METHODS TO DISCOVER, CONFIGURE, AND LEVERAGE RELATIONSHIPS IN INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) NETWORKS

摘要

The disclosure generally relates to various methods to discover, configure, and leverage relationships in Internet of Things (IoT) networks. More particularly, the methods disclosed herein may support automated processes to create configurable sub-divisions and access controls in an IoT network based on usage associated with objects that are registered in the IoT network and interactions among the registered objects. Furthermore, in one embodiment, relationships between IoT devices that belong to different users may be implicitly discovered and/or ranked based on meetings (e.g., interactions) between the IoT devices, and relationships between the different users may likewise be implicitly discovered and/or ranked. Moreover, locations and interactions associated with IoT devices may be tracked over time to further discover user-specific and potentially asymmetric relationships among the IoT devices and/or the users associated therewith (e.g., where one user considers another user a close friend and the other user considers the first user an acquaintance).