Transparent data for the M2M service capability layer: benefits and approaches

A central goal of Machine-to-Machine Communication is to offer a common horizontal integration platform for various domains, devices, and applications. The automotive domain is considered as an intrinsic part. Besides, visions, associated with future connected vehicles towards Intelligent Transportation Systems and In-Car Multimedia systems, require new (distributed) automotive software architectures. For these reasons, a M2M-based Automotive Service Delivery Platform is an advantageous solution. This paper outlines the data handling within current M2M Communication Architectures, based on an Extended Floating Car Data use-case. On this basis, existing limitations, caused by opaque data, are discussed. Since data-dependent filter criteria are not realizable with current M2M subscribe/notify mechanisms, data acquisition can only be tailored to specific application requirements in a very limited way. This causes a high communication overhead, particularly for complex devices, like vehicles, potentially offering a vast amount of data at a high rate. We motivate data-dependent filter criteria e.g. with respect to subscribe/notify and subscription mediation capabilities. As a solution, this paper proposes making data transparent to the M2M Service Capability Layer and presents approaches to implement necessary enhancements.