Intelligent umbrella and/or robotic shading system with ultra-low energy transceivers

• US 10,554,436 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2017
• Issued: 02/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ShadeCraft, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ShadeCraft, Inc.
• Inventors: Gharabegian, Armen Sevada
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Brian D
• Application Number:
  US15/817,252
• Publication Number:
  US 20190158303A1
• Time in Patent Office: 807 Days
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 15/02 Tents combined or specially associated with other devices
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 15/10 Heating, lighting or ventilating
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 15/28 Umbrella type tents
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 15/48 foldable, i.e. having pivoted or hinged means E04H15/405 and E04H15/46 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 19/001 for conveying reciprocating or limited rotary motion
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 19/04 comprising a rack
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 25/20 Screw mechanisms with automatic reversal F16H25/12
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 33/006 General building constructions or finishing work for buildings, e.g. roofs, gutters, stairs or floors; Garden equipment; Sunshades or parasols
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H02S 20/30 Supporting structures being movable or adjustable, e.g. for angle adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: H02S 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• 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 12/283 Processing of data at an internetworking point of a home automation network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• 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: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/50 Photovoltaic [PV] energy

Abstract

An intelligent umbrella, comprising a base assembly, the base assembly having an outside surface contacting a ground surface, a support assembly, the support assembly connected to the base assembly, an expansion assembly, the expansion assembly connected to the support assembly and to expand and contract one or more arm support assemblies and arms; and an ultra-low energy (ULE) wireless transceiver, the ULE wireless transceiver to act as an ULE hub, to generate commands or instructions and to communicate the generated commands or instructions to another ULE-enabled device. The another ULE-enabled device may be a separate intelligent umbrella, and the commands or instructions to instruct the separate intelligent umbrella to move one or more mechanical assemblies of the separate intelligent umbrella.

Claims

1. An intelligent umbrella, comprising:

a base assembly, the base assembly having an outside surface contacting a ground surface;

a support assembly, the support assembly connected to the base assembly;

an expansion assembly, the expansion assembly connected to the support assembly and to expand and contract one or more arm support assemblies and arms; and

an ultra low energy (ULE) wireless transceiver, the ULE wireless transceiver to act as an ULE communication hub, to generate commands or instructions and to communicate the generated commands or instructions to another ULE-enabled device to control some operations of the another ULE-enabled device, wherein the ULE wireless transceiver to be located within the support assembly or the expansion assembly.

2. The intelligent umbrella of claim 1, the another ULE-enabled device to be a separate intelligent umbrella, and the generated commands or instructions to instruct the separate intelligent umbrella to move one or more mechanical assemblies of the separate intelligent umbrella, the one or more mechanical assemblies to be the one or more arm support assemblies and arms.

3. The intelligent umbrella of claim 1, the another ULE-enabled device to be a separate intelligent umbrella, the ULE wireless transceiver to further communicate audio data, and the commands or instructions to instruct the separate intelligent umbrella to playback the communicated audio data.

4. The intelligent umbrella of claim 1, the another ULE-enabled device to be a separate intelligent umbrella, the commands or instructions to instruct one or more sensors in the separate intelligent umbrella to capture sensor measurements and to receive the captured sensor measurements from the separate intelligent umbrella.

5. The intelligent umbrella of claim 4, further comprising one or more memory devices, one or more processors and computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions accessed from the one or more memory devices and executable by the one or more processors to store the captured sensor measurements in the one or more memory devices.

6. The intelligent umbrella of claim 1, the another ULE-enabled device to be a separate intelligent umbrella, the commands or instructions to instruct one or more camera devices in the separate intelligent umbrella to capture video and/or audio in an area surrounding the separate intelligent umbrella and to receive the captured video and/or audio from the one or more camera devices in the separate intelligent umbrella.

7. The intelligent umbrella of claim 6, further comprising one or more memory devices, one or more processors and computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions accessed from the one or more memory devices and executable by the one or more processors to store the captured video and/or audio or to communicate the captured video and/or audio to a remote computing device or server.

8. The intelligent umbrella of claim 1, the another ULE-enabled device to be a home sensor or security device, the commands or instructions to instruct the home sensor to activate and turn on.

9. The intelligent umbrella of claim 1, the ULE wireless transceiver to further communicate audio data, the another ULE-enabled device to be a home audio receiver, the commands or instructions to instruct the home audio receiver to play the communicated audio data.

10. An intelligent umbrella, comprising:

a base assembly, the base assembly having an outside surface contacting a ground surface;

a support assembly, the support assembly connected to the base assembly;

an expansion assembly, the expansion assembly connected to the support assembly and to expand and contract one or more arm support assemblies and arms; and

an ultra low energy (ULE) wireless transceiver, the ULE wireless transceiver to receive commands or instructions from another ULE transceiver in another ULE-enabled device to perform an operation at the intelligent umbrella based at least in part on the received commands or instructions, the ULE wireless transceiver to be located within the support assembly or the expansion assembly.

11. The intelligent umbrella of claim 10, further comprising one or more processors, one or more memory devices, and computer-readable instructions,

wherein the received commands or instructions from the another ULE-enabled device to direct one or more motors in the intelligent umbrella to activate and operate;

and

the computer-readable instructions to be accessed from the one or more memory devices and executable by the one or more processors, to generate commands, messages or instructions, and to communicate the generated commands, messages or instructions to the one or more motors in the intelligent umbrella.

12. The intelligent umbrella of claim 10, further comprising to receive audio files from the ULE transceiver in the another ULE-enabled device, and

further comprising one or more processors, one or more memory devices, and computer-readable instructions,

the computer-readable instructions to be accessed from the one or more memory devices and executable by the one or more processors, to communicate the received audio files to an audio reproduction device in the intelligent umbrella, the audio reproduction device to play the received audio files based, at least in part, on the received commands or instructions.

13. The intelligent umbrella of claim 10, further comprising one or more imaging devices, and

one or more processors, one or more memory devices, and computer-readable instructions,

the computer-readable instructions to be accessed from the one or more memory devices and executable by the one or more processors, to activate the one or more imaging devices in the intelligent umbrella to capture video and/or audio of an area surrounding the intelligent umbrella and to communicate the captured video and/or audio via the ULE wireless transceiver to another ULE transceiver in an another intelligent umbrella.

14. The intelligent umbrella of claim 10, further comprising one or more environmental sensors, and

one or more processors, one or more memory devices, and computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions to be accessed from the one or memory devices and executable by the one or more processors, to activate the one or more environmental sensors in the intelligent umbrella to capture environmental sensor measurements and to communicate the captured environmental sensor measurements via the ULE wireless transceiver to an another ULE transceiver in an another intelligent umbrella.

15. An intelligent umbrella, comprising:

a base assembly, the base assembly having an outside surface contacting a ground surface;

a support assembly, the support assembly connected to the base assembly;

an expansion assembly, the expansion assembly connected to the support assembly and to expand and contract one or more arm support assemblies and arms;

an ultra low energy (ULE) wireless transceiver, to communicate with other ULE wireless transceivers in other ULE-enabled devices,

one or more memory devices, one or more processors, and computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions being accessed from the one or more memory devices and executable by the one or more processors to;

analyze bandwidth and range capability of the ULE wireless transceiver and to analyze bandwidth and range capability of the wireless local area network (LAN) transceiver;

compare the analyzed bandwidth and range capability of the ULE wireless transceiver and the analyzed bandwidth and range capability of the wireless local area network transceiver to select an optimal wireless transceiver for communications between the intelligent umbrella and other computing devices;

capture power consumption requirements of the ULE wireless transceiver and power consumption requirements of the wireless LAN transceiver; and

compare the captured power consumption requirement of the ULE wireless transceiver and the captured power consumption requirement of the wireless local area network transceiver in order to select an optimal wireless transceiver for communications between the intelligent umbrella and other computing devices.