EP-4742631-A1 - DEVICE AND METHOD FOR COLLECTING DATA FROM A PLURALITY OF INTERNET OF THINGS DEVICES

EP4742631A1EP 4742631 A1EP4742631 A1EP 4742631A1EP-4742631-A1

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a method for collecting data from a plurality of Internet of Things devices is described, comprising receiving, by an Ambient IoT (Internet of Things) core network, a service request directed to the Ambient IoT devices from a mobile communication network by an Ambient IoT core network, forwarding, by the Ambient IoT core network, the service request to the Ambient IoT devices, receiving, by the Ambient IoT core network, responses to the service request from the Ambient IoT devices and forwarding, by the Ambient IoT core network, the responses to the mobile communication network and blocking, by the Ambient IoT core network, forwarding responses to the mobile communication network in reaction to a determination that performing the service request has been completed.

Inventors

NORMANN, Henrik
SAMA, Malla Reddy
ZUGENMAIER, ALF
ZHAO, Yinhui
MINOKUCHI, ATSUSHI

Assignees

NTT DOCOMO, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20241108

Claims (14)

A method for collecting data from a plurality of Internet of Things devices, comprising: Receiving, by an Ambient Internet of Things core network, a service request directed to the Ambient Internet of Things devices from a mobile communication network by an Ambient Internet of Things core network; Forwarding, by the Ambient Internet of Things core network, the service request to the Ambient Internet of Things devices; Receiving, by the Ambient Internet of Things core network, responses to the service request from the Ambient Internet of Things devices; and Forwarding, by the Ambient Internet of Things core network, the responses to the mobile communication network and blocking, by the Ambient Internet of Things core network, forwarding responses to the mobile communication network in reaction to a determination that performing the service request has been completed.
The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication network acts as underlay network for an Ambient Internet of Things network comprising the Ambient Internet of Things core network and wherein the Ambient Internet of Things network acts as overlay network.
The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the mobile communication network acts as an application function towards the Ambient Internet of Things core network and/or the Ambient Internet of Things core network treats the mobile communication network as an application function.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the Ambient Internet of Things core network acts as an application function towards the mobile communication network and/or the mobile communication network treats the Ambient Internet of Things core network as an application function.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the service request is a request to read data from and/or write data to the Ambient Internet of Things devices and/or a request for the Ambient Internet of Things devices to identify themselves.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising receiving the service request by the Ambient Internet of Things core network from an application function via the mobile communication network.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, comprising receiving the service request by the Ambient Internet of Things core network from a mobile terminal via the mobile communication network.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, comprising configuring the mobile terminal with one or more Ambient Internet of Things network identifications to which it should direct Ambient Internet of Things service requests.
The method of claim 8, comprising configuring the mobile terminal with one or more Ambient Internet of Things network identifications by means of a routing policy rule.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, comprising receiving the service request from the mobile communication network by the Ambient Internet of Things core network via a network exposure function of the mobile communication network and a network exposure function of the Ambient Internet of Things core network and forwarding the responses from the Ambient Internet of Things core network to the mobile communication network via the network exposure function of the Ambient Internet of Things core network and the network exposure function of the mobile communication network.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, comprising determining that the service request has been fulfilled in reaction to a predetermined time window for receiving responses to the service request having elapsed, the forwarded responses fulfilling a service request fulfilment criterion and/or a predetermined number of responses to the service request having been forwarded by the Ambient Internet of Things network.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the blocking of forwarding of responses is performed by an Ambient Internet of Things function of the Ambient Internet of Things core network or an Access and Mobility Management Function of the Ambient Internet of Things core network.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 12, comprising, in reaction to the reception of the service request, storing a transaction identification specifying an instance of the service request by the Ambient Internet of Things core network, forwarding the responses from the Ambient Internet of Things network to the mobile communication network as long as the transaction identification is still stored and not marked as handled and deleting the transaction identification or marking the transaction identification as handled in reaction to determining that the service request has been completed.
An Ambient Internet of Things network controlling component, configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 13.

Description

The present disclosure relates to devices and methods for collecting data from a plurality of Internet of Things devices. Ambient IoT (Internet of Things) refers to an ecosystem of a large number of objects in which every item is connected into a wireless sensor network using low-cost self-powered sensor nodes. Ambient IoT devices are low complexity devices that can provide telemetric data in a competitive way. Some Ambient IoT devices may be capable of storing energy while others can absorb energy to function in the moment. Due to an Ambient IoT device's low complexity, security supported by the Ambient IoT device may be considerably lower than other devices connecting to a 5G (fifth generation) communication system. Ambient IoT devices may be deployed in high density. A 5G communication system supports providing connectivity for different kind of devices with similar security capabilities. As technologies evolve, Ambient IoT devices may be connected to 5G communication systems, in large quantities. However, Ambient IoT devices may cause signalling storms on a network function in response to a trigger, in particular when caused by a malicious user, e.g. executing a replay attack. A signalling storm that may degrade or deny service to other wireless devices reliant on the affected network function and/or base station. Accordingly, approaches to avoid excessive signalling data caused by Ambient IoT devices in a mobile communication network are desirable. According to one embodiment, a method for collecting data from a plurality of Internet of Things devices is provided, comprising Receiving, by an Ambient IoT (Internet of Things) core network, a service request directed to the Ambient IoT devices from a mobile communication network by an Ambient IoT core networkForwarding, by the Ambient IoT core network, the service request to the Ambient IoT devicesReceiving, by the Ambient IoT core network, responses to the service request from the Ambient IoT devices andForwarding, by the Ambient IoT core network, the responses to the mobile communication network and blocking, by the Ambient IoT core network, forwarding responses to the mobile communication network in reaction to a determination that performing the service request has been completed. In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the following description, various aspects are described with reference to the following drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a communication network comprising a set of ambient IoT (Internet of Things) devices.Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary use case.Figure 3 illustrates an AF(Application Function)-based approach according to various embodiments.Figure 4 illustrates the AF-based approach of figure 3 in more detail.Figure 5 illustrates a UE(User Equipment, i.e. mobile terminal or wireless device)-based approach according to various embodiments.Figure 6 illustrates the UE-based approach of figure 5 in more detail.Figure 7 shows a message flow diagram for the configuration of a UE with a policy rule indicating to the UE the identity of a dedicated Ambient IoT core network to which to connect to communicate with one or more Ambient IoT devices.Figure 8 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method for collecting data from a plurality of Internet of Things devices according to an embodiment. The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific details and aspects of this disclosure in which the invention may be practiced. Other aspects may be utilized and structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The various aspects of this disclosure are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as some aspects of this disclosure can be combined with one or more other aspects of this disclosure to form new aspects. Various examples corresponding to aspects of this disclosure are described below: Example 1 is a method for collecting data from a plurality of Internet of Things devices, comprising: Receiving, by an Ambient Internet of Things core network, a service request directed to the Ambient Internet of Things devices from a mobile communication network by an Ambient Internet of Things core networkForwarding, by the Ambient Internet of Things core network, the service request to the Ambient Internet of Things devicesReceiving, by the Ambient Internet of Things core network, responses to the service request from the Ambient Internet of Things devices andForwarding, by the Ambient Internet of Things core network, the responses to the mobile communication network and blocking, by the Ambient Internet of Things core network, forwarding responses to the mobile communication network in reaction to a determination that performing the service