BACKGROUND
Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates to industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) computing systems and, more particularly, to gateways situated at the network edge that perform machine-learning inference and device management. The subject matter concerns architectures, methods, and systems for a pluggable edge inference framework integrated with secure, policy-driven device onboarding, configuration, orchestration, update, and lifecycle management for heterogeneous industrial assets and workloads.
Related Technology
Industrial networks typically interconnect programmable logic controllers (PLCs), sensors, actuators, robotics, and supervisory control systems (SCADA/DCS) across ruggedized environments characterized by strict safety, reliability, and real-time constraints. Gateways in such environments often implement protocol translation among fieldbuses and middleware such as Modbus, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, CAN, OPC UA (IEC 62541), MQTT (OASIS), and DDS (OMG), and may be subject to deterministic timing requirements, e.g., those addressed by time-sensitive networking profiles (e.g., IEEE 802.1AS and 802.1Qbv). In parallel, edge computing has gained traction for local analytics and inference to reduce latency, mitigate backhaul constraints, enhance privacy, and preserve operational continuity during WAN outages.
Various runtime frameworks exist for executing trained models on constrained or heterogeneous hardware accelerators (e.g., CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, NPUs), and containerization and orchestration technologies are used in enterprise computing to deploy and operate software at scale. In the IIoT context, practitioners have also adopted device management practices such as secure boot, measured boot and attestation, certificate-based onboarding (e.g., X.509/PKI), role-based access control, over-the-air (OTA) updates with rollback, health monitoring, and audit logging, with reference to cybersecurity and safety frameworks (e.g., IEC 62443 series for industrial automation and control system security and NIST SP 800-82, Rev. 2 for industrial control system security). Notwithstanding these developments, there remains a persistent need for solutions that reconcile industrial timing and safety requirements with flexible model lifecycle controls, multi-tenant workload isolation, hardware abstraction across accelerators, and policy-governed device and model updates at scale.
Without conceding what constitutes prior art, existing approaches can be generally characterized as siloed along several dimensions: (i) inference pipelines tightly coupled to specific hardware or vendor SDKs, impeding portability and mixed-accelerator deployment; (ii) ad hoc device management mechanisms that lack formal policy enforcement, attestation, or cryptographic provenance for models, datasets, and configuration; (iii) insufficient support for fine-grained quality-of-service (QoS), admission control, or real-time scheduling for concurrent inference workloads alongside field I/O; and (iv) limited capabilities for secure, reversible, and staged rollout of models and software, including A/B testing, canary deployments, and drift-aware updates across large fleets with intermittent connectivity.
Problem Statement
Industrial operators require an IIoT gateway architecture that enables: (a) plug-and-play integration of heterogeneous inference engines and hardware accelerators through a stable, versioned abstraction; (b) deterministic and policy-driven orchestration of multiple inference pipelines in concert with mission-critical control traffic; (c) secure supply-chain verification and lifecycle governance for models, software, and configurations, including signing, attestation, provenance, and rollback; and (d) scalable device onboarding, configuration, monitoring, and update under mixed connectivity, multitenancy, and regulatory constraints. The absence of such a unified framework leads to operational risk, vendor lock-in, inefficiencies in model deployment and maintenance, and heightened cybersecurity exposure.
Legal and Regulatory Context
Industrial deployments often implicate safety, cybersecurity, and data governance obligations. While these obligations vary by jurisdiction and sector, several widely referenced frameworks guide system design:
- IEC 62443 (series): Provides requirements and processes for securing industrial automation and control systems, including asset identification, segmentation, access control, and secure update practices. A gateway’s ability to enforce least privilege, verify software integrity, and maintain auditable change histories aligns with this series’ defense-in-depth principles.
- NIST SP 800-82, Rev. 2: Offers guidance for securing industrial control systems, including recommendations for secure remote access, configuration management, and patch/update processes that are resilient to operational constraints.
- OPC UA (IEC 62541): Specifies secure sessions, user authentication, and certificate management for interoperable industrial communication; device and model management mechanisms benefit from congruence with these security services.
- Time-sensitive networking (e.g., IEEE 802.1AS and 802.1Qbv): Establishes primitives for time synchronization and scheduled traffic. An edge inference platform that accounts for TSN scheduling can mitigate interference with time-critical control traffic.
- Data protection: Although IIoT telemetry generally concerns equipment, facilities processing personal data may also be subject to data protection laws (e.g., principles of lawfulness, purpose limitation, and data minimization under applicable regimes). Architectural support for local processing, minimization, and access control reduces exposure.
These frameworks do not themselves confer intellectual property rights; however, technical features that implement or improve compliance and security (e.g., secure boot, measured boot, attestation, and trustworthy update mechanisms) may be relevant to patentability analyses, as discussed below.
Patent Law Considerations
Patent-Eligibility in the United States (35 U.S.C. § 101). Under Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank, 573 U.S. 208 (2014), courts apply a two-step framework: (1) determine whether claims are directed to a judicial exception (e.g., an abstract idea); and, if so, (2) determine whether additional elements transform the nature of the claim into a patent-eligible application. Computer-implemented inventions improving the functioning of a computer or networked system have been held eligible when they present a specific, technological improvement rather than an abstract result. See, e.g.:
- Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp., 822 F.3d 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (claims directed to a self-referential data table improved computer functionality).
- McRO, Inc. v. Bandai Namco Games Am. Inc., 837 F.3d 1299 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (claims using specific rules for automated animation were not directed to an abstract idea).
- DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P., 773 F.3d 1245 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (solution rooted in computer technology to address an Internet-centric problem).
- Ancora Techs., Inc. v. HTC Am., Inc., 908 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (improving computer security via a specific technique for license verification).
- Thales Visionix Inc. v. U.S., 850 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (specific configuration for tracking motion in a system was patent-eligible).
Factual determinations as to whether elements are “well-understood, routine, and conventional” may preclude early disposition. Berkheimer v. HP Inc., 881 F.3d 1360, 1368–69 (Fed. Cir. 2018). In the context of IIoT gateways, claims that recite specific, concrete architectures for pluggable inference across heterogeneous accelerators; deterministic, TSN-aware scheduling; cryptographic provenance and measured-boot-based attestation for model and device state; and policy-driven OTA with rollback and auditability may be framed as technological solutions that improve the functioning of edge computing systems operating under industrial constraints.
Novelty, Nonobviousness, and Disclosure (35 U.S.C. §§ 102, 103, 112). Patentability further depends on novelty and nonobviousness over the prior art, as well as adequate written description, enablement, and definiteness. See, e.g., KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398 (2007) (obviousness inquiry is expansive and flexible); Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc., 572 U.S. 898 (2014) (claims must inform, with reasonable certainty, the scope of the invention). Enablement must be commensurate with claim scope and teach skilled artisans to make and use the full scope without undue experimentation. See Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi, 598 U.S. 594 (2023) (reaffirming enablement standards). In this technical area, detailed disclosure of interfaces for plug-in inference engines, scheduling primitives respecting industrial QoS, secure onboarding and attestation workflows, cryptographic signing and provenance tracking for models and configurations, and failure-safe update mechanisms (e.g., A/B partitioning and transactional rollback) may be pertinent to compliance with § 112.
European Patent Convention (EPC). Under Article 52 EPC and the established “COMVIK” approach (T 641/00), inventive step is assessed by considering only features contributing to technical character; non-technical aspects may form part of the problem to be solved. Computer-implemented inventions are patentable when they provide a further technical effect beyond the normal interactions of software and hardware. See T 258/03 (Hitachi); T 1173/97 (Computer program product/IBM). Technical contributions in this domain may include, for example, improved real-time scheduling on constrained hardware, enhanced security through hardware-rooted trust and remote attestation, and resource isolation that reduces jitter in control loops.
Summary of Technical Need
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for an integrated IIoT gateway framework that: (1) exposes a stable, pluggable abstraction permitting dynamic selection and safe hot-swapping of inference engines across heterogeneous accelerators while preserving determinism; (2) orchestrates multiple concurrent inference workloads with explicit QoS and scheduling semantics compatible with industrial timing (including TSN co-existence) and safety constraints; (3) enforces cryptographic identity, measured boot, and remote attestation for both device and model artifacts, coupled with verifiable provenance, policy-compliant deployment, and immutable audit trails; and (4) provides robust, fleet-scale device management including secure zero-touch onboarding, configuration versioning, OTA updates with transactional rollback, and resilience to intermittent connectivity—all while maintaining interoperability with industrial protocols and cybersecurity frameworks.
Disclaimer
Any discussion of standards, frameworks, and “conventional” systems is provided solely to facilitate understanding of the technical context. No admission is made that any referenced material constitutes prior art under applicable statutes or that any feature described herein is known, conventional, or routine. The scope of the claims should be determined by their language and permissible equivalents, not by this background.
