Panasonic is opening up its software and patents on Internet of Things technologies along with contributing more to the AllSeen Alliance, a major group working on open source IoT devices and software.

It has sided against making all patents open source, clearly protecting some of its more valuable ideas and software. Panasonic didn't give a figure as to how many patents and software applications would be available for everyone to check.

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The patents and software will be available in the Open Distributed Object Framework (OpenDOF) project. Currently, it's the only provider working on the framework but hopes other companies and inventors will work on the project.

Panasonic has been working on various IoT devices and software, especially on its business laptops. The recent ToughBook announcement came with modular sensors that are able to connect with all parts of the business.

IoT is different from normal device connections. It looks to connect all sorts of objects together, from computers to fridges to lamps to cars. The hard part is making these connections both ways, allowing the fridge to talk to the lamp and the car rather than just the computer.

Several projects are currently active and exploit the advantages of the IoT revolution. Cisco and other analysts claim there should be over 50 billion connected devices in the world by 2020, creating a whole new market for connected objects.

Nest, Apple, Qualcomm and others are all trying to get smart home creators and business IoT providers together to work on one harmonious platform. But the issue is too many companies are making their own platforms that offer different pieces of the puzzle.

TagsPanasonic, AllSeen Alliance, smart home