Cloud system for controlling outdoor grill with mobile application

• US 10,455,022 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2016
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Traeger Pellet Grills, LLC
• Original Assignee: Traeger Pellet Grills, LLC
• Inventors: Colston, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Whipple, Brian
• Application Number:
  US15/511,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20170289257A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 36/321 the electronic control being performed over a network, e.g. by means of a handheld device
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/012 Providing warranty services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/185 Electrical failure alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/30 User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/42 Transmitting or receiving remote control signals via a network
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/93 Remote control using other portable devices, e.g. mobile phone, PDA, laptop
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/28 characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks] wireless communication networks H04W ; arrangements for dividing the transmission path H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• 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 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/23 for mobile advertising
• 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 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication

Abstract

Embodiments are directed to communicating with and controlling operation of electronically-controlled appliances. In one scenario, a computer system receives a first input from a computing system indicating that an electronically-controlled appliance is permitted to communicate with a cloud computing platform. The computer system generates a notification that is to be sent to a software application, where the software application is configured to control functions of the electronically-controlled appliance. The computer system transmits the generated notification to the software application, where the generated notification indicates that the cloud computing platform is communicably connected to the electronically-controlled appliance. The computer system then receives a second input from the software application indicating that specified functions are to be performed on the electronically-controlled appliance, and transmits instructions to the electronically-controlled appliance to perform the specified functions. These functions are then interpreted and carried out by a hardware controller on the electronically-controlled appliance.

Claims

1. A cloud computing platform for communicating with and controlling operation of a wood-pellet grill comprising a hopper having an auger and for loading combustible pellets into a combustion area of the wood-pellet grill, the cloud computing platform comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to;

receive inputs from a mobile device including at least a first input indicating that the wood-pellet grill is permitted to communicate with the cloud computing platform;

generate notifications that are to be sent to a software application of the mobile device;

send at least one generated notification to the software application, the generated notification indicating that the cloud computing platform is communicably connected to the wood-pellet grill;

receive a second input from the software application of the mobile device indicating one or more specified functions to be performed by the wood-pellet grill; and

sending one or more instructions to the wood-pellet grill to perform the one or more specified functions.

2. The cloud computing platform of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to communicate directly with the wood-pellet grill via an access point within range of the wood-pellet grill.

3. The cloud computing platform of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to communicate with the wood-pellet grill via the software application of the mobile device.

4. The cloud computing platform of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to generate advertisements for transmission to the wood-pellet grill or to the software application of the mobile device.

5. The cloud computing platform of claim 4, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to:

receive usage data from the wood-pellet grill, the usage data comprising at least one of digital probe information, duration of use information, or amount of power drawn from components of the wood-pellet grill; and

customize one or more advertisements for users of the wood-pellet grill based on the received usage data.

6. The cloud computing platform of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to receive usage data from the wood-pellet grill.

7. The cloud computing platform of claim 6, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to:

analyze the usage data received from the wood-pellet grill; and

generate one or more wood-pellet grill-related analytics for the wood-pellet grill.

8. The cloud computing platform of claim 7, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to verify a warranty claim based on the wood-pellet grill-related analytics.

9. The cloud computing platform of claim 7, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to perform remote diagnostics on the wood-pellet grill.

10. The cloud computing platform of claim 9, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to predict failures for one or more components of the wood-pellet grill.

11. The cloud computing platform of claim 10, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to transmit one or more notification messages to the wood-pellet grill or to the software application of the mobile device regarding the predicted component failures.

12. A method for controlling a wood-pellet grill, the wood-pellet grill comprising a controller and a hopper having an auger and for loading combustible pellets into a combustion area of the wood-pellet grill, the method comprising:

receiving a first input from a mobile device indicating that at least a first wood-pellet grill is permitted to communicate with a cloud computing platform;

generating a notification that is to be sent to a software application of the mobile device;

transmitting the generated notification to the software application of the mobile device, the generated notification indicating that the cloud computing platform is communicably connected to the wood-pellet grill;

receiving a second input from the software application of the mobile device indicating one or more specified functions are to be performed by the wood-pellet grill; and

transmitting one or more instructions to the wood-pellet grill to perform the one or more specified functions.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving, from the wood-pellet grill, data including ambient air temperature data related to an environment in which the wood-pellet grill resides.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising altering the one or more instructions, prior to transmitting the one or more instructions to the wood-pellet grill, to compensate for the received ambient air temperature data.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving food temperature data from a digital thermometer at the wood-pellet grill.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising adjusting the one or more instructions, prior to transmitting the one or more instructions to the wood-pellet grill, to further include an alert based on the received food temperature data.

17. A cloud computing platform for communicating with and controlling operation of a wood-pellet grill comprising a hopper having an auger and for loading combustible pellets into a combustion area of the wood-pellet grill, the cloud computing platform comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to;

receive inputs from a remote device including at least a first input indicating that the wood-pellet grill is permitted to communicate with the cloud computing platform;

receive a second input from the remote device indicating that one or more specified functions are to be performed by the wood-pellet grill;

generate control signals that are to be sent to the wood-pellet grill, the control signals being configured to control functions of the wood-pellet grill according to the received second input; and

transmit the generated control signals to the wood-pellet grill to perform the one or more specified functions.

18. The cloud computing platform of claim 17, further comprising a storage device in which data related to recipes, custom smoking patterns, and user appliance usage data is stored.

19. The cloud computing platform of claim 18, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to:

access one or more selected recipes from the storage device; and

generate control signals for the wood-pellet grill according to the one or more selected recipes, the generated control signals including instructions to smoke a food item according to at least one smoke pattern specified in the one or more recipes.

20. The cloud computing platform of claim 18, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to:

access the user appliance usage data from the storage device;

generate one or more advertisements based on the user appliance usage data; and

transmit the one or more generated advertisements to the wood-pellet grill or to a software application of the remote device.