System and methods for home appliance identification and control in a networked environment

• US 20050159823A1
• Filed: 01/31/2005
• Published: 07/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Universal Electronics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Universal Electronics, Inc.
• Inventors: Hayes, Patrick H., Black, Jeremy
• Granted Patent: US 7,155,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/19
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/28 using pulse code
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/20 Binding and programming of remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/21 Programming remote control devices via third means
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/33 Remote control using macros, scripts
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/41 Remote control of gateways
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/91 Remote control based on location and proximity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2805 Home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] networks
• 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 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• 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 12/282 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 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping

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. A method for setting up a system device to command operations of an appliance, the method comprising:

reading data from an RFID tag associated with the appliance, the RFID data functioning to identify the appliance; and

disseminating the data read from the RFID tag to at least one command centric device in a network, wherein the command centric device uses the data read from the RFID tag to configure itself to command operations of the appliance.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, comprising causing the at least one command centric device to access a network to retrieve commands to command operations of the appliance.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, comprising causing the at least one command centric device to access its local memory to select commands to command operations of the appliance.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein data is read from the RFID tag as the appliance enters an environment.

5. A method for setting up a system device to command operations of an appliance, the method comprising:

reading with a device data from an RFID tag associated with the appliance, the RFID data functioning to identify the appliance;

using the data read from the RFID tag at the device to retrieve commands to command operations of the appliance; and

disseminating the commands from the device to at least one command centric device via a network, wherein the command centric device configures itself to use the commands to command operations of the appliance.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, comprising causing the device to access a network to retrieve the commands to command operations of the appliance.

7. The method as recited in claim 5, comprising causing the device to access its local memory to select the commands to command operations of the appliance.

8. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the device read data from the RFID tag as the appliance enters an environment.

9. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the device communicates generic commands to the command centric device and the command centric device uses the generic commands to select corresponding ones of the commands to command operations of the appliance.

10. A method for routing communications between a controlling device and a controllable device in a control environment, comprising;

using data read from an RFID tag associated with the controllable device to determine the presence of the controllable device within the control environment;

associating in a centralized command routing system a network address within the control environment with the controllable appliance; and

using the network address to route messages received at the centralized command routing system from the controlling device to the controllable device.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the data is read from the RFID tag when the appliance enters and exits the control environment.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the controllable appliance is a legacy device and messages are routed by the centralized command routing system to a device adapted to communicate with the legacy device.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the controlling device comprises a remote control.

14. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein data read from the RFID tag associated with the controllable device is used to dynamically update macros used to command plural operations of one or more controllable devices within the control environment.

15. A method for providing location data for a portable device within an environment to a controlling device, the method comprising:

providing a database accessible to the controlling device containing unique location information for a plurality of RFID reader devices within the environment;

reading data from an RFID tag associated with the portable device by at least one RFID reader device, the RFID data functioning to indicate the proximity of the portable device to the RFID reader device; and

matching the data read by the RFID reader device to the database containing unique location information in order to provide location data for the portable device to the controlling device.

16. The method recited in claim 15, wherein the data is read from the RFID tag only when the portable device comes within an operative proximity to a particular RFID reader device within the environment.

17. The method recited in claim 16, wherein the operative proximity is a user adjustable setting of the RFID reader device.

18. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the portable device is a portable controlling device.

19. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the location data is used to configure a setting of the controlling device.

20. A method for providing user specified data to a portable device within an environment, the method comprising;

providing a plurality of user locatable RFID tags within the environment;

associating each user locatable RFID tag with user specified data in a database accessible to the portable device;

reading data from an RFID tag located within the environment by the portable device when the portable device is within an operative proximity to the RFID tag; and

matching the RFID data read by the portable device to the database containing user specified data in order to provide the user specified data to the portable device.

21. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the user specified data is location data.

22. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the operative proximity is a user adjustable setting of the portable device.