Access, Monitoring, and Control of Appliances Via a Media Processing System
First Claim
1. One or more circuits for use in a set top box, the one or more circuits comprising:
- at least one processor operationally coupled to an interface for communicating with a wired or wireless local area network, at a first location;
an interface for receiving commands sent via a wired or wireless wide area network to the first location from a remote second location; and
wherein the at least one processor passes the received commands to at least one home appliance at the first location to allow at least access and control of the at least one home appliance.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device and method for accessing, monitoring, and controlling home appliances in a media exchange network by establishing a communication link between a communication initiation device and at least one home appliance and communicating at least one command from the communication initiation device to the at least one home appliance via the communication link. The at least one home appliance then generates at least one response to the at least one command. The commands may include turning the home appliance(s) on and off, parameter adjustment commands, access commands, monitoring commands, mode change commands, and programming commands. Appliance responses may include powering on, powering off, changing a mode of operation, sending a status to the communication initiation device, adjusting an operational parameter, and changing a programmed operational step.
45 Citations
42 Claims
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1. One or more circuits for use in a set top box, the one or more circuits comprising:
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at least one processor operationally coupled to an interface for communicating with a wired or wireless local area network, at a first location;
an interface for receiving commands sent via a wired or wireless wide area network to the first location from a remote second location; and
wherein the at least one processor passes the received commands to at least one home appliance at the first location to allow at least access and control of the at least one home appliance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 19)
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12. A method of operating a set top box device to provide at least remote access and control of appliances, the method comprising:
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identifying by the set top box device, at a first location, at least one home appliance communicatively coupled to the set top box device;
establishing a communication link between the set top box device and the at least one home appliance via a local area network;
receiving, by the set top box device at the first location from a remote second location via a wide area network, at least one command for passage to the at least one home appliance;
verifying authorization for passage of the at least one command from the second location to the at least one home appliance;
communicating the at least one command to the at least one home appliance via the local area network, if the verifying is successful;
refraining from communicating the at least one command to the at least one home appliance via the local area network, if the verifying is not successful; and
receiving by the set top box device, at the first location, at least one response from the at least one home appliance, if a command was communicated. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A computer-readable storage comprising one or more code sections executable by a processor to perform a method enabling a set top box device to at least access and control one or more home appliances from a location remote from the set top box device, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a first location from a remote second location via a broadband network, one or more commands for the one or more home appliances;
passing to the one or more home appliances via a local area network, only authorized commands of the one or more commands;
receiving, from the one or more home appliances, result information for passed commands; and
sending the result information to the second location. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. One or more circuits for use in a set top box, the one or more circuits comprising:
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at least one processor at a first location; and
at least one interface operationally coupled to the at least one processor, for;
receiving one or more commands sent via a wired or wireless wide area network to the first location from a remote second location;
passing to one or more home appliances, via a wired or wireless local area network, only authorized commands of the one or more commands;
receiving, from the one or more home appliances via the wired or wireless local area network, result information for passed commands; and
sending the result information or an indication of the result information to the second location via the wired or wireless wide area network. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification