Group wise device management system and method

• US 10,129,045 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Issued: 11/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Cho, Hyungrae, Kweon, Jihyeon, Oh, Seokmin, Lee, Kangmin, Kharsim, Yousef
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): Adnan, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US13/629,011
• Publication Number:
  US 20130082827A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,238 Days
• Field of Search: 340 121- 1239, 455 41- 43
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0873 Checking configuration conflicts between network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4131 home appliance, e.g. lighting, air conditioning system, metering devices home automation data switching networks exchanging configuration information on appliance services H04L12/2807
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/422 Input-only peripherals , i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS] input devices also receiving signals from specially adapted client devices H04N21/4104

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for group-controlling devices. Group information on interoperable devices among a plurality of electronic devices is acquired. The interoperable devices indicated in the group information are controlled as a group.

Claims

1. A method for group-controlling devices, comprising:

requesting, by a portable terminal over a local network, device information concerning a plurality of electronic devices of different types selected by the portable terminal from a device management apparatus;

generating, by the device management apparatus, the device information of the selected plurality of electronic devices from information collected by the device management apparatus from each of the selected plurality of electronic devices;

receiving, by the portable terminal, the device information from the device management apparatus;

requesting, by the portable terminal over a mobile telecommunications network, group information from a cloud server based on the device information, wherein the cloud server creates a diverse group of interoperable devices by selecting from among the plurality of electronic devices of different types selected by the portable terminal, based on their interoperability amongst themselves and then generates the group information from the created diverse group of interoperable devices;

receiving, by the portable terminal over the mobile telecommunications network, the group information on the diverse group of interoperable devices from the cloud server;

transmitting, from the portable terminal to the device management apparatus, the group information on the diverse group of interoperable devices;

configuring, by the device management apparatus, the diverse group of interoperable devices to perform the same action as a group based on the group information; and

controlling, by the device management apparatus, the diverse group of interoperable devices, when a control event for controlling the diverse group of interoperable devices is received from the portable terminal, by transmitting control signals to each of the diverse group of interoperable devices, wherein each of the diverse group of interoperable devices receives a control signal according to a type of the receiving device,

wherein, when an interrupt occurs in one or more of the diverse group of interoperable devices, at least one of (i) the device management apparatus reconfigures the diverse group of interoperable devices to perform the same action as a group based on the interrupt, (ii) the cloud server is requested to create a new diverse group of interoperable devices based on the interrupt, and (iii) the portable terminal selects a new plurality of electronic devices of different types based on the interrupt.

2. A system, comprising:

a portable terminal capable of;

requesting device information from a device management apparatus concerning a plurality of electronic devices of different types selected by the portable terminal;

receiving the device information from the device management apparatus;

requesting, by the portable terminal, group information from a cloud server based on the device information;

receiving the group information on a diverse group of interoperable devices from the cloud server;

transmitting the group information on the diverse group of interoperable devices to the device management apparatus;

the cloud server capable of;

when the request for group information and the device information are received, creating a diverse group of interoperable devices by selecting from among the plurality of electronic devices of different types based on their interoperability amongst themselves, and

generating the group information corresponding to the created diverse group of interoperable devices; and

the device management apparatus that;

generates, in response to the request for device information from the portable terminal, the device information of the selected plurality of electronic devices from information collected by the device management apparatus from each of the selected plurality of electronic devices;

receives the group information generated by the cloud server from the portable terminal;

configures the diverse group of interoperable devices to perform the same action as a group based on the group information; and

when a control event for controlling the diverse group of interoperable devices is received, controls the diverse group of interoperable devices based on the group information as a group by transmitting control signals to each of the diverse group of interoperable devices, wherein each of the diverse group of interoperable devices receives a control signal according to a type of the receiving interoperable device,

wherein, when an interrupt occurs in one or more of the diverse group of interoperable devices, at least one of (i) the device management apparatus reconfigures the diverse group of interoperable devices to perform the same action as a group based on the interrupt, (ii) the cloud server is requested to create a new diverse group of interoperable devices based on the interrupt, and (iii) the portable terminal selects a new plurality of electronic devices of different types based on the interrupt.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the device management apparatus comprises:

a storage unit that stores device information on the plurality of electronic devices and the group information; and

a control unit that controls the diverse group of interoperable devices as a group based at least on the group information.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein at least one of the control signals comprises reconfiguration information for resetting an option configuration value of at least one of the diverse group of interoperable devices.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the device management apparatus determines a type of the control event when a control event is received, controls, when the detected control event is a group control event, the diverse group of interoperable devices indicated in the group information as a group according to the group control event, and controls, when the detected control event is a device control event, a specific device or the diverse group of interoperable devices according to whether a group control mode is deactivated or activated.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the portable terminal comprises the device management apparatus.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the device management apparatus comprises the portable terminal.

8. A device management apparatus capable of group-controlling devices, comprising:

an antenna;

a control unit operably connected to the antenna; and

a non-transitory machine readable medium operably connected to the control unit and containing one or more programs which when executed by the control unit implement the steps of;

collecting information from a plurality of electronic devices;

generating, in response to a request for device information on a selected plurality electronic devices of different types from among the plurality of electronic devices, the device information from the collected information on each of the selected plurality of electronic devices of different types;

receiving group information on a diverse group of interoperable devices generated by a cloud server, wherein the cloud server, using at least the generated device information, creates the diverse group of interoperable devices by selecting from among the selected plurality of electronic devices of different types, based on their interoperability amongst themselves and then generates the group information concerning the created diverse group of interoperable devices;

configuring the diverse group of interoperable devices to perform the same action as a group based on the group information; and

controlling, when a control event for controlling the diverse group of interoperable devices is received, the diverse group of interoperable devices by transmitting control signals to each of the diverse group of interoperable devices, wherein each of the diverse group of interoperable devices receives a control signal according to a type of the receiving interoperable device,

wherein, when an interrupt occurs in one or more of the diverse group of interoperable devices, at least one of (i) the device management apparatus reconfigures the diverse group of interoperable devices to perform the same action as a group based on the interrupt, (ii) the cloud server is requested to create a new diverse group of interoperable devices based on the interrupt, and (iii) the portable terminal selects a new plurality of electronic devices of different types based on the interrupt.

9. The device management apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a storage unit that stores device information on the plurality of electronic devices of different types and group information on at least one group composed of a plurality of devices.

10. The device management apparatus of claim 8, wherein the device management apparatus comprises the portable terminal.

11. A portable terminal capable of group-controlling devices, comprising:

a control unit; and

a non-transitory machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed by the control unit implement the steps of;

requesting device information concerning a plurality of electronic devices of different types selected by the portable terminal from a device management apparatus;

receiving the device information from the device management apparatus, where the device management apparatus generates the device information of the selected plurality of electronic devices of different types from information collected by the device management apparatus from each of the selected plurality of electronic devices;

requesting, from a cloud server, group information based on the device information of the selected plurality of electronic devices of different types;

receiving, from the cloud server, the group information on a diverse group of interoperable devices, wherein the cloud server, using at least the device information, creates the diverse group of interoperable devices by selecting from among the selected plurality of electronic devices of different types based on their interoperability amongst themselves and then generates the group information from the created diverse group of interoperable devices; and

transmitting the group information on the diverse group of interoperable devices generated by a cloud server to the device management apparatus, wherein the device management apparatus configures the diverse group of interoperable devices to perform the same action as a group based on the group information,

wherein controlling the diverse group of interoperable devices indicated in the group information as a group is performed by transmitting control signals to each of the diverse group of interoperable devices, wherein each of the diverse group of interoperable devices receives a control signal according to a type of the receiving interoperable device,

wherein at least one of the portable terminal and the device management apparatus performs the controlling, and

wherein, when an interrupt occurs in one or more of the diverse group of interoperable devices, at least one of (i) the device management apparatus reconfigures the diverse group of interoperable devices to perform the same action as a group based on the interrupt, (ii) the cloud server is requested to create a new diverse group of interoperable devices based on the interrupt, and (iii) the portable terminal selects a new plurality of electronic devices of different types based on the interrupt.

12. The portable terminal of claim 11, wherein the portable terminal comprises the device management apparatus.