IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 1: Interoperable Networking of the IoT Devices IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 2: Best IoT Sensor Selection for Collecting Characteristic Information of the Environment IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 3: Semantic Reasoning of the Data from the IoT Devices IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 4: Collective Interaction of the IoT Devices IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 5: Best UI Selection for Users IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 6: Adaptable Autonomous System for Users IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 7: Maximum Exploitation of Back-End Systems (Cloud, Big Data Analytics) IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 8: Security Architectures for Maximum Security Measures IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 9: Exploration of Cross-Industry Applications IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 10: User Experiences (UXs) for Maximum User Satisfaction

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Internet of Things (IoT) Killer Applications Design Insights from Patents
Alex G. Lee (alexglee@techipm.com)
https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/2853055
Samsung SmartThings is the first fully integrated smart home system. As described in Samsung patent application
US20150192939, the key element of the Samsung SmartThings is the hub that can connect various IoT devices
according to various types of communication methods. The hub can detect and connect the identified IoT devices.
Device identification can be based on device media access control(MAC) addresses, unique identifiers (e.g.,
names), unique IP addresses, unique web addresses, and so on, as well as various generally identifying information,
such as non-unique device types, non-unique device classes, locations, etc.
IoT KillerApplicationsDesign Rule1: InteroperableNetworking of the IoT Devices
As described in Samsung patent application US20150192939, the Samsung SmartThings includes the IoT sensors
than can collect characteristic information of the environment. The characteristic information includes an internal
temperature of the environment, internal humidity of the environment, health status of a person and/or road traffic
condition information, etc. The IoT sensors include various kinds of sensors such as a temperature sensor, a

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humidity sensor, or a luminance sensor, and sense the internal temperature, internal humidity, internal luminance,
or the like of the environment. The IoT sensors also include health monitoring biomedical sensing devices and/or
personal fitness monitoring devices that can provide a real time monitoring of person’s health status such as
concentration of glucose, heart rate and blood pressure, and thus, enable remote healthcare services.
IoT KillerApplicationsDesign Rule2: Best IoT Sensor Selection for Collecting CharacteristicInformation of
the Environment
Cisco patent application US20150222490 illustrates a broker device that receives device-identifying data to
identify the IoT device exploiting semantic reasoning. The broker device identifies an ontology associated with the
device-identifying data and interprets the received data based on the interpretation instructions. Forexample, the
device broker can be placed within a network where it would receive temperature-related data from several
temperature sensors. The first temperature sensor can be associated with a bed room within a home. The first
temperature sensor provides identifying information of the sensor, which can include additional information such
as location (e.g., sensorin the bed room). The broker device can then connect to a server to load the device
ontology associated with the first temperature sensor. The device ontology provides the broker device with
instructions on how to interpret the temperature measurements from the first temperature sensor. The second
temperature sensor in a living room, from a different manufacturer than the first temperature sensor, can have a

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different representation of temperature data. The first temperature sensor also can provide identifying information
of the sensorwith the temperature measurement taken at a specific time of day. Accordingly, when the broker
device receives a temperature measurement from the first temperature sensor, the broker device can tag the
measurement with a timestamp. In other words, the broker device can create various categories for measurements
taken by the same temperature sensor.
IoT KillerApplicationsDesign Rule 3: SemanticReasoningof the Data from the IoT Devices
Qualcomm patent application US20140244710 describes the IoT devices that can cognize each other's presence,
status, and environment in order to perform context aware actions and/or commands on a collective basis.
By being aware of the context of other IoT devices, an IoT device can perform a set of actions/commands based on
a trigger derived from the context of the other IoT devices. That is, an IoT device can detect a change in the context
of other IoT devices and, in response, perform an action or a state change. Alternatively, an IoT device can perform
an action or change its state and, in response, command other IoT devices to perform an action or change its state.
For example, when a parent's IoT device is not in the living room, the television (a context-aware IoT device) can
restrict remote control operation by the child, allow toggling across PG rated content only, power off after a five
minute timeout, or the like. IoT devices can further leverage association ranks of the other IoT devices to perform
the determined actions. For example, a music system in the living room (a context-aware IoT device) can play a
first genre of music for a first person (carrying a first IoT device). If a second person (carrying a second IoT device)

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walks into the room, the music system can switch to a music genre that both the first personand the second person
like (an identified commonality) or continue playing the first genre of music if the association rank of the first
person(determined from the first IoT device) is greater than the association rank of the second person(determined
from the second IoT device).
IoT KillerApplicationsDesign Rule 4: CollectiveInteraction of the IoT Devices
As described in Samsung patent application US20150192939, the Samsung SmartThings hub receives user request
information from the user terminal apparatus (smartphone). The user request information is the information used
for driving various devices to set an environment of the home to a user's desired environment. The user terminal
can display various user interfaces (UIs). The user terminal can display information received from the SmartThings
Hub and display UIs for controlling the IoT devices in a home network. PrimeSense (acquired by Apple at $350
million in 2013) US20140225824 describes the virtual smart home control buttons: A control unit projects images
of control devices onto a wall of the room and remotely senses contact with and manipulation of the projected
devices by a user (contact with the wall on which the images are projected and gestures of the user's hand and
fingers while in this situation). The projected devices can range from a simple on/off switch to more complex
controls, suchas dials, sliders, and keypads. The user can modify, add or remove control devices at will by
interaction with the controlsystem, such as by holding and dragging a projected device along the wall to a new
location.

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IoT KillerApplicationsDesign Rule 5: Best UI Selection for Users
Neura patent application US20150019714 illustrates the adaptable autonomous smart home system. The adaptable
autonomous smart home system can recognize the contextual or semantic profiling of a personor place or devices
(physical environment) based on sensed data by the IoT devices. The adaptable autonomous smart home system
determines particular interpretation instructions (define particular IoT device controlrules) that are associated with
the particular physical environment and dynamically updates the control rules for changing physical environment.
Qualcomm patent application US20150185713 illustrates a smart home system that IoT devices automatically
perform their function based on the monitored user behavior.
IoT KillerApplicationsDesign Rule 6: AdaptableAutonomous System for Users
Microsoft patent application US20150262486 illustrates the connected cars technology by which driver safety
technology such as collision detection is implemented via smartphone sensors and the cloud service that processes
data received from vehicles associated with the smartphone. Beam Technologies patent application
US20150088538 illustrates the cloud based smart health care system that provides various devices for tracking and
monitoring health statistics and behaviors including oral health, fitness, heart health, bone health, salivary
diagnostics and diabetes. Konkuk University patent application US20150134727 illustrates a cloud based system

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for managing home appliances that may efficiently manage a large amount of data generated by the home
appliances. IBM patent application US20140068180 illustrates a system capable of efficiently analyzing big data.
IoT Killer Applications Design Rule 7: Maximum Exploitation of Back-End Systems (Cloud, Big Data Analytics)
Centralized security architectures are sometimes ill-suited for the IoT networks. For example, centralized
authenticators may lack the flexibility, granularity, and extensibility to make efficient and informed security
decisions in highly distributed and/or heterogeneous IoT networks. Accordingly, security architectures capable of
providing efficient trust mechanisms in highly distributed open network environments are desired. Futurewei
Technologies patent application US20150135277 illustrates the trust management framework that would be
invaluable for addressing the current as well as future IoT environments needs exploiting the distributed security
architectures.
IoT KillerApplicationsDesign Rule8: Security Architectures for Maximum SecurityMeasures
Flextronics AP patent application US20140309790 illustrates a system to create an environment within the vehicle
similar to that of an individual's home. An individual who is more comfortable while traveling instills confidence
and pleasure in using a given vehicle, increasing an individual's preference for a given manufacturer and/or vehicle
type. One way to instill comfort in a vehicle is to create the integrating features in a vehicle that are associated with

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comfort found in an individual's home by proving user’s profile data at home. The connected car system receives
user’s profile data from smart home system and determines context to change a configuration of a vehicle. The
configurations can include comfort and interface settings that can be adjusted based on the user profile information.
Hyundai Motor Company patent application US20120120930 illustrates a vehicle network system interconnected
with a home network that includes a vehicle information collection unit and a wireless transceiver unit. Further, the
user profiles can track health data related to the user and make adjustments to the configuration to assist the health
of the user.
IoT KillerApplicationsDesign Rule 9: Explorationof Cross-Industry Applications
Apple patent application US20150237470 illustrates a system that can provide location-based personalized services
triggered by a personal geofence. The system can determine that a venue located at a geographic location and
frequently visited by the mobile device in the past is associated with a particular item, service, or activity. Upon
receiving a query about the item, service, or activity, the mobile device can create a temporary geofence around the
venue. Using past behavior patterns and a current location, the mobile device can determine a condition to trigger
execution of an application program or display of certain content. The condition can be personalized to match a life
style of a user of the mobile device. PrimeSense patent application US 20140304647 describes the gesture-
mediated remote IoT device controlsystem using the 3D sensing technology. LG patent application US
20150253862 illustrates the mobile phone UI in person’s palms exploiting a head mounted wearable mobile phone.

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Jibo patent application US20140277735 illustrates the friendly, helpful and intelligent home robot that can adapt to
reside continually in the environment of a personand to interact with a user by combing robotics and artificial
intelligence. Affectiva patent application US20140200463 illustrates a practical possibility ofimplementation of
emotion-aware smart home IoT applications by determining well-being status from an analysis of facial
information and physiological information of an individual.
IoT KillerApplicationsDesign Rule 10:User Experiences(UXs) for Maximum User Satisfaction
References
RIGHT NOW, THE INTERNET OF THINGS IS LIKE THE INTERNET OF THE 1990S
A WORLD OF CONNECTED DEVICES ARE STARTING TO COME ONLINE: DON'T MISTAKE WHAT
THEY DO NOW FOR WHAT THEY'LL ACCOMPLISH IN THE FUTURE (see the article for details)
“A common criticism of today's Internet of Things is that it doesn'thave a "killer app" to pushthe conceptinto the
mainstream. But maybe it doesn'tneed one. The Internet never had a killer app either; it just got better tools to
make sense of all its disparate parts.”
Design Thinking and Internet of Things (see the video)