Device Cloud Glossary

In cloud triggers defined in Device Cloud, an action is distinct work item that executes as part of a cloud trigger, such as the following:

• publishing a property for a thing

• executing a method for a thing

For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Cloud Triggers

Each action may have inputs and outputs. Each action indicates the next action to execute, including ending the trigger execution based on the action's success, failure or other completion criteria.

An alarm is used to define an event for a thing. Alarms are implemented as a state machine, where the events are defined as alarm states. For example, with a vehicle you could define an alarm for Motion with alarm states of Forward, Reverse, or Stopped. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Defining Alarms.

An application is an item that is used to assign roles, license information and access control rights. The application is assigned an application token that is then referenced by an external application when connecting to Device Cloud. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Applications.

A unique application token is assigned to each application defined in Device Cloud. The application token is then referenced by an external application when connecting to Device Cloud. The application token is used to reference the specific Device Cloud application and the application's privileges or characteristics. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Applications.

Attributes are key-value pairs that are used to define characteristics of a thing. For example, the attributes of a car could be Manufacturer, Model, or VIN. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Defining Attributes.

A campaign is an action or a task that will be run against a group of things. Campaigns are defined in Device Cloud and can be managed using the Management Portal. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Campaigns.

In Device Cloud, an individual portion of the overall application logic that is created to solve a need. Each cloud trigger has an event type that identifies when the cloud trigger is executed and one or more actions that contain the application logic. For information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Cloud Triggers.

For a trigger, the event identifies when the trigger will execute. Some example trigger event types are: on a periodic schedule, on a variable data value change, and on demand from a user.

For more information on cloud triggers, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Cloud Triggers.

A geofence is a circular or polygonal area that has special meaning for location aware and mobile things. Geofences can be used in conjunction with triggers and notification groups to allow users to be informed when a thing enters or leaves a geofence. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Geofences.

The hosted service that handles all security, messaging, device management and administration for your IoT application solution. You configure and monitor Device Cloud using the web-based Management Portal. For more information, see the Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide.

The Device Cloud agent is composed of an SDK, which includes the IoT API and library to build client applications on the device, a device manager application that runs on the device to facilitate device management, and sample applications that show how to use the APIs. For more information, see the Device Cloud Device Programmer's Guide.

A RESTful interface to the TR50 Service APIs. For more information, see Device Cloud Service API Reference: REST Interface.

The set of HTTP and MQTT-based, TR50 compliant APIs that are used to interact with Device Cloud. These APIs enable devices to connect to Device Cloud and mobile and desktop applications to interact with the data available within Device Cloud. For more information, see the Device Cloud Service API Reference.

A standalone application provided with the Device Cloud agent that runs on a device and uses the agent APIs to implement device management functionality, including file transfer, remote device access, and software update. For more information, see Device Cloud Device Programmer's Guide: Device Manager.

The landing page that appears after you log in to Device Cloud. It shows the applications available based on organization and user entitlements.

The browser-based user interface that is part of Device Cloud. It is accessed through the Development Tools link on the LaunchPad. Using the Management Portal, you can view and manage things that are connected to Device Cloud. In addition, the Management Portal enables you manage users, update software, and perform other batch processing on your things. For more information, see the Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide.

A method defines the interface to a function that is implemented in an application. Methods can be called from an application, from the thing page in the Management Portal, or from a cloud trigger in Device Cloud. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Defining Methods.

A notification group is a group of users who are notified by email when an event occurs. Notification groups are similar to mailing lists. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Notification Groups.

An organization is the top level container that other items (such as applications, roles, thing definitions, and things) belong to. Sub-organizations can be created to further partition the items in your IoT solution. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Creating Sub-Organizations.

A property is a numeric value representing a value at a specified timestamp, such as a sensor readings for voltage, humidity, and speed. Properties have a history and can be aggregated over time periods for use in graphs or tables. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Defining Properties.

A role identifies the access control rights (view, modify, execute) to items in Device Cloud. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Roles and Permissions.

A security tag is a user-defined label that can be associated with a thing. Security tags are used to restrict access to a thing and the methods of a thing.

An update security tag is a user-defined label that can be associated with the characteristics of a thing. Update security tags are used to restrict edit and update access to the alarms, attributes, and properties of a thing.

A view security tag is a user-defined label that can be associated with the characteristics of a thing. View security tags are used to restrict view access to the alarms, attributes, and properties of a thing.

A tag is a label that can be associated with an item, such as a thing, a file, or a user. Tags can be used to filter the items that are displayed on the Management Portal pages. Tags can be system defined or user defined.

Things are instances of a previously defined thing definition that inherit their characteristics from their thing definition.

A thing is a logical item that represents part of your IoT solution and your application logic. It may not have all of the characteristics of an actual physical item.

• An application connected to Device Cloud using Device Cloud API is an example of a thing.

• Other important portions of your IoT solution can be defined to be a thing when it is desirable to have a common set of characteristics (through a thing definition) for that portion of your IoT solution.

A thing definition models the attributes, alarms, properties, methods, and other characteristics of a particular type of item that is a portion of your IoT solution.

Things are instances of a previously defined thing definition that inherit their characteristics from their thing definition. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Thing Definitions.

A thing key is the unique identifier of a specific thing.

A cloud trigger is an individual portion of the overall application logic. Each cloud trigger has an event type that identifies when the cloud trigger is executed and one or more actions that contain the application logic. For more information, see Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide: Cloud Triggers.