Discovery of connected devices to determine control capabilities and meta-information

• US 10,560,975 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2019
• Issued: 02/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kim, Ryan Yong, Pathuri, Venkata Subba Rao
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Hoang-Chuong Q
• Application Number:
  US16/427,931
• Publication Number:
  US 20190289648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 256 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to techniques for interacting with an electronic device. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to initiating action(s) using an interface configured to control operation of IoT devices. An example embodiment includes receiving, at a computing device, a communication including a unique identifier for a network device connected to a network, using the unique identifier to determine a resource bundle for the network device, the resource bundle defining an interface module for the network device, wherein the interface module is configured to display one or more interface elements usable to control the network device, and transmitting the resource bundle, wherein when the resource bundle is received, the resource bundle facilitates generating the interface module.

Claims

1. A gateway device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium containing instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including;

detecting a network device connected to the gateway device, wherein the gateway device provides communication routing for the network device; and

probing the network device for meta-information and control capabilities of the network device; and

a receiver configured to receive the meta-information and the control capabilities of the network device, wherein the meta-information includes identifying information of the network device;

wherein the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium further contains instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including;

determining a device specific interface object for the network device using the meta-information;

determining one or more primary control capabilities corresponding to the network device; and

transmitting a device specific interface object module and the one or more primary control capabilities, wherein the device specific interface object module and the one or more primary control capabilities facilitate display of a gateway device interface, wherein the gateway device interface displays the device specific interface object and a control object, wherein the control object allows control of the network device using the one or more primary control capabilities, and wherein the one or more primary control capabilities include less than all control capabilities of the network device that are provided in a proprietary interface of the network device.

2. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the meta-information includes the device specific interface object module.

3. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the meta-information includes a unique identifier for the network device, and further comprising instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

transmitting the unique identifier to a cloud server;

receiving information identifying a type of the network device; and

determining the device specific interface object for the network device using the information identifying the type of the network device.

4. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein determining the device specific interface object for the network device further comprises:

monitoring behavior characteristics of the network device;

determining a type of the network device based on the monitored behavior characteristics; and

determining the device specific interface object for the network device using the determined type of the network device.

5. The gateway device of claim 1, further comprising instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

transmitting the meta-information of the network device to a second network device.

6. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the device specific interface object includes the control object, and wherein the device specific interface object is selectable to control the network device using the one or more primary control capabilities.

7. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the gateway device interface includes a proprietary interface object, wherein the proprietary interface object is selectable to launch the proprietary interface of the network device to allow execution of a control capability outside of the primary control capabilities.

8. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the gateway device interface displays information corresponding to a plurality of network devices connected to the gateway device.

9. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

detecting, by a gateway device, a network device connected to the gateway device, wherein the gateway device provides communication routing for the network device;

probing the network device for meta-information and control capabilities of the network device;

receiving the meta-information and the control capabilities of the network device, wherein the meta-information includes identifying information of the network device;

determining a device specific interface object for the network device using the meta-information;

determining one or more primary control capabilities corresponding to the network device; and

transmitting a device specific interface object module and the one or more primary control capabilities, wherein the device specific interface object module and the one or more primary control capabilities facilitate display of a gateway device interface, wherein the gateway device interface displays the device specific interface object and a control object, wherein the control object allows control of the network device using the one or more primary control capabilities, and wherein the one or more primary control capabilities include less than all control capabilities of the network device that are provided in a proprietary interface of the network device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the meta-information includes the device specific interface object module.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the meta-information includes a unique identifier for the network device, and further comprising:

transmitting the unique identifier to a cloud server;

receiving information identifying a type of the network device; and

determining the device specific interface object for the network device using the information identifying the type of the network device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the device specific interface object for the network device further comprises:

monitoring behavior characteristics of the network device;

determining a type of the network device based on the monitored behavior characteristics; and

determining the device specific interface object for the network device using the determined type of the network device.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting the meta-information of the network device to a second network device.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the device specific interface object includes the control object, and wherein the device specific interface object is selectable to control the network device using the one or more primary control capabilities.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the gateway device interface includes a proprietary interface object, wherein the proprietary interface object is selectable to launch the proprietary interface of the network device to allow execution of a control capability outside of the primary control capabilities.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the gateway device interface displays information corresponding to a plurality of network devices connected to the gateway device.

17. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of a gateway device, including instructions configured to cause one or more data processors to:

detect a network device connected to the gateway device, wherein the gateway device provides communication routing for the network device;

probe the network device for meta-information and control capabilities of the network device;

receive the meta-information and the control capabilities of the network device, wherein the meta-information includes identifying information of the network device;

determine a device specific interface object for the network device using the meta-information;

determine one or more primary control capabilities corresponding to the network device; and

transmit a device specific interface object module and the one or more primary control capabilities, wherein the device specific interface object module and the one or more primary control capabilities facilitate display of a gateway device interface, wherein the gateway device interface displays the device specific interface object and a control object, wherein the control object allows control of the network device using the one or more primary control capabilities, and wherein the one or more primary control capabilities include less than all control capabilities of the network device that are provided in a proprietary interface of the network device.

18. The computer-program product of claim 17, wherein the meta-information includes the device specific interface object module.

19. The computer-program product of claim 17, wherein the meta-information includes a unique identifier for the network device, and further comprising instructions configured to cause the one or more data processors to:

transmit the unique identifier to a cloud server;

receive information identifying a type of the network device; and

determine the device specific interface object for the network device using the information identifying the type of the network device.

20. The computer-program product of claim 17, wherein determining the device specific interface object for the network device further comprises:

monitoring behavior characteristics of the network device;

determining a type of the network device based on the monitored behavior characteristics; and

determining the device specific interface object for the network device using the determined type of the network device.