Method and system for configuring instrumentation devices

• US 10,084,608 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2015
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wohlert, Randolph, Bowen, Donald J., Johnson, Jeffrey P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Minh Chau
• Application Number:
  US14/938,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20160065382A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2898 Subscriber equipments DSL modems H04M11/062; cable modems H04L12/2801

Abstract

A method and system for managing an instrumentation device include accessing an image of the instrumentation device. Based on the image, an identity for the instrumentation device is determined. The identity is used to register the instrumentation device by configuring a gateway at a multimedia content distribution network client location to access and communicate with the instrumentation device. The identity of the instrumentation device and the gateway may be stored for future configuration of the gateway.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores instructions;

a processor that executes the instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising;

accessing an image and a video taken of an instrumentation device located in a first location different from a second location of a client of a service provider, wherein the image and the video of the instrumentation device are taken and captured at the first location by an image capture device located in the first location;

recognizing an identity pattern in the image of the instrumentation device;

determining an identity for the instrumentation device based on the identity pattern recognized in the image of the instrumentation device and based on the video taken of the instrumentation device, wherein the identity determined based on the identity pattern recognized in the image and the video is utilized to obtain a command specific to the instrumentation device, wherein the identity specifies an instance, a type, and a model of the instrumentation device;

providing an indication of the identity to a registration core to obtain configuration information for the instrumentation device, wherein the indication of the identity is provided to the registration core instead of the image of the instrumentation device;

associating the identity for the instrumentation device with a gateway configured to access the instrumentation device; and

reconfiguring, prior to the instrumentation device arriving at the second location and by utilizing the registration core, the gateway with a communication address for accessing the instrumentation device, wherein the reconfiguring is performed by invoking a reconfiguration of a previously configured instance of the instrumentation device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving the image and the video of the instrumentation device from the image capture device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise determining the identity for the instrumentation device based on an identifier for the instrumentation device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise associating the gateway with a multimedia content distribution network user account.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting configuring information, including the communication address, to the gateway.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise configuring the gateway with the command used to access the instrumentation device via the communication address.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise storing the identity for the instrumentation device at a server.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise reconfiguring the gateway to communicate with the instrumentation device when the gateway loses configuration data.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise registering the instrumentation device by associating the identity for the instrumentation device with the gateway configured to access the instrumentation device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise obtaining, based on the identity, the configuration information for the instrumentation device.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise capturing the image and the video of the instrumentation device.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise associating a bar code in the image to the identity of the instrumentation device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise obtaining, based on the identity, a parameter specific to the instrumentation device.

14. A method, comprising:

receiving an image and a video taken of an instrumentation device located in a first location different from a second location of a client of a service provider, wherein the image and the video of the instrumentation device are taken by an image capture device located in the first location;

recognizing an identity pattern in the image of the instrumentation device;

determining, by utilizing instructions from a memory that are executed by a processor, an identity for the instrumentation device based on the identity pattern recognized in the image of the instrumentation device and based on the video taken of the instrumentation device, wherein the identity determined based on the identity pattern recognized in the image and the video is utilized to obtain a command specific to the instrumentation device, wherein the identity specifies an instance, a type, and a model of the instrumentation device;

providing an indication of the identity to a registration core to obtain configuration information for the instrumentation device, wherein the indication of the identity is provided to the registration core instead of the image of the instrumentation device;

associating the identity for the instrumentation device with a gateway configured to access the instrumentation device; and

reconfiguring, prior to the instrumentation device arriving at the second location and by utilizing the registration core, the gateway with a communication address for accessing the instrumentation device, wherein the reconfiguring is performed by invoking a reconfiguration of a previously configured instance of the instrumentation device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising reconfiguring the gateway to communicate with the instrumentation device when the gateway loses configuration data.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising registering the instrumentation device by associating the identity for the instrumentation device with the gateway configured to access the instrumentation device.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising obtaining, based on the identity, the configuration information for the instrumentation device.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising associating a serial number recognized in the image to the identity of the instrumentation device.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining the identity for the instrumentation device based on an identifier for the instrumentation device.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions, which, when loaded and executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving an image and a video taken of an instrumentation device located in a first location different from a second location of a client of a service provider, wherein the image of the instrumentation device and the video are taken by an image capture device located in the first location;

recognizing an identity pattern in the image of the instrumentation device;

determining an identity for the instrumentation device based on the identity pattern recognized in the image of the instrumentation device, wherein the identity determined based on the identity pattern recognized in the image is utilized to obtain a command specific to the instrumentation device, wherein the identity specifies an instance, a type, and a model of the instrumentation device;

providing an indication of the identity to a registration core to obtain configuration information for the instrumentation device, wherein the indication of the identity is provided to the registration core instead of the image of the instrumentation device;

associating the identity for the instrumentation device with a gateway configured to access the instrumentation device; and

reconfiguring, prior to the instrumentation device arriving at the second location and by utilizing the registration core, the gateway with a communication address for accessing the instrumentation device, wherein the reconfiguring is performed by invoking a reconfiguration of a previously configured instance of the instrumentation device.