ISO/IEC 20924:2021

ISO/IEC 20924
Edition 2.0 2021-03
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Internet of things (IoT) – Vocabulary

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ISO/IEC 20924
Edition 2.0 2021-03
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Internet of things (IoT) – Vocabulary

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 35.020 ISBN 978-2-8322-9588-5

– 2 – ISO/IEC 20924:2021 RLV © ISO/IEC 2021

CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3

1 Scope . 5

2 Normative references . 5

3 Terms and definitions . 5

3.1 General terms . 5

3.2 Internet of Things specific terms . 9

Bibliography . 12

INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) –
VOCABULARY
FOREWORD
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– 4 – ISO/IEC 20924:2021 RLV © ISO/IEC 2021

International Standard ISO/IEC 20924 has been prepared by subcommittee 41: Internet of

Things and related technologies, of ISO/IEC joint technical committee 1: Information

technology.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2018. This edition

constitutes a technical revision.

This edition includes the following technical changes with respect to the previous edition:

a) addition of new terms (safety, wearable device, data acquisition functional system,

transport interoperability, etc) which are used in other ISO/IEC IoT related standards;

b) update of some definitions (data, data store, discovery service, etc.) to align with current
usage in other IoT standards.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
JTC1-SC41/195/FDIS JTC1-SC41/209/RVD

Full information on the voting for the approval of this International Standard can be found in
the report on voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates that it
contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding of its
contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.

INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) –
VOCABULARY
1 Scope
This document provides a definition of Internet of Things along with a set of terms and
definitions. This document is a terminology foundation for the Internet of Things.

2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1 General terms
3.1.1
address
value that can be used to identify an endpoint, which can designate the originating
source or destination of data being transmitted
3.1.2
application
software designed to fulfil a particular purpose
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 24713-2:2008, 4.1, modified – "program or piece of" has been removed
from the beginning of the definition.]
3.1.3
architecture
set of fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment embodied
in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:2011, 3.2, modified – "set of" has been added to the
beginning of the definition.]
3.1.4
asset
physical entity or digital entity that has value to an individual, an organization or a government
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 27032:2012, 4.6, modified – "anything" has been replaced by "physical
entity or digital entity" at the beginning of the definition.]
entity that has value and is either owned by or under the custody of an individual, an
organization, a government, or other groups

– 6 – ISO/IEC 20924:2021 RLV © ISO/IEC 2021

3.1.5
availability
property of being accessible and usable upon demand by an authorized entity

Note 1 to entry: IoT systems can include both human users and service components as "authorized entities".

[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 27000:2018, 3.7]

3.1.6
characteristic
abstraction of a property of an entity or of a set of entities

[SOURCE: ISO 18104:2014, 3.1.4]
3.1.7
cloud computing
paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or
virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17788:2014, 3.2.5]
3.1.8
cloud service
one or more capabilities offered via cloud computing invoked using a defined interface
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17788:2014, 3.2.8]
3.1.9
cloud service provider
party which makes cloud services available
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17788:2014, 3.2.15]
3.1.10
compliance
characteristic of conformance to rules, such as those defined by a law, a regulation, a
standard, or a policy
3.1.11
component
modular, deployable, and replaceable part of a system that encapsulates implementation and

exposes a set of interfaces
[SOURCE: ISO 14813-5:2010, B.1.31, modified – "that encapsulates implementation and
exposes a set of interfaces" has been deleted from the end of the definition.]
3.1.12
confidentiality
property that information is not made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals,
entities, or processes
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 27000:2018, 3.10]
3.1.13
data
symbol or symbols represented in a digital and formalized manner suitable for communication,
storage, interpretation or processing

3.1.14
data store
persistent repository for digital information data

Note 1 to entry: A data store can be accessed by a single entity or shared by multiple entities via a network or

other connection.
3.1.15
digital entity
computational element and/or data element

Note 1 to entry: A digital entity can exist as in several forms, including a cloud service or as a service in a data

centre, or as a network element or as an IoT gateway.
3.1.16
discovery service
service to find unknown resources, entities or services based on a specification of the desired
target
Note 1 to entry: A discovery service can be used by a human user or a digital user.
3.1.17
endpoint
component that exposes or uses one or more network interfaces
3.1.18
entity
thing (physical or non-physical) having a distinct existence
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15459-3:2014, 3.1]
3.1.19
functional component
functional building block needed to engage in an activity, backed by an implementation
Note 1 to entry: See also "component", which is a superset containing all functional components and other types
of component that are deployable.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17789:2014, 3.2.3, modified – Note 1 to entry has been added.]
3.1.20
human user
natural person who uses a system

3.1.21
identifier
information that unambiguously distinguishes one entity from other entities in a given identity
context
3.1.22
identity context
environment where an entity can use a set of attributes for identification be sufficiently
identified by a certain set of its attributes and values
3.1.23
information
data that within a certain context has a particular meaning

– 8 – ISO/IEC 20924:2021 RLV © ISO/IEC 2021

3.1.24
interface
shared boundary between two functional components, defined by various characteristics

pertaining to the functions, physical interconnections, signal exchanges, and other

characteristics, as appropriate

[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 13066-1:2011, 2.15, modified – In the definition, "units" has been

replaced by "components"; ", as appropriate" has been deleted from the end of the definition.]

3.1.25
interoperability
ability of two or more systems or applications to exchange information and to
...