ioBridge is a manufacturer of Internet-based monitor and control hardware and a provider of seamlessly integrated cloud-based social Web 2.0 folksonomies and curated online API webservices, using

WebSocket WebSocket is a computer communications protocol, providing a full-duplex, simultaneous two-way communication channel over a single Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection. The WebSocket protocol was standardized by the Internet Engineering ...

JSON JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced or ) is an open standard file format and electronic data interchange, data interchange format that uses Human-readable medium and data, human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consi ...

and a host of other related technologies. Jason Winters and Hans Scharler founded ioBridge in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

on June 26, 2008. In December 2008, ioBridge released the IO-204 Monitor and Control Module and web services platform to connect electronics projects online such as an iPhone-controlled

dog treat Dog Treat (Chinese: 狗請客) is a lost black and white Chinese animation made in 1924 by Huang Wennong. Translations The translation comes out to "Dog treating guests" or "Dog entertaining guests". It does not translate to "Dog food". Hist ...

dispenser and a toaster that could post to

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. In 2009, ReadWriteWeb chose the IO-204 Module as one of its "Top 10 Internet of Things Products of 2009", and Ben Arnold from the

Consumer Electronics Association The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® is North America's largest standards and technology trade organization representing more than 1,200 technology companies. CTA is led by CEO and Vice Chair Gary J. Shapiro. Trade shows CES CE ...

(CEA) explored the possibilities of using the IO-204 for social-network-aware home automation in the article "Growing the connected home ecosystem". User projects using the ioBridge module and web services have been featured on popular technology blogs such as Engadget and Hackaday.

IO-204 Module

The IO-204 Module connects to a

local area network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, campus, or building, and has its network equipment and interconnects locally managed. LANs facilitate the distribution of da ...

using 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet and then establishes an encrypted connection to ioBridge web servers. The IO-204 has four

GPIO A general-purpose input/output (GPIO) is an uncommitted digital signal pin on an integrated circuit or electronic circuit (e.g. MCUs/ MPUs) board that can be used as an input or output, or both, and is controllable by software. GPIOs have no p ...

channels. Each channel includes a 5 V power line, a ground connection, digital input pin, analog input pin, and a digital output pin. The digital input line is capable of reading voltages of 0 V and 5 V and pulse counting. The analog input is 10-bit resolution for voltages varying between 0 V and 5 V. The digital output line outputs 0 V and 5 V at 20 mA and is capable of sending pulses and serial data. Each channel supports smart boards to add serial communication for microcontrollers such as

Arduino Arduino () is an Italian open-source hardware and open-source software, software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardwar ...

BASIC Stamp The BASIC Stamp is a microcontroller with a small, specialized BASIC interpreter ( PBASIC) built into ROM. It is made by Parallax, Inc. and has been popular with electronics hobbyists since the early 1990s. Technical specifications Although ...

, servo control, or X10 outlet and light control. The module provides 1 KB of on-board logic storage for rules defined by the user. A rule is a set of conditions and actions based on time, input conditions, output conditions, and online/offline status. The IO-204 requires a regulated 5 V power adapter with a minimum of 1 A and a maximum of 4 A.

Web services

ioBridge modules are accessed via an ioBridge.com hosted web interface for configuration, control, and monitoring from a web browser supporting

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...

, CSS, and

HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...

. Features of the web service include a drag-and-drop dashboard, data logging, data charting, widget creation, and email alerting.

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

s allow the web services to be extended and integrated into third-party applications using a

RESTful REST (Representational State Transfer) is a software architectural style that was created to describe the design and guide the development of the architecture for the World Wide Web. REST defines a set of constraints for how the architecture of ...

interface.

References

External links

ioBridge Official Site
{{Ambient intelligence Internet of things