Section 1 of this article discusses the requirements analysis for building an Internet of Things information model. Section 2 uses UML to describe an information model of the Internet of Things. Section 3 uses the Internet of Things information model to analyze the three characteristic capabilities of the Internet of Things. Section 4 analyzes controversial issues The concept of the Internet of Things. Section 5 summarizes the main points of the full text and discusses issues that need to be further studied in the future.
1 Requirements analysis of the Internet of Things information model In order to ensure that the Internet of Things information model can meet application needs and solve theoretical or technical problems of the Internet of Things, a more objective demand analysis must be carried out. The key to demand analysis is to be able to grasp the core use cases and be able to These core use cases form a complete association structure between use cases. We call this comprehensive use case structure an abstract use case model.
According to the definition of the Internet of Things and related characteristics and requirement descriptions given by ITU-T [3], we abstracted the participants of the Internet of Things and the operations associated with the participants to form an abstract use case model of the Internet of Things. Since the main focus is Based on the definition of the Internet of Things and the characteristics and requirements related to applications, the abstract model of the Internet of Things operation formed from the perspective of Internet of Things information collection, transmission, fusion, processing and application can be directly related to the classes related to the Internet of Things information model. and methods. The IoT abstract use case model provides the necessary basis for constructing the IoT information model. The IoT abstract use case model describes the abstract operations and abstract participants of the IoT. The abstract participants of the IoT can be formed after further refinement. The role of the Internet of Things.
Figure 1 shows an IoT abstract use case model based on UML, including 4 types of IoT abstract use cases (abstract operations) and 4 types of IoT abstract participants. Among them, IoT item perception, IoT data management, and IoT services Provision and IoT privacy protection are the basic abstract operations that the 4 types of IoT must provide. The summarized IoT abstract operations can include the basic application-oriented features and requirements of the IoT.
• IoT item sensing abstract operations are basic operations that can be applied to all IoT application fields, including connecting real-world items (referred to as real items), sensing the status of real items, and performing control of real items. Among them, executing real-world items The operation of item control is an optional operation in IoT item sensing, and is only applicable to real items that receive control instructions.
• Internet of Things data management abstract operations, as basic operations of the Internet of Things, can be applied to all application fields of the Internet of Things, including acquiring, transmitting, storing, merging, and processing data of real objects. This type of abstract operation of the Internet of Things is a unique basic operation of the Internet of Things. Operation is also the characteristic operation of the Internet of Things that is different from other existing networks.
• The abstract operations provided by IoT services can be applied to all application areas of the IoT, including service providers actively providing IoT-related services and users autonomously calling IoT services.
• The abstract operation of IoT privacy protection is a must-have operation in the IoT information model, including using information security technology to hide private information related to real items, or directly deleting private information related to real items. This type of operation is different from that in general systems Optional security operations and privacy protection are operation classes that must be included in the IoT information model. As we can see in subsequent chapters: the IoT information model achieves privacy protection through relevant constraints in the IoT information entity class. For This modeling method of privacy protection abstract operations is mainly based on two considerations. First, from the perspective of demand analysis, privacy protection is an operation directly related to external participants of the Internet of Things (i.e., real objects), but this is only The operations required by real items are not operations that can be directly implemented by real items. This operation needs to be implemented through other abstract operations. Secondly, from the perspective of function implementation and deployment, these privacy protection operations will serve as encapsulated IoT information entities It is related to the operation of sensitive information within the Internet of Things information entity, and requires specific operations based on the permissions of different operators. Therefore, the privacy protection abstract operation does not exist alone, but is included within the other three basic operations. Basic operations. These IoT abstract operations are all observable operations outside the IoT. In order to demonstrate the external observability of these IoT abstract operations, it is necessary to introduce and describe the IoT abstract participants related to these IoT abstract operations. Figure 1 describes the four types of IoT abstract participants associated with the IoT abstract use case, namely IoT users, IoT service providers, IoT data managers, and real objects.
• IoT users represent all IoT external entities that subscribe to or use IoT services. Users who subscribe to IoT services and users who use IoT services can be separated, and users who subscribe to IoT services do not necessarily use IoT services. In this way, IoT users can include intelligent objects. IoT users provide abstract operations related to IoT services.
• IoT service providers represent all IoT external entities that directly or indirectly provide IoT services. A complete IoT service provider ecosystem can be formed within the IoT service provider. The ecosystem within this service provider belongs to The discussion of the IoT business model will not be discussed in detail here. IoT service providers provide abstract operations related to IoT services.
• IoT data administrators represent all IoT external entities that provide management or control of IoT data collection, transmission, storage, fusion, processing and application. This is a type of participant that is unique to the IoT and does not exist in the existing Internet. The class data manager is not necessarily a service provider, but can be a third-party organization that provides professional data management. The IoT data manager is associated with the IoT data management abstract operation.
• Real objects represent external entities of the Internet of Things that the Internet of Things can directly perceive and collect information, transfer, store, fuse, process and apply its data, and can always be traced back to the source of information collection. Real objects are directly connected to the Internet of Things Objects in the real physical world. Real objects are associated with both IoT information sensing abstract operations and IoT privacy protection abstract operations. IoT abstract use case models can be used as the basis for building and verifying IoT information models. IoT abstract use cases The expansion and refinement of the model will form the basis for the specific verification of the IoT item sensing, data processing and service provision information model. Some of the above research results on the IoT abstract use case model have been submitted to the International Telecommunication Union Standardization Department (ITU-T). A draft proposal for common requirements for networking has been accepted.