Granted Patent B2

US 12,250,284 · App. 17/459,800 · Granted Mar 11, 2025

Inventors: Debajyoti Bagchi (Kolkata, IN); Shantanu Sinha (Kolkata, IN); Sandip Gajanan Andhale (Rockville, MD); Subodh Agarwal (Gaithersburg, MD); Arijit Mukherjee (Balurghat, IN)

Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation

H04L67/565H04L51/066H04L67/34H04L69/08

Abstract

Claims (56)

1. A computer-implemented method of message management via a system-on-a-chip microcontroller of a universal interface apparatus, wherein the universal interface apparatus is configured to automatically facilitate device discovery within a computing infrastructure, and wherein the method comprises:

deriving, via the system-on-a-chip microcontroller of the universal interface apparatus, core message content from a distributed device message received from, and transmitted via a first type of hardware interface of a source device, wherein deriving the core message content from the distributed device message includes:

parsing the distributed device message to separate the core message content from hardware interface specific message content of the first type of hardware interface, wherein the core message content is message content from the distributed device message that is associated with virtual management system processing, exclusive of the hardware interface specific message content of the first type of hardware interface, to be converted to an open standard file format;

converting the derived core message content to open standard file format message content;

propagating, via the system-on-a-chip microcontroller of the universal interface apparatus, the open standard file format message content to the virtualized management system via a second, different type of hardware interface than the first type of hardware interface of the source device; and

receiving, by the system-on-a-chip microcontroller of the universal interface apparatus, an open standard file format message response from the virtualized management system.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distributed device message is a serial message and the source device is a serial device, and wherein deriving the core message content comprises:

receiving a transistor-translator logic (TTL) message from one of a plurality of serial interface adapter boards of the universal interface apparatus, wherein the plurality of serial interface adapter boards are configured to convert the distributed device message to the TTL message; and

parsing the core message content within the TTL message.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distributed device message is a wireless message and the source device is a Wi-Fi compatible IoT sensor, and wherein deriving the core message content comprises:

receiving a Wi-Fi application programming interface (API) call incorporating the distributed device message from an internet development board among a plurality of internet development boards communicatively coupled to the Wi-Fi compatible IoT sensor;

decrypting any encrypted data associated with the distributed device message; and

parsing the core message content within the distributed device message.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distributed device message is a wireless message and the source device is a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) compatible IoT sensor or device interface, and wherein deriving the core message content comprises:

receiving an LPWAN API call incorporating the distributed device message from an LPWAN routing device among a plurality of LPWAN routing devices communicatively coupled to the LPWAN compatible IoT sensor or device interface;

decrypting any encrypted data associated with the distributed device message; and

parsing the core message content within the distributed device message.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distributed device message is a wireless message and the source device is a short-range wireless compatible IoT sensor or device interface, and wherein deriving the core message content comprises:

receiving the distributed device message from the short-range wireless compatible IoT sensor or device interface via a short-range wireless protocol;

decrypting any encrypted data associated with the distributed device message; and

parsing the core message content within the distributed device message.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adapting the open standard file format message response to a distributed message response for relay to the source device.

7. The computer-implemented of claim 6 , wherein adapting the open standard file format message response to the distributed message response comprises:

decrypting any encrypted data associated with the open standard file format message response;

parsing core message response content within the open standard file format message response; and

converting the core message response content to source device format.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving at least one over-the-air (OTA) firmware or configuration update.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein, responsive to a failure affecting a Wi-Fi router in a Wi-Fi router network via which the system-on-a-chip microcontroller is connected to the virtualized management system, the system-on-a-chip microcontroller is configured to automatically connect to another Wi-Fi router in the Wi-Fi router network for which connectivity credentials are stored.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the system-on-a-chip microcontroller is configured to convert the derived core message content to one or more of a plurality of supported open standard file formats.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the system-on-a-chip microcontroller is battery operable.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the open standard file format message content is propagated via a representational state transfer (REST) API.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the open standard file format message content is propagated via a Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) broker.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the open standard file format message content is propagated via a software bus implementation using stream-processing.

15. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the program instructions are executable by at least one processor core in a system-on-a-chip microcontroller of a universal interface apparatus, wherein the universal interface apparatus is configured to automatically facilitate device discovery within a computing infrastructure, and wherein the program instructions cause the at least one processor core to:

derive, via the system-on-a-chip microcontroller of the universal interface apparatus, core message content from a distributed device message received from, and transmitted via a first type of hardware interface of a source device, wherein deriving the core message content from the distributed device message includes:

parsing the distributed device message to separate the core message content from source device hardware interface specific message content of the first type of hardware interface, wherein the core message content is message content from the distributed device message that is associated with virtual management system processing, exclusive of the hardware interface specific message content of the first type of hardware interface, to be converted to an open standard file format;

convert the derived core message content to open standard file format message content;

propagate, via the system-on-a-chip microcontroller of the universal interface apparatus, the open standard file format message content to the virtualized management system via a second, different type of hardware interface than the first type of hardware interface of the source device; and

receive, by the system-on-a-chip microcontroller of the universal interface apparatus, an open standard file format message response from the virtualized management system.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the program instructions further cause the at least one processor core to:

adapt the open standard file format message response to a distributed message response for relay to the source device.

17. A universal interface apparatus configured to automatically facilitate device discovery within a computing infrastructure, the universal interface apparatus comprising:

a system-on-a-chip microcontroller configured to:

derive core message content from a distributed device message received from, and transmitted via a first type of hardware interface of a source device, wherein deriving the core message content from the distributed device message includes:

parsing the distributed device message to separate the core message content from hardware interface specific message content of the first type of hardware interface, wherein the core message content is message content from the distributed device message that is associated with virtual management system processing, exclusive of the hardware interface specific message content of the first type of hardware interface, to be converted to an open standard file format;

convert the derived core message content to open standard file format message content;

propagate the open standard file format message content to the virtualized management system via a second, different type of hardware interface than the first type of hardware interface of the source device; and

receive an open standard file format message response from the virtualized management system; and

a plurality of serial interface adapter boards configured to convert any serial aspect of the distributed device message to TTL format to facilitate derivation of the core message content.

18. The universal interface apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of serial interface adapter boards comprise:

a D-subminiature connector variety to RS-232 adapter board configured to convert a D-subminiature connector variety format associated with the distributed device message to RS-232 format; and

an RS-232 to TTL adapter board configured to convert the RS-232 format to the TTL format.

19. The universal interface apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the D-subminiature connector variety to RS-232 adapter board is a DB-25 to RS-232 adapter board.

20. The universal interface apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the D-subminiature connector variety to RS-232 adapter board is a DB-9 to RS-232 adapter board.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (27)