Electronic device with network access via mobile device proxy

• US 10,009,709 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2015
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medea Inc.
• Original Assignee: Medea Inc.
• Inventors: Putterman, Jed, Laidlaw, Brandon S., Taylor, Margaret L
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang-Hurst, Kathy
• Assistant Examiner(s): ELNOUBI, SAID M
• Application Number:
  US14/789,648
• Publication Number:
  US 20160286543A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A mobile computing device that lacks a network connection receives a low energy radio signal comprising a unique identifier assigned to the electronic device. The mobile computing device sends a query to a remote server computing device, the query comprising the unique identifier and information identifying a user of the mobile computing device. The mobile computing device receives a response from the remote server computing device, the response indicating that the user is authorized to access the electronic device. The mobile computing device notifies the user of a presence of the electronic device and establishes a wireless connection to the electronic device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a mobile computing device and from an electronic device that lacks a network connection, an unsolicited low energy radio signal having a first format of a unidirectional wireless communication protocol and comprising a unique identifier assigned to the electronic device;

sending, by the mobile computing device, a query to a remote server computing device, the query comprising the unique identifier and user account information identifying a first user account of a user of the mobile computing device;

receiving, from the remote server computing device, a response indicating that the user is authorized to access the electronic device in response to the remote server computing device determining that the unique identifier is not assigned to a second user account different than the first user account; and

responsive to the receiving of the response indicating that the user is authorized to access the electronic device, performing the following comprising;

notifying the user of a presence of the electronic device;

providing one or more control options for controlling the electronic device; and

establishing, by the mobile computing device, a wireless connection to the electronic device using a bidirectional wireless communication protocol that is different from the unidirectional wireless communication protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a location of the mobile computing device, wherein the query to the remote server computing device further comprises the location of the mobile computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises an electronic display device attached to a bottle, the method further comprising:

receiving a user command to display a message on a display of the electronic display device; and

transmitting the message to the electronic device via the wireless connection, wherein the electronic device is to display the message on the display.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the low energy radio signal is compliant with a low energy Bluetooth®

protocol, and wherein the wireless connection is compliant with a second Bluetooth protocol.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by a background process executing on the mobile computing device, that the unique identifier comprises a universally unique identifier (UUID) identifying a particular original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the electronic device; and

responsive to determining that the unique identifier comprises the UUID for the particular OEM, loading an application comprising a user interface for controlling the electronic device and sending the query to the remote server computing device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the unique identifier further comprises a first numerical value represented using a first number of bytes and a second numerical value represented using at least one of the first number of bytes or a second number of bytes, the method further comprising:

concatenating the first numerical value with the second numerical value into a single value usable to identify the electronic device, wherein the single value is represented using a third number of bytes that is larger than the first number of bytes and the second number of bytes, and wherein the query comprises the single value.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second low energy radio signal from a second electronic device, the second low energy radio signal comprising a universally unique identifier (UUID) assigned to the electronic device, the UUID associated with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the second electronic device;

determining that a unique identifier has not been assigned to the second electronic device;

sending a second query to the remote server computing device, the second query comprising the information identifying the user of the mobile computing device;

receiving a second response from the remote server computing device, the second response comprising a second unique identifier assigned to the second electronic device, wherein the second unique identifier comprises a first numerical value represented using a number of bytes and a second numerical value represented using the number of bytes; and

programming the second electronic device to have the second unique identifier.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving additional low energy radio signals from one or more additional electronic devices;

notifying the user of presences of the additional electronic devices;

establishing wireless connections to each of the additional electronic devices;

receiving a user command to send a message to a group comprising the electronic device and the additional electronic devices; and

sending the message to each of the electronic device and the additional electronic devices via respective wireless connections.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acting, by the mobile computing device, as a proxy for communications between the electronic device and the remote server computing device by forwarding a first message from the electronic device to the remote server computing device and forwarding a second message from the remote server computing device to the electronic device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing the following responsive to determining that the user is not authorized to access a second electronic device:

acting, by the mobile computing device, as a proxy for communications between the second electronic device and the remote server computing device without notifying the user of the mobile computing device of the presence of the second electronic device.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server computing device, a query from a mobile computing device, the query comprising a unique identifier assigned to an electronic device and user account information identifying a first user account of a user of the mobile computing device, wherein the mobile computing device received the unique identifier from the electronic device via an unsolicited low energy radio signal having a first format of a unidirectional wireless communication protocol, wherein the electronic device lacks a network connection;

determining that the user has permission to access the electronic device in response to determining that the unique identifier is not assigned to a second user account different than the first user account; and

responsive to the determining that the user has permission to access the electronic device, sending a response indicating that the user is authorized to access the electronic device to the mobile computing device, the response comprising a permission that grants access for the mobile computing device to the electronic device and instructions for the mobile computing device to notify the user of a presence of the electronic device, to provide one or more control options for controlling the electronic device, and to establish a wireless connection to the electronic device using a bidirectional wireless communication protocol that is different from the unidirectional wireless communication protocol.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the query further comprises a location of the mobile computing device, the method further comprising:

determining that a second user owns the electronic device based on the unique identifier;

determining a location of the electronic device based on the location of the mobile computing device; and

notifying the second user of at least one of the location of the electronic device or a proximity of the mobile computing device to the electronic device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving an instruction from the second user to send a message to the electronic device; and

sending the message to the mobile computing device, wherein the mobile computing device is to forward the message to the electronic device via the wireless connection.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

processing the query using a rules engine;

determining, based on the processing of the query using the rules engine, that a message is to be sent to the electronic device; and

transmitting the message to the mobile computing device with an instruction to forward the message to the electronic device.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

determining that the user of the mobile computing device does not have permission to access a second electronic device; and

forwarding, by the mobile computing device, a second message to the second electronic device without notifying the user of a presence of the second electronic device or granting the user access to the second electronic device.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

processing the query using a rules engine;

determining, based on the processing of the query using the rules engine, that a message is to be sent to the mobile computing device; and

transmitting the message to the mobile computing device, wherein the mobile computing device is to display the message.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the unique identifier comprises a universally unique identifier (UUID), a first numerical value represented using a first number of bytes and a second numerical value represented using at least one of the first number of bytes or a second number of bytes, the method further comprising:

concatenating the first numerical value with the second numerical value into a single value usable to identify the electronic device, wherein the single value is represented using a third number of bytes that is larger than the first number of bytes and the second number of bytes.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a second query from a second mobile computing device, the second query comprising information identifying a second user of the second mobile computing device and a request to register a second electronic device;

assigning an unused unique identifier to the second electronic device;

generating an ownership record that associates the user with the assigned unique identifier; and

sending a second response to the second mobile computing device, wherein the second response includes instructions for the second mobile computing device to program the second electronic device to have the assigned unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier comprises a first numerical value represented using a number of bytes and a second numerical value represented using the number of bytes.

19. An electronic device comprising:

a body shaped to fit into a recess in a container;

a memory to store one or more messages and to store a unique identifier assigned to the electronic device;

a display, coupled to the memory, to display the one or more messages; and

a wireless module to;

periodically broadcast a low energy radio signal comprising the unique identifier using a first wireless communication protocol, wherein the first wireless communication protocol is a low energy unidirectional wireless communication protocol;

establish a wireless connection to a mobile computing device that satisfies an access criterion using a second wireless communication protocol, wherein the second wireless communication protocol is a bidirectional wireless communication protocol, wherein the mobile computing device is associated with a first user account of a user, wherein the access criterion is satisfied in response to a remote server computing device determining that the unique identifier is not assigned to a second user account different than the first user account;

receive a message from the mobile computing device for storage in the memory and display on the display via the wireless connection; and

use the mobile computing device as a proxy for sending messages to and receiving messages from the remote server computing device via the wireless connection.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the unique identifier comprises a universally unique identifier (UUID), a first numerical value represented using a first number of bytes and a second numerical value represented using at least one of the first number of bytes or a second number of bytes, wherein the first numerical value and the second numerical value are concatenated into a single value usable to identify the electronic device, wherein the single value is represented using a third number of bytes that is larger than the first number of bytes and the second number of bytes.

21. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the low energy radio signal is compliant with the first wireless communication protocol, and wherein the wireless connection is compliant with the second wireless communication protocol.

22. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the unique identifier initially comprises a universally unique identifier (UUID), a default first value and a default second value before ownership of the electronic device is assigned to a user, and wherein after ownership of the electronic device is assigned to the user, the wireless module is to:

receive a first numerical value represented using a first number of bytes and a second numerical value represented using at least one of the first number of bytes or a second number of bytes; and

program the first numerical value and the second numerical value into the memory to overwrite the default first value and the default second value, wherein the unique identifier subsequently comprises the UUID, the first numerical value and the second numerical value.