through a
service end point 1084 to one or more end points 1086 in a fabric,
such as fabric 1076. Although the illustrated embodiment only
includes three fabrics with a single server 1082, it should be
appreciated that the service 1074 may connect to any number of
fabrics and may include servers in addition to the server 1082
and/or connections to additional services.
[0095] In certain embodiments, the service 1074 may also connect to
a consumer device 1088, such as a phone, tablet, and/or computer.
The consumer device 1088 may be used to connect to the service 1074
via a fabric, such as fabric 1076, an Internet connection, and/or
some other suitable connection method. The consumer device 1088 may
be used to access data from one or more end points (e.g.,
electronic devices) in a fabric either directly through the fabric
or via the service 1074. In other words, using the service 1074,
the consumer device 1088 may be used to access/manage devices in a
fabric remotely from the fabric.
[0096] E. Communication Between Devices in a Fabric
[0097] As discussed above, each electronic device or node may
communicate with any other node in the fabric, either directly or
indirectly depending upon fabric topology and network connection
types. Additionally, some devices (e.g., remote devices) may
communicate through a service to communicate with other devices in
the fabric. FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a communication
1090 between two devices 1092 and 1094. The communication 1090 may
span one or more networks either directly or indirectly through
additional devices and/or services, as described above.
Additionally, the communication 1090 may occur over an appropriate
communication protocol, such as IPv6, using one or more transport
protocols. For example, in some embodiments the communication 1090
may include using the transmission control protocol (TCP) and/or
the user datagram protocol (UDP). In some embodiments, the device
1092 may transmit a first signal 1096 to the device 1094 using a
connectionless protocol (e.g., UDP). In certain embodiments, the
device 1092 may communicate with the device 1094 using a
connection-oriented protocol (e.g., TCP). Although the illustrated
communication 1090 is depicted as a bi-directional connection, in
some embodiments, the communication 1090 may be a uni-directional
broadcast.
[0098] i. Unique Local Address
[0099] As discussed above, data transmitted within a fabric
received by a node may be redirected or passed through the node to
another node depending on the desired target for the communication.
In some embodiments, the transmission of the data may be intended
to be broadcast to all devices. In such embodiments, the data may
be retransmitted without further processing to determine whether
the data should be passed along to another node. However, some data
may be directed to a specific endpoint. To enable addressed
messages to be transmitted to desired endpoints, nodes may be
assigned identification information.
[0100] Each node may be assigned a set of link-local addresses
(LLA), one assigned to each network interface. These LLAs may be
used to communicate with other nodes on the same network.
Additionally, the LLAs may be used for various communication
procedures, such as IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Protocol. In addition
to LLAs, each node is assigned a unique local address (ULA).
[0101] FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a unique local address
(ULA) 1098 that may be used to address each node in the fabric. In
certain embodiments, the ULA 1098 may be formatted as an IPv6
address format containing 128 bits divided into a global ID 1100, a
subnet ID 1102, and an interface ID 1104. The global ID 1100
includes 40 bits and the subnet ID 1102 includes 16 bits. The
global ID 1100 and subnet ID 1102 together form a fabric ID 1103
for the fabric.
[0102] The fabric ID 1103 is a unique 64-bit identifier used to
identify a fabric. The fabric ID 1103 may be generated at creation
of the associated fabric using a pseudo-random algorithm. For
example, the pseudo-random algorithm may 1) obtain the current time
of day in 64-bit NTP format, 2) obtain the interface ID 1104 for
the device, 3) concatenate the time of day with the interface ID
1104 to create a key, 4) compute and SHA-1 digest on the key
resulting in 160 bits, 5) use the least significant 40 bits as the
global ID 1100, and 6) concatenate the ULA and set the least
significant bit to 1 to create the fabric ID 1103. In certain
embodiments, once the fabric ID 1103 is created with the fabric,
the fabric ID 1103 remains until the fabric is dissolved.
[0103] The global ID 1100 identifies the fabric to which the node
belongs. The subnet ID 1102 identifies logical networks within the
fabric. The subnet ID 1102 may be assigned monotonically starting
at one with the addition of each new logical network to the fabric.
For example, a WiFi network may be identified with a hex value of
0x01, and a later connected 802.15.4 network may be identified with
a hex value of 0x02 continuing on incrementally upon the connection
of each new network to the fabric.
[0104] Finally, the ULA 1098 includes an interface ID 1104 that
includes 64 bits. The interface ID 1104 may be assigned using a
globally-unique 64-bit identifier according to the IEEE EUI-64
standard. For example, devices with IEEE 802 network interfaces may
derive the interface ID 1104 using a burned-in MAC address for the
devices "primary interface." In some embodiments, the designation
of which interface is the primary interface may be determined
arbitrarily. In other embodiments, an interface type (e.g., WiFi)
may be deemed the primary interface, when present. If the MAC
address for the primary interface of a device is 48 bits rather
than 64-bit, the 48-bit MAC address may be converted to a EUI-64
value via encapsulation (e.g., organizationally unique identifier
encapsulating). In consumer devices (e.g., phones or computers),
the interface ID 1104 may be assigned by the consumer devices'
local operating systems.
[0105] ii. Routing Transmissions Between Logical Networks
[0106] As discussed above in relation to a star network topology,
inter-network routing may occur in communication between two
devices across logical networks. In some embodiments, inter-network
routing is based on the subnet ID 1102. Each inter-networking node
(e.g., node 1034 of FIG. 5) may maintain a list of other routing
nodes (e.g., node B 14 of FIG. 5) on the hub network 1020 and their
respective attached periphery networks (e.g., periphery network
1024 of FIG. 5). When a packet arrives addressed to a node other
than the routing node itself, the destination address (e.g.,
address for node 1052 of FIG. 5) is compared to the list of network
prefixes and a routing node (e.g., node 1044) is selected that is
attached to the desired network (e.g., periphery network 1024). The
packet is then forwarded to the selected routing node. If multiple
nodes (e.g., 1034 and 1036) are attached to the same periphery
network, routing nodes are selected in an alternating fashion.
[0107] Additionally, inter-network routing nodes may regularly
transmit Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) router advertisement
messages on the hub network to alert consumer devices to the
existence of the hub network and allow them to acquire the subnet
prefix. The router advertisements may include one or more route
information options to assist in routing information in the fabric.
For example, these route information options may inform consumer
devices of the existence of the periphery networks and how to route
packets the periphery networks.
[0108] In addition to, or in place of route information options,
routing nodes may act as proxies to provide a connection between
consumer devices and devices in periphery networks, such as the
process 1105 as illustrated in FIG. 10. As illustrated, the process
1105 includes each periphery network device being assigned a
virtual address on the hub network by combining the subnet ID 1102
with the interface ID 1104 for the device on the periphery network
(block 1106). To proxy using the virtual addresses, routing nodes
maintain a list of all periphery nodes in the fabric that are
directly reachable via one of its interfaces (block 1108). The
routing nodes listen on the hub network for neighbor solicitation
messages requesting the link address of a periphery node using its
virtual address (block 1110). Upon receiving such a message, the
routing node attempts to assign the virtual address to its hub
interface after a period of time (block 1112). As part of the
assignment, the routing node performs duplicate address detection
so as to block proxying of the virtual address by more than one
routing node. After the assignment, the routing node responds to
the neighbor solicitation message and receives the packet (block
1114). Upon receiving the packet, the routing node rewrites the
destination address to be the real address of the periphery node
(block 1116) and forwards the message to the appropriate interface
(block 1118).
[0109] iii. Consumer Devices Connecting to a Fabric
[0110] To join a fabric, a consumer device may discover an address
of a node already in the fabric that the consumer device wants to
join. Additionally, if the consumer device has been disconnected
from a fabric for an extended period of time may need to rediscover
nodes on the network if the fabric topology/layout has changed. To
aid in discovery/rediscovery, fabric devices on the hub network may
publish Domain Name System-Service Discovery (DNS-SD) records via
mDNS that advertise the presence of the fabric and provide
addresses to the consumer device
[0111] III. Data Transmitted in the Fabric
[0112] After creation of a fabric and address creation for the
nodes, data may be transmitted through the fabric. Data passed
through the fabric may be arranged in a format common to all
messages and/or common to specific types of conversations in the
fabric. In some embodiments, the message format may enable
one-to-one mapping to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) using a TLV
serialization format discussed below. Additionally, although the
following data frames are described as including specific sizes, it
should be noted that lengths of the data fields in the data frames
may be varied to other suitable bit-lengths.
[0113] It should be understood that each of the following data
frames, profiles, and/or formats discussed below may be stored in
memory (e.g., memory of the device 10) prior to and/or after
transmission of a message. In other words, although the data frame,
profiles, and formats may be generally discussed as transmissions
of data, they may also be physically stored (e.g., in a buffer)
before, during, and/or after transmission of the data frame,
profiles, and/or formats. Moreover, the following data frames,
profiles, schemas, and/or formats may be stored on a
non-transitory, computer-readable medium that allows an electronic
device to access the data frames, profiles, schemas, and/or
formats. For example, instructions for formatting the data frames,
profiles, schemas, and/or formats may be stored in any suitable
computer-readable medium, such as in memory for the device 10,
memory of another device, a portable memory device (e.g., compact
disc, flash drive, etc.), or other suitable physical device
suitable for storing the data frames, profiles, schemas, and/or
formats.
[0114] A. Security
[0115] Along with data intended to be transferred, the fabric may
transfer the data with additional security measures such as
encryption, message integrity checks, and digital signatures. In
some embodiments, a level of security supported for a device may
vary according to physical security of the device and/or
capabilities of the device. In certain embodiments, messages sent
between nodes in the fabric may be encrypted using the Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES) block cipher operating in counter mode
(AES-CTR) with a 128-bit key. As discussed below, each message
contains a 32-bit message id. The message id may be combined with a
sending nodes id to form a nonce for the AES-CTR algorithm. The
32-bit counter enables 4 billion messages to be encrypted and sent
by each node before a new key is negotiated.
[0116] In some embodiments, the fabric may insure message integrity
using a message authentication code, such as HMAC-SHA-1, that may
be included in each encrypted message. In some embodiments, the
message authentication code may be generated using a 160-bit
message integrity key that is paired one-to-one with the encryption
key. Additionally, each node may check the message id of incoming
messages against a list of recently received ids maintained on a
node-by-node basis to block replay of the messages.
[0117] B. Tag Length Value (TLV) Formatting
[0118] To reduce power consumption, it is desirable to send at
least a portion of the data sent over the fabric that compactly
while enabling the data containers to flexibly represents data that
accommodates skipping data that is not recognized or understood by
skipping to the next location of data that is understood within a
serialization of the data. In certain embodiments, tag-length-value
(TLV) formatting may be used to compactly and flexibly
encode/decode data. By storing at least a portion of the
transmitted data in TLV, the data may be compactly and flexibly
stored/sent along with low encode/decode and memory overhead, as
discussed below in reference to Table 7. In certain embodiments,
TLV may be used for some data as flexible, extensible data, but
other portions of data that is not extensible may be stored and
sent in an understood standard protocol data unit (PDU).
[0119] Data formatted in a TLV format may be encoded as TLV
elements of various types, such as primitive types and container
types. Primitive types include data values in certain formats, such
as integers or strings. For example, the TLV format may encode: 1,
2, 3, 4, or 8 byte signed/unsigned integers, UTF-8 strings, byte
strings, single/double-precision floating numbers (e.g., IEEE
754-1985 format), boolean, null, and other suitable data format
types. Container types include collections of elements that are
then sub-classified as container or primitive types. Container
types may be classified into various categories, such as
dictionaries, arrays, paths or other suitable types for grouping
TLV elements, known as members. A dictionary is a collection of
members each having distinct definitions and unique tags within the
dictionary. An array is an ordered collection of members with
implied definitions or no distinct definitions. A path is an
ordered collection of members that described how to traverse a tree
of TLV elements.
[0120] As illustrated in FIG. 11, an embodiment of a TLV packet
1120 includes three data fields: a tag field 1122, a length field
1124, and a value field 1126. Although the illustrated fields 1122,
1124, and 1126 are illustrated as approximately equivalent in size,
the size of each field may be variable and vary in size in relation
to each other. In other embodiments, the TLV packet 1120 may
further include a control byte before the tag field 1122.
[0121] In embodiments having the control byte, the control byte may
be sub-divided into an element type field and a tag control field.
In some embodiments, the element type field includes 5 lower bits
of the control byte and the tag control field occupies the upper 3
bits. The element type field indicates the TLV element's type as
well as the how the length field 1124 and value field 1126 are
encoded. In certain embodiments, the element type field also
encodes Boolean values and/or null values for the TLV. For example,
an embodiment of an enumeration of element type field is provided
in Table 1 below.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Example element type field values. 7 6 5 4 3
2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Signed Integer, 1 byte value 0 0 0 0 1 Signed
Integer, 2 byte value 0 0 0 1 0 Signed Integer, 4 byte value 0 0 0
1 1 Signed Integer, 8 byte value 0 0 1 0 0 Unsigned Integer, 1 byte
value 0 0 1 0 1 Unsigned Integer, 2 byte value 0 0 1 1 0 Unsigned
Integer, 4 byte value 0 0 1 1 1 Unsigned Integer, 8 byte value 0 1
0 0 0 Boolean False 0 1 0 0 1 Boolean True 0 1 0 1 0 Floating Point
Number, 4 byte value 0 1 0 1 1 Floating Point Number, 8 byte value
0 1 1 0 0 UTF8-String, 1 byte length 0 1 1 0 1 UTF8-String, 2 byte
length 0 1 1 1 0 UTF8-String, 4 byte length 0 1 1 1 1 UTF8-String,
8 byte length 1 0 0 0 0 Byte String, 1 byte length 1 0 0 0 1 Byte
String, 2 byte length 1 0 0 1 0 Byte String, 4 byte length 1 0 0 1
1 Byte String, 8 byte length 1 0 1 0 0 Null 1 0 1 0 1 Dictionary 1
0 1 1 0 Array 1 0 1 1 1 Path 1 1 0 0 0 End of Container
The tag control field indicates a form of the tag in the tag field
1122 assigned to the TLV element (including a zero-length tag).
Examples, of tag control field values are provided in Table 2
below.
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Example values for tag control field. 7 6 5
4 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 Anonymous, 0 bytes 0 0 1 Context-specific Tag, 1
byte 0 1 0 Core Profile Tag, 2 bytes 0 1 1 Core Profile Tag, 4
bytes 1 0 0 Implicit Profile Tag, 2 bytes 1 0 1 Implicit Profile
Tag, 4 bytes 1 1 0 Fully-qualified Tag, 6 bytes 1 1 1
Fully-qualified Tag, 8 bytes
In other words, in embodiments having a control byte, the control
byte may indicate a length of the tag.
[0122] In certain embodiments, the tag field 1122 may include zero
to eight bytes, such as eight, sixteen, thirty two, or sixty four
bits. In some embodiments, the tag of the tag field may be
classified as profile-specific tags or context-specific tags.
Profile-specific tags identify elements globally using a vendor Id,
a profile Id, and/or tag number as discussed below.
Context-specific tags identify TLV elements within a context of a
containing dictionary element and may include a single-byte tag
number. Since context-specific tags are defined in context of their
containers, a single context-specific tag may have different
interpretations when included in different containers. In some
embodiments, the context may also be derived from nested
containers.
[0123] In embodiments having the control byte, the tag length is
encoded in the tag control field and the tag field 1122 includes a
possible three fields: a vendor Id field, a profile Id field, and a
tag number field. In the fully-qualified form, the encoded tag
field 1122 includes all three fields with the tag number field
including 16 or 32 bits determined by the tag control field. In the
implicit form, the tag includes only the tag number, and the vendor
Id and profile number are inferred from the protocol context of the
TLV element. The core profile form includes profile-specific tags,
as discussed above. Context-specific tags are encoded as a single
byte conveying the tag number. Anonymous elements have zero-length
tag fields 1122.
[0124] In some embodiments without a control byte, two bits may
indicate a length of the tag field 1122, two bits may indicate a
length of the length field 1124, and four bits may indicate a type
of information stored in the value field 1126. An example of
possible encoding for the upper 8 bits for the tag field is
illustrated below in Table 3.
TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Tag field of a TLV packet Byte 0 7 6 5 4 3 2
1 0 Description 0 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- Tag is 8 bits 0 1 -- -- -- --
-- -- Tag is 16 bits 1 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- Tag is 32 bits 1 1 -- --
-- -- -- -- Tag is 64 bits -- -- 0 0 -- -- -- -- Length is 8 bits
-- -- 0 1 -- -- -- -- Length is 16 bits -- -- 1 0 -- -- -- --
Length is 32 bits -- -- 1 1 -- -- -- -- Length is 64 bits -- -- 0 0
0 0 Boolean -- -- 0 0 0 1 Fixed 8-bit Unsigned -- -- 0 0 1 0 Fixed
8-bit Signed -- -- 0 0 1 1 Fixed 16-bit Unsigned -- -- 0 1 0 0
Fixed 16-bit Signed -- -- 0 1 0 1 Fixed 32-bit Unsigned -- -- 0 1 1
0 Fixed 32-bit Signed -- -- 0 1 1 1 Fixed 64-bit Unsigned -- -- 1 0
0 0 Fixed 64-bit Signed -- -- 1 0 0 1 32-bit Floating Point -- -- 1
0 1 0 64-bit Floating Point -- -- 1 0 1 1 UTF-8 String -- -- 1 1 0
0 Opaque Data -- -- 1 1 0 1 Container
As illustrated in Table 3, the upper 8 bits of the tag field 1122
may be used to encode information about the tag field 1122, length
field 1124, and the value field 1126, such that the tag field 112
may be used to determine length for the tag field 122 and the
length fields 1124. Remaining bits in the tag field 1122 may be
made available for user-allocated and/or user-assigned tag
values.
[0125] The length field 1124 may include eight, sixteen, thirty
two, or sixty four bits as indicated by the tag field 1122 as
illustrated in Table 3 or the element field as illustrated in Table
2. Moreover, the length field 1124 may include an unsigned integer
that represents a length of the encoded in the value field 1126. In
some embodiments, the length may be selected by a device sending
the TLV element. The value field 1126 includes the payload data to
be decoded, but interpretation of the value field 1126 may depend
upon the tag length fields, and/or control byte. For example, a TLV
packet without a control byte including an 8 bit tag is illustrated
in Table 4 below for illustration.
TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Example of a TLV packet including an 8-bit
tag Tag Length Value Description 0x0d 0x24 0x09 0x04 0x42 95 00 00
74.5 0x09 0x04 0x42 98 66 66 76.2 0x09 0x04 0x42 94 99 9a 74.3 0x09
0x04 0x42 98 99 9a 76.3 0x09 0x04 0x42 95 33 33 74.6 0x09 0x04 0x42
98 33 33 76.1
As illustrated in Table 4, the first line indicates that the tag
field 1122 and the length field 1124 each have a length of 8 bits.
Additionally, the tag field 1122 indicates that the tag type is for
the first line is a container (e.g., the TLV packet). The tag field
1124 for lines two through six indicate that each entry in the TLV
packet has a tag field 1122 and length field 1124 consisting of 8
bits each. Additionally, the tag field 1124 indicates that each
entry in the TLV packet has a value field 1126 that includes a
32-bit floating point. Each entry in the value field 1126
corresponds to a floating number that may be decoded using the
corresponding tag field 1122 and length field 1124 information. As
illustrated in this example, each entry in the value field 1126
corresponds to a temperature in Fahrenheit. As can be understood,
by storing data in a TLV packet as described above, data may be
transferred compactly while remaining flexible for varying lengths
and information as may be used by different devices in the fabric.
Moreover, in some embodiments, multi-byte integer fields may be
transmitted in little-endian order or big-endian order.
[0126] By transmitting TLV packets in using an order protocol
(e.g., little-endian) that may be used by sending/receiving device
formats (e.g., JSON), data transferred between nodes may be
transmitted in the order protocol used by at least one of the nodes
(e.g., little endian). For example, if one or more nodes include
ARM or ix86 processors, transmissions between the nodes may be
transmitted using little-endian byte ordering to reduce the use of
byte reordering. By reducing the inclusion of byte reordering, the
TLV format enable devices to communicate using less power than a
transmission that uses byte reordering on both ends of the
transmission. Furthermore, TLV formatting may be specified to
provide a one-to-one translation between other data storage
techniques, such as JSON+ Extensible Markup Language (XML). As an
example, the TLV format may be used to represent the following XML
Property List:
TABLE-US-00005 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist
version="1.0"> <dict> <key>OfflineMode</key>
<false/> <key>Network</key> <dict>
<key>IPv4</key> <dict>
<key>Method</key> <string>dhcp</string>
</dict> <key>IPv6</key> <dict>
<key>Method</key> <string>auto</string>
</dict> </dict> <key>Technologies</key>
<dict> <key>wifi</key> <dict>
<key>Enabled</key> <true/>
<key>Devices</key> <dict>
<key>wifi_18b4300008b027</key> <dict>
<key>Enabled</key> <true/> </dict>
</dict> <key>Services</key> <array>
<string>wifi_18b4300008b027_3939382d33204 16 c70696e652054657
272616365</string> </array> </dict>
<key>802.15.4</key> <dict>
<key>Enabled</key> <true/>
<key>Devices</key> <dict>
<key>802.15.4_18b43000000002fac4</key> <dict>
<key>Enabled</key> <true/> </dict>
</dict> <key>Services</key> <array>
<string>802.15.4_18b43000000002fac4_3
939382d3320416c70696e6520546572</string> </array>
</dict> </dict> <key>Services</key>
<dict>
<key>wifi_18b4300008b027_3939382d3320416c70696e6520546572
72616365</key> <dict> <key>Name</key>
<string>998-3 Alpine Terrace</string>
<key>SSID</key>
<data>3939382d3320416c70696e652054657272616365 </data>
<key>Frequency</key>
<integer>2462</integer>
<key>AutoConnect</key> <true/>
<key>Favorite</key> <true/>
<key>Error</key> <string/>
<key>Network</key> <dict>
<key>IPv4</key> <dict>
<key>DHCP</key> <dict>
<key>LastAddress</key>
<data>0a02001e</data> </dict> </dict>
<key>IPv6</key> <dict/> </dict>
</dict>
<key>802.15.4_18b43000000002fac4_3939382d3320416c7069
6e6520546572</key> <dict> <key>Name</key>
<string>998-3 Alpine Ter</string>
<key>EPANID</key>
<data>3939382d3320416c70696e6520546572</data>
<key>Frequency</key>
<integer>2412</integer>
<key>AutoConnect</key> <true/>
<key>Favorite</key> <true/>
<key>Error</key> <string/>
<key>Network</key> <dict/> </dict>
</dict> </dict> </plist
As an example, the above property list may be represented in tags
of the above described TLV format (without a control byte)
according to Table 5 below.
TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 5 Example representation of the XML Property
List in TLV format XML Key Tag Type Tag Number OfflineMode Boolean
1 IPv4 Container 3 IPv6 Container 4 Method String 5 Technologies
Container 6 WiFi Container 7 802.15.4 Container 8 Enabled Boolean 9
Devices Container 10 ID String 11 Services Container 12 Name String
13 SSID Data 14 EPANID Data 15 Frequency 16-bit Unsigned 16
AutoConnect Boolean 17 Favorite Boolean 18 Error String 19 DHCP
String 20 LastAddress Data 21 Device Container 22 Service Container
23
Similarly, Table 6 illustrates an example of literal tag, length,
and value representations for the example XML Property List.
TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 6 Example of literal values for tag, length,
and value fields for XML Property List Tag Length Value Description
0x40 01 0x01 0 OfflineMode 0x4d 02 0x14 Network 0x4d 03 0x07
Network.IPv4 0x4b 05 0x04 "dhcp" Network.IPv4.Method 0x4d 04 0x07
Network.IPv6 0x4b 05 0x04 "auto" Network.IPv6.Method 0x4d 06 0xd6
Technologies 0x4d 07 0x65 Technologies.wifi 0x40 09 0x01 1
Technologies.wifi.Enabled 0x4d 0a 0x5e Technologies.wifi.Devices
0x4d 16 0x5b Technologies.wifi.Devices.Device.[0] 0x4b 0b 0x13
"wifi_18b43 . . . " Technologies.wifi.Devices.Device.[0].ID 0x40 09
0x01 1 Technologies.wifi.Devices.Device.[0].Enabled 0x4d 0c 0x3e
Technologies.wifi.Devices.Device.[0].Services 0x0b 0x3c "wifi_18b43
. . . " Technologies.wifi.Devices.Device.[0].Services.[0] 0x4d 08
0x6b Technologies.802.15.4 0x40 09 0x01 1
Technologies.802.15.4.Enabled 0x4d 0a 0x64
Technologies.802.15.4.Devices 0x4d 16 0x61
Technologies.802.15.4.Devices.Device.[0] 0x4b 0b 0x1a "802.15.4_18
. . . " Technologies.802.15.4.Devices.Device.[0].ID 0x40 09 0x01 1
Technologies.802.15.4.Devices.Device.[0].Enabled 0x4d 0c 0x3d
Technologies.802.15.4.Devices.Device.[0].Services 0x0b 0x 3b
"802.15.4_18 . . . "
Technologies.802.15.4.Devices.Device.[0].Services.[0] 0x4d 0c 0xcb
Services 0x4d 17 0x75 Services.Service.[0] 0x4b 0b 0x13 "wifi_18b43
. . . " Services.Service.[0].ID 0x4b 0d 0x14 "998-3 Alp . . . "
Services.Service.[0].Name 0x4c 0f 0x28 3939382d . . .
Services.Service.[0].SSID 0x45 10 0x02 2462
Services.Service.[0].Frequency 0x40 11 0x01 1
Services.Service.[0].AutoConnect 0x40 12 0x01 1
Services.Service.[0].Favorite 0x4d 02 0x0d
Services.Service.[0].Network 0x4d 03 0x0a
Services.Service.[0].Network.IPv4 0x4d 14 0x07
Services.Service.[0].Network.IPv4.DHCP 0x45 15 0x04 0x0a02001e
Services.Service.[0].Network.IPv4.LastAddress 0x4d 17 0x50
Services.Service.[1] 0x4b 0b 0x1a "802.15.4_18 . . . "
Services.Service.[1].ID 0x4c 0d 0x10 "998-3 Alp . . . "
Services.Service.[1].Name 0x4c 0f 0x10 3939382d . . .
Services.Service.[1].EPANID 0x45 10 0x02 2412
Services.Service.[1].Frequency 0x40 11 0x01 1
Services.Service.[1].AutoConnect 0x40 12 0x01 1
Services.Service.[1].Favorite
The TLV format enables reference of properties that may also be
enumerated with XML, but does so with a smaller storage size. For
example, Table 7 illustrates a comparison of data sizes of the XML
Property List, a corresponding binary property list, and the TLV
format.
TABLE-US-00008 TABLE 7 Comparison of the sizes of property list
data sizes. List Type Size in Bytes Percentage of XML Size XML
2,199 -- Binary 730 -66.8% TLV 450 -79.5%
By reducing the amount of data used to transfer data, the TLV
format enables the fabric 1000 transfer data to and/or from devices
having short duty cycles due to limited power (e.g., battery
supplied devices). In other words, the TLV format allows
flexibility of transmission while increasing compactness of the
data to be transmitted.
[0127] C. General Message Protocol
[0128] In addition to sending particular entries of varying sizes,
data may be transmitted within the fabric using a general message
protocol that may incorporate TLV formatting. An embodiment of a
general message protocol (GMP) 1128 is illustrated in FIG. 12. In
certain embodiments, the general message protocol (GMP) 1128 may be
used to transmit data within the fabric. The GMP 1128 may be used
to transmit data via connectionless protocols (e.g., UDP) and/or
connection-oriented protocols (e.g., TCP). Accordingly, the GMP
1128 may flexibly accommodate information that is used in one
protocol while ignoring such information when using another
protocol. Moreover, the GMP 1226 may enable omission of fields that
are not used in a specific transmission. Data that may be omitted
from one or more GMP 1226 transfers is generally indicated using
grey borders around the data units. In some embodiments, the
multi-byte integer fields may be transmitted in a little-endian
order or a big-endian order.
[0129] i. Packet Length
[0130] In some embodiments, the GMP 1128 may include a Packet
Length field 1130. In some embodiments, the Packet Length field
1130 includes 2 bytes. A value in the Packet Length field 1130
corresponds to an unsigned integer indicating an overall length of
the message in bytes, excluding the Packet Length field 1130
itself. The Packet Length field 1130 may be present when the GMP
1128 is transmitted over a TCP connection, but when the GMP 1128 is
transmitted over a UDP connection, the message length may be equal
to the payload length of the underlying UDP packet obviating the
Packet Length field 1130.
[0131] ii. Message Header
[0132] The GMP 1128 may also include a Message Header 1132
regardless of whether the GMP 1128 is transmitted using TCP or UDP
connections. In some embodiments, the Message Header 1132 includes
two bytes of data arranged in the format illustrated in FIG. 13. As
illustrated in FIG. 13, the Message Header 1132 includes a Version
field 1156. The Version field 1156 corresponds to a version of the
GMP 1128 that is used to encode the message. Accordingly, as the
GMP 1128 is updated, new versions of the GMP 1128 may be created,
but each device in a fabric may be able to receive a data packet in
any version of GMP 1128 known to the device. In addition to the
Version field 1156, the Message Header 1132 may include an S Flag
field 1158 and a D Flag 1160. The S Flag 1158 is a single bit that
indicates whether a Source Node Id (discussed below) field is
included in the transmitted packet. Similarly, the D Flag 1160 is a
single bit that indicates whether a Destination Node Id (discussed
below) field is included in the transmitted packet.
[0133] The Message Header 1132 also includes an Encryption Type
field 1162. The Encryption Type field 1162 includes four bits that
specify which type of encryption/integrity checking applied to the
message, if any. For example, 0x0 may indicate that no encryption
or message integrity checking is included, but a decimal 0x1 may
indicate that AES-128-CTR encryption with HMAC-SHA-1 message
integrity checking is included.
[0134] Finally, the Message Header 1132 further includes a
Signature Type field 1164. The Signature Type field 1164 includes
four bits that specify which type of digital signature is applied
to the message, if any. For example, 0x0 may indicate that no
digital signature is included in the message, but 0x1 may indicate
that the Elliptical Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) with
Prime256v1 elliptical curve parameters is included in the
message.
[0135] iii. Message Id
[0136] Returning to FIG. 12, the GMP 1128 also includes a Message
Id field 1134 that may be included in a transmitted message
regardless of whether the message is sent using TCP or UDP. The
Message Id field 1134 includes four bytes that correspond to an
unsigned integer value that uniquely identifies the message from
the perspective of the sending node. In some embodiments, nodes may
assign increasing Message Id 1134 values to each message that they
send returning to zero after reaching 2.sup.32 messages.
[0137] iv. Source Node Id
[0138] In certain embodiments, the GMP 1128 may also include a
Source Node Id field 1136 that includes eight bytes. As discussed
above, the Source Node Id field 1136 may be present in a message
when the single-bit S Flag 1158 in the Message Header 1132 is set
to 1. In some embodiments, the Source Node Id field 1136 may
contain the Interface ID 1104 of the ULA 1098 or the entire ULA
1098. In some embodiments, the bytes of the Source Node Id field
1136 are transmitted in an ascending index-value order (e.g.,
EUI[0] then EUI[1] then EUI[2] then EUI[3], etc.).
[0139] v. Destination Node Id
[0140] The GMP 1128 may include a Destination Node Id field 1138
that includes eight bytes. The Destination Node Id field 1138 is
similar to the Source Node Id field 1136, but the Destination Node
Id field 1138 corresponds to a destination node for the message.
The Destination Node Id field 1138 may be present in a message when
the single-bit D Flag 1160 in the Message Header 1132 is set to 1.
Also similar to the Source Node Id field 1136, in some embodiments,
bytes of the Destination Node Id field 1138 may be transmitted in
an ascending index-value order (e.g., EUI[0] then EUI[1] then
EUI[2] then EUI[3], etc.).
[0141] vi. Key Id
[0142] In some embodiments, the GMP 1128 may include a Key Id field
1140. In certain embodiments, the Key Id field 1140 includes two
bytes. The Key Id field 1140 includes an unsigned integer value
that identifies the encryption/message integrity keys used to
encrypt the message. The presence of the Key Id field 1140 may be
determined by the value of Encryption Type field 1162 of the
Message Header 1132. For example, in some embodiments, when the
value for the Encryption Type field 1162 of the Message Header 1132
is 0x0, the Key Id field 1140 may be omitted from the message.
[0143] An embodiment of the Key Id field 1140 is presented in FIG.
14. In the illustrated embodiment, the Key Id field 1140 includes a
Key Type field 1166 and a Key Number field 1168. In some
embodiments, the Key Type field 1166 includes four bits. The Key
Type field 1166 corresponds to an unsigned integer value that
identifies a type of encryption/message integrity used to encrypt
the message. For example, in some embodiments, if the Key Type
field 1166 is 0x0, the fabric key is shared by all or most of the
nodes in the fabric. However, if the Key Type field 1166 is 0x1,
the fabric key is shared by a pair of nodes in the fabric.
[0144] The Key Id field 1140 also includes a Key Number field 1168
that includes twelve bits that correspond to an unsigned integer
value that identifies a particular key used to encrypt the message
out of a set of available keys, either shared or fabric keys.
[0145] vii. Payload Length
[0146] In some embodiments, the GMP 1128 may include a Payload
Length field 1142. The Payload Length field 1142, when present, may
include two bytes. The Payload Length field 1142 corresponds to an
unsigned integer value that indicates a size in bytes of the
Application Payload field. The Payload Length field 1142 may be
present when the message is encrypted using an algorithm that uses
message padding, as described below in relation to the Padding
field.
[0147] viii. Initialization Vector
[0148] In some embodiments, the GMP 1128 may also include an
Initialization Vector (IV) field 1144. The IV field 1144, when
present, includes a variable number of bytes of data. The IV field
1144 contains cryptographic IV values used to encrypt the message.
The IV field 1144 may be used when the message is encrypted with an
algorithm that uses an IV. The length of the IV field 1144 may be
derived by the type of encryption used to encrypt the message.
[0149] ix. Application Payload
[0150] The GMP 1128 includes an Application Payload field 1146. The
Application Payload field 1146 includes a variable number of bytes.
The Application Payload field 1146 includes application data
conveyed in the message. The length of the Application Payload
field 1146 may be determined from the Payload Length field 1142,
when present. If the Payload Length field 1142 is not present, the
length of the Application Payload field 1146 may be determined by
subtracting the length of all other fields from the overall length
of the message and/or data values included within the Application
Payload 1146 (e.g., TLV).
[0151] An embodiment of the Application Payload field 1146 is
illustrated in FIG. 15. The Application Payload field 1146 includes
an APVersion field 1170. In some embodiments, the APVersion field
1170 includes eight bits that indicate what version of fabric
software is supported by the sending device. The Application
Payload field 1146 also includes a Message Type field 1172. The
Message Type field 1172 may include eight bits that correspond to a
message operation code that indicates the type of message being
sent within a profile. For example, in a software update profile, a
0x00 may indicate that the message being sent is an image announce.
The Application Payload field 1146 further includes an Exchange Id
field 1174 that includes sixteen bits that corresponds to an
exchange identifier that is unique to the sending node for the
transaction.
[0152] In addition, the Application Payload field 1146 includes a
Profile Id field 1176. The Profile Id 1176 indicates a "theme of
discussion" used to indicate what type of communication occurs in
the message. The Profile Id 1176 may correspond to one or more
profiles that a device may be capable of communicating. For
example, the Profile Id 1176 may indicate that the message relates
to a core profile, a software update profile, a status update
profile, a data management profile, a climate and comfort profile,
a security profile, a safety profile, and/or other suitable profile
types. Each device on the fabric may include a list of profiles
which are relevant to the device and in which the device is capable
of "participating in the discussion." For example, many devices in
a fabric may include the core profile, the software update profile,
the status update profile, and the data management profile, but
only some devices would include the climate and comfort profile.
The APVersion field 1170, Message Type field 1172, the Exchange Id
field, the Profile Id field 1176, and the Profile-Specific Header
field 1176, if present, may be referred to in combination as the
"Application Header."
[0153] In some embodiments, an indication of the Profile Id via the
Profile Id field 1176 may provide sufficient information to provide
a schema for data transmitted for the profile. However, in some
embodiments, additional information may be used to determine
further guidance for decoding the Application Payload field 1146.
In such embodiments, the Application Payload field 1146 may include
a Profile-Specific Header field 1178. Some profiles may not use the
Profile-Specific Header field 1178 thereby enabling the Application
Payload field 1146 to omit the Profile-Specific Header field 1178.
Upon determination of a schema from the Profile Id field 1176
and/or the Profile-Specific Header field 1178, data may be
encoded/decoded in the Application Payload sub-field 1180. The
Application Payload sub-field 1180 includes the core application
data to be transmitted between devices and/or services to be
stored, rebroadcast, and/or acted upon by the receiving
device/service.
[0154] x. Message Integrity Check
[0155] Returning to FIG. 12, in some embodiments, the GMP 1128 may
also include a Message Integrity Check (MIC) field 1148. The MIC
field 1148, when present, includes a variable length of bytes of
data containing a MIC for the message. The length and byte order of
the field depends upon the integrity check algorithm in use. For
example, if the message is checked for message integrity using
HMAC-SHA-1, the MIC field 1148 includes twenty bytes in big-endian
order. Furthermore, the presence of the MIC field 1148 may be
determined by whether the Encryption Type field 1162 of the Message
Header 1132 includes any value other than 0x0.
[0156] xi. Padding
[0157] The GMP 1128 may also include a Padding field 1150. The
Padding field 1150, when present, includes a sequence of bytes
representing a cryptographic padding added to the message to make
the encrypted portion of the message evenly divisible by the
encryption block size. The presence of the Padding field 1150 may
be determined by whether the type of encryption algorithm (e.g.,
block ciphers in cipher-block chaining mode) indicated by the
Encryption Type field 1162 in the Message Header 1132 uses
cryptographic padding.
[0158] xii. Encryption
[0159] The Application Payload field 1146, the MIC field 1148, and
the Padding field 1150 together form an Encryption block 1152. The
Encryption block 1152 includes the portions of the message that are
encrypted when the Encryption Type field 1162 in the Message Header
1132 is any value other than 0x0.
[0160] xiii. Message Signature
[0161] The GMP 1128 may also include a Message Signature field
1154. The Message Signature field 1154, when present, includes a
sequence of bytes of variable length that contains a cryptographic
signature of the message. The length and the contents of the
Message Signature field may be determined according to the type of
signature algorithm in use and indicated by the Signature Type
field 1164 of the Message Header 1132. For example, if ECDSA using
the Prime256v1 elliptical curve parameters is the algorithm in use,
the Message Signature field 1154 may include two thirty-two bit
integers encoded in little-endian order.
[0162] IV. Profiles and Protocols
[0163] As discussed above, one or more schemas of information may
be selected upon desired general discussion type for the message. A
profile may consist of one or more schemas. For example, one set of
schemas of information may be used to encode/decode data in the
Application Payload sub-field 1180 when one profile is indicated in
the Profile Id field 1176 of the Application Payload 1146. However,
a different set of schemas may be used to encode/decode data in the
Application Payload sub-field 1180 when a different profile is
indicated in the Profile Id field 1176 of the Application Payload
1146.
[0164] FIG. 16 illustrates a schematic view of a variety of
profiles that may be used in various messages. For example, one or
more profile schemas may be stored in a profile library 300 that
may be used by the devices to encode or decode messages based on a
profile ID. The profile library 300 may organize the profiles into
groups. For example, an application- and vendor-specific profile
group 302 of profiles may be application- and vendor-specific
profiles, and a provisioning group 304 of profiles may profiles
used to provision networks, services, and/or fabrics. The
application- and vendor-specific profile group 302 may include a
software update profile 306, a locale profile 308, a time profile
310, a sensor profile 312, an access control profile 314, an alarm
profile 316, and one or more vendor unique profiles 318. The
software update profile 306 may be used by the devices to update
software within the devices. The locale profile 308 may be used to
specify a location and/or language set as the active locale for the
device. The alarm profile 316 may be used to send, read, and
propagate alarms.
[0165] The profiles library 300 may also include a device control
profile 320, a network provisioning profile 322, a fabric
provisioning profile 324, and a service provisioning profile 326.
The device control profile 320 allows one device to request that
another device exercise a specified device control (e.g., arm
failsafe, etc.) capability. The network provisioning profile 322
enables a device to be added to a new logical network (e.g., WiFi
or 802.15.4). The fabric provisioning profile 324 allows the
devices to join a pre-existing fabric or create a new fabric. The
service provisioning profile 326 enables the devices to be paired
to a service.
[0166] The profiles library 300 may also include a strings profile
328, a device description profile 330, a device profile 332, device
power extended profile 334, a device power profile 336, a device
connectivity extended profile 338, a device connectivity profile
340, a service directory profile 342, a data management profile
344, an echo profile 346, a security profile 348, and a core
profile 350. The device description profile 330 may be used by a
device to identify one or more other devices. The service directory
profile 342 enables a device to communicate with a service. The
data management profile 344 enables devices to view and/or track
data stored in another device. The echo profile 346 enables a
device to determine whether the device is connected to a target
device and the latency in the connection. The security profile 348
enables the devices to communicate securely.
[0167] The core profile 350 includes a status reporting profile 352
that enables devices to report successes and failures of requested
actions. Additionally, in certain embodiments, each device may
include a set of methods used to process profiles. For example, a
core protocol may include the following profiles: GetProfiles,
GetSchema, GetSchemas, GetProperty, GetProperties, SetProperty,
SetProperties, RemoveProperty, RemoveProperties, RequestEcho,
NotifyPropertyChanged, and/or NotifyPropertiesChanged. The Get
Profiles method may return an array of profiles supported by a
queried node. The GetSchema and GetSchemas methods may respectively
return one or all schemas for a specific profile. GetProperty and
GetProperties may respectively return a value or all value pairs
for a profile schema. SetProperty and SetProperties may
respectively set single or multiple values for a profile schema.
RemoveProperty and RemoveProperties may respectively attempt to
remove a single or multiple values from a profile schema.
RequestEcho may send an arbitrary data payload to a specified node
which the node returns unmodified. NotifyPropertyChange and
NotifyPropertiesChanged may respectively issue a notification if a
single/multiple value pairs have changed for a profile schema.
[0168] To aid in understanding profiles and schemas, a
non-exclusive list of profiles and schemas are provided below for
illustrative purposes.
[0169] A. Status Reporting
[0170] A status reporting schema is presented as the status
reporting frame 1182 in FIG. 17. The status reporting schema may be
a separate profile or may be included in one or more profiles
(e.g., a core profile). In certain embodiments, the status
reporting frame 1182 includes a profile field 1184, a status code
field 1186, a next status field 1188, and may include an additional
status info field 1190.
[0171] i. Profile Field
[0172] In some embodiments, the profile field 1184 includes four
bytes of data that defines the profile under which the information
in the present status report is to be interpreted. An embodiment of
the profile field 1184 is illustrated in FIG. 18 with two
sub-fields. In the illustrated embodiment, the profile field 1184
includes a profile Id sub-field 1192 that includes sixteen bits
that corresponds to a vendor-specific identifier for the profile
under which the value of the status code field 1186 is defined. The
profile field 1184 may also includes a vendor Id sub-field 1194
that includes sixteen bits that identifies a vendor providing the
profile identified in the profile Id sub-field 1192.
[0173] ii. Status Code
[0174] In certain embodiments, the status code field 1186 includes
sixteen bits that encode the status that is being reported. The
values in the status code field 1186 are interpreted in relation to
values encoded in the vendor Id sub-field 1192 and the profile Id
sub-field 1194 provided in the profile field 1184. Additionally, in
some embodiments, the status code space may be divided into four
groups, as indicated in Table 8 below.
TABLE-US-00009 TABLE 8 Status Code Range Table Range Name
Description 0x0000 . . . 0x0010 success A request was successfully
processed. 0x0011 . . . 0x0020 client error An error has or may
have occurred on the client-side of a client/server exchange. For
example, the client has made a badly-formed request. 0x0021 . . .
0x0030 server error An error has or may have occurred on the server
side of a client/server exchange. For example, the server has
failed to process a client request to an operating system error.
0x0031 . . . 0x0040 continue/redirect Additional processing will be
used, such as redirection, to complete a particular exchange, but
no errors yet.
Although Table 8 identifies general status code ranges that may be
used separately assigned and used for each specific profile Id, in
some embodiments, some status codes may be common to each of the
profiles. For example, these profiles may be identified using a
common profile (e.g., core profile) identifier, such as
0x00000000.
[0175] iii. Next Status
[0176] In some embodiments, the next status code field 1188
includes eight bits. The next status code field 1188 indicates
whether there is following status information after the currently
reported status. If following status information is to be included,
the next status code field 1188 indicates what type of status
information is to be included. In some embodiments, the next status
code field 1188 may always be included, thereby potentially
increasing the size of the message. However, by providing an
opportunity to chain status information together, the potential for
overall reduction of data sent may be reduced. If the next status
field 1186 is 0x00, no following status information field 1190 is
included. However, non-zero values may indicate that data may be
included and indicate the form in which the data is included (e.g.,
in a TLV packet).
[0177] iv. Additional Status Info
[0178] When the next status code field 1188 is non-zero, the
additional status info field 1190 is included in the message. If
present, the status item field may contain status in a form that
may be determined by the value of the preceding status type field
(e.g., TLV format)
[0179] B. Software Update
[0180] The software update profile or protocol is a set of schemas
and a client/server protocol that enables clients to be made aware
of or seek information about the presence of software that they may
download and install. Using the software update protocol, a
software image may be provided to the profile client in a format
known to the client. The subsequent processing of the software
image may be generic, device-specific, or vendor-specific and
determined by the software update protocol and the devices.
[0181] i. General Application Headers for the Application
Payload
[0182] In order to be recognized and handled properly, software
update profile frames may be identified within the Application
Payload field 1146 of the GMP 1128. In some embodiments, all
software update profile frames may use a common Profile Id 1176,
such as 0x0000000C. Additionally, software update profile frames
may include a Message Type field 1172 that indicates additional
information and may chosen according to Table 9 below and the type
of message being sent.
TABLE-US-00010 TABLE 9 Software update profile message types Type
Message 0x00 image announce 0x01 image query 0x02 image query
response 0x03 download notify 0x04 notify response 0x05 update
notify 0x06 . . . 0xff reserved
Additionally, as described below, the software update sequence may
be initiated by a server sending the update as an image announce or
a client receiving the update as an image query. In either
embodiment, an Exchange Id 1174 from the initiating event is used
for all messages used in relation to the software update.
[0183] ii. Protocol Sequence
[0184] FIG. 19 illustrates an embodiment of a protocol sequence
1196 for a software update between a software update client 1198
and a software update server 1200. In certain embodiments, any
device in the fabric may be the software update client 1198 or the
software update server 1200. Certain embodiments of the protocol
sequence 1196 may include additional steps, such as those
illustrated as dashed lines that may be omitted in some software
update transmissions.
[0185] 1. Service Discovery
[0186] In some embodiments, the protocol sequence 1196 begins with
a software update profile server announcing a presence of the
update. However, in other embodiments, such as the illustrated
embodiment, the protocol sequence 1196 begins with a service
discovery 1202, as discussed above.
[0187] 2. Image Announce
[0188] In some embodiments, an image announce message 1204 may be
multicast or unicast by the software update server 1200. The image
announce message 1204 informs devices in the fabric that the server
1200 has a software update to offer. If the update is applicable to
the client 1198, upon receipt of the image announce message 1204,
the software update client 1198 responds with an image query
message 1206. In certain embodiments, the image announce message
1204 may not be included in the protocol sequence 1196. Instead, in
such embodiments, the software update client 1198 may use a polling
schedule to determine when to send the image query message
1206.
[0189] 3. Image Query
[0190] In certain embodiments, the image query message 1206 may be
unicast from the software update client 1198 either in response to
an image announce message 1204 or according to a polling schedule,
as discussed above. The image query message 1206 includes
information from the client 1198 about itself. An embodiment of a
frame of the image query message 1206 is illustrated in FIG. 20. As
illustrated in FIG. 20, certain embodiments of the image query
message 1206 may include a frame control field 1218, a product
specification field 1220, a vendor specific data field 1222, a
version specification field 1224, a locale specification field
1226, an integrity type supported field 1228, and an update schemes
supported field 1230.
a. Frame Control
[0191] The frame control field 1218 includes 1 byte and indicates
various information about the image query message 1204. An example
of the frame control field 128 is illustrated in FIG. 21. As
illustrated, the frame control field 1218 may include three
sub-fields: vendor specific flag 1232, locale specification flag
1234, and a reserved field S3. The vendor specific flag 1232
indicates whether the vendor specific data field 1222 is included
in the message image query message. For example, when the vendor
specific flag 1232 is 0 no vendor specific data field 1222 may be
present in the image query message, but when the vendor specific
flag 1232 is 1 the vendor specific data field 1222 may be present
in the image query message. Similarly, a 1 value in the locale
specification flag 1234 indicates that a locale specification field
1226 is present in the image query message, and a 0 value indicates
that the locale specification field 1226 in not present in the
image query message.
b. Product Specification
[0192] The product specification field 1220 is a six byte field. An
embodiment of the product specification field 1220 is illustrated
in FIG. 22. As illustrated, the product specification field 1220
may include three sub-fields: a vendor Id field 1236, a product Id
field 1238, and a product revision field 1240. The vendor Id field
1236 includes sixteen bits that indicate a vendor for the software
update client 1198. The product Id field 1238 includes sixteen bits
that indicate the device product that is sending the image query
message 1206 as the software update client 1198. The product
revision field 1240 includes sixteen bits that indicate a revision
attribute of the software update client 1198.
c. Vendor Specific Data
[0193] The vendor specific data field 1222, when present in the
image query message 1206, has a length of a variable number of
bytes. The presence of the vendor specific data field 1222 may be
determined from the vendor specific flag 1232 of the frame control
field 1218. When present, the vendor specific data field 1222
encodes vendor specific information about the software update
client 1198 in a TLV format, as described above.
d. Version Specification
[0194] An embodiment of the version specification field 1224 is
illustrated in FIG. 23. The version specification field 1224
includes a variable number of bytes sub-divided into two
sub-fields: a version length field 1242 and a version string field
1244. The version length field 1242 includes eight bits that
indicate a length of the version string field 1244. The version
string field 1244 is variable in length and determined by the
version length field 1242. In some embodiments, the version string
field 1244 may be capped at 255 UTF-8 characters in length. The
value encoded in the version string field 1244 indicates a software
version attribute for the software update client 1198.
e. Locale Specification
[0195] In certain embodiments, the locale specification field 1226
may be included in the image query message 1206 when the locale
specification flag 1234 of the frame control 1218 is 1. An
embodiment of the locale specification field 1226 is illustrated in
FIG. 24. The illustrated embodiment of the locale specification
field 1226 includes a variable number of bytes divided into two
sub-fields: a locale string length field 1246 and a locale string
field 1248. The locale string length field 1246 includes eight bits
that indicate a length of the locale string field 1248. The locale
string field 1248 of the locale specification field 1226 may be
variable in length and contain a string of UTF-8 characters
encoding a local description based on Portable Operating System
Interface (POSIX) locale codes. The standard format for POSIX
locale codes is [language[_territory][.codeset][@modifier]] For
example, the POSIX representation for Australian English is
en_AU.UTF8.
f. Integrity Types Supported
[0196] An embodiment of the integrity types field 1228 is
illustrated in FIG. 25. The integrity types supported field 1228
includes two to four bytes of data divided into two sub-fields: a
type list length field 1250 and an integrity type list field 1252.
The type list length field 1250 includes eight bits that indicate
the length in bytes of the integrity type list field 1252. The
integrity type list field 1252 indicates the value of the software
update integrity type attribute of the software update client 1198.
In some embodiments, the integrity type may be derived from Table
10 below.
TABLE-US-00011 TABLE 10 Example integrity types Value Integrity
Type 0x00 SHA-160 0x01 SHA-256 0x02 SHA-512
The integrity type list field 1252 may contain at least one element
from Table 10 or other additional values not included.
g. Update Schemes Supported
[0197] An embodiment of the schemes supported field 1230 is
illustrated in FIG. 26. The schemes supported field 1230 includes a
variable number of bytes divided into two sub-fields: a scheme list
length field 1254 and an update scheme list field 1256. The scheme
list length field 1254 includes eight bits that indicate a length
of the update scheme list field in bytes. The update scheme list
field 1256 of the update schemes supported field 1222 is variable
in length determined by the scheme list length field 1254. The
update scheme list field 1256 represents an update schemes
attributes of the software update profile of the software update
client 1198. An embodiment of example values is shown in Table 11
below.
TABLE-US-00012 TABLE 11 Example update schemes Value Update Scheme
0x00 HTTP 0x01 HTTPS 0x02 SFTP 0x03 Fabric-specific File Transfer
Protocol (e.g., Bulk Data Transfer discussed below)
Upon receiving the image query message 1206, the software update
server 1200 uses the transmitted information to determine whether
the software update server 1200 has an update for the software
update client 1198 and how best to deliver the update to the
software update client 1198.
[0198] 4. Image Query Response
[0199] Returning to FIG. 19, after the software update server 1200
receives the image query message 1206 from the software update
client 1198, the software update server 1200 responds with an image
query response 1208. The image query response 1208 includes either
information detailing why an update image is not available to the
software update client 1198 or information about the available
image update to enable to software update client 1198 to download
and install the update.
[0200] An embodiment of a frame of the image query response 1208 is
illustrated in FIG. 27. As illustrated, the image query response
1208 includes five possible sub-fields: a query status field 1258,
a uniform resource identifier (URI) field 1260, an integrity
specification field 1262, an update scheme field 1264, and an
update options field 1266.
a. Query Status
[0201] The query status field 1258 includes a variable number of
bytes and contains status reporting formatted data, as discussed
above in reference to status reporting. For example, the query
status field 1258 may include image query response status codes,
such as those illustrated below in Table 12.
TABLE-US-00013 TABLE 12 Example image query response status codes
Profile Code Description 0x00000000 0x0000 The server has processed
the image query message 1206 and has an update for the software
update client 1198. 0x0000000C 0x0001 The server has processed the
image query message 1206, but the server does not have an update
for the software update client 1198. 0x00000000 0x0010 The server
could not process the request because of improper form for the
request. 0x00000000 0x0020 The server could not process the request
due to an internal error
b. URI
[0202] The URI field 1260 includes a variable number of bytes. The
presence of the URI field 1260 may be determined by the query
status field 1258. If the query status field 1258 indicates that an
update is available, the URI field 1260 may be included. An
embodiment of the URI field 1260 is illustrated in FIG. 28. The URI
field 1260 includes two sub-fields: a URI length field 1268 and a
URI string field 1270. The URI length field 1268 includes sixteen
bits that indicates the length of the URI string field 1270 in
UTF-8 characters. The URI string field 1270 and indicates the URI
attribute of the software image update being presented, such that
the software update client 1198 may be able to locate, download,
and install a software image update, when present.
c. Integrity Specification
[0203] The integrity specification field 1262 may variable in
length and present when the query status field 1258 indicates that
an update is available from the software update server 1198 to the
software update client 1198. An embodiment of the integrity
specification field 1262 is illustrated in FIG. 29. As illustrated,
the integrity specification field 1262 includes two sub-fields: an
integrity type field 1272 and an integrity value field 1274. The
integrity type field 1272 includes eight bits that indicates an
integrity type attribute for the software image update and may be
populated using a list similar to that illustrated in Table 10
above. The integrity value field 1274 includes the integrity value
that is used to verify that the image update message has maintained
integrity during the transmission.
d. Update Scheme
[0204] The update scheme field 1264 includes eight bits and is
present when the query status field 1258 indicates that an update
is available from the software update server 1198 to the software
update client 1198. If present, the update scheme field 1264
indicates a scheme attribute for the software update image being
presented to the software update server 1198.
e. Update Options
[0205] The update options field 1266 includes eight bits and is
present when the query status field 1258 indicates that an update
is available from the software update server 1198 to the software
update client 1198. The update options field 1266 may be
sub-divided as illustrated in FIG. 30. As illustrated, the update
options field 1266 includes four sub-fields: an update priority
field 1276, an update condition field 1278, a report status flag
1280, and a reserved field 1282. In some embodiments, the update
priority field 1276 includes two bits. The update priority field
1276 indicates a priority attribute of the update and may be
determined using values such as those illustrated in Table 13
below.
TABLE-US-00014 TABLE 13 Example update priority values Value
Description 00 Normal - update during a period of low network
traffic 01 Critical - update as quickly as possible
The update condition field 1278 includes three bits that may be
used to determine conditional factors to determine when or if to
update. For example, values in the update condition field 1278 may
be decoded using the Table 14 below.
TABLE-US-00015 TABLE 14 Example update conditions Value Decryption
0 Update without conditions 1 Update if the version of the software
running on the update client software does not match the update
version. 2 Update if the version of the software running on the
update client software is older than the update version. 3 Update
if the user opts into an update with a user interface
The report status flag 1280 is a single bit that indicates whether
the software update client 1198 should respond with a download
notify message 1210. If the report status flag 1280 is set to 1 the
software update server 1198 is requesting a download notify message
1210 to be sent after the software update is downloaded by the
software update client 1200.
[0206] If the image query response 1208 indicates that an update is
available. The software update client 1198 downloads 1210 the
update using the information included in the image query response
1208 at a time indicated in the image query response 1208.
[0207] 5. Download Notify
[0208] After the update download 1210 is successfully completed or
failed and the report status flag 1280 value is 1, the software
update client 1198 may respond with the download notify message
1212. The download notify message 1210 may be formatted in
accordance with the status reporting format discussed above. An
example of status codes used in the download notify message 1212 is
illustrated in Table 15 below.
TABLE-US-00016 TABLE 15 Example download notify status codes
Profile Code Description 0x00000000 0x0000 The download has been
completed, and integrity verified 0x0000000C 0x0020 The download
could not be completed due to faulty download instructions.
0x0000000C 0x0021 The image query response message 1208 appears
proper, but the download or integrity verification failed.
0x0000000C 0x0022 The integrity of the download could not be
verified.
In addition to the status reporting described above, the download
notify message 1208 may include additional status information that
may be relevant to the download and/or failure to download.
[0209] 6. Notify Response
[0210] The software update server 1200 may respond with a notify
response message 1214 in response to the download notify message
1212 or an update notify message 1216. The notify response message
1214 may include the status reporting format, as described above.
For example, the notify response message 1214 may include status
codes as enumerated in Table 16 below.
TABLE-US-00017 TABLE 16 Example notify response status codes
Profile Code Description 0x00000000 0x0030 Continue - the
notification is acknowledged, but the update has not completed,
such as download notify message 1214 received but update notify
message 1216 has not. 0x00000000 0x0000 Success - the notification
is acknowledged, and the update has completed. 0x0000000C 0x0023
Abort - the notification is acknowledged, but the server cannot
continue the update. 0x0000000C 0x0031 Retry query - the
notification is acknowledged, and the software update client 1198
is directed to retry the update by submitting another image query
message 1206.
In addition to the status reporting described above, the notify
response message 1214 may include additional status information
that may be relevant to the download, update, and/or failure to
download/update the software update.
[0211] 7. Update Notify
[0212] After the update is successfully completed or failed and the
report status flag 1280 value is 1, the software update client 1198
may respond with the update notify message 1216. The update notify
message 1216 may use the status reporting format described above.
For example, the update notify message 1216 may include status
codes as enumerated in Table 17 below.
TABLE-US-00018 TABLE 17 Example update notify status codes Profile
Code Description 0x00000000 0x0000 Success - the update has been
completed. 0x0000000C 0x0010 Client error - the update failed due
to a problem in the software update client 1198.
In addition to the status reporting described above, the update
notify message 1216 may include additional status information that
may be relevant to the update and/or failure to update.
[0213] C. Bulk Transfer
[0214] In some embodiments, it may be desirable to transfer bulk
data files (e.g., sensor data, logs, or update images) between
nodes/services in the fabric 1000. To enable transfer of bulk data,
a separate profile or protocol may be incorporated into one or more
profiles and made available to the nodes/services in the nodes. The
bulk data transfer protocol may model data files as collections of
data with metadata attachments. In certain embodiments, the data
may be opaque, but the metadata may be used to determine whether to
proceed with a requested file transfer.
[0215] Devices participating in a bulk transfer may be generally
divided according to the bulk transfer communication and event
creation. As illustrated in FIG. 31, each communication 1400 in a
bulk transfer includes a sender 1402 that is a node/service that
sends the bulk data 1404 to a receiver 1406 that is a node/service
that receives the bulk data 1404. In some embodiments, the receiver
may send status information 1408 to the sender 1402 indicating a
status of the bulk transfer. Additionally, a bulk transfer event
may be initiated by either the sender 1402 (e.g., upload) or the
receiver 1406 (e.g., download) as the initiator. A node/service
that responds to the initiator may be referred to as the responder
in the bulk data transfer.
[0216] Bulk data transfer may occur using either synchronous or
asynchronous modes. The mode in which the data is transferred may
be determined using a variety of factors, such as the underlying
protocol (e.g., UDP or TCP) on which the bulk data is sent. In
connectionless protocols (e.g., UDP), bulk data may be transferred
using a synchronous mode that allows one of the nodes/services
("the driver") to control a rate at which the transfer proceeds. In
certain embodiments, after each message in a synchronous mode bulk
data transfer, an acknowledgment may be sent before sending the
next message in the bulk data transfer. The driver may be the
sender 1402 or the receiver 1406. In some embodiments, the driver
may toggle between an online state and an offline mode while
sending messages to advance the transfer when in the online state.
In bulk data transfers using connection-oriented protocols (e.g.,
TCP), bulk data may be transferred using an asynchronous mode that
does not use an acknowledgment before sending successive messages
or a single driver.
[0217] Regardless of whether the bulk data transfer is performed
using a synchronous or asynchronous mode, a type of message may be
determined using a Message Type 1172 in the Application Payload
1146 according the Profile Id 1176 in the Application Payload.
Table 18 includes an example of message types that may be used in
relation to a bulk data transfer profile value in the Profile Id
1176.
TABLE-US-00019 TABLE 18 Examples of message types for bulk data
transfer profiles Message Type Message 0x01 SendInit 0x02
SendAccept 0x03 SendReject 0x04 ReceiveInit 0x05 ReceiveAccept 0x06
ReceiveReject 0x07 BlockQuery 0x08 Block 0x09 BlockEOF 0x0A Ack
0x0B Block EOF 0x0C Error
[0218] i. SendInit
[0219] An embodiment of a SendInit message 1420 is illustrated in
FIG. 32. The SendInit message 1420 may include seven fields: a
transfer control field 1422, a range control field 1424, a file
designator length field 1426, a proposed max block size field 1428,
a start offset field 1430, length field 1432, and a file designator
field 1434.
[0220] The transfer control field 1422 includes a byte of data
illustrated in FIG. 33. The transfer control field includes at
least four fields: an Asynch flag 1450, an RDrive flag 1452, an
SDrive flag 1454, and a version field 1456. The Asynch flag 1450
indicates whether the proposed transfer may be performed using a
synchronous or an asynchronous mode. The RDrive flag 1452 and the
SDrive flag 1454 each respectively indicates whether the receiver
1406 is capable of transferring data with the receiver 1402 or the
sender 1408 driving a synchronous mode transfer.
[0221] The range control field 1424 includes a byte of data such as
the range control field 1424 illustrated in FIG. 34. In the
illustrated embodiment, the range control field 1424 includes at
least three fields: a BigExtent flag 1470, a start offset flag
1472, and a definite length flag 1474. The definite length flag
1474 indicates whether the transfer has a definite length. The
definite length flag 1474 indicates whether the length field 1432
is present in the SendInit message 1420, and the BigExtent flag
1470 indicates a size for the length field 1432. For example, in
some embodiments, a value of 1 in the BigExtent flag 1470 indicates
that the length field 1432 is eight bytes. Otherwise, the length
field 1432 is four bytes, when present. If the transfer has a
definite length, the start offset flag 1472 indicates whether a
start offset is present. If a start offset is present, the
BigExtent flag 1470 indicates a length for the start offset field
1430. For example, in some embodiments, a value of 1 in the
BigExtent flag 1470 indicates that the start offset field 1430 is
eight bytes. Otherwise, the start offset field 1430 is four bytes,
when present.
[0222] Returning to FIG. 32, the file designator length field 1426
includes two bytes that indicate a length of the file designator
field 1434. The file designator field 1434 which is a variable
length field dependent upon the file designator length field 1426.
The max block size field 1428 proposes a maximum size of block that
may be transferred in a single transfer.
[0223] The start offset field 1430, when present, has a length
indicated by the BigExtent flag 1470. The value of the start offset
field 1430 indicates a location within the file to be transferred
from which the sender 1402 may start the transfer, essentially
allowing large file transfers to be segmented into multiple bulk
transfer sessions.
[0224] The length field 1432, when present, indicates a length of
the file to be transferred if the definite length field 1474
indicates that the file has a definite length. In some embodiments,
if the receiver 1402 receives a final block before the length is
achieved, the receiver may consider the transfer failed and report
an error as discussed below.
[0225] The file designator field 1434 is a variable length
identifier chosen by the sender 1402 to identify the file to be
sent. In some embodiments, the sender 1402 and the receiver 1406
may negotiate the identifier for the file prior to transmittal. In
other embodiments, the receiver 1406 may use metadata along with
the file designator field 1434 to determine whether to accept the
transfer and how to handle the data. The length of the file
designator field 1434may be determined from the file designator
length field 1426. In some embodiments, the SendInit message 1420
may also include a metadata field 1480 of a variable length encoded
in a TLV format. The metadata field 1480 enables the initiator to
send additional information, such as application-specific
information about the file to be transferred. In some embodiments,
the metadata field 1480 may be used to avoid negotiating the file
designator field 1434 prior to the bulk data transfer.
[0226] ii. SendAccept
[0227] A send accept message is transmitted from the responder to
indicate the transfer mode chosen for the transfer. An embodiment
of a SendAccept message 1500 is presented in FIG. 35. The
SendAccept message 1500 includes a transfer control field 1502
similar to the transfer control field 1422 of the SendInit message
1420. However, in some embodiments, only the RDrive flag 1452 or
the SDrive 1454 may have a nonzero value in the transfer control
field 1502 to identify the sender 1402 or the receiver 1406 as the
driver of a synchronous mode transfer. The SendAccept message 1500
also includes a max block size field 1504 that indicates a maximum
block size for the transfer. The block size field 1504 may be equal
to the value of the max block field 1428 of the SendInit message
1420, but the value of the max block size field 1504 may be smaller
than the value proposed in the max block field 1428. Finally, the
SendAccept message 1500 may include a metadata field 1506 that
indicates information that the receiver 1506 may pass to the sender
1402 about the transfer.
[0228] iii. SendReject
[0229] When the receiver 1206 rejects a transfer after a SendInit
message, the receiver 1206 may send a SendReject message that
indicates that one or more issues exist regarding the bulk data
transfer between the sender 1202 and the receiver 1206. The send
reject message may be formatted according to the status reporting
format described above and illustrated in FIG. 36. A send reject
frame 1520 may include a status code field 1522 that includes two
bytes that indicate a reason for rejecting the transfer. The status
code field 1522 may be decoded using values similar to those
enumerated as indicated in the Table 19 below.
TABLE-US-00020 TABLE 19 Example status codes for send reject
message Status Code Description 0x0020 Transfer method not
supported 0x0021 File designator unknown 0x0022 Start offset not
supported 0x0011 Length required 0x0012 Length too large 0x002F
Unknown error
In some embodiments, the send reject message 1520 may include a
next status field 1524. The next status field 1524, when present,
may be formatted and encoded as discussed above in regard to the
next status field 1188 of a status report frame. In certain
embodiments, the send reject message 1520 may include an additional
information field 1526. The additional information field 1526, when
present, may store information about an additional status and may
be encoded using the TLV format discussed above.
[0230] iv. ReceiveInit
[0231] A ReceiveInit message may be transmitted by the receiver
1206 as the initiator. The ReceiveInit message may be formatted and
encoded similar to the SendInit message 1480 illustrated in FIG.
32, but the BigExtent field 1470 may be referred to as a maximum
length field that specifies the maximum file size that the receiver
1206 can handle.
[0232] v. ReceiveAccept
[0233] When the sender 1202 receives a ReceiveInit message, the
sender 1202 may respond with a ReceiveAccept message. The
ReceiveAccept message may be formatted and encoded as the
ReceiveAccept message 1540 illustrated in FIG. 37. The
ReceiveAccept message 1540 may include four fields: a transfer
control field 1542, a range control field 1544, a max block size
field 1546, and sometimes a length field 1548. The ReceiveAccept
message 1540 may be formatted similar to the SendAccept message
1502 of FIG. 35 with the second byte indicating the range control
field 1544. Furthermore, the range control field 1544 may be
formatted and encoded using the same methods discussed above
regarding the range control field 1424 of FIG. 34.
[0234] vi. ReceiveReject
[0235] If the sender 1202 encounters an issue with transferring the
file to the receiver 1206, the sender 1202 may send a ReceiveReject
message formatted and encoded similar to a SendReject message 48
using the status reporting format, both discussed above. However,
the status code field 1522 may be encoded/decoded using values
similar to those enumerated as indicated in the Table 20 below.
TABLE-US-00021 TABLE 20 Example status codes for receive reject
message Status Code Description 0x0020 Transfer method not
supported 0x0021 File designator unknown 0x0022 Start offset not
supported 0x0013 Length too short 0x002F Unknown error
[0236] vii. BlockQuery
[0237] A BlockQuery message may be sent by a driving receiver 1202
in a synchronous mode bulk data transfer to request the next block
of data. A BlockQuery impliedly acknowledges receipt of a previous
block of data if not explicit Acknowledgement has been sent. In
embodiments using asynchronous transfers, a BlockQuery message may
be omitted from the transmission process.
[0238] viii. Block
[0239] Blocks of data transmitted in a bulk data transfer may
include any length greater than 0 and less than a max block size
agreed upon by the sender 1202 and the receiver 1206.
[0240] ix. BlockEOF
[0241] A final block in a data transfer may be presented as a Block
end of file (BlockEOF). The BlockEOF may have a length between 0
and the max block size. If the receiver 1206 finds a discrepancy
between a pre-negotiated file size (e.g., length field 1432) and
the amount of data actually transferred, the receiver 1206 may send
an Error message indicating the failure, as discussed below.
[0242] x. Ack
[0243] If the sender 1202 is driving a synchronous mode transfer,
the sender 1202 may wait until receiving an acknowledgment (Ack)
after sending a Block before sending the next Block. If the
receiver is driving a synchronous mode transfer, the receiver 1206
may send either an explicit Ack or a BlockQuery to acknowledge
receipt of the previous block. Furthermore, in asynchronous mode
bulk transfers, the Ack message may be omitted from the
transmission process altogether.
[0244] xi. AckEOF
[0245] An acknowledgement of an end of file (AckEOF) may be sent in
bulk transfers sent in synchronous mode or asynchronous mode. Using
the AckEOF the receiver 1206 indicates that all data in the
transfer has been received and signals the end of the bulk data
transfer session.
[0246] xii. Error
[0247] In the occurrence of certain issues in the communication,
the sender 1202 or the receiver 1206 may send an error message to
prematurely end the bulk data transfer session. Error messages may
be formatted and encoded according to the status reporting format
discussed above. For example, an error message may be formatted
similar to the SendReject frame 1520 of FIG. 36. However, the
status codes may be encoded/decoded with values including and/or
similar to those enumerated in Table 21 below.
TABLE-US-00022 TABLE 21 Example status codes for an error message
in a bulk data transfer profile Status code Description 0x001F
Transfer failed unknown error 0x0011 Overflow error
[0248] D. Locale Profile
[0249] Using the locale profile, smart devices may present
supported localizations to other devices in the mesh network.
Specifically, the locale profile enables smart devices to specify
which locations and languages are supported in a specific format
recognizable by other devices in the network.
[0250] In some embodiments, any communication using the locale
profile may be identified using a profile ID. For example, in some
embodiments, the profile ID for the locale profile may be 0x0000
0011. Any communication tagged with the locale profile ID may be
interpreted as a locale identifier organized in a format that is
mutually understood by other devices in the network. Moreover, in
some embodiments, the bits of data in the profile may be formatted
in a big endian or little endian. Furthermore, in some embodiments,
the locale profile may be instanced for each device using a node
identifier as a unique identifier for each respective device in the
network.
[0251] E. Alarm Profile
[0252] When a hazard detector or other status-determining device
changes state, that state change may be communicated to the other
devices on the network. The state changes from the originating
device may be signaled to an alarming state machine on the remote
nodes (e.g., thermostats), and taken as inputs into the different
state transitions. In addition, the remote node may request
different state changes from the originating node (e.g., the hazard
detector), and the originating node can accept or reject the state
change. The state transmissions may include alarm propagations,
remote hushes of alarms, and alarm handling, among other
transmissions. For example, propagation of the alarm through
various states, from different "Heads Up" pre-alarm states, to a
hushable alarm, to a non-hushable alarm, and to a standby mode. In
some embodiments, the alarm conditions may change over time, as
different sensors in one or more devices in a fabric may trigger an
alarm.
[0253] Additionally, a remote hush occurs when a remote node is
hushed locally by some interaction. In such cases, the remote hush
propagates an update to the originating node, and depending on the
policies, that update may result in a hush request being propagated
to other remotes ("global hush"). Moreover, in some embodiments,
alarms from different originating nodes may be treated differently.
The different devices within the network may be aware of the
different originating alarms, and, the policies may allow the alarm
to be hushed at originating device by one device or type but not by
another device or type. In some embodiments, the alarm may be
propagated the other devices of the same type, the service, and any
clients that are participating in the network.
[0254] In some embodiments, the originating device is responsible
for changing the global state of the alarm. In such cases, the
alarm updates are propagated from a remote device to the
originating device, where they are processed and either accepted
(and propagated to the rest of the network) or rejected. The policy
for changing the global state of the alarm may be specific to the
alarm, deployment locale, and possibly other factors and may be
handled by application layer.
[0255] An application interface provides an interface to initiate
an alarm, hush an alarm and receive various updates. The
application interfaces with that layer, and implements local policy
rules for hushing, etc. Protocol and message specifications provide
a framework for disseminating alarms to the entire network and
specify message formats and message exchange patterns. In a case of
an alarm, the network stops being sleepy, and the nodes in the
network become active. However, waking up the network from and
propagating the detailed alarm are separate functions that may be
performed independently.
[0256] a. Terms
[0257] Alarm originator as used herein refers to a device that
originates the alarm. There may be multiple alarm originators
devices within a single network or fabric. Alarm remote, as used
herein, refers to a device that is not the originating device and
receives an alarm message. A device can simultaneously be an alarm
remote for one alarm and an originating node for another alarm. For
example, if two hazard detectors detect a hazard condition, both
hazard detectors may originate an alarm and receive another
alarm.
[0258] Alarm source, as used herein, refers to a sensor or
condition that triggered the alarm. Global hush, as used herein,
refers to an alarm that is hushed at both the alarm originator and
the alarm remotes. Hush, as used herein, refers to a silenced alarm
that is set to disable re-arming for a period of time. Remote hush,
as used herein, refers to an alarm that is hushed at all the remote
devices, but the originating device is still alarming. Pre-alarms,
as used herein, refers states of the alarming state machine that
may causes the remote device to arm enter a higher wakefulness
state. For example, when a hazard detector detects that levels are
approaching an alarm level.
[0259] b. Message Types
[0260] In some embodiments, alarm messages may have some
information that is consistent between at least some of the alarm
message types. For example, the alarm originator may be identified
using a NodeID, such as a 64-bit ID that is unique for the device
on the network. Moreover, a WhereID may be an extended 128-bit ID
of the location of the alarm originator. AlarmCtr may be an 8-bit
alarm version counter that is used to communicate that an alarm
state has been updated. An initial alarm may start with an AlarmCtr
of 0, and each update of alarm state (as determined by the
originating node) may increment the AlarmCtr counter. A change in
the AlarmCtr may be signaled locally to the application at each
remote node. Throughout the network, the combination of the
AlarmCtr and originating node id form a unique tuple that causes a
particular action on a receiving node. After an alarm has been
resolved at the alarm originator, the AlarmCtr may restart at 0 on
a subsequent, distinct alarm condition.
[0261] The alarm profile defines the following numeric message
types in Table 22:
TABLE-US-00023 TABLE 22 Alarm profile message types Message Type
Message 0x01 Alarm Message 0x02 AlarmUpdate 0x03 AlarmAck
[0262] The protocol has a number of fields, such as an alarm
condition. FIG. 38 illustrates a schematic view of an embodiment of
an alarm message interaction 1550. As illustrated, a sending device
1552 sends an alarm message 1556 to a receiving device 1554. In
some embodiments, the receiving device 1554 sends an alarm
acknowledgment 1558. For example, in some embodiments, the
receiving device 1554 may send the alarm acknowledgment 1558 when
the alarm message 1552 is unicast and addressed to the receiving
device 1554. However, in certain embodiments, the receiving device
1554 may omit an alarm acknowledgment 1558 when the alarm message
1556 is multicast among devices. In some embodiments, the alarm
condition may be an 8-bit value, where the 4 most significant bits
determine the alarm source and the lower 4 bits determine the alarm
state. In certain embodiments, the alarm source may be populated
using one of the following values reproduced in Table 23:
TABLE-US-00024 TABLE 23 Alarm sources Value Name Comments 0x10
ALARM_SMOKE Alarm triggered by the smoke sensor 0x20 ALARM_TEMP
Alarm triggered by the temperature sensor 0x30 ALARM_CO Alarm
triggered by the CO sensor 0x40 ALARM_CH4 Alarm triggered by the
natural gas sensor 0x50 ALARM_HUMIDITY Alarm triggered by the
humidity sensor 0x60 ALARM_SECURITY Security Alarm 0x70 . . . 0xe0
Reserved for future use 0xf0 ALARM_OTHER Other alarm condition not
called out here. Check the TLV metadata for the specific alarm
source.
[0263] Similarly, alarm state may be populated using the following
values reproduced in Table 24:
TABLE-US-00025 TABLE 24 Alarm states Value Name Comments 0x00
STATE_STANDBY Everything is OK. Originating node will send this to
indicate an "all clear" for the specific alarm source 0x01
STATE_HEAD_UP_1 Pre-alarm state 0x02 STATE_HEAD_UP_2 Pre-alarm
state 0x03 STATE_HU_HUSH Pre-alarm state 0x04 STATE_ALARM_HUSHABLE
Alarm state, the originating or remote node may locally hush the
alarm 0x05 STATE_ALARM_NONHUSHABLE Originating alarms may not be
hushed, but remote alarms may hush 0x06 STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH he
originating and the remote nodes are in the hush state 0x07
STATE_ALARM_REMOTE_HUSH The originating node is alarming and the
remote nodes are hushed 0x08 STATE_SELFTEST Selftest of the sensor
alarm
[0264] AlarmUpdateStatus may be populated as an 8-bit integer to
indicate the status of an alarm update request using the following
values reproduced in Table 25:
TABLE-US-00026 TABLE 25 AlarmUpdateStatus Value Meaning 0 SUCCESS 1
REJECTED_BY_POLICY 2 INVALID_STATE
[0265] i. Alarm Message
[0266] Alarm messages may be either multicast or unicast. The
message may be periodically re-sent as long as the alarm condition
is ongoing in the multicast and/or unicast case. The alarm
originator may update the alarm state at any point with those
changes being propagated. In some embodiments, in a steady state
(e.g., the alarm state is not changing), the message may be
re-disseminated to the network at a rate higher than the alarm
expiration. An alarm message may include the following information
reproduced in Table 26.
TABLE-US-00027 TABLE 26 Alarm message fields Name Size Note
AlarmCtr 1 byte Alarm version counter AlarmLen 1 byte Number of
different AlarmConditions triggering this alarm AlarmConditions
variable An array of AlarmConditions Where ID 1-16 The WhereID of
the originating node bytes Metadata variable TLV data
[0267] In some embodiments, one or more of the data fields may vary
in size from the above values. If the alarm source is not present
in the list of AlarmConditions, the remote node may assume that the
alarm state for that sensor is STATE_STANDBY. In some embodiments,
when the alarm message includes a correctly set counter and the
AlarmLen set to 0 and AlarmConditions omitted, the message may be
interpreted as an "All Clear" signal. In some embodiments, the
AlarmConditions may include an alarm type and severity of the
alarm. In certain embodiments, additional information may be
included in TLV data, such as authorization keys or other pertinent
information to the network.
[0268] ii. Alarm Update Message
[0269] Alarm Update messages may be sent from alarm remotes to the
alarm originator to update the alarm state. For example, an alarm
update message may be used as a request for status change (such as
to request a remote hush or to change the alarming bits) or an
update to other pertinent metadata (remote readings, etc). An alarm
update message may be populated using a structure similar to the
data reproduced in Table 27 below:
TABLE-US-00028 TABLE 27 Alarm update message. Name Size Note
AlarmCtr 1 byte Alarm version counter (the version of the alarm
that is requested to change) AlarmLen 1 byte Number of Alarm
Conditions to update AlarmConditions variable AlarmConditions to be
updated Metadata variable TLV data
Using an AlarmUpdate, the alarm remote requests changes to the
state of the ongoing alarm. Each of the AlarmConditions elements
contains the desired state for a specific alarm source. If an
AlarmCondition is not present in the list, the originating node
assumes that there is no status change request made for that
sensor.
[0270] iii. Alarm Acknowledgement Message
[0271] An alarm acknowledgement message is a unicast message that
serves as an acknowledgement for the unicast scenarios such as
alarm update. The message includes fields used to identify the
message that is being acknowledged such as those included in Table
28 below:
TABLE-US-00029 TABLE 28 Alarm acknowledgement message. Name Size
Note AlarmCtr 1 byte Alarm version counter (equal to the AlarmCtr
from the AlarmUpdate message) AlarmUpdateStatus 1 byte Status of
the update: the originating node specifies whether the update
request has been successful or not. AlarmLen 1 byte If update was
rejected, this field would contain the length of AlarmConditions
AlarmConditions Variable If the update was rejected, the
originating node may specify the desired state on the remote.
[0272] c. Multicast Alarms
[0273] FIG. 39 illustrates a broadcast pattern 1600 where an alarm
is broadcast to the entire network from an originating node, Node0
1602, and remote nodes, Node1 1604 and Node2 1606. An alarm message
1608 starts at the originating node, and propagates to its
locally-connected neighbor Node1 1604 as alarm messages 1608. Node1
1602 uses a timer to determine how long after receiving a message
to propagate the alarm. After the time expires, Node1 1602 then
propagates the message 1608 contents to all connected neighbors,
Node1 1604 and Node2 1606, as the alarm messages 1610 and 1612,
respectively. Node2 1606 then propagates the alarm content as alarm
message 1614 to all connected neighbors (e.g., Node1 1604). Node1
1604 then propagates the alarm as alarm messages 1616 and 1618 to
Node0 1602 and Node1 1604. With a broadcasting dissemination with
each node having a threshold of 2 may result in the broadcast
pattern 1600 of FIG. 39. If the number is higher, each device may
attempt to propagate more times, but if the number is lower, the
propagation may cease sooner with each device propagating the alarm
fewer times.
[0274] In some embodiments, the multicast alarm is re-sent
periodically as long as the alarm condition is active. The resend
rate is a function of the underlying configuration of the broadcast
dissemination. In some embodiments, the resend rate may be
approximately on the order of the broadcast message expiration time
T.
[0275] When the alarm state changes, the originating node
increments the AlarmCtr, and sends out a new broadcast message
(with a new broadcast ID). By sending out a new broadcast message,
the originating node (e.g., Node0 1602) resets the internal timers,
and starts fast message propagation through the network.
[0276] d. Unicast Alarms
[0277] Unicast alarms are targeted to a specific endpoint. Unicast
alarms are slightly different from multicast alarms, in that they
may not account for network density, and may not rely on
intermediate nodes to keep any additional state. Unicast alarms
utilize AlarmAck messages to turn down the message rates to a
relatively lower rate. FIG. 40 shows an example message
distribution 1640. As shown in FIG. 40, two nodes are present,
Node0 1632 and Node1 1634, where Node0 1632 is an originating node
and Node1 1634 is a remote node that the alarm message is
designated to reach. FIG. 40 illustrates steady state alarming with
no changes to the alarms. Specifically, an alarm message 1636 is
sent from Node0 1632 to Node1 1634 with a list of alarm conditions.
Node1 1634 responds with an alarm acknowledgment message 1638 with
the same AlarmCtr. At some later time, Node0 1632 sends another
alarm message 1640 indicating a set of alarm conditions. Again,
Node1 1634 responds with an alarm acknowledgment message 1640. The
alarm conditions for the alarm messages 1636 and 1640 indicate that
no changes have been made to the alarm by Node0 1632.
[0278] FIG. 41 illustrates a message distribution 1650 when an
alarm state change occurs at the originator. Similar to FIG. 40,
the originator node 1652 sends an alarm message 1656 to a remote
node 1654. The remote node 1654 responds with an alarm
acknowledgment message 1658. Some change (e.g., temperature change)
occurs at the originating node 1652, and the originating node 1654
responds with a new alarm message 1660 with an indication of a
status change with a change in the AlarmCtr and new alarm
conditions. Again, the remote node 1654 responds with an alarm
acknowledgment message 1662.
[0279] FIG. 42 illustrates a message distribution 1670 where a
remote node 1674 request to update alarm state where the remote
node 1674 requests the originator node 1672 to hush the alarm and
the originator accepts. The remote node 1674 sends an originator
node 1672 an alarm update message 1676. The originator node 1672
responds with an acknowledgment message 1678. Once the alarm has
been acted upon (e.g., hushed), the originator node 1672 sends an
alarm message that indicates that the alarm status has changed
using an AlarmCtr change. Furthermore, a value of 0 for the alarm
conditions indicate that the alarm is hushed.
[0280] Moreover, in some embodiments, in the unicast case, the
originator node is done with the alarm as soon as it receives an
acknowledgement to the message that indicated alarm hushing
(AlarmCond=0) or T0 timeout is reached.
[0281] e. TLV Tags
[0282] The profile may be primarily concerned with the general type
of alarm and the state of the alarm as it propagates through the
network. Additional alarm specific data may also be packed into a
TLV section of the alarm message. Some sample parameters that might
be present in the TLV data may be the time of the alarm along with
the appropriate time base, the reading of the alarming sensor, and
auxiliary sensor readings. The profile also allows for an
implementation of a stateful alarm that expects that the
notifications about the alarm state are propagated to an
application program without loss, and exactly once.
[0283] f. Sample Scenarios
[0284] The updates allow for a remote node to issue an update and
leave the policy of how the update affects the alarm to the
originating node. This allows for implementations of remote hushing
(or for preventing such actions).
[0285] While the specifics of how the application chooses to handle
the different alarm scenarios (the application is the view, while
this profile provides a model), below are some sample scenarios of
how different scenarios might be handled. In some embodiments,
alarm sounds may be decomposed by a tuple of (severity, type,
location); the notification for multiple originators and alarm
conditions can be derived by lexicographic ordering of all the
known conditions.
[0286] Single alarm originator, multiple alarm causes: [0287]
Alarming: the alarm originator sends out alarm messages as the
alarm conditions change. The alarm remotes modify the alarm
sequence as the conditions evolve. The remote alarms play the
appropriate message that is the result of interpreting the set of
alarm conditions. In some embodiments, the playback may be subject
to regulatory policy and timing constraints. In some embodiments,
the most severe condition would be prioritized for playing. In some
embodiments, all conditions that meet a predetermined severity are
played. In certain embodiments, the remote alarms also play the
location on the originating alarm. [0288] Local hush: on hush
condition at the originator, the alarm originator sends out the
alarm message with the state for each alarm set to
STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH. On reception of the message, the remote
alarms enter hush state. [0289] Remote hush: at the remote alarm, a
hush request is initiated. The node sends out an AlarmUpdate to the
alarm originator with the STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH bit set for all
AlarmConditions. The alarm originator acknowledges the message. The
acknowledgement carries with it information whether the requested
state was permitted or disallowed. If the state was disallowed, an
indication of a reason if given (e.g. disallowed by regulatory
policy) is included in the acknowledgment. If the remote hush
request was accepted, the alarm originator increases the sequence
number. Then, if permitted by policy, the originator changes the
state of the alarm conditions asked in the request. When the alarm
may not be hushed on the originator but is permitted to be hushed
on the remote alarms, the alarm state is set to
STATE_ALARM_REMOTE_HUSH. The originator then proceeds to send out
the alarm messages as previously described. Upon receipt of the new
alarm state, remote alarms enter the hush state
[0290] Multiple alarm originators, single alarm cause: [0291]
Alarming: Each alarm originator sends out an alarm message, with
the AlarmCondition set to the alarm cause. Because there is only a
single common cause of the alarm, each alarm originator sets the
same cause in their alarm messages. Each node in the network (both
the nodes that are remote nodes as well as those that originated
the alarms) tracks the known AlarmConditions. Each node
independently combines the alarm conditions from all the alarm
originators. The choice of alarm to be played is a straightforward
one: there is only a single alarm condition. If timing constrainsts
permit, the list of locations is played as well. If timing
constrainsts do not permit the location of the alarm to be played,
the location may be omitted or a special phrase may be inserted to
indicate that the alarm originated in multiple places. [0292] Local
hush: on hush condition at the one the originators, the respective
originator node increments the AlarmCtr field and sends out the
alarm message with the state set to STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH.
Additionally, it sends AlarmUpdate requests to each of the other
active originators, the requested state is STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH.
Each of the other originators acts independently on the reception
of the AlarmUpdate message: each originator accepts or rejects the
update (according to policy), updates its AlarmCtr, and sends out
the new state. If permitted by policy, all originators accept the
STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH. When each of the nodes (both originating
alarm and acting as remote alarms) receives update from all
originators stating that the respective originating alarm is now
STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH, the node plays back the message "Alarm
hushed" and enters the hushed state. [0293] Remote hush: at the
remote alarm, a hush state is initiated. The remote node sends out
an AlarmUpdate to each alarm originator with the
STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH bit set for all the AlarmCondition. Each
alarm originator acknowledges the message. The acknowledgement
carries with it information whether the requested state was
permitted or disallowed. If the state was disallowed, the
acknowledgment includes an indication of a reason if given (e.g.
disallowed by regulatory policy). If the remote hush request was
accepted, the alarm originator increases the sequence number. Then,
if permitted by policy, the originator changes the state of the
alarm conditions asked in the request. If the alarm may not be
hushed remotely, the originator sets the state to
STATE_ALARM_REMOTE_HUSH. Each originator then proceeds to send out
the Alarm message with the updated alarm state. Upon reception of
the new alarm state from every alarm originator, remote alarms
enter the hush state. If the global hush was permitted at each
originator, every node in the network will play the message "Alarm
hushed". If the alarm originators only permitted a remote hush,
each originator will play its own alarm message along with its own
location, and the nodes that did not originate an alarm will be
hushed.
[0294] Multiple alarm originators, multiple alarm causes: [0295]
Alarming: Each alarm originator sends out an alarm message, with
the AlarmConditions set as needed. Each node in the network tracks
all the known AlarmConditions from all originators. The alarm that
is played consists of tuples of the form (Severity, AlarmCondition,
list of locations where alarms are occurring) ordered by severity
and AlarmCondition. The alarm sound played may be incomplete if it
exceeds the maximum duration. In some embodiments, only the most
severe alarm cause may be played. In some embodiments all alarms
exceeding a predetermined severity may be played. Given the tight
timing between the buzzer sounds, the embodiments may favor a brief
messages, and play only the most severe alarm condition, and
omitting the location of that condition if it occurs in more than a
single place [0296] Local hush: on hush condition at the one the
originators, the respective originator node sends out the alarm
message with the STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH bit set for all the
AlarmConditions that it originated. Additionally, it sends
AlarmUpdate requests to each of the other active originators, the
requested state is STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH. Each of the other
originators acts independently on the reception of the AlarmUpdate
message: each originator accepts or rejects the update (according
to policy), updates its AlarmCtr, and sends out the new state. If
permitted by policy, the receiving originator accepts the
STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH. If the policy does not permit global hush,
the receiving originator sets its state to STATE_ALARM_REMOTE_HUSH,
and continues to play its local alarm tone. When each remote alarm
has received the updated state from each originator, the state of
each alarm will be either STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH or
STATE_ALARM_REMOTE_HUSH. At that point, the remote alarms will play
the message "Alarm hushed" and enter the hushed state. The alarm
originators may continue to play their local alarm messages if they
rejected the global hush request. [0297] Remote hush: at the remote
alarm, a hush state is initiated. The node sends out an AlarmUpdate
to each alarm originator with the STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH bit set
for all the AlarmCondition. Each AlarmOriginator acknowledges the
message. The acknowledgement carries with it information whether
the requested state was permitted or disallowed. If the requested
state was disallowed, an indication of a reason is given (e.g.
disallowed by regulatory policy) in the acknowledgment. If the
remote hush request was accepted, the alarm originator increases
the sequence number. Then, if permitted by policy, it changes the
state of the alarm conditions asked in the request. If the alarm
may not be hushed remotely, the originator sets the state to
STATE_ALARM_REMOTE_HUSH. Each originator then proceeds to send out
the Alarm message with the updated alarm state. If the policy does
not permit global hush, the receiving originator sets its state to
STATE_ALARM_REMOTE_HUSH, and continues to play its local alarm
tone. When each remote alarm has received the updated state from
each originator, the state of each alarm will be wither
STATE_ALARM_GLOBAL_HUSH or STATE_ALARM_REMOTE_HUSH. At that point,
the remote alarms will play the message "Alarm hushed" and enter
the hushed state. The alarm originators may continue to play their
local alarm messages if they rejected the global hush request.
[0298] g. Broadcast Dissemination
[0299] A number of communication patterns--interconnected alarms,
broadcast notifications--use a multicast primitive that operates
over a multi-hop network. The broadcast primitive is used when the
notion of group membership is ill-defined, changing, or unknown. In
such situations, the communication pattern may be implemented in a
way to not block group membership changes.
[0300] The broadcast primitive may be based around broadcasting a
single message to the network and flooding that message throughout
the network in a controlled manner. In some embodiments, the
message may be sent to all nodes in a fabric. In other embodiments,
a sending device (or user) may specify whether to send to all nodes
or just nodes in a particular link. Moreover, in some embodiments,
one or more devices on the network may forward messages to other
sub-networks or networks. It may desirable to separate the
forwarding and dissemination of the message from the processing and
understanding of message payload. For example, a node may be able
to forward a message without acting on the message, as this enables
a much greater connectivity within the network. For simplicity, in
some embodiments, each node may originate a single broadcast
message active within the network.
[0301] i. Broadcast Dissemination Message Formatting
[0302] In some embodiments, the broadcast message may specify the
following attributes: [0303] The destination address maybe set to a
site-local broadcast within one or more logical networks (e.g.,
WiFi, 802.15.4, etc.) [0304] The S-flag in the Fabric message
header may be set to 1 and the Source Node ID may be set to the
originator of the message. [0305] As in other Fabric messages, the
MessageID may be used to identify the messages. Here, the MessageID
may remain associated with the Source Node ID, even though the
packet is being re-broadcast. In contrast to other fabric
applications, the forwarding node may hold onto the MessageIDs for
a period of time. Repeated receptions of the same message IDs are
not necessarily an indication of a replay but rather an indication
of a local network density. [0306] The message is resent using the
forwarder EUI-based IP address, such as an a ULA assigned to the
destination link.
[0307] In some embodiments, the fabric layer may understand how
long to hold onto the message and to retransmit that message. This
resending periodicity could be a system-wide configuration
parameter, could be set during the key rotation periods, or perhaps
be embedded within the message itself; we note that there are two
unused bits in the fabric message headers that could be used to
indicate additional fields that associate the timer durations with
the message. The timers could also be set based on the class of
service depending on whether the latency is important in the
particular application.
[0308] ii. Broadcast Dissemination Runtime
[0309] In the propagation of the message, each message may the
following state associated with it: [0310] A timer T that
determines when to stop tracking the message. [0311] A time
constant .tau. that, in conjunction with T, determines how many
retransmissions of the single message take place independently
within the network. [0312] A random timer t in the range [0, .tau.]
that determines whether to forward the message. [0313] A counter c
that tracks how many retransmissions have been received. [0314] An
integer k that represents the threshold of retransmissions. Upon
receiving a new broadcast message, the node starts a new timer t.
The counter c is reset to 0. The node increments the counter c
every time it receives the message with the tuple (messageID and
Sender ID). When the timer t expires, and the node has received
c<=k messages, it forwards the message. If the c>k, the node
waits until .tau. time expires, and begins the process anew. The
process repeats until either T time expires, or a new broadcast
message from SourceNodeID is received.
[0315] In some embodiments, each node may transmit at most once per
time .tau.. Moreover, in some embodiments, each node may have a
chance to perform T/.tau. retransmissions. Furthermore, in certain
embodiments, the random selection of t spreads which of the nodes
in the local broadcast performs the retransmission.
[0316] The messages propagate across the hops as a function of the
time constant .tau.. The fundamental tradeoff in gossip protocols
is between the number of messages sent and the propagation latency
of the new information. In some embodiments, .tau. may be
dynamically adjusted during the execution of the algorithm between
.tau.0 and .tau.max. For example, .tau. may be set to a short
.tau.0 with each time the .tau. time elapses, .tau. may be doubled
up to the value of .tau.max.
[0317] To sum up, the algorithm may perform the following actions
illustrated in Table 29 below:
TABLE-US-00030 TABLE 29 Algorithm actions Event Action T expires
Terminate the algorithm .tau. expires Double .tau. up to the
maximum value of .tau.max, pick a new timer t t expires if c <
k, retransmit the message Receive a duplicate of a message
increment c Receive a newer message set .tau. to .tau.0, reset c,
pick a new timer t Receive an older message set .tau. to .tau.0,
reset c, pick a new timer t
[0318] In some particular embodiments, the algorithms for waking up
devices on a fabric and disseminating messages to those devices as
described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/478,346, filed
Sep. 5, 2014, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/478,265,
filed Sep. 5, 2014, both of which are incorporated by reference in
their entirety for all purposes, may be implemented.
[0319] The specific embodiments described above have been shown by
way of example, and it should be understood that these embodiments
may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms.
It should be further understood that the claims are not intended to
be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but rather to cover
modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the
spirit and scope of this disclosure.
* * * * *
References