DESC:FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
[39 of 1970]
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(Section 10; Rule 13)

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS ON SMART DEVICES IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

SAMSUNG R&D INSTITUTE INDIA – BANGALORE PRIVATE LIMITED
# 2870, ORION Building, Bagmane Constellation Business Park,
Outer Ring Road, Doddanakundi Circle,
Marathahalli Post, Bangalore-560 037
An Indian company

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed

RELATED APPLICATION
Benefit is claimed to Indian Provisional Application No. 995/CHE/2014 titled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DEVICE MANAGEMENT BASED ON DYNAMIC DEVICE GROUPING AND DEVICES COLLABORATION” filed on 27th February 2014, which is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the device management in a wireless network and more particularly relates to system and method for performing management operations on smart devices in a wireless network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Smart homes consist of diversified electronic devices forming a home network to provide comfort, convenience, safety, security and entertainment services to inhabitants. The diversified devices in the home include, for example washing machine, microwave oven, refrigerator, set-top box, coffee vending machine, Air conditioner(AC), lights, switches, IP cameras, door locks, etc.

It is being observed that for any given application group communication mechanisms can improve efficiency and latency of communication and even reduce bandwidth requirements. However, a group management is a tedious task, it involves many sub-tasks, such as, identifying groups, requesting/configuring devices to join group, enabling network to support group communication, maintaining group information by the devices, and even routers are expected to go through some changes for doing group communication, and etc.

Today’s smart home(s) consists of plurality of devices and appliances. Each one of these devices possess unique set of capabilities and many a times they differ one another in terms of different types of resources they possess and sometimes in terms of the amount of resources they carry. Resource here means device’s processing power, memory (storage capacity), source of Energy (main powered/battery operated), user I/O, networking protocol or networking capabilities, and etc.

Some of these devices may have high processing power, but some might be low powered, some might be having large memory (storage), but some may be having very limited storage, some of them may support different kinds of user I/O, but some of them may not even support user I/O at all, some may be supporting IP networking, but some may support connectivity over RF only. Hence, performing device management operations for diversified portfolio of devices is difficult, especially performing management operations on these resource constrained and non-constrained devices together is even challenging, such diversified scenarios needs intelligent and efficient handling and there is a need to have one common method for all such devices in the home.

All the existing solutions which do group communication are expected to perform all the above mentioned tasks to some extent. One can agree performing all such operations/tasks on devices or networks which are having sufficient resources. However, one cannot expect constrained devices either to configure or request to join a group for simply doing group operations. It is also unexpected from such devices to maintain group information and credentials of devices which are part of same group either.

Current grouping solutions cannot handle or doesn’t suit to home environment or those environments which are having mixture of constrained and non-constrained devices.

When it comes to managing of home devices, one needs to put emphasis and make better utilization of the similarities present amongst home appliances/devices, because most of them are of same type, same model and serving the same function but from different locations inside home, some may have similar resources like memory, power, IP or RF networking, user I/O, etc. All such similar kinds of devices do belong to one family or one group. Management server can utilize this information. Many such devices can easily be grouped together based on their common capabilities and based on the need of management operation by Device Management Server (DM Server).

In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a system and method to perform device management operations of resource constrained and non-constrained devices in a home network efficiently. Further, there is need for a system and method by which device management operations are performed efficiently on resource constrained devices by utilizing the resources of other non-constrained devices in the home network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention describes a method of performing one or more management operations on one or more smart devices in a wireless network. The method comprises obtaining real time information from the one or more smart devices by a device management server, the real time information includes device information, network topology and capability information of the one or more smart devices, dynamically forming one or more virtual groups of the one or more smart devices, by the device management server based on the one or more smart device information and capability information of the one or more smart devices, constructing one or more operative messages for performing the one or more management operations by the device management server on the one or more smart devices, assigning one or more activities to each of the one or more smart devices based on the capability information and the virtual group with which the smart device belongs to during the process of the one or more management operations, and performing the one or more management operation on the one or more smart devices.

Another embodiment of the present invention describes a system for performing one or more management operations on one or more smart devices in a wireless network. The system comprises a device management server, one or more smart devices coupled with the device management server for providing one or more services to an inhabitant, the one or more smart devices includes constrained and non-constrained devices and managed by the device management server, and one or more supporting devices used by the device management server for providing the required assistance to the one or more constrained devices, wherein the device management server being configured for obtaining real time information of the one or more smart device by one of a device management server and the one or more smart devices, the real time information includes device information and capability information of the one or more smart devices, dynamically forming one or more virtual groups of the one or more smart devices, by the device management server based on the one or more smart device information and capability information of the one or more smart devices, constructing one or more operative messages for performing the one or more management operations by the device management server on the one or more smart devices, assigning one or more activities to each of the one or more smart devices based on the capability information and the virtual group with which the smart device belongs to during the process of the one or more management operations; and performing the one or more management operation on the one or more smart devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The aforementioned aspects and other features of the present invention will be explained in the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates a device management system for performing one or more device management operations on one or more smart devices in a wireless network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 illustratesa schematic flow diagram representingmanagement operation in smart home(s), according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 illustratesa schematic representation of grouping of supporting devices,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 illustrates a schematic representation of grouping of actual devices which need management operation, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 illustratesa schematic representation of grouping of devices until level L3, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 illustrates a schematic representation of chain flow of management request, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 illustrates a flow diagram representing devices handling chain of responsibility, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 8 illustrates a schematic representation of structure of operation message, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 illustrates a schematic representation of construction of message for local device by a forwarder device, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 10 illustrates a schematic representation of chain of management operations in a single management request package, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 11 illustrates a schematic representation for input characteristics for device grouping, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 12 illustrates a schematic representation of device topology matrix, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 13 illustrates a schematic representation of management request flow in currently used device management solution, according to the prior art.

Figure 14 illustrates a schematic representation of management request flow in this proposed solution, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. The present invention can be modified in various forms. Thus, the embodiments of the present invention are only provided to explain more clearly the present invention to the ordinarily skilled in the art of the present invention. In the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals are used to indicate like components.

The specification may refer to “an”, “one” or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations. This does not necessarily imply that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations and arrangements of one or more of the associated listed items.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Figure 1 illustrates a device management system 100 for performing one or more device management operations on one or more smart devices 102 in a wireless network 103 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device management system 100 comprises a device management (DM) server 101, one or more smart devices 102 (such as 102a, 102b, 102c...102n) and a wireless network 103. Each smart device 102 includes a device management (DM) client. The DM Server 101 resides on the internet and manages the DM client residing in the smart device 102. In a smart home environment, most of the smart devices 102 are in a home network, and hence the DM Server 101 is responsible for managing the devices 102 connected to the home network. Hereinafter the smart devices and devices are used interchangeably.

In the present invention, the sole responsibility of the DM Server 101is to identify and group similar kind of devices 102 based on various parameters and achieve all the advantages of group communication for management operation. The DM Server 101 also collects some of real time details during formation of the groups of devices 102. Based on the type of the management operation, the device groups are identified and formed dynamically by the DM Server101.

Local Device Address formation
In order to avoid the device’s long global address for any internal communication withinasmart home(i.e. home network), all the devices 102 of smart home (i.e. home network) can be reached using local host address in the home network; each device 102 will have a local address in the following format “HID.GID.DID.local”, where,
HID: Smart HomeIdentifier (ID) which is four bytes long
GID: Group ID of the devices which is two bytes long
DID: Device ID which is two bytes long

The local host addressis unique across all the devices 102 in the home network. This will be formed whenever a new device joins the home network, for any internal communication within the home network. In real time by using the ‘DID’ the devices can easily form a complete local host address as described below.

For example, a device ‘x’ with DID = ‘AA’ wants to communicate with a device ‘y’ and it’s DID = ‘AF’. Let’s consider HID = ‘1010’ and GID = ‘AA’. Then the complete local host address of the device ‘y’ will be “1010.AA.AF.local”. Above mentioned format for Device ID will be used throughout this disclosure, same will be used by the DM Server101 for any communication with the smart devices 102 and by the smart devices 102 for communication amongst themselves.

Figure 2 illustrates a schematic flow diagram representing a sequence of steps for initiating the management operation, according to an embodiment of the present invention.At step 201, the management operation is validated by any of the registered device 102 or device management server 101. At step 202, the real time information is collected from the registered devices 102 of smart home. At step 203, the virtual group of devices 102 are formed dynamically by using information of the one or more devices 102 and type of management operation to be performed. At step 204, one or more operation messages for the devices 102 are constructed and subsequently the operation messages are bundled into single management operation package. At step 205, the one or more devices 102 are selected and assigned corresponding to the roles with respect to current managementoperations. At step 206, the management operations are initiated and performed. These individual steps are explained below in detail.

Real Time data collection procedure:
At step 201, the management operation is requested and validated either by any of the registered device(s) or by the DM Server101, as part of initiating the management operation. At step 202, the DM Server 101 collects real time information from the registered devices 102 of smart homefor performing the management operation. At step 203, the selection of a device 102 or formation of the dynamic virtual group of devices 102 is based on the type of management operation to be performed and the devices 102 to be managed or plurality of devices 102 involved in the management operation.

When the smart device 102 registered with the DM Server101, the smart device 102 shares device’s information and capabilities with the DM server 101. The DM Server 101 also collects device status logs or monitors Key Performance Index (KPI) of all the smart devices 102 at regular intervals. The DM Server101 then forms the groups based on the type of management operation, using available and collected device’s information. In one embodiment, the one or more devices 102 which are part of the formed group need to perform the management operation. In another embodiment, the one or more devices 102 are selected to support other devices in the group by the DM Server101.

Some of the real time information collected from the devices in a home network by the DM Server 101 as KPIs which include but not limited to currently available energy (only for those devices which are battery operated and part of management operation), available memory, current CPU usage, current location (only for those devices which are mobile by nature), current network or access point to which they are connected (only for those devices which are mobile by nature).

The real time information collected is stored and used in further steps. Based on the available network related information such as the device connectivity with the parent device, the DM server 101 builds a devices’ topology.

Dynamic Virtual group(s) formation procedure:
The one or more devices 102 in the smart home which needs device management operation, register with the DM Server101 and share all the static information and also support real time information as described above in the real time data collection procedure.

When all the required real time information and the topology of networked home devices are received by the DM server101, it starts forming virtual groups (these are referred as virtual groups because, the details are not shared with the devices and are known to the DM Server101only) dynamically by assembling the devices which are directly or indirectly part of the management operation.

Figure 3 illustrates a schematic representation of grouping of supporting devices according to an embodiment of the present invention. The DM Server 101 identifies the one or more devices 102 which have excess resources (such as large storage, and/or high processing (CPU) capabilities) and forms a high level group of devices DS 302 which can provide assistance to the other devices in the home network (such a group of devices are called support devices DS 302).

The support devices DS 302 are further sub-grouped based on their communication protocol and their mode of connection, such as DSN(1) 304 and DSN(0) 306. Here, DSN(1) 304 are the devices which are IP enabled directly (e.g., Wi-Fi devices or Ethernet devices), and DSN(0) 306 are the devices which are IP enabled in-directly, i.e. by making use of 6lowPAN technology for the low power RF (e.g., IEEE802.15.4 or 802.15.1 devices).

The sub-groups DSN(1) 304 and DSN(0) 306 are further categorized based on their type of capabilities (i.e. storage, CPU, and etc.) into DSNS 308, DSNC 310, DSNP312, and DSNR 314, where:

DSNS 308 is a group of devices which lend their storage and supportfor performing management operations to the devicesthat have shortage of storage. DSNC 310 is a group of devices which lend/share their CPUs for performing management operations to the devices that have low CPU capabilities, and take up the processing loadof performing additional operations.Further, the devices low in CPU capabilitiestake further help of DSNS308 group of devices in case of low storage capabilities.DSNP 312 is a group of devices which works as a proxy for the current management operation. DSNR 314 is a group of devices which work as a response devices where they collect the management operation responses from the localdevices.

Supporting group ‘SG’ includes one or more devices in layers 2 & 3 for providing support to other devices in the home network, for example:
SG = {DSN(1) DSNS, DSN(1) DSNC, DSN(1) DSNP, DSN(0) DSNS, DSN(0) DSNC, DSN(0) DSNP}

These groups of devices formed are utilized by the DM Server101 while assigning the responsibility to each device as per the need during device management operation.

Figure 4 illustrates a schematic representation of grouping of actual devices which need management operation according to an embodiment of the present invention. The DM Server 101 starts forming virtual group(s) of actual devices which need management operation. The group formation logic has been divided majorly into 4 steps/levels by considering certain properties of devices for each step/level. The groups formed at different levels are further used by the DM Server 101 during assignment of roles to the devices and in creating actual message for each of the device as part of management operation. The four levels are described below in detail.

Level L1: The DM Server 101 groups all the devices which need the same management operations into the set DG402. For this level the DM Server 101 looks into the management operation category.

Level L2: In this level the DM Server 101 considers wireless standards and protocols to further segregate the devices in DG 402. In short, segregation is done based on the network properties and the type of device. The network properties and the type of device information are collected and maintained by the DM Server 101 during the registration of the device. If the devices’ type is mobile device then the DM Server 101 looks into its KPI to get the changed location and also the network details. All the devices which are connected in infrastructure mode directly to the access router (e.g., Wi-Fi enabled devices at smart home will be directly connected to the access point (AP)) are grouped into DN(1)404. Further, the devices which are connected using proxy such as ZigBee, Bluetooth, Z-wave and Wireless-Hart, are grouped into DN(0)406.

Level L3: In this level, the devices grouped at level L2 are further segregated based on their capabilities. The devices which perform the current management operation by their own are grouped into DO(1)408 and the devices which need any other device’s support to perform the management operation are grouped into DO(0)410.

Level L4: In this level the DM Server101 uses information from the categoriesof devices such as device state, device details, device role and device capabilities, to make final sub groups. At this level, the DM Server 101 performs further grouping of the devices based on the kind of support needed. Thedevices which take support of storage devices to perform management operation are grouped into DS(s) 412. Thedevices which take support of other devicesfor processing (CPU) are grouped into DS(c) 414. Further, the devices which take support of storage devices and of other devices for processing (CPU) are grouped into DS(s,c)416.

The Table 1 comprises of all the groups at different levels and also describes the one or more group categories obtained at each level.

Table 1: Table contains all groups at different levels

Figure 5 illustrates a schematic representation of grouping of devices until level L3 according to an embodiment of the present invention.Consider the devices 20, 21, 500, 501, 503, 508, and 509 need to undergo a management operation. At levels L1 and L2, the devices 20 and 21 are grouped into DN(1), and the devices 500, 501, 503, 508 and 509 are grouped into DN(0). At level L3, the devices 500, 501 and 503 are sub-grouped into DN(0)DO(0), and the devices 508 and 509 are sub-grouped into DN(0)DO(1) of the group DN(0).

Once group formation is done then the DM Server101 starts assigning responsibilities for each device in the group, this process is described in-detail in step of assign roles and responsibilities.

Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary schematic representation of chain flow of management request. The DM Server 101 selectsa management device say 20from a home-network which has capability to perform the first management operation. On successful selection, the DM server101 provides an operation request to the management device 20. Then the management device 20 forwards the operation request to devices 21, 509 and 501 which need the management operation. These devices 21, 509 and 501 in turn perform their management operation and then forward the operation request to devices 502 and 503.

Figure 7 is a flow diagram representing devices handling chain of responsibility according to an embodiment of the present invention. The DM Server 101 selects a management device 30 from a group of devices (30, 31 and 500) from a home network and sends the configuration and group details to the selected device 30. The device 30 updates configurations, sends the updated response to the device 22 which is an aggregator device, and also forwards the configuration details to the device 31. Likewise, the device 31 updates configurations, sends the update response to the device 22, and also forwards the configuration details to the device 500. Then the device 500 updates configurations and sends the update response to the device 22. The device 22 aggregates all the received responses and sends the same to the DM Server101.

Construction of operative message(s)
Figure 8 illustrates a schematic representation of structure of operation message. The operative message allows different types of operations to be configured, following are different types of operations that are allowed by the operative message structure.

Main-Operation
It describes the actual operation which needs to be performed by the device 102. Main operation includes any one of the straight management operation such as Configuration update, Firmware update, Software update, and corresponding data such asConfiguration data, Data version, Firmware URL, and/or Software URL.

Pre-Operation
It describes the operation which needs to be performed by the device 102 before the main operation, usually pre-operation assist other devices in the network and it also avoids some of redundant operations.The pre-operation includes downloading the service package information from the DM Server 101 and storing it on a local memory untilthe completion of whole management operation oruntil further instruction. The pre-operation also includes downloadingthe service package informationfrom the device (it could be a storage device or any non-constrained device which already has the load).

Post-Operation
It describes the operation which needs to be performed by the device 102 after the main operation.The post-operation usually contains device ID(s) to which the management operation needs to be forwarded by the device 102.

Following is the detailed description of each field in the structure of operation message:

DevID: Device Identifier (DevID) is an ID of the device to which the operative message is to be sent.

Following are the FLAGs field in the structure of operation message:

a. PrOF: A flag for the pre-operation, if this flag is set, it means that the DM Server 101 identified a pre-operation for this device 102, and details of the operation are mentioned in ‘Pre-Operation-Data’.
b. MaOF: A flag for the main-operation, if this flag is set, it means that the DM Server 101 identified a main-operation for this device 102, and details of the operation are mentioned in ‘Main-Operation-Data’.
c. PoOF: A flag for the post operation, if this flat is set, it means that the DM Server101 identified a post-operation for this device 102, and details of the operation are mentioned in ‘Post-Operation-Data’.
d. PrOML: Pre-Operation Message Length: This filed provides the length of the pre-operation message.
e. MaOML: Main-Operation Message Length: This filed provides the length of the main-operation message.
f. PoOML: Post-Operation Message Length: This filed provides the length of the post-operation message.
g. AgID: Aggregator Device ID: This is an ID of the device 102 which aggregates/ receives the response messages from the one or more devices 102 and sends the same to the DM server101.
h. GrInfoL: Group Information Length: This filed provides the length of the group information data.
i. Group Data: This filed includes the information package data which is to be forwarded to the next group as a part of post operation.

Type of Operation:
a. PrOpType: Pre-Operation Type, it includes types such as downloading service package information from the DM server101, downloading service package information from a device ID, downloading current service package information, and saving the service package information.
b. MaOpType: Main-Operation Type, it includes types such as configuration update, firmware update, software update, software delete and etc.
c. PoOpType: Post-Operation Type, it includes types such asforwarding to a single device, forwarding to group etc.

Length of each Operation:
a. PrInfoL: Pre-Operation Information Length (PrInfoL), indicates length of complete pre-operation data.
b. MaInfoL: Main-Operation Information Length (MaInfoL), indicates length of complete main-operation data.
c. PoInfoL: Post-Operation Information Length (PoInfoL), indicates length of complete post-operation data.

a. PrInfo: Pre-Operation Information
b. MaInfo: Main-Operation Information
c. PoInfo: Post-Operation Information

a. PrDataL: Pre-Operation Data Length
b. MaDataL: Main-Operation Data Length
c. PoDataL: Post-Operation Data Length

Information:
a. Pre-Operation-Data: This contains actual information and full details related to the pre-operation. It gives the device ID of the device 102 from which the service package informationhas to be taken or downloaded, or it gives the DM Server 101 details from which the service package information needs to be downloaded.
b. Main-Operation-Data: This is the data which will be used by the current device 102 to perform its main operation. This also contains complete details about the management operation.
c. Post-Operation-Data: This is the data which will be used by the current device102 to perform its post-operation. Usually this contains the details of the devices 102 to which the management operation needs to be forwarded. It contains full message constructed by the DM Server 101 for each device 102 to which the management operation needs to be forwarded.

Post-Operation:
This is an operation which needs to be done after completion of the main operation. The post-operation data has the detailed information which needs to be sent to other devicessuch as device id or group id.

Further the field defined for the operation dataare described below:
a. FDevID1: This includes Device ID of a device 102 where a management request is required to be forwarded as a part of the post-operation.
b. FPrOF: This is a flag which indicates whether to perform the Pre-Operation or not on a device 102 where the management request is forwarded.
c. FPrOT: Forwarded device Pre-Operation Type.
d. FPrOL: This is a flag which provides the length of the Pre-Operation data.
e. FPrData: A data which is part of Pre-Operation for the next devices.
f. FPoOF: This is a flag which indicates whether to perform the Post-Operation or noton adevice 102 where the management request is forwarded.
g. FPoOT: Forwarded device Post-Operation Type.
h. FPoOL: This is a flag which provides the length of the Post-Operation data.
i. FPoData: Forwarded Post-Operation Data.
j. DSEP: Device Separator. Each information package contains data for many devices 102 in the home. This filed marks a separator between the devices 102. Additionally, this field facilitates reading the next device information and its operation.

These are the details which are used by the device 102 to construct operative message for the device(s) to which it is forwarding.

Figure 9 illustrates a schematic representation of construction of message for local device by a forwarder device. The forwarder device is a device which forwards the management request to other device in the home network. The device 102 needs to read the data till Device Separator (DSEP) and make use for constructing operative message.
The filed ‘FDevID1’ is used to fill the device ID ‘DevID’. The flags related to the pre-operation, post-operation related information are checked to fill the sub-operation for the next devices which receive management request from this device. For example ‘FPrOF’ is used to fill ‘PrOF’, similarly ‘FPrOL’ is used to fill ‘PrOL’, and ‘FPrData’ is used to fill ‘Pre-Operation-Data’. In the Similar way ‘FPoOF’, ‘FPoOL’ and FPoData’ are used to fill PoOF’, ‘PoOL’ ‘FPoData’ respectively. Since the main operation is common across all the management devices, forwarder device uses the same information and fills main-operation for the next devices. This process is repeated for rest of the devices which needs to get this message.

AgID: This is a Device ID of an Aggregator Device and identified by the DM Server 101 for aggregating responses of one or more devices which are part of current management operation in the home network. The aggregator device (AgID) is the device to which all the device(s) need to send response of their management operation. The responsibility of the aggregator device is to collect and aggregate all the respective responses received from the devices (which are part of management operation) and forward it to the DM Server101. The DM Server 101 makes use of this response from the aggregator device and takes further action.

The DM Server 101 prepares this message structure for all the devices which are part of management operation and based on the role identified for each device. The detailed process is explained above in steps of construction of operative message(s).

Once devices (management and supporting devices) are formed into groups, The DM Server 101 starts filling ‘Pre-Operation’ and ‘Main-Operation’ in the above mentioned the message structure by identifying main-operation and pre-operation for devices (based on its respective group) at high level.

Below are the detailed steps as to how the DM Server 101 starts preparing the message structure for the devices in the group:

1. The DM Server 101 selects a management device from a home-network which has sufficient capability to handle the first management operation and then forward the operation request to maximum local devices which need the management operation.

2. The DM Server 101 selects the devices from the group L3 which can do their operation on their own, and prepare their main operation.

3. The DM Server 101 selects the devices from the group L4 which need the supporting devices (DS(C), DS(S), DS(S, C)).

a. Devices which need support of memory devices DS(S), the DM Server 101 will select a DSNS device from the same sub network (preferably a device which is part of same management operation) and puts these details in the pre-operation.

b. Devices which need support of CPU devices DS(C), the DM Server 101 will select a DSNC device from the same sub network (preferably a device which is part of same management operation) and puts these details in the pre-operation.

c. The DM Server 101 fills the main operation which will be performed by that device as a part of current management operation.

Figure 10 illustrates a schematic representation of chain of management operations in a single management request package. The message bundling for the management operation package which includes operation information for all management devices is illustrated. The complete operation package information of the first device contains, its relatedinformation data and operations, and also holds operation package for the next device which receives this, this continues till the operation package reaches to the last device. Thus, main operation package contains information related to all current devices (which need current operation) as chain of sub packages.

Figure 11 illustrates a schematic representation of grouping of the devices in a home network according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In this exemplary embodiment, theDM Server 101 identifies groupsdynamically in the home network based on various aspects at different levels. At level L1, the devices are grouped based on the management operation 1102. At level L2, the devices are grouped basedtype of protocols 1104 and wireless standards 1106. At level L3, the devices are groupedbased on device state 1108 and device details 1110. At level L4, the devices are grouped based on device details 1110, device role 1112 and device capabilities 1114.

Assign roles and responsibilities
In this step, the DM Server101 assigns roles to the one or more devices 102 in the home network based on its capabilities and its respective group to which it belongs. The DM server 101 also creates operative message based on its respective role and group, for each device 102 which is part of the management operation. Before assigning the roles, the DM Server 101 selects one or more management request forwarder devices for the current management operation.

Selection of forwarder devices in the home network:
Forwarder devices are the devices in the home networks, where one of the forwarder device is responsible for receiving the group management operation package from the DM Server 101 and sending it to the other management devices. The otherforwarder devices are responsible for receiving the management operation package for their sub-group and forwarding to next level sub-group.

Figure 12 illustrates a schematic representation of device topology matrix generated for the devices 20, 21, 500, 501, 503, 508, and 509 which need management operation.The forwarder device for the group management message operation is selected based on the devices topology considering theconnection to their parent devices. The DM Server 101 selects the devices to start the management request. Firstly, it selects the devices which come directly under the main Device ‘D0’, which is the main access router at home that connects to the outside network.

The DM Server 101 first selects the devices in the first parent group which has a capability to receive the message from the DM Server 101 and forward to maximum number devices in the home. Then the DM server 101 looks into the sub parent category of the topology where the devices can receive messages from the previous devices and can forward to other devices in their group. This identification of forwarder devices continue till all the management devices are covered for the current management operation. In one exemplary embodiment, the DM Server101selects the devices D20, D21, D501 and D509 as forwarder devices and the device D20 is the device which is responsible for receiving the manager operation package from the DM Server101.

Once the forwarder devices are selected, the detailed procedure involved in assigning roles described below:
1. The DM Server 101 first selects a device(s) from the supporting devices group ‘DSNR’, which is capable of receiving the responses from the local devices and sends the aggregated response to the DM Server 101 back. Once such a device is identified from DSNR group then the respective Device ID is filled in the ‘AgID’ field of the message structure.

2. The DM Server 101 selects one or more devices from the virtual groups which are identified in level 4 (L4). The DM server 101 specifically selects a device (forwarder device) which has sufficient capabilities to get the first management request so that the forwarder device forwards the request to maximum local devices which need current management operation.

3. Prepare the post operation for the above device(s), by identifying the list of devices which involves the devices that are responsible for forwarding their current management operations after performing their self-management operation, and the devices which receive and perform their management operation.

4. Prepare the post operation for the above selected devices in the group. The operations message structure is filled for all the forwarder devices based on which they forward the kind of sub-operation they need to perform. The DM Server 101 fills this complete operation message package, which includes sub-operation and forward information for the current management operation.

5. In short, the DM Server 101 assigns roles for all the devices which need management operation and respective operative message isconstructed. The devices are selected as forwarder devices (which might have pre, main, and post operations defined), some of them are selected to perform management operation only (which have only main-operation defined), and some of them are selected as helper devices (which have only pre-operation defined).

6. If there are any devices which are left out and cannot be grouped in the virtual group or cannot be forwarded to, by any of the forwarder devices in the group then the DM Server 101 sends a direct management request to those device(s).

i. Initiate and perform the management operation
The DM Server 101 sends constructed operative message to all the identified forwarder devices. Oncethe device (forwarder) in the smart home receives the operative message (chain of management requests) from the DM Server101, it starts checking operation flags (such as MaOF, PrOF, and PoOF) and based on the flags, it starts reading and performing respective sub-operations identified for it. For example, if PrOF is set then it reads Pre-Operation-Data and finishes the pre-operation, then the main-operation. If PoOF is set, then it further reads Post-Operation-Data and constructs operative messages for the list of devices which are part of Post-Operation-Data. Throughout this process, parsing of the operative message is done by making use of the message structure mentioned in step of construction of the operative message(s).

In a case, where any of the devices has a post-operation to forward the management request to other devices and the device is unable to perform that due to operation overhead or for some real-time issues then the device sends an opt-out message back to the DM Server101. The DM Server 101 upon receiving such an opt-out request for the current chain of management request from any device, it starts re-building the message structure for the remaining uncompleted management devices and initiates the management request again for these devices.

Above mentioned procedure would also be followed by the DM Server101 for all the devices for which error response was received from the identified aggregator device.

The Error scenarios are described below:
1) If the aggregator device failed to collect / aggregate responses from the local devices then it is expected to inform the DM Server 101(with the partial result – if any), the DM Server 101 takes care of the rest.

2) After finishing identified management operation if any device is unable to convey the response to the aggregator device, are expected to forward the response tothe DM Server 101 directly.

3) If a forwarder device failed or unable to reach any local device then it is expected to continue with rest of the local devices and mark the response as failure.

4) If a forwarder device failed to forward to any local device then it needs to fail all (except itself) and convey it to the DM Server 101.

5) If a forwarder device failed to forward sub-set of local devices then it can either select one of the remaining device to forward or fail the rest, and convey it to the DM Server 101.

Figure 13 is a schematic representation of management request flow in conventionally used device management solution.Consider the devices 20, 21, 500, 501, 503, 508, and 509 need the management operation as described above, i.e. they need to get a similar kind of information as described above from the DM Server 101 and send a management response back to the DM Server 101.

According to the prior art, the DM Server 101 establishes a dedicated management request connection with each of the devices and perform the management operation, therefore it requires total 7 separate connections and the same management information arerequired to be sent to the home network 7 times.

Figure 14 is a schematic representation of management request flow in thepresent inventionsolution. The DM Server 101 makes only one connection with any of the home network devices called a forwarder device and sends only once the management information. The forwarder device, at smart home takes care of forwarding to other devices, which are part of their sub networks. The responses from the local devices are collected locally and an aggregated response is sent to the DM Server 101.

Although the invention of the method and system has been described in connection with the embodiments of the present invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various substitutions, modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

We claim:

1. A method of performing one or more management operations on one or more smart devices in a wireless network, the method comprising:
obtaining real time information from the one or more smart devices by a device management server, the real time information including device information, network topology and capability information of the one or more smart devices;
dynamically forming one or more virtual groups of the one or more smart devices, by the device management server based on the device information and the capability information of the one or more smart devices;
constructing one or more operative messages for performing the one or more management operations by the device management server on the one or more smart devices;
assigning one or more activities to each of the one or more smart devices based on the capability information and a virtual group, from the virtual group, to which the one or more smart devices belong during the one or more management operations; and
performing the one or more management operations on the one or more smart devices.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising obtaining KPI (Key Performance Index) of the one or more smart devices at a pre-defined interval.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the real time information obtained by the device management server is selected from a group comprising battery status, memory status, CPU usage status, location information and network information associated with a network with which the one or more smart devices are connected.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the device management server forms one or more topologies of the one or more smart devices based on the network information.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the device management server forms a supporting device group based on the memory status, device availability, accessibility and CPU usage status.

6. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the device management server forms a sub-group of the supporting device group based on protocol usage and connection mode.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more management operations includes one of pre-operation, main-operation, and post-operation.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the pre-operation is performed to provide assistance to the one or more smart devices in the virtual group and also to avoid redundant operations.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the main-operation is selected from a group comprising configuration update, firmware update, software update, configuration data update, data version update, firmware URL update, software URL updateand any other management operation which is directly performing on the one or more smart devices.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the post-operation is performed after the main-operation for providing identification details of the one or more smart devices being in need of the one or more management operations to the device management server.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising determining one of the one or more smart devices for acting as a forwarder device in one or more groups and one or more sub-groups of the one or more smart devices,
wherein the forwarder device is configured for receiving the one or more operative messages from the device management server and sending the one or more operative messages to the one or more forwarder devices of the sub-group.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the one or more forwarder devices of the one or more sub-groups further send the one or more operative messages to a group within each sub-group.

13. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the one or more forwarder device of the one or more groups and one or more sub-groups are selected based on the capability of the one or more smart devices to receive the message from the device management server and forward to a predefined number of the smart devices.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein assigning one or more activities to each of the one or more smart devices comprises:
selecting the one or more smart devices, by the device management server, from a supporting device group;
receiving a response from the one or more smart devices within the virtual group;
sending an aggregated response to the device management server; and
selecting the one or more smart devices, by the device management server, from the one or more virtual groups for receiving and forwarding a first management request to a predefined number of smart devices being in need of one or more management operations.

15. A system for performing one or more management operations on one or more smart devices in a wireless network, the system comprising:
a device management server;
the one or more smart devices coupled with the device management server for providing one or more services to an inhabitant, the one or more smart devices including constrained and non-constrained devices that are managed by the device management server; and
one or more supporting devices used by the device management server for providing the required assistance to the one or more constrained devices.

16. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured for
obtaining real time information of the one or more smart devices by one of the device management server and the one or more smart devices, the real time information includes device information and capability information of the one or more smart devices;
dynamically forming one or more virtual groups of the one or more smart devices, by the device management server based on the device information and capability information of the one or more smart devices;
constructing one or more operative messages for performing the one or more management operations by the device management server on the one or more smart devices;
assigning one or more activities to each of the one or more smart devices based on the capability information and the virtual group with which the one or more smart devices belong to during the process of the one or more management operations; and
performing the one or more management operations on the one or more smart devices.

17. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured to obtain real time information from the one or more smart devices for maintaining KPI (Key Performance Index) of the one or more smart devices at a pre-defined interval.

18. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured to identify the one or more smart devices which are assigned to the virtual group for performing one or more assigned functions.

19. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured for
identifying a first device from a group of the one or more smart device for initiating the one or more management operations, and
selectingthe one or more smart devices for forwarding the one or more management operations to the selected one or more smart devices being in need of the one or more management operations.

20. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured to construct the one or more operative messages for the one or more smart devices in the virtual group.

21. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured for preparing one or more management operation packages for the one or more virtual groups, where the management operation package includes individual operation message structure for the one or more smart devices.

22. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server identifies one or more aggregator devices from a group of the one or more smart devices for receiving one or more responses of the one or more management operations from the one or more smart devices, thereby sending the responses to the device management server.

Dated this the 05th day of December 2014

Signature

KEERTHI J S
Patent agent
Agent for the applicant

FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
[39 of 1970]
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(Section 10; Rule 13)

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS ON SMART DEVICES IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

SAMSUNG R&D INSTITUTE INDIA – BANGALORE PRIVATE LIMITED
# 2870, ORION Building, Bagmane Constellation Business Park,
Outer Ring Road, Doddanakundi Circle,
Marathahalli Post, Bangalore-560 037
An Indian company

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed

RELATED APPLICATION
Benefit is claimed to Indian Provisional Application No. 995/CHE/2014 titled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DEVICE MANAGEMENT BASED ON DYNAMIC DEVICE GROUPING AND DEVICES COLLABORATION” filed on 27th February 2014, which is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the device management in a wireless network and more particularly relates to system and method for performing management operations on smart devices in a wireless network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Smart homes consist of diversified electronic devices forming a home network to provide comfort, convenience, safety, security and entertainment services to inhabitants. The diversified devices in the home include, for example washing machine, microwave oven, refrigerator, set-top box, coffee vending machine, Air conditioner(AC), lights, switches, IP cameras, door locks, etc.

It is being observed that for any given application group communication mechanisms can improve efficiency and latency of communication and even reduce bandwidth requirements. However, a group management is a tedious task, it involves many sub-tasks, such as, identifying groups, requesting/configuring devices to join group, enabling network to support group communication, maintaining group information by the devices, and even routers are expected to go through some changes for doing group communication, and etc.

Today’s smart home(s) consists of plurality of devices and appliances. Each one of these devices possess unique set of capabilities and many a times they differ one another in terms of different types of resources they possess and sometimes in terms of the amount of resources they carry. Resource here means device’s processing power, memory (storage capacity), source of Energy (main powered/battery operated), user I/O, networking protocol or networking capabilities, and etc.

Some of these devices may have high processing power, but some might be low powered, some might be having large memory (storage), but some may be having very limited storage, some of them may support different kinds of user I/O, but some of them may not even support user I/O at all, some may be supporting IP networking, but some may support connectivity over RF only. Hence, performing device management operations for diversified portfolio of devices is difficult, especially performing management operations on these resource constrained and non-constrained devices together is even challenging, such diversified scenarios needs intelligent and efficient handling and there is a need to have one common method for all such devices in the home.

All the existing solutions which do group communication are expected to perform all the above mentioned tasks to some extent. One can agree performing all such operations/tasks on devices or networks which are having sufficient resources. However, one cannot expect constrained devices either to configure or request to join a group for simply doing group operations. It is also unexpected from such devices to maintain group information and credentials of devices which are part of same group either.

Current grouping solutions cannot handle or doesn’t suit to home environment or those environments which are having mixture of constrained and non-constrained devices.

When it comes to managing of home devices, one needs to put emphasis and make better utilization of the similarities present amongst home appliances/devices, because most of them are of same type, same model and serving the same function but from different locations inside home, some may have similar resources like memory, power, IP or RF networking, user I/O, etc. All such similar kinds of devices do belong to one family or one group. Management server can utilize this information. Many such devices can easily be grouped together based on their common capabilities and based on the need of management operation by Device Management Server (DM Server).

In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a system and method to perform device management operations of resource constrained and non-constrained devices in a home network efficiently. Further, there is need for a system and method by which device management operations are performed efficiently on resource constrained devices by utilizing the resources of other non-constrained devices in the home network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention describes a method of performing one or more management operations on one or more smart devices in a wireless network. The method comprises obtaining real time information from the one or more smart devices by a device management server, the real time information includes device information, network topology and capability information of the one or more smart devices, dynamically forming one or more virtual groups of the one or more smart devices, by the device management server based on the one or more smart device information and capability information of the one or more smart devices, constructing one or more operative messages for performing the one or more management operations by the device management server on the one or more smart devices, assigning one or more activities to each of the one or more smart devices based on the capability information and the virtual group with which the smart device belongs to during the process of the one or more management operations, and performing the one or more management operation on the one or more smart devices.

Another embodiment of the present invention describes a system for performing one or more management operations on one or more smart devices in a wireless network. The system comprises a device management server, one or more smart devices coupled with the device management server for providing one or more services to an inhabitant, the one or more smart devices includes constrained and non-constrained devices and managed by the device management server, and one or more supporting devices used by the device management server for providing the required assistance to the one or more constrained devices, wherein the device management server being configured for obtaining real time information of the one or more smart device by one of a device management server and the one or more smart devices, the real time information includes device information and capability information of the one or more smart devices, dynamically forming one or more virtual groups of the one or more smart devices, by the device management server based on the one or more smart device information and capability information of the one or more smart devices, constructing one or more operative messages for performing the one or more management operations by the device management server on the one or more smart devices, assigning one or more activities to each of the one or more smart devices based on the capability information and the virtual group with which the smart device belongs to during the process of the one or more management operations; and performing the one or more management operation on the one or more smart devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The aforementioned aspects and other features of the present invention will be explained in the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates a device management system for performing one or more device management operations on one or more smart devices in a wireless network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 illustratesa schematic flow diagram representingmanagement operation in smart home(s), according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 illustratesa schematic representation of grouping of supporting devices,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 illustrates a schematic representation of grouping of actual devices which need management operation, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 illustratesa schematic representation of grouping of devices until level L3, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 illustrates a schematic representation of chain flow of management request, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 illustrates a flow diagram representing devices handling chain of responsibility, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 8 illustrates a schematic representation of structure of operation message, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 illustrates a schematic representation of construction of message for local device by a forwarder device, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 10 illustrates a schematic representation of chain of management operations in a single management request package, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 11 illustrates a schematic representation for input characteristics for device grouping, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 12 illustrates a schematic representation of device topology matrix, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 13 illustrates a schematic representation of management request flow in currently used device management solution, according to the prior art.

Figure 14 illustrates a schematic representation of management request flow in this proposed solution, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. The present invention can be modified in various forms. Thus, the embodiments of the present invention are only provided to explain more clearly the present invention to the ordinarily skilled in the art of the present invention. In the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals are used to indicate like components.

The specification may refer to “an”, “one” or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations. This does not necessarily imply that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations and arrangements of one or more of the associated listed items.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Figure 1 illustrates a device management system 100 for performing one or more device management operations on one or more smart devices 102 in a wireless network 103 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device management system 100 comprises a device management (DM) server 101, one or more smart devices 102 (such as 102a, 102b, 102c...102n) and a wireless network 103. Each smart device 102 includes a device management (DM) client. The DM Server 101 resides on the internet and manages the DM client residing in the smart device 102. In a smart home environment, most of the smart devices 102 are in a home network, and hence the DM Server 101 is responsible for managing the devices 102 connected to the home network. Hereinafter the smart devices and devices are used interchangeably.

In the present invention, the sole responsibility of the DM Server 101is to identify and group similar kind of devices 102 based on various parameters and achieve all the advantages of group communication for management operation. The DM Server 101 also collects some of real time details during formation of the groups of devices 102. Based on the type of the management operation, the device groups are identified and formed dynamically by the DM Server101.

Local Device Address formation
In order to avoid the device’s long global address for any internal communication withinasmart home(i.e. home network), all the devices 102 of smart home (i.e. home network) can be reached using local host address in the home network; each device 102 will have a local address in the following format “HID.GID.DID.local”, where,
HID: Smart HomeIdentifier (ID) which is four bytes long
GID: Group ID of the devices which is two bytes long
DID: Device ID which is two bytes long

The local host addressis unique across all the devices 102 in the home network. This will be formed whenever a new device joins the home network, for any internal communication within the home network. In real time by using the ‘DID’ the devices can easily form a complete local host address as described below.

For example, a device ‘x’ with DID = ‘AA’ wants to communicate with a device ‘y’ and it’s DID = ‘AF’. Let’s consider HID = ‘1010’ and GID = ‘AA’. Then the complete local host address of the device ‘y’ will be “1010.AA.AF.local”. Above mentioned format for Device ID will be used throughout this disclosure, same will be used by the DM Server101 for any communication with the smart devices 102 and by the smart devices 102 for communication amongst themselves.

Figure 2 illustrates a schematic flow diagram representing a sequence of steps for initiating the management operation, according to an embodiment of the present invention.At step 201, the management operation is validated by any of the registered device 102 or device management server 101. At step 202, the real time information is collected from the registered devices 102 of smart home. At step 203, the virtual group of devices 102 are formed dynamically by using information of the one or more devices 102 and type of management operation to be performed. At step 204, one or more operation messages for the devices 102 are constructed and subsequently the operation messages are bundled into single management operation package. At step 205, the one or more devices 102 are selected and assigned corresponding to the roles with respect to current managementoperations. At step 206, the management operations are initiated and performed. These individual steps are explained below in detail.

Real Time data collection procedure:
At step 201, the management operation is requested and validated either by any of the registered device(s) or by the DM Server101, as part of initiating the management operation. At step 202, the DM Server 101 collects real time information from the registered devices 102 of smart homefor performing the management operation. At step 203, the selection of a device 102 or formation of the dynamic virtual group of devices 102 is based on the type of management operation to be performed and the devices 102 to be managed or plurality of devices 102 involved in the management operation.

When the smart device 102 registered with the DM Server101, the smart device 102 shares device’s information and capabilities with the DM server 101. The DM Server 101 also collects device status logs or monitors Key Performance Index (KPI) of all the smart devices 102 at regular intervals. The DM Server101 then forms the groups based on the type of management operation, using available and collected device’s information. In one embodiment, the one or more devices 102 which are part of the formed group need to perform the management operation. In another embodiment, the one or more devices 102 are selected to support other devices in the group by the DM Server101.

Some of the real time information collected from the devices in a home network by the DM Server 101 as KPIs which include but not limited to currently available energy (only for those devices which are battery operated and part of management operation), available memory, current CPU usage, current location (only for those devices which are mobile by nature), current network or access point to which they are connected (only for those devices which are mobile by nature).

The real time information collected is stored and used in further steps. Based on the available network related information such as the device connectivity with the parent device, the DM server 101 builds a devices’ topology.

Dynamic Virtual group(s) formation procedure:
The one or more devices 102 in the smart home which needs device management operation, register with the DM Server101 and share all the static information and also support real time information as described above in the real time data collection procedure.

When all the required real time information and the topology of networked home devices are received by the DM server101, it starts forming virtual groups (these are referred as virtual groups because, the details are not shared with the devices and are known to the DM Server101only) dynamically by assembling the devices which are directly or indirectly part of the management operation.

Figure 3 illustrates a schematic representation of grouping of supporting devices according to an embodiment of the present invention. The DM Server 101 identifies the one or more devices 102 which have excess resources (such as large storage, and/or high processing (CPU) capabilities) and forms a high level group of devices DS 302 which can provide assistance to the other devices in the home network (such a group of devices are called support devices DS 302).

The support devices DS 302 are further sub-grouped based on their communication protocol and their mode of connection, such as DSN(1) 304 and DSN(0) 306. Here, DSN(1) 304 are the devices which are IP enabled directly (e.g., Wi-Fi devices or Ethernet devices), and DSN(0) 306 are the devices which are IP enabled in-directly, i.e. by making use of 6lowPAN technology for the low power RF (e.g., IEEE802.15.4 or 802.15.1 devices).

The sub-groups DSN(1) 304 and DSN(0) 306 are further categorized based on their type of capabilities (i.e. storage, CPU, and etc.) into DSNS 308, DSNC 310, DSNP312, and DSNR 314, where:

DSNS 308 is a group of devices which lend their storage and supportfor performing management operations to the devicesthat have shortage of storage. DSNC 310 is a group of devices which lend/share their CPUs for performing management operations to the devices that have low CPU capabilities, and take up the processing loadof performing additional operations.Further, the devices low in CPU capabilitiestake further help of DSNS308 group of devices in case of low storage capabilities.DSNP 312 is a group of devices which works as a proxy for the current management operation. DSNR 314 is a group of devices which work as a response devices where they collect the management operation responses from the localdevices.

Supporting group ‘SG’ includes one or more devices in layers 2 & 3 for providing support to other devices in the home network, for example:
SG = {DSN(1) DSNS, DSN(1) DSNC, DSN(1) DSNP, DSN(0) DSNS, DSN(0) DSNC, DSN(0) DSNP}

These groups of devices formed are utilized by the DM Server101 while assigning the responsibility to each device as per the need during device management operation.

Figure 4 illustrates a schematic representation of grouping of actual devices which need management operation according to an embodiment of the present invention. The DM Server 101 starts forming virtual group(s) of actual devices which need management operation. The group formation logic has been divided majorly into 4 steps/levels by considering certain properties of devices for each step/level. The groups formed at different levels are further used by the DM Server 101 during assignment of roles to the devices and in creating actual message for each of the device as part of management operation. The four levels are described below in detail.

Level L1: The DM Server 101 groups all the devices which need the same management operations into the set DG402. For this level the DM Server 101 looks into the management operation category.

Level L2: In this level the DM Server 101 considers wireless standards and protocols to further segregate the devices in DG 402. In short, segregation is done based on the network properties and the type of device. The network properties and the type of device information are collected and maintained by the DM Server 101 during the registration of the device. If the devices’ type is mobile device then the DM Server 101 looks into its KPI to get the changed location and also the network details. All the devices which are connected in infrastructure mode directly to the access router (e.g., Wi-Fi enabled devices at smart home will be directly connected to the access point (AP)) are grouped into DN(1)404. Further, the devices which are connected using proxy such as ZigBee, Bluetooth, Z-wave and Wireless-Hart, are grouped into DN(0)406.

Level L3: In this level, the devices grouped at level L2 are further segregated based on their capabilities. The devices which perform the current management operation by their own are grouped into DO(1)408 and the devices which need any other device’s support to perform the management operation are grouped into DO(0)410.

Level L4: In this level the DM Server101 uses information from the categoriesof devices such as device state, device details, device role and device capabilities, to make final sub groups. At this level, the DM Server 101 performs further grouping of the devices based on the kind of support needed. Thedevices which take support of storage devices to perform management operation are grouped into DS(s) 412. Thedevices which take support of other devicesfor processing (CPU) are grouped into DS(c) 414. Further, the devices which take support of storage devices and of other devices for processing (CPU) are grouped into DS(s,c)416.

The Table 1 comprises of all the groups at different levels and also describes the one or more group categories obtained at each level.

Table 1: Table contains all groups at different levels

Figure 5 illustrates a schematic representation of grouping of devices until level L3 according to an embodiment of the present invention.Consider the devices 20, 21, 500, 501, 503, 508, and 509 need to undergo a management operation. At levels L1 and L2, the devices 20 and 21 are grouped into DN(1), and the devices 500, 501, 503, 508 and 509 are grouped into DN(0). At level L3, the devices 500, 501 and 503 are sub-grouped into DN(0)DO(0), and the devices 508 and 509 are sub-grouped into DN(0)DO(1) of the group DN(0).

Once group formation is done then the DM Server101 starts assigning responsibilities for each device in the group, this process is described in-detail in step of assign roles and responsibilities.

Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary schematic representation of chain flow of management request. The DM Server 101 selectsa management device say 20from a home-network which has capability to perform the first management operation. On successful selection, the DM server101 provides an operation request to the management device 20. Then the management device 20 forwards the operation request to devices 21, 509 and 501 which need the management operation. These devices 21, 509 and 501 in turn perform their management operation and then forward the operation request to devices 502 and 503.

Figure 7 is a flow diagram representing devices handling chain of responsibility according to an embodiment of the present invention. The DM Server 101 selects a management device 30 from a group of devices (30, 31 and 500) from a home network and sends the configuration and group details to the selected device 30. The device 30 updates configurations, sends the updated response to the device 22 which is an aggregator device, and also forwards the configuration details to the device 31. Likewise, the device 31 updates configurations, sends the update response to the device 22, and also forwards the configuration details to the device 500. Then the device 500 updates configurations and sends the update response to the device 22. The device 22 aggregates all the received responses and sends the same to the DM Server101.

Construction of operative message(s)
Figure 8 illustrates a schematic representation of structure of operation message. The operative message allows different types of operations to be configured, following are different types of operations that are allowed by the operative message structure.

Main-Operation
It describes the actual operation which needs to be performed by the device 102. Main operation includes any one of the straight management operation such as Configuration update, Firmware update, Software update, and corresponding data such asConfiguration data, Data version, Firmware URL, and/or Software URL.

Pre-Operation
It describes the operation which needs to be performed by the device 102 before the main operation, usually pre-operation assist other devices in the network and it also avoids some of redundant operations.The pre-operation includes downloading the service package information from the DM Server 101 and storing it on a local memory untilthe completion of whole management operation oruntil further instruction. The pre-operation also includes downloadingthe service package informationfrom the device (it could be a storage device or any non-constrained device which already has the load).

Post-Operation
It describes the operation which needs to be performed by the device 102 after the main operation.The post-operation usually contains device ID(s) to which the management operation needs to be forwarded by the device 102.

Following is the detailed description of each field in the structure of operation message:

DevID: Device Identifier (DevID) is an ID of the device to which the operative message is to be sent.

Following are the FLAGs field in the structure of operation message:

a. PrOF: A flag for the pre-operation, if this flag is set, it means that the DM Server 101 identified a pre-operation for this device 102, and details of the operation are mentioned in ‘Pre-Operation-Data’.
b. MaOF: A flag for the main-operation, if this flag is set, it means that the DM Server 101 identified a main-operation for this device 102, and details of the operation are mentioned in ‘Main-Operation-Data’.
c. PoOF: A flag for the post operation, if this flat is set, it means that the DM Server101 identified a post-operation for this device 102, and details of the operation are mentioned in ‘Post-Operation-Data’.
d. PrOML: Pre-Operation Message Length: This filed provides the length of the pre-operation message.
e. MaOML: Main-Operation Message Length: This filed provides the length of the main-operation message.
f. PoOML: Post-Operation Message Length: This filed provides the length of the post-operation message.
g. AgID: Aggregator Device ID: This is an ID of the device 102 which aggregates/ receives the response messages from the one or more devices 102 and sends the same to the DM server101.
h. GrInfoL: Group Information Length: This filed provides the length of the group information data.
i. Group Data: This filed includes the information package data which is to be forwarded to the next group as a part of post operation.

Type of Operation:
a. PrOpType: Pre-Operation Type, it includes types such as downloading service package information from the DM server101, downloading service package information from a device ID, downloading current service package information, and saving the service package information.
b. MaOpType: Main-Operation Type, it includes types such as configuration update, firmware update, software update, software delete and etc.
c. PoOpType: Post-Operation Type, it includes types such asforwarding to a single device, forwarding to group etc.

Length of each Operation:
a. PrInfoL: Pre-Operation Information Length (PrInfoL), indicates length of complete pre-operation data.
b. MaInfoL: Main-Operation Information Length (MaInfoL), indicates length of complete main-operation data.
c. PoInfoL: Post-Operation Information Length (PoInfoL), indicates length of complete post-operation data.

a. PrInfo: Pre-Operation Information
b. MaInfo: Main-Operation Information
c. PoInfo: Post-Operation Information

a. PrDataL: Pre-Operation Data Length
b. MaDataL: Main-Operation Data Length
c. PoDataL: Post-Operation Data Length

Information:
a. Pre-Operation-Data: This contains actual information and full details related to the pre-operation. It gives the device ID of the device 102 from which the service package informationhas to be taken or downloaded, or it gives the DM Server 101 details from which the service package information needs to be downloaded.
b. Main-Operation-Data: This is the data which will be used by the current device 102 to perform its main operation. This also contains complete details about the management operation.
c. Post-Operation-Data: This is the data which will be used by the current device102 to perform its post-operation. Usually this contains the details of the devices 102 to which the management operation needs to be forwarded. It contains full message constructed by the DM Server 101 for each device 102 to which the management operation needs to be forwarded.

Post-Operation:
This is an operation which needs to be done after completion of the main operation. The post-operation data has the detailed information which needs to be sent to other devicessuch as device id or group id.

Further the field defined for the operation dataare described below:
a. FDevID1: This includes Device ID of a device 102 where a management request is required to be forwarded as a part of the post-operation.
b. FPrOF: This is a flag which indicates whether to perform the Pre-Operation or not on a device 102 where the management request is forwarded.
c. FPrOT: Forwarded device Pre-Operation Type.
d. FPrOL: This is a flag which provides the length of the Pre-Operation data.
e. FPrData: A data which is part of Pre-Operation for the next devices.
f. FPoOF: This is a flag which indicates whether to perform the Post-Operation or noton adevice 102 where the management request is forwarded.
g. FPoOT: Forwarded device Post-Operation Type.
h. FPoOL: This is a flag which provides the length of the Post-Operation data.
i. FPoData: Forwarded Post-Operation Data.
j. DSEP: Device Separator. Each information package contains data for many devices 102 in the home. This filed marks a separator between the devices 102. Additionally, this field facilitates reading the next device information and its operation.

These are the details which are used by the device 102 to construct operative message for the device(s) to which it is forwarding.

Figure 9 illustrates a schematic representation of construction of message for local device by a forwarder device. The forwarder device is a device which forwards the management request to other device in the home network. The device 102 needs to read the data till Device Separator (DSEP) and make use for constructing operative message.
The filed ‘FDevID1’ is used to fill the device ID ‘DevID’. The flags related to the pre-operation, post-operation related information are checked to fill the sub-operation for the next devices which receive management request from this device. For example ‘FPrOF’ is used to fill ‘PrOF’, similarly ‘FPrOL’ is used to fill ‘PrOL’, and ‘FPrData’ is used to fill ‘Pre-Operation-Data’. In the Similar way ‘FPoOF’, ‘FPoOL’ and FPoData’ are used to fill PoOF’, ‘PoOL’ ‘FPoData’ respectively. Since the main operation is common across all the management devices, forwarder device uses the same information and fills main-operation for the next devices. This process is repeated for rest of the devices which needs to get this message.

AgID: This is a Device ID of an Aggregator Device and identified by the DM Server 101 for aggregating responses of one or more devices which are part of current management operation in the home network. The aggregator device (AgID) is the device to which all the device(s) need to send response of their management operation. The responsibility of the aggregator device is to collect and aggregate all the respective responses received from the devices (which are part of management operation) and forward it to the DM Server101. The DM Server 101 makes use of this response from the aggregator device and takes further action.

The DM Server 101 prepares this message structure for all the devices which are part of management operation and based on the role identified for each device. The detailed process is explained above in steps of construction of operative message(s).

Once devices (management and supporting devices) are formed into groups, The DM Server 101 starts filling ‘Pre-Operation’ and ‘Main-Operation’ in the above mentioned the message structure by identifying main-operation and pre-operation for devices (based on its respective group) at high level.

Below are the detailed steps as to how the DM Server 101 starts preparing the message structure for the devices in the group:

1. The DM Server 101 selects a management device from a home-network which has sufficient capability to handle the first management operation and then forward the operation request to maximum local devices which need the management operation.

2. The DM Server 101 selects the devices from the group L3 which can do their operation on their own, and prepare their main operation.

3. The DM Server 101 selects the devices from the group L4 which need the supporting devices (DS(C), DS(S), DS(S, C)).

a. Devices which need support of memory devices DS(S), the DM Server 101 will select a DSNS device from the same sub network (preferably a device which is part of same management operation) and puts these details in the pre-operation.

b. Devices which need support of CPU devices DS(C), the DM Server 101 will select a DSNC device from the same sub network (preferably a device which is part of same management operation) and puts these details in the pre-operation.

c. The DM Server 101 fills the main operation which will be performed by that device as a part of current management operation.

Figure 10 illustrates a schematic representation of chain of management operations in a single management request package. The message bundling for the management operation package which includes operation information for all management devices is illustrated. The complete operation package information of the first device contains, its relatedinformation data and operations, and also holds operation package for the next device which receives this, this continues till the operation package reaches to the last device. Thus, main operation package contains information related to all current devices (which need current operation) as chain of sub packages.

Figure 11 illustrates a schematic representation of grouping of the devices in a home network according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In this exemplary embodiment, theDM Server 101 identifies groupsdynamically in the home network based on various aspects at different levels. At level L1, the devices are grouped based on the management operation 1102. At level L2, the devices are grouped basedtype of protocols 1104 and wireless standards 1106. At level L3, the devices are groupedbased on device state 1108 and device details 1110. At level L4, the devices are grouped based on device details 1110, device role 1112 and device capabilities 1114.

Assign roles and responsibilities
In this step, the DM Server101 assigns roles to the one or more devices 102 in the home network based on its capabilities and its respective group to which it belongs. The DM server 101 also creates operative message based on its respective role and group, for each device 102 which is part of the management operation. Before assigning the roles, the DM Server 101 selects one or more management request forwarder devices for the current management operation.

Selection of forwarder devices in the home network:
Forwarder devices are the devices in the home networks, where one of the forwarder device is responsible for receiving the group management operation package from the DM Server 101 and sending it to the other management devices. The otherforwarder devices are responsible for receiving the management operation package for their sub-group and forwarding to next level sub-group.

Figure 12 illustrates a schematic representation of device topology matrix generated for the devices 20, 21, 500, 501, 503, 508, and 509 which need management operation.The forwarder device for the group management message operation is selected based on the devices topology considering theconnection to their parent devices. The DM Server 101 selects the devices to start the management request. Firstly, it selects the devices which come directly under the main Device ‘D0’, which is the main access router at home that connects to the outside network.

The DM Server 101 first selects the devices in the first parent group which has a capability to receive the message from the DM Server 101 and forward to maximum number devices in the home. Then the DM server 101 looks into the sub parent category of the topology where the devices can receive messages from the previous devices and can forward to other devices in their group. This identification of forwarder devices continue till all the management devices are covered for the current management operation. In one exemplary embodiment, the DM Server101selects the devices D20, D21, D501 and D509 as forwarder devices and the device D20 is the device which is responsible for receiving the manager operation package from the DM Server101.

Once the forwarder devices are selected, the detailed procedure involved in assigning roles described below:
1. The DM Server 101 first selects a device(s) from the supporting devices group ‘DSNR’, which is capable of receiving the responses from the local devices and sends the aggregated response to the DM Server 101 back. Once such a device is identified from DSNR group then the respective Device ID is filled in the ‘AgID’ field of the message structure.

2. The DM Server 101 selects one or more devices from the virtual groups which are identified in level 4 (L4). The DM server 101 specifically selects a device (forwarder device) which has sufficient capabilities to get the first management request so that the forwarder device forwards the request to maximum local devices which need current management operation.

3. Prepare the post operation for the above device(s), by identifying the list of devices which involves the devices that are responsible for forwarding their current management operations after performing their self-management operation, and the devices which receive and perform their management operation.

4. Prepare the post operation for the above selected devices in the group. The operations message structure is filled for all the forwarder devices based on which they forward the kind of sub-operation they need to perform. The DM Server 101 fills this complete operation message package, which includes sub-operation and forward information for the current management operation.

5. In short, the DM Server 101 assigns roles for all the devices which need management operation and respective operative message isconstructed. The devices are selected as forwarder devices (which might have pre, main, and post operations defined), some of them are selected to perform management operation only (which have only main-operation defined), and some of them are selected as helper devices (which have only pre-operation defined).

6. If there are any devices which are left out and cannot be grouped in the virtual group or cannot be forwarded to, by any of the forwarder devices in the group then the DM Server 101 sends a direct management request to those device(s).

i. Initiate and perform the management operation
The DM Server 101 sends constructed operative message to all the identified forwarder devices. Oncethe device (forwarder) in the smart home receives the operative message (chain of management requests) from the DM Server101, it starts checking operation flags (such as MaOF, PrOF, and PoOF) and based on the flags, it starts reading and performing respective sub-operations identified for it. For example, if PrOF is set then it reads Pre-Operation-Data and finishes the pre-operation, then the main-operation. If PoOF is set, then it further reads Post-Operation-Data and constructs operative messages for the list of devices which are part of Post-Operation-Data. Throughout this process, parsing of the operative message is done by making use of the message structure mentioned in step of construction of the operative message(s).

In a case, where any of the devices has a post-operation to forward the management request to other devices and the device is unable to perform that due to operation overhead or for some real-time issues then the device sends an opt-out message back to the DM Server101. The DM Server 101 upon receiving such an opt-out request for the current chain of management request from any device, it starts re-building the message structure for the remaining uncompleted management devices and initiates the management request again for these devices.

Above mentioned procedure would also be followed by the DM Server101 for all the devices for which error response was received from the identified aggregator device.

The Error scenarios are described below:
1) If the aggregator device failed to collect / aggregate responses from the local devices then it is expected to inform the DM Server 101(with the partial result – if any), the DM Server 101 takes care of the rest.

2) After finishing identified management operation if any device is unable to convey the response to the aggregator device, are expected to forward the response tothe DM Server 101 directly.

3) If a forwarder device failed or unable to reach any local device then it is expected to continue with rest of the local devices and mark the response as failure.

4) If a forwarder device failed to forward to any local device then it needs to fail all (except itself) and convey it to the DM Server 101.

5) If a forwarder device failed to forward sub-set of local devices then it can either select one of the remaining device to forward or fail the rest, and convey it to the DM Server 101.

Figure 13 is a schematic representation of management request flow in conventionally used device management solution.Consider the devices 20, 21, 500, 501, 503, 508, and 509 need the management operation as described above, i.e. they need to get a similar kind of information as described above from the DM Server 101 and send a management response back to the DM Server 101.

According to the prior art, the DM Server 101 establishes a dedicated management request connection with each of the devices and perform the management operation, therefore it requires total 7 separate connections and the same management information arerequired to be sent to the home network 7 times.

Figure 14 is a schematic representation of management request flow in thepresent inventionsolution. The DM Server 101 makes only one connection with any of the home network devices called a forwarder device and sends only once the management information. The forwarder device, at smart home takes care of forwarding to other devices, which are part of their sub networks. The responses from the local devices are collected locally and an aggregated response is sent to the DM Server 101.

Although the invention of the method and system has been described in connection with the embodiments of the present invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various substitutions, modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

,CLAIMS:

We claim:

1. A method of performing one or more management operations on one or more smart devices in a wireless network, the method comprising:
obtaining real time information from the one or more smart devices by a device management server, the real time information including device information, network topology and capability information of the one or more smart devices;
dynamically forming one or more virtual groups of the one or more smart devices, by the device management server based on the device information and the capability information of the one or more smart devices;
constructing one or more operative messages for performing the one or more management operations by the device management server on the one or more smart devices;
assigning one or more activities to each of the one or more smart devices based on the capability information and a virtual group, from the virtual group, to which the one or more smart devices belong during the one or more management operations; and
performing the one or more management operations on the one or more smart devices.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising obtaining KPI (Key Performance Index) of the one or more smart devices at a pre-defined interval.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the real time information obtained by the device management server is selected from a group comprising battery status, memory status, CPU usage status, location information and network information associated with a network with which the one or more smart devices are connected.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the device management server forms one or more topologies of the one or more smart devices based on the network information.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the device management server forms a supporting device group based on the memory status, device availability, accessibility and CPU usage status.

6. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the device management server forms a sub-group of the supporting device group based on protocol usage and connection mode.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more management operations includes one of pre-operation, main-operation, and post-operation.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the pre-operation is performed to provide assistance to the one or more smart devices in the virtual group and also to avoid redundant operations.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the main-operation is selected from a group comprising configuration update, firmware update, software update, configuration data update, data version update, firmware URL update, software URL updateand any other management operation which is directly performing on the one or more smart devices.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the post-operation is performed after the main-operation for providing identification details of the one or more smart devices being in need of the one or more management operations to the device management server.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising determining one of the one or more smart devices for acting as a forwarder device in one or more groups and one or more sub-groups of the one or more smart devices,
wherein the forwarder device is configured for receiving the one or more operative messages from the device management server and sending the one or more operative messages to the one or more forwarder devices of the sub-group.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the one or more forwarder devices of the one or more sub-groups further send the one or more operative messages to a group within each sub-group.

13. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the one or more forwarder device of the one or more groups and one or more sub-groups are selected based on the capability of the one or more smart devices to receive the message from the device management server and forward to a predefined number of the smart devices.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein assigning one or more activities to each of the one or more smart devices comprises:
selecting the one or more smart devices, by the device management server, from a supporting device group;
receiving a response from the one or more smart devices within the virtual group;
sending an aggregated response to the device management server; and
selecting the one or more smart devices, by the device management server, from the one or more virtual groups for receiving and forwarding a first management request to a predefined number of smart devices being in need of one or more management operations.

15. A system for performing one or more management operations on one or more smart devices in a wireless network, the system comprising:
a device management server;
the one or more smart devices coupled with the device management server for providing one or more services to an inhabitant, the one or more smart devices including constrained and non-constrained devices that are managed by the device management server; and
one or more supporting devices used by the device management server for providing the required assistance to the one or more constrained devices.

16. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured for
obtaining real time information of the one or more smart devices by one of the device management server and the one or more smart devices, the real time information includes device information and capability information of the one or more smart devices;
dynamically forming one or more virtual groups of the one or more smart devices, by the device management server based on the device information and capability information of the one or more smart devices;
constructing one or more operative messages for performing the one or more management operations by the device management server on the one or more smart devices;
assigning one or more activities to each of the one or more smart devices based on the capability information and the virtual group with which the one or more smart devices belong to during the process of the one or more management operations; and
performing the one or more management operations on the one or more smart devices.

17. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured to obtain real time information from the one or more smart devices for maintaining KPI (Key Performance Index) of the one or more smart devices at a pre-defined interval.

18. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured to identify the one or more smart devices which are assigned to the virtual group for performing one or more assigned functions.

19. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured for
identifying a first device from a group of the one or more smart device for initiating the one or more management operations, and
selectingthe one or more smart devices for forwarding the one or more management operations to the selected one or more smart devices being in need of the one or more management operations.

20. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured to construct the one or more operative messages for the one or more smart devices in the virtual group.

21. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server is configured for preparing one or more management operation packages for the one or more virtual groups, where the management operation package includes individual operation message structure for the one or more smart devices.

22. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the device management server identifies one or more aggregator devices from a group of the one or more smart devices for receiving one or more responses of the one or more management operations from the one or more smart devices, thereby sending the responses to the device management server.

Dated this the 05th day of December 2014

Signature

KEERTHI J S
Patent agent
Agent for the applicant