物聯網(Internet of Things, IoT)連接了各種於實際環境中具備智能與通訊能力的裝置，將網際網路擴張成為一個人對人(people-to-people)、人對物(people-to-things)與物對物(things-to-things)的訊息交流平台。WoT(Web of Things)則是進一步運用現有的Web(World Wide Web)網路架構來整合IoT終端設備之間的通訊協議，提供應用開發人員與軟體平台以及硬體設施無關的物件存取方式。本研究首先提出VEoT(Virtual Environment of Things)的概念，旨在運用網路虛擬環境(Networked Virtual Environments, NVE)來整合物聯網中的軟體資訊服務與硬體設備功能，讓虛擬世界中的使用者(Avatar)與物件實體(Entity)可以和實際環境中的智慧型物件(Smart Things)進行即時的互動。基於闡述VEoT的概念，我們運用REST/HTTP(Representational State Transfer/Hyper Text Transport Protocol)架構的設計原則，初步制定了一個通用於虛擬環境的物件存取介面來具體規範虛擬環境與網路資源彼此之間的資訊交換內容與通訊方式，讓網路虛擬環境可以無縫隙整合各種網際網路服務與智慧型裝置，進而實現自我組織外部網路資源的能力。在此資訊存取的架構下，我們設計與實作了一個符合REST規範的閘道器: REX(RESTful Smart Gateway)，可以將實際環境中的智慧型物件整合成為通用於虛擬環境的網路資源。同時為了驗證其應用的可行性，我們以國立中央大學工程五館為基礎開發了一個支援多人連線互動的網路虛擬環境: X-Campus來展現VEoT架構下REX系統的實際應用。在現階段的實驗中，本論文運用VEoT的概念，使用REX系統成功地整合實體電燈設備與虛擬場景物件，並且展示了實際環境與網路虛擬世界之間的互動操作。The key concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) is linking a variety of physical smart things together and makes them active participants on Internet. The IoT paradigm has expanded the scale of Internet into a huge communication platform that integrates people-to-people, people-to-things and things-to-things interactive operations. The Web of Things (WoT) further applies standard Web (World Wide Web) technologies to integrate heterogeneous communication protocols of terminal objects on Internet. In this thesis, we propose a novel paradigm, the Virtual Environment of Things (VEoT), whose basic concept is to integrate real-world smart things and virtual-world avatars in the Networked Virtual Environments (NVE) so that entities in either world can interact with one another in a real-time manner. To demonstrate the concept of VEoT, we use the REST/HTTP (Representational State Transfer/Hyper Text Transport Protocol) principles to initially develop a generic interface for virtual environments to adapt the functionality of smart things for realizing the integration and interaction between the virtual environments and the real world. In addition, we also design and implement a smart gateway, called REX, to embody smart things as RESTful resources that can be integrated into NVEs. We then implement a multi-user interactive NVE system, called X-Campus, with the REX gateway for user to walk through the virtual E6 Building of the National Central University to verify the feasibility of VEoT. This implementation shows REX, with the VEoT concept, can properly integrate smart things into NVEs.
