System and method for providing network support services and premises gateway support infrastructure

• US 10,374,821 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2017
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kip Prod P1 LP
• Original Assignee: Kip Prod P1 LP
• Inventors: Ansari, Amir, Cowgill, George A., Nicholls, Leon E., Ramayya, Jude P., Masina, Ramprakash, McQuarters, Alvin R., Raissyan, Atousa
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Minh Chau
• Application Number:
  US15/799,418
• Publication Number:
  US 20180124115A1
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: 709225
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/64 Browsing; Visualisation therefor generation of a list or set of audio data G06F16/638
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19656 Network used to communicate with a camera, e.g. WAN, LAN, Internet
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• 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 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• 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 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/80 : Actions related to the user profile or the type of traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 : based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 : Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 : Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 : for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 : for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 : based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 : for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 : for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/102 : Gateways arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways, H04L12/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 : Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1108 : Web based protocols, e.g. webRTC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 : Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 : using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/325 : in the network layer [OSI layer 3], e.g. X.25 H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/00 : Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 ; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/40 : Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 : for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/00 : Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 : of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/0431 : Key distribution or pre-distribution; Key agreement
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 : Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 : Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• 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: Y10S 370/911 : Bridge, e.g. brouter, bus extender

Abstract

A service management system communicates via wide area network with gateway devices located at respective user premises. The service management system remotely manages delivery of application services, which can be voice controlled, by a gateway, e.g. by selectively activating/deactivating service logic modules in the gateway. The service management system also may selectively provide secure communications and exchange of information among gateway devices and among associated endpoint devices. An exemplary service management system includes a router connected to the network and one or more computer platforms, for implementing management functions. Examples of the functions include a connection manager for controlling system communications with the gateway devices, an authentication manager for authenticating each gateway device and controlling the connection manager and a subscription manager for managing applications services and/or features offered by the gateway devices. A service manager, controlled by the subscription manager, distributes service specific configuration data to authenticated gateway devices.

Claims

1. A home automation system for providing services at a location, the services including management of multiple endpoint devices, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory;

a wired Ethernet communications interface that provides connectivity with a wide area network;

at least one wireless communications interface that provides communication with at least two of the multiple endpoint devices,

wherein the communication with at least one of the at least two endpoint devices uses one of the;

Zigbee protocol, Z-Wave protocol, or X10 protocol; and

wherein the home automation system uses the at least one wireless communications interface to detect and interact with newly available ones of the multiple endpoint devices, wherein interaction with a particular endpoint device of the newly available endpoint devices is performed by obtaining, via the wired Ethernet communications interface, an application service interface for the particular endpoint device from a remote service management center, wherein the application service interface is stored by the memory and is used to provide server functionality, not previously provided by the home automation system, that enables communication with the particular endpoint device;

a home automation services component that sends control instructions, using the at least one wireless communications interface, to automate the multiple endpoint devices,

wherein the control instructions sent by the home automation services component are managed by a computing device that remotely accesses the home automation services component, wherein the remote access is via the wired Ethernet communications interface or one of the at least one wireless communications interface;

wherein the services provided by the home automation system, including sending the control instructions, are managed through a graphical user interface associated with one of the multiple endpoint devices, wherein the graphical user interface provides

     1) a list of enabled services and

     2) controls to add or remove enabled services;

wherein local communications, between the home automation system and a particular first endpoint device, transfer to the home automation system voice commands that were entered via user interactions with the particular first endpoint device, and wherein the home automation services component is configured to send at least some of the control instructions in response to the voice commands;

wherein the automation of the multiple endpoint devices comprises at least;

managing of one or more video cameras at or within the location,

streaming of video data captured by the managed one or more video cameras,

managing of one or more sensors located at or within the location,

controlling of lighting at or within the location,

managing interoperability among two or more of the endpoint devices,

triggering alarms or notifications, and

implementing established automation schedules based on identified status changes; and

wherein the automation of the multiple endpoint devices provided by the home automation services component provides the control instructions for automating the multiple endpoint devices through one or more logical application service interfaces, without requiring interaction with programming, distinct from the automation services component, from individual providers of the corresponding endpoint devices.

2. The home automation system of claim 1, wherein the management by the computing device is performed by accessing, through the one or more logical application service interfaces, a library of user application services that are available for home automation functionality.

3. The home automation system of claim 1,

wherein communications, from the computing device to affect the management of the control instructions sent by the home automation services component:

are sent, via the wide area network, by the computing device from a second location remote from the location, and

are received by the home automation system via the wired Ethernet communications interface.

4. The home automation system of claim 1,

wherein communications, from the computing device to affect the management of the control instructions sent by the home automation services component:

are sent by the computing device at or within the location, and

are received by the home automation system via the wireless communications interface.

5. The home automation system of claim 1, wherein the detection and interaction with the newly available ones of the multiple endpoint devices are performed in relation to the services that are listed as in the graphical user interface.

6. The home automation system of claim 1, wherein the managing of interoperability among the two or more of the endpoint devices comprises receiving data from a first of the multiple endpoint devices and providing the data, to a second of the multiple endpoint devices, for display.

7. The home automation system of claim 1, wherein the automation of the multiple endpoint devices comprising the triggering alarms or notifications is based on a specified set of rules for initiating the notifications.

8. The home automation system of claim 1 further comprising a new services manager configured to receive and install packages that extend the services provided by the home automation services component.

9. The home automation system of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface, that is associated with one of the endpoint devices and that provides for management of the services provided by the home automation system, is provided by an application service management computing system that is external to the location and that accesses the home automation system via a wide area network through the wired Ethernet communications interface.

10. The home automation system of claim 1 further comprising multiple USB interfaces.

11. The home automation system of claim 1, wherein voice controlled application services of the home automation system implement functions for user authentication in relation to the voice commands.

12. The home automation system of claim 1, wherein the automation of the multiple endpoint devices further comprise one or more of:

management of automatic window blinds at or within the location;

management of a digital picture frame at or within the location;

management of a web cam at or within the location;

or

any combination thereof.

13. The home automation system of claim 1, wherein the home automation system is configured

to analyze the voice commands without requiring concurrent communication via the wide area network to determine one or more actions to be performed by at least one of the endpoint devices and to command the at least one endpoint devices to perform the one or more actions, and

to automatically control one of the endpoint devices, without requiring concurrent communication via the wide area network, based on data sent by another one of the endpoint devices.

14. A method for management of multiple endpoint devices to provide home automation services at a location, the method comprising:

implementing communications, via at least one wireless communications interface, with at least two of the multiple endpoint devices,

wherein communication with at least one of the at least two endpoint devices uses a mesh communications protocol; and

detecting and interacting with, via the at least one wireless communications interface, newly available ones of the multiple endpoint devices;

providing connectivity, via a wired Ethernet communications interface, with a wide area network;

receiving communications, from a particular first endpoint device, that indicate voice commands entered via the particular first endpoint device, wherein the communications are performed without using a wide area network; and

sending control instructions, using the at least one wireless communications interface, to automate the multiple endpoint devices,

wherein the least some of the control instructions are sent in response to the voice commands;

wherein the control instructions are managed by a remote computing device via the wired Ethernet communications interface or one of the at least one wireless communications interface;

wherein the management of the control instructions is through a graphical user interface associated with a particular second endpoint device, wherein the graphical user interface provides

     1) a list of enabled services and

     2) controls to add or remove enabled services; and

wherein the automation of the multiple endpoint devices comprise at least;

managing of one or more video cameras at or within the location,

managing of one or more sensors located at or within the location,

controlling of lighting at or within the location, and

implementing established automation schedules based on identified status changes.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the detection and interaction with the at least one of the newly available endpoint devices includes obtaining configuration data from a remote service management center, via the wired Ethernet communications interface, and using the configuration data to configure the at least one of the newly available endpoint devices.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the management from the computing device is performed by the computing device remotely accessing, through one or more logical application service interfaces, a library of user application services that are available for home automation functionality.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the management of control instructions by the remote computing device is performed by the computing device when the computing device is at or within the location and is performed via the wireless communications interface.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the detection and interaction with the newly available ones of the multiple endpoint devices are performed in relation to the services that have been enabled via the graphical user interface.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the automation of the multiple endpoint devices further comprise providing interoperability among the two or more of the endpoint devices by receiving data from a third of the multiple endpoint devices and providing the data, to a fourth of the multiple endpoint devices, for display.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the automation of the multiple endpoint devices further comprise initiating notifications based on a specified set of notification rules.

21. The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving and installing packages that extend the home automation services.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein management of the control instructions for automating the multiple endpoint devices is provided through one or more logical application service interfaces, without requiring interaction with programming that is from individual providers of the corresponding endpoint devices.

23. The method of claim 14, further comprising performing one or more actions according to the voice commands without requiring concurrent communication via the wide area network.

24. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations for management of multiple endpoint devices to provide home automation services at an area, the operations comprising:

implementing communications, via at least one wireless communications interface, with at least two of the multiple endpoint devices,

wherein communication with at least one of the at least two endpoint devices uses one of the;

Zigbee protocol, Z-Wave protocol, or X10 protocol;

providing connectivity, via a wired Ethernet communications interface, with a wide area network;

receiving communications, from a particular first endpoint device, that indicate voice commands entered via the particular first endpoint device, wherein the communications are performed without using a wide area network; and

sending control instructions, using the at least one wireless communications interface, to automate the multiple endpoint devices,

wherein at the least some of the control instructions are sent in response to the voice commands;

wherein the control instructions are managed by a remote computing device via the wired Ethernet communications interface or one of the at least one wireless communications interface;

wherein the management of the control instructions is through a graphical user interface associated with one of the multiple endpoint devices; and

wherein the automation of the multiple endpoint devices comprise at least;

managing of one or more video cameras at or within the area,

managing of one or more sensors located at or within the area,

controlling of lighting at or within the area, and

implementing established automation schedules based on identified status changes.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 24,

wherein the operations further comprise using the at least one wireless communications interface to detect and interact with newly available ones of the multiple endpoint devices;

wherein the graphical user interface provides

     1) a list of enabled services and

     2) controls to add or remove enabled services; and

wherein the detection and interaction with the newly available ones of the multiple endpoint devices are performed in relation to the services that have been listed as enabled via the graphical user interface.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the management by the computing device is performed by the computing device remotely accessing, through one or more logical application service interfaces, a library of user application services that are available for home automation functionality.