Home appliance control system and methods in a networked environment

• US 20050096753A1
• Filed: 11/01/2004
• Published: 05/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Universal Electronics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Universal Electronics, Inc.
• Inventors: Arling, Paul D., Hayes, Patrick H., Yuh, Allen, Scott, Wayne, Chambers, Christopher, Lilleness, Robert, Dresti, Mauro, Black, Jeremy
• Granted Patent: US 7,136,709 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/11
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2805 Home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] networks
• 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

Abstract

A home control and automation system and method. The system generally includes one or more wireless remote controls, a plurality of appliances (including network enabled appliances and traditional legacy appliances in the exemplary system), associated control centric devices, and associated content centric devices. Various methods for control and operation of appliances in the networked home control and automation environment are disclosed. Specifically, methods are disclosed which enable advanced home control features such as location based control setup and operation, network enabled legacy appliances and system integration, save and recall capabilities for appliance and media states, generic command based appliance controls, dynamic/complex macro command generation, and Internet based control capabilities from remote locations are disclosed in conjunction with the system of the current invention.

Claims

1. In a controlling device adapted to control the operation of a controllable device, a method for normalizing command input, comprising:

receiving command input to have the controlling device perform an operation;

matching the command input to a generic action descriptor corresponding to the command input using a database of predefined action descriptors and an associated command input decoding engine accessible to the controlling device, whereby the generic action descriptor causes the controlling device to perform the operation.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the operation causes the controlling device to command the operation of the controllable device.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the operation causes the controlling device to transmit a command code to the controllable device using a wireless transmission protocol.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the operation causes the controlling device to transmit a command code to the controllable device using an infrared transmission protocol.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the controlling device is further adapted to monitor the state of the controllable device such that current state information related to the controllable device is accessible to the controlling device.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the controlling device uses both the generic action descriptor and current state information to cause the controlling device to perform the operation.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the command input is initiated by a computing device.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the command input is at least one of a predefined, scheduled, or algorithm based computing device operation.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the command input is initiated by a user.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the command input is at least one of an auditory, visual, or tactile based user action.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the auditory command input is a verbal cue spoken by the user.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the visual command input is a gestured cue made by the user.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the tactile command input is a key press entered by the user.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the command input decoding engine comprises a set of machine readable instructions adapted to discern from among a plurality of command input types.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein matching the corresponding generic action descriptor with the command input includes selecting from among a plurality of generic action descriptors to determine a single generic action descriptor that corresponds most closely with the command input.

22. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the controlling device is taught to recognize a command received from another controlling device as being the generic action descriptor.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the command received from the another controlling device is normally transmittable to cause a predefined operation to be performed by a predefined appliance.

16. A network enabled control system comprising:

a legacy appliance;

a network ennoblement device operatively coupled with the legacy appliance such that command and media information may be transferred between the legacy appliance and a control network; and

a controlling device for communicating with the legacy appliance via the network ennoblement device in order to transmit command data for effecting the output of media information by the legacy appliance.

17. In a networked control environment having a plurality of controllable devices and a central control server in communication with the controllable devices, a method for commanding a desired operation of a controllable device via a controlling device using a generic command, comprising:

providing a generic command set accessible to the central control server and controllable device, wherein the generic command set includes at least one general function command available by a plurality of controllable devices;

monitoring the networked control environment by the central control server such that information relating to the current state of controllable devices is available for use in control operations;

receiving by the central control server a general function command from the controlling device intended for bringing about a desired operation of at least one controllable device; and

in connection with the receiving event, the central control server using both the received general function command and information relating to the current state of the controllable devices in order to bring about the desired controllable device operation.

20. The networked control environment as recited in claim 17, wherein the generic command set is learned from a controlling device.

21. The networked control environment as recited in claim 20, wherein the controlling device comprises a remote control.

18. A method for modifying a command sent by a controlling device to a controllable device, comprising:

providing preset command data available to the controlling device for commanding operation of the controllable device, wherein the command data includes at least one variable component;

monitoring the controllable device such that information relating to the current state of the controllable device is available for use in control operations by the controlling device, and wherein at least a portion of the information relating to the current state of the controllable devices corresponds to the variable component;

receiving by the controlling device a request to send command data intended for bringing about a desired operation of the controllable device; and

in connection with the receiving event, the controlling device using both the received request to send command data and portion of information relating to the current state of the controllable device which corresponds to the variable component in order to generated modified command data to bring about a desired operation of at least one controllable device.

19. A method for transmitting command data by a controlling device from a remote location to a controllable device in a desired control environment having an associated network address, comprising;

registering the associated network address by the control environment to a centralized command routing system such that the address is able to be matched by the centralized command routing system to an address request received from the controlling device; and

sending an address request for the control environment by the controlling device to the centralized command routing system from a remote location, a portion of the address request including embedded command data, whereby the embedded command data is automatically sent via the network to the control environment upon matching by the centralized command routing system of the address request and network address in order to control operation of the controllable device.