Video gateway as an internet of things mesh enhancer apparatus and method

• US 10,433,134 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2017
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Panje, Krishna Prasad
• Primary Examiner(s): Trandai, Cindy
• Application Number:
  US15/413,494
• Publication Number:
  US 20180213349A1
• Time in Patent Office: 980 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/283 Processing of data at an internetworking point of a home automation network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1023 Media gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• 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 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

The disclosed system, method and computer-readable medium provide for a first wireless network, a second wireless network, a premises device and a mobile device. The first and second wireless networks are configured to operate according to respective first and second wireless networking standards, where the first and second wireless networking standards are incompatible. The mobile device is configured to communicate according to the first wireless network standard. The premises gateway device includes a transmitter for the second wireless networking standard. The premises gateway is configured to communicate according to the second wireless network standard; receive commands from the portable device, the commands formatted according to the first wireless networking standard; and output corresponding commands according to the second wireless networking standard device in a format compatible with the second wireless networking standard to allow the portable device to control an Internet of Things (IoT) device operating on the second wireless network standard.

Claims

1. A premises system, comprising:

a first wireless network configured to operate according to a first wireless networking standard;

a second wireless network configured to operate according to a second wireless networking standard, the second wireless networking standard incompatible with the first wireless networking standard;

a mobile device configured to;

communicate according to the first wireless network standard, and

present, on a user interface of the mobile device, devices adhering to the first wireless networking standard and devices adhering to the second wireless networking standard in a common manner; and

a premises gateway device comprising;

a second wireless networking standard transmitter for communicating with the second wireless network; and

the premises gateway device configured to;

communicate according to the second wireless network standard;

receive commands from the mobile device, the commands formatted according to the first wireless networking standard;

advertise a device over the second wireless network as a spoofed device adhering to the first wireless networking standard; and

based on the received commands from the first mobile device, output corresponding commands to the second wireless networking standard device, the corresponding commands in a format compatible with the second wireless networking standard, such that the corresponding commands appear to be for the spoofed device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the premises gateway device further comprises:

a memory for storing programming instructions for converting the commands received from the mobile device to the second networking standard device commands; and

a processor, coupled to the memory and the second networking transmitter, wherein the processor, upon execution of programming instructions retrieved from the memory, is configured to;

communicate, via the second networking transmitter, with one or more second networking standard-enabled premises devices in the second wireless network;

offer the devices adhering to the second networking standard in the manner of the devices adhering to the first networking standard for discovery by the mobile device adhering to the first networking standard;

receive the first networking standard-formatted commands from the mobile device;

translate the first networking standard commands to appropriate second networking standard device commands; and

send the second networking standard device commands to the second networking transceiver for transmission to at least one of second networking standard-enabled premises devices.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to:

communicate with one or more first networking standard-enabled premises devices operating according to a first networking standard, and

respond to control signals from the mobile device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the mobile device is further configured to control the first networking standard-enabled premises devices.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first wireless networking standard is a Bluetooth networking standard, and

the second wireless networking standard is a ZigBee networking standard.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the premises gateway device includes an interface to a data communication transceiver for communicating within a third wireless network, the third wireless network configured to operate according to a third wireless networking standard that is incompatible with both the first and the second wireless networking standards.

7. A method, comprising:

launching an application by a processor of a mobile device;

presenting a user interface display of the launched application on a touchscreen display device of the mobile device;

receiving, via a wireless connection with a premises gateway, a list of mesh networking protocol controllable devices operating according to a mesh networking protocol that are hosted by the premises gateway device;

presenting on the user interface display the list of mesh networking protocol controllable devices including controllable devices that operate according to a wireless connectivity standard;

in response to an input to the touchscreen display, generating a command for controlling at least one of the mesh networking protocol controllable devices in the presented list of wireless connectivity standard devices and mesh networking protocol controllable devices; and

outputting from the mobile device the generated command via a WiFi wireless connection with the premises gateway to cause the premises gateway device to control the at least one mesh networking protocol device by advertising a device over a second wireless network as a spoofed device adhering to a first wireless networking standard associated with the at least one mesh networking protocol device, such that commands originating from the mobile device are sent to the at least one mesh networking protocol device as corresponding commands that appear to be for the spoofed device.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

selecting a device from the list presented on the user interface display;

selecting a set rule control on the user interface display; and

in response to the selection of the set rule control on user interface display, presenting on the user interface display a preselected set functions for selection by a user.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

in response to a selection of one or more of the preselected set functions, establishing a rule for controlling operation of the selected device.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

presenting on the user interface display one or more operations that may be performed by at least one of the mesh networking protocol controllable devices presented in the list.

11. A method comprising:

providing by a premises gateway a list of devices operating according to a mesh networking protocol;

receiving by the premises gateway via a WiFi wireless connection with a mobile device a command intended for delivery to at least one mesh networking protocol-compatible device presented in the list of devices, wherein the command is formatted according to a communication protocol of a wireless network standard different from the mesh networking protocol;

advertising a device over the wireless network as a spoofed device adhering to the communication protocol of the wireless network standard different from the mesh networking protocol;

translating the received command to a corresponding command formatted according to the mesh networking protocol; and

outputting by the premises gateway the corresponding mesh networking protocol command to the at least one mesh networking protocol-compatible device, such that the corresponding command appears to be for the spoofed device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

executing an application by the mobile device that configures the mobile device to control both the wireless connectivity standard controllable devices paired with the mobile device and the mesh networking protocol-compatible devices on the presented list of mesh networking protocol devices.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the translating comprises:

accessing mesh networking protocol commands stored in a memory; and

identifying in the accessed memory a mesh networking protocol command that corresponds to the received wireless connectivity standard-compatible command.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the command is generated according to a Bluetooth Low Energy standard, and the wireless connectivity standard devices are Bluetooth low energy-compatible devices; and

the mesh networking protocol is a ZigBee mesh networking protocol, and the mesh networking protocol device is a ZigBee-compatible device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the translating comprises:

identifying the received command as being formatted according to an Automation IO service of the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol; and

converting the received command from the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol to a ZigBee mesh networking protocol for transmission to the one or more of the ZigBee mesh networking devices.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

formatting information related to each mesh networking protocol device in the list of mesh networking protocol devices to be presented as a Bluetooth device when presented on a touchscreen display of a mobile device.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium containing machine-readable programming instructions, the instructions causing a processor to:

launch an application by a processor of a mobile device;

present a user interface display of the launched application on a touchscreen display device of the mobile device;

receive, via a wireless connection with a premises gateway, a list of mesh networking protocol controllable devices operating according to a mesh networking protocol that are hosted by the premises gateway device;

present on the user interface display the list of mesh networking protocol controllable devices including controllable devices that operate according to a wireless connectivity standard;

advertise a device over the wireless network as a spoofed device adhering to the communication protocol of the wireless network standard different from the mesh networking protocol;

in response to an input to the touchscreen display, generate a command for controlling at least one of the mesh networking protocol devices in the presented list of wireless connectivity standard devices; and

output from the mobile device the generated command via a WiFi wireless connection with the premises gateway to cause the premises gateway device to control the at least one mesh networking protocol device.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the machine-readable programming instructions further cause the processor to:

select a device from the list presented on the user interface display;

select a set rule control on the user interface display; and

in response to the selection of the set rule control on user interface display, present on the user interface display a preselected set functions for selection by a user.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the machine-readable programming instructions further cause the processor to:

in response to a selection of one or more of the preselected set functions, establish a rule for controlling operation of the selected device.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the machine-readable programming instructions further cause the processor to:

present on the user interface display one or more operations that may be performed by at least one of the mesh networking protocol controllable devices presented in the list.

21. A non-transitory machine-readable medium containing machine-readable programming instructions, the instructions causing a processor to:

provide by a premises gateway a list of devices operating according to a mesh networking protocol;

receive by the premises gateway via a WiFi wireless connection with a mobile device a command intended for delivery to at least one mesh networking protocol-compatible device presented in the list of devices, wherein the command is formatted according to a communication protocol of a wireless network standard different from the mesh networking protocol;

advertise a device over the wireless network as a spoofed device adhering to the communication protocol of the wireless network standard different from the mesh networking protocol;

translate the received command to a command formatted according to the mesh networking protocol; and

output by the premises gateway the corresponding mesh networking protocol command to the at least one mesh networking protocol-compatible device.

22. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the machine-readable programming instructions further cause the processor to:

receive by the premises gateway via the WiFi wireless connection with the mobile device the outputted command intended for delivery to at least one mesh networking protocol-compatible devices presented in the list; and

based on a correspondence between the received command and a mesh networking protocol-compatible command, output the corresponding mesh networking protocol-compatible command to the at least one mesh networking protocol device.