Systems and methods to faciliate replacement of depleted batteries

• US 10,102,507 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2014
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Buchbinder, Charles Prince
• Primary Examiner(s): Levine, Adam L
• Application Number:
  US14/496,816
• Publication Number:
  US 20160092847A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,482 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders

Abstract

In an embodiment, a method facilitates battery replacement in a smart-home system. The method includes measuring, by one or more smart-home devices, at least one characteristic of a first battery in one of the smart-home devices, and determining from the at least one characteristic, whether replacement of the first battery is warranted. If replacement is warranted, the method sends an electronic order to a supplier for a replacement battery. The method further includes reading, by one or more of the smart-home devices, a machine readable code that accompanies a shipment of the replacement battery, embodying information from which an identity of the first smart-home device can be determined; determining, based at least in part on the information, a location of the first smart-home device; and providing, by one or more of the smart-home devices, visual and/or audible information to guide a user to the first smart-home device.

Claims

1. A method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system comprising a plurality of smart-home devices in a home, the method comprising:

measuring, by a first smart-home device of the plurality of smart-home devices, using an on-board battery health module, a voltage of a first battery contained in the first smart-home device;

determining from the measured voltage, by one or more of the plurality of smart-home devices, whether replacement of the first battery is warranted;

responsive to determining that replacement of the first battery is warranted, sending, by the one or more of the plurality of smart-home devices, an electronic order to a supplier for a replacement battery for the first smart-home device;

reading, using a camera of one or more of the plurality of smart-home devices, a machine readable barcode that accompanies a shipment of the replacement battery;

accessing, by the one or more of the plurality of smart-home devices, a battery order database based on reading the machine readable barcode that accompanies the shipment of the replacement battery;

determining, based at least in part on information retrieved from the battery order database, a name of the first smart-home device and a location of the first smart-home device within the home, wherein the location is indicative of a name of a room in the home in which the first smart-home device is located;

providing, by one or more of the smart-home devices, a user interface that displays information to a user that guides the user to said location of the first smart-home device, the user interface indicating the name of first smart-home device and the name of the room in which the first smart-home device is located, wherein the first smart-home device is distinct from the smart-home device of the one or more of the plurality of smart home devices that provides the user interface; and

receiving, by the first smart-home device, the replacement battery such that the first smart-home device is powered using the replacement battery.

2. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 1, wherein:

the machine readable barcode is a QR code.

3. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 1, wherein:

reading the machine readable barcode comprises reading the machine readable barcode with a smart-home controller of the smart-home system; and

providing the user interface to the user includes;

determining, with the smart-home controller, an initial location of the smart-home controller; and

providing cues that guide the user from the initial location of the smart-home controller to the location of the first smart-home device within the home.

4. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 3, wherein providing the cues that guide the user comprises displaying a layout of the home on the smart-home controller.

5. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 4, wherein the layout includes an indication of a path through the layout, from the initial location of the smart-home controller to the location of the first smart-home device.

6. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 3, wherein providing the cues that guide the user comprises providing one or more indications on the smart-home controller to inform the user about getting closer to, or further from, the location of the first smart-home device.

7. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 3, wherein providing the cues that guide the user comprises:

activating one or more devices of the plurality of smart-home devices, that are not the first smart-home device, to provide one or more denial cues from ones of the one or more activated devices, to inform the user that the one or more activated devices that provide the denial cues are not the first smart-home device.

8. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 7, wherein activating the one or more devices of the plurality of smart-home devices, that are not the first smart-home device, to provide the one or more denial cues further comprises:

transmitting a command, from the smart-home controller to the one or more activated devices, that requires the one or more activated devices to provide the denial cues silently.

9. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 7, wherein activating the one or more devices of the plurality of smart-home devices, that are not the first smart-home device, to provide the one or more denial cues further comprises:

transmitting a command, from the smart-home controller to the one or more activated devices, that requests audible denial cues from ones of the one or more activated devices that are capable of providing audible cues.

10. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 3, wherein providing the cues that guide the user comprises activating the first smart-home device to provide a cue that informs the user of its particular identity as the first smart-home device.

11. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 1, wherein:

reading the machine readable barcode is performed by a smart-home controller of the smart-home system;

and further comprising;

determining, by the smart-home controller, if a person operating the smart-home controller is a principal user of the first smart-home device; and

responsive to determining that the person operating the smart-home controller is not the principal user of the first smart-home device, informing the person operating the smart-home controller of an identity of the principal user.

12. The method to facilitate battery replacement in a smart-home system of claim 11, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the person operating the smart-home controller is not the principal user of the first smart-home device, offering, by the smart-home controller, to notify the principal user of the first smart-home device by text message, phone call or electronic mail, that the replacement battery has been received.

13. A smart-home system that recognizes and facilitates replacement of batteries in devices in a home, comprising:

a plurality of smart-home devices configured for wireless communication with one another, the plurality of smart-home devices including one or more battery operated devices;

wherein;

at least one of the plurality of smart-home devices measures a voltage of a first battery, while the first battery is in operation within a first smart-home device of the one or more battery operated devices;

at least one of the plurality of smart-home devices determines, from the measured voltage, whether replacement of the first battery is warranted;

responsive to determining that replacement of the first battery is warranted, at least one of the plurality of smart-home devices sends an electronic order to a supplier for a replacement battery for the first smart-home device;

one of the plurality of smart-home devices, using a camera, reads a machine readable code that is received in a shipment of the replacement battery, the code embodying information from which a particular identity of the first smart-home device can be determined,

one of the plurality of smart-home devices accesses a battery order database based on reading the machine readable code that accompanies the shipment of the replacement battery;

one of the plurality of smart-home devices determines, based at least in part on information retrieved from the battery order database, a name of the first smart-home device and a location of the first smart-home device within the home, wherein the location is indicative of a name of a room in the home in which the first smart-home device is located;

one or more of the plurality of smart-home devices provides a user interface that displays information to a user that guides the user to said location of the first smart-home device, the user interface indicating the name of first smart-home device and the name of the room in which the first smart-home device is located, wherein the first smart-home device is distinct from the smart-home device of the one or more of the plurality of smart home devices that provides the user interface; and

the first smart-home device receiving the replacement battery.

14. The smart-home system of claim 13, wherein the one of the plurality of smart-home devices that reads the machine readable code extracts the code from one of a QR code, an RFID chip and an NFC chip.

15. The smart-home system of claim 13, wherein one of the plurality of smart-home devices is a smart-home controller that provides functionality for at least one of reading the machine readable code, determining the location of the first smart-home device and providing the information to the user by running an app.

16. The smart-home system of claim 15, wherein the smart-home controller identifies an initial location of the smart-home controller and the location of the first smart-home device within the home, and provides cues to the user to guide the user from the initial location of the smart-home controller to the location of the first smart-home device.

17. The smart-home system of claim 16, wherein the smart-home controller displays a layout of the home on the smart-home controller, and indicates the initial location of the smart-home controller and the location of the first smart-home device in the layout.

18. The smart-home system of claim 17, wherein the smart-home controller displays an indication of a path through the layout, from the initial location of the smart-home controller to the location of the first smart-home device.

19. The smart-home system of claim 15, wherein the app is configured to:

accept a selection by the user to provide visual information only or to allow audible information; and

issue one or more commands to ones of the smart-home devices, in response to the selection, to provide only visual information to the user, or to allow audible information to be provided to the user.

20. The smart-home system of claim 15, wherein the app is configured to:

determine if a user operating the smart-home controller is a principal user of the first smart-home device;

responsive to determining that the user operating the smart-home controller is not the principal user of the first smart-home device, inform the user operating the smart-home controller of an identity of the principal user; and

offer to notify the principal user of the first smart-home device that the replacement battery has been received.

21. The smart-home system of claim 13, wherein the first smart-home device is configured to provide a cue that informs the user of its particular identity as the first smart-home device.

22. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

measuring, by a first smart-home device of a plurality of smart-home devices in a home, a voltage of a first battery contained in the first smart-home device of the plurality of smart-home devices;

determining from the measured voltage, by one or more of the plurality of smart-home devices, whether replacement of the first battery is warranted;

responsive to determining that replacement of the first battery is warranted, sending, by the one or more of plurality of smart-home devices, an electronic order to a supplier for a replacement battery for the first smart-home device;

reading, by one or more of the plurality of smart-home devices, a machine readable code that accompanies a shipment of the replacement battery;

accessing, by the one or more of the plurality of smart-home devices, a battery order database based on reading the machine readable code that accompanies the shipment of the replacement battery;

determining, based at least in part on information retrieved from the battery order database, a name of the first smart-home device and a location of the first smart-home device within the home, wherein the location is indicative of a name of a room in the home in which the first smart-home device is located; and

providing, by one or more of the smart-home devices, a user interface that displays information to a user that guides the user to said location of the first smart-home device, the user interface indicating the name of the first smart-home device and the name of the room in which the first smart-home device is located, wherein the first smart-home device is distinct from the smart-home device of the one or more of the plurality of smart home devices that provides the user interface.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein:

reading the machine readable code comprises reading the machine readable code with a smart-home controller; and

providing the information comprises;

identifying, with the smart-home controller, an initial location of the smart-home controller within the home; and

providing cues to the user to guide the user from the initial location of the smart-home controller to the location of the first smart-home device, the cues including displaying a layout of the home on the smart-home controller, with an indication of a path through the layout, from the initial location of the smart-home controller to the location of the first smart-home device.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, further including instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform additional operations including:

determining, by the smart-home controller, if a user operating the smart-home controller is a principal user of the first smart-home device; and

responsive to determining that the user operating the smart-home controller is not the principal user of the first smart-home device, informing the user operating the smart-home controller of an identity of the principal user.