Home automation system including device controller for terminating communication with abnormally operating addressable devices and related methods

• US 10,523,690 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2016
• Issued: 12/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: K4Connect, Inc.
• Original Assignee: K4Connect, Inc.
• Inventors: Gould, Jonathan Andrew, Floyd, Daniel Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Homayounmehr, Farid
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Thanh T
• Application Number:
  US15/196,720
• Publication Number:
  US 20170006051A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,280 Days
• Field of Search: 726 23
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• 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 12/2821 Avoiding conflicts related to the use of home appliances cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; protocols for network security H04L63/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1425 Traffic logging, e.g. anomaly detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1466 Active attacks involving interception, injection, modification, spoofing of data unit addresses, e.g. hijacking, packet injection or TCP sequence number attacks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A home automation (HA) system may include addressable HA devices each having a respective HA device signature associated therewith, and an HA security controller. The HA security controller may be configured to communicate with the addressable HA devices via respective ones of a plurality of communications ports, with a given communications port not currently being used. When a given one of the plurality of addressable HA devices communicates via the given communications port not currently being used, the HA security controller may be configured to determine whether the given addressable HA device is operating abnormally based upon the respective HA device signature, communicate to the cloud for verification of whether the given addressable HA device is operating abnormally, and terminate communications with the given addressable HA device and generate a notification when the given addressable HA device is verified to be operating abnormally.

Claims

1. A home automation (HA) system comprising:

a plurality of addressable HA devices each having associated therewith a respective HA device signature, a respective device capability, device configuration, and device state;

a cloud message queue controller in a cloud computing environment configured to store the device configurations, device capabilities, and device states for the plurality of addressable HA devices; and

an HA device controller configured to store the device configurations, device capabilities, and device states for the plurality of addressable HA devices;

said cloud message queue controller and said HA device message queue controller configured to synchronize device configurations, device capabilities, and device states for the plurality of addressable HA devices;

said HA device controller configured to

communicate with said plurality of addressable HA devices via respective ones of a plurality of communications ports, with a given communications port from among the plurality thereof being an open not currently being used communications port by said plurality of addressable HA devices, and

poll the open not currently being used communications port to determine when a given one of the plurality of addressable HA devices communicates via the given open not currently being used communications port, and when so,

determine whether the given addressable HA device is expected to communicate via the open not currently being used communications port during normal operation based upon the respective HA device signature,

communicate to the cloud computing environment for verification of whether the given addressable HA device is expected to communicate via the open not currently being used communications port during normal operation,

receive, from the cloud computing environment, the verification of whether the given addressable HA device is operating abnormally and instructions for a next time to communicate with the cloud computing environment, and

terminate communications with the given addressable HA device and generate a notification when the given addressable HA device is verified to be operating abnormally.

2. The HA system of claim 1 wherein said HA device controller communicates with the said plurality of addressable HA devices via respective ones of the plurality of communications ports by scanning the plurality of communications ports.

3. The HA system of claim 1 wherein each HA device signature comprises a plurality of expected actions for the given addressable HA device.

4. The HA system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of HA device signatures comprises one of a MAC address, port data, and universal serial bus (USB) identifier.

5. The HA system of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of addressable HA devices has a manufacturer associated therewith;

and wherein said HA device controller is configured to communicate the notification to a respective manufacturer associated with the given addressable HA device verified to be operating abnormally.

6. The HA system of claim 1 wherein said memory is configured to store the HA device signatures, and further comprising a communications interface configured to provide communication between said HA device controller and the cloud computing environment;

and wherein said HA device controller is configured to communicate with the cloud computing environment via said communications interface to update the stored HA device signatures in said memory.

7. The HA system of claim 1 further comprising at least one radio controller coupled to said HA device controller;

wherein each of said plurality of addressable devices is configured to wirelessly communicate with said HA device controller via said at least one respective radio controller.

8. The HA system of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of addressable HA devices comprises one of a motion detector, thermostat, light switch, audio controller, door lock, and camera.

9. A home automation (HA) device server for an HA system comprising a plurality of addressable HA devices each having associated therewith, a respective HA device signature, a respective device capability, device configuration, and device state, the HA device server comprising:

an HA device controller and associated memory configured to

store the device configurations, device capabilities, and device states for the plurality of addressable HA devices,

cooperate with a cloud message queue controller in a cloud computing environment to synchronize device configurations, device capabilities, and device states for the plurality of addressable HA devices,

communicate with the plurality of addressable HA devices via respective ones of a plurality of communications ports, with a given communications port from among the plurality thereof being an open not currently being used communications port by the plurality of addressable HA devices, and

poll the open not currently being used communications ports to determine when a given one of the plurality of addressable HA devices communicates via the given open not currently being used communications port, and when so,

determine whether the given addressable HA device is expected to communicate via the open not currently being used communications port during normal operation based upon the respective HA device signature,

communicate to the cloud computing environment for verification of whether the given addressable HA device is expected to communicate via the open not currently being used communications port during normal operation,

receive, from the cloud computing environment, the verification of whether the given addressable HA device is operating abnormally and instructions for a next time to communicate with the cloud computing environment, and

terminate communications with the given addressable HA device and generate a notification when the given addressable HA device is verified to be operating abnormally.

10. The HA device server of claim 9 wherein said HA device controller communicates with the plurality of addressable HA devices via respective ones of the plurality of communications ports by scanning the plurality of communications ports.

11. The HA device server of claim 9 wherein each HA device signature comprises a plurality of expected actions for the given addressable HA device.

12. The HA device server of claim 9 wherein the plurality of HA device signatures comprises a plurality of at least one of MAC addresses, port data, and universal serial bus (USB) identifiers.

13. The HA device server of claim 9 wherein each of said plurality of addressable HA devices has a manufacturer associated therewith;

and wherein said HA device controller is configured to communicate the notification to a respective manufacturer associated with the given addressable HA device verified to be operating abnormally.

14. The HA device server of claim 9 wherein said memory is configured to store the HA device signatures, and further comprising a communications interface configured to provide communication between said HA device controller and the cloud computing environment;

and wherein said HA device controller is configured to communicate with the cloud computing environment via said communications interface to update the stored HA device signatures in said memory.

15. A method of communicating in a home automation (HA) system comprising a plurality of addressable HA devices each having associated therewith, a respective HA device signature, a respective device capability, device configuration, and device state, the method comprising:

using an HA device controller and associated memory to

store the device configurations, device capabilities, and device states for the plurality of addressable HA devices,

cooperate with a cloud message queue controller in a cloud computing environment to synchronize device configurations, device capabilities, and device states for the plurality of addressable HA devices,

communicate with the plurality of addressable HA devices via respective ones of a plurality of communications ports, with a given communications port from among the plurality thereof being an open not currently being used communications port by the plurality of addressable HA devices,

poll the open not currently being used communications port to determine when a given one of the plurality of addressable HA devices communicates via the given open not currently being used communications port, and when so,

determine whether the given addressable HA device is expected to communicate via the open not currently being used communications port during normal operation based upon the respective HA device signature,

communicate to the cloud computing environment for verification of whether the given addressable HA device is expected to communicate via the open not currently being used communications port during normal operation,

receive, from the cloud computing environment, the verification of whether the given addressable HA device is operating abnormally and instructions for a next time to communicate with the cloud computing environment, and

terminate communications with the given addressable HA device and generate a notification when the given addressable HA device is verified to be operating abnormally.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the HA device controller communicates with the plurality of addressable HA devices via respective ones of the plurality of communications ports by scanning the plurality of communications ports.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein each HA device signature comprises a plurality of expected actions for the given addressable HA device.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein each of the plurality of HA device signatures comprises one of a MAC address, port data, and universal serial bus (USB) identifier.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein each of the plurality of addressable HA devices has a manufacturer associated therewith;

and wherein the HA device controller is used to communicate the notification to a respective manufacturer associated with the given addressable HA device verified to be operating abnormally.

20. The method of claim 15 further using the HA device controller to communicate with the cloud computing environment via a communications interface providing communication therebetween to update the stored HA device signatures in the memory.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium for a home automation (HA) system comprising a plurality of addressable HA devices each having associated therewith, a respective HA device signature, a respective device capability, device configuration, and device state, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for causing an HA device controller to perform operations comprising:

storing the device configurations, device capabilities, and device states for the plurality of addressable HA devices;

cooperate with a cloud message queue controller in a cloud computing environment to synchronize device configurations, device capabilities, and device states for the plurality of addressable HA devices;

communicating with the plurality of addressable HA devices via respective ones of a plurality of communications ports, with a given communications port from among the plurality thereof being an open not currently being used communications port of the plurality of addressable HA devices; and

polling the open not currently being used communications port to determine when a given one of the plurality of addressable HA devices communicates via the given open not currently being used communications port, and when so,

determining whether the given addressable HA device is expected to communicate via the open not currently being used communications port during normal operation based upon the respective HA device signature,

communicating to the cloud computing environment for verification of whether the given addressable HA device is expected to communicate via the open not currently being used communications port during normal operation,

receiving, from the cloud computing environment, the verification of whether the given addressable HA device is operating abnormally and instructions for a next time to communicate with the cloud computing environment, and

terminating communications with the given addressable HA device and generating a notification when the given addressable HA device is verified to be operating abnormally.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21 wherein computer executable instructions cause the HA device controller to communicate with the plurality of addressable HA devices via respective ones of the plurality of communications ports by scanning the plurality of communications ports.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21 wherein each HA device signature comprises a plurality of expected actions for the given addressable HA device.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21 wherein each of the plurality of HA device signatures comprises one of a MAC address, port data, and universal serial bus (USB) identifier.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21 wherein each of the plurality of addressable HA devices has a manufacturer associated therewith;

and wherein the computer executable instructions cause the HA device controller to communicate the notification to a respective manufacturer associated with the given addressable HA device verified to be operating abnormally.