System and Method for Automatic Configuration and Management of Home Network Devices

• US 20090132698A1
• Filed: 10/14/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pie Digital, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pie Digital, Inc.
• Inventors: Barnhill, John A. JR.
• Granted Patent: US 8,635,316 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

Embodiments of a method and system for automatically installing and managing consumer devices in a home network environment are described. A system implements automated configuration and maintenance of devices and their peripherals that connect to the home network, in particular the establishment of a distributed system that serves as a service platform which facilitates automated discovery and initial and ongoing deployment of a home networks and the devices that may interact with or connect to their network automatically or through manual means. An embodiment is directed to a distributed system and method for facilitated automatic configuration, maintenance, and diagnostics of a local area network that in parallel provides for the interoperability of connected intelligent independent computing devices using physical layer, network layer and application layer programmatic interfaces. This distributed system provides a generalized aggregated interface that is a programmatic resource for representing a continuous and historic reference of a local network and connected devices.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating management of a home network including consumer devices, comprising:

a service node including one or more communication links to a plurality of devices deployed in a home environment, wherein each of the plurality of devices executes a respective agent process that provides configuration information regarding the device to the service node, and wherein the configuration information is stored in a device registry;

a computing device coupled to the service node and executing a client-side process providing device support through the service node;

a data center coupled to the service node and configured to store device parameter information in the device registry, and to generate a network topology representing operational characteristics of the devices and interconnection information among the devices; and

an interface to one or more service providers providing device support information, the interface providing the network topology to facilitate servicing of a device based on the network context of the device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the plurality of devices is coupled to the service node through one or a wired connection or a wireless connection, and wherein the interconnection information comprises at least one of physical interconnection information and logical interconnection information.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the service node executes a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol to functionally connect the apparatus to the plurality of devices.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein each device of the plurality of devices is an active device that is capable of storing and executing software program, and wherein each of the plurality of devices is a consumer electronic device.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the data center includes at least one server executing an automatic configuration process for provisioning and maintaining the service node, and an operational support software process for maintaining programs executed by the plurality of devices, the data center further comprising a data store configured to store operational data related to the plurality of devices and the network topology.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the client-side process executed by the computing device coupled to the service node performs network configuration and management tasks for the plurality of devices, and provides a user interface for displaying network topography and related devices and services.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the management tasks include discovering devices in the network, adding new devices to the network, removing devices from the network, and monitoring the plurality of devices in the network.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the service node executes an agent emulation process that performs network configuration and management tasks, and wherein the management tasks include discovering devices in the network, adding new devices to the network, removing devices from the network, and monitoring the plurality of devices in the network.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more service providers each maintain a computer platform configured to couple to the data center over a network, and which provides a virtual connection to the service node.

10. An apparatus for facilitating the management of devices within a home network comprising:

a plurality of device drivers, each device driver configured for integrated operation of a respective device of a plurality of devices within the home;

a registry data structure storing operating parameters for each device of the plurality of devices, the registry data structure used to generate a network topology representing operational characteristics of the devices and interconnection information among the devices;

a plurality of transmission modules, each transmission module configured to communication with a device of the plurality of devices using a corresponding transmission protocol;

a graphical user interface process for controlling the display of device parameters to a user; and

a kernel process coordinating processing tasks within the apparatus.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the kernel process comprises a Linux operating system kernel.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the kernel process executes a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol to functionally connect the apparatus to the plurality of devices.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the transmission protocol is selected from the group consisting of:

simple network management protocol (SNMP), secure hypertext transport protocol (HTTPS), DOCSIS 3.0, TR64, and TR69.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:

one or more physical ports for receiving a direct wire coupling for devices of the plurality of devices that are coupled through a wired link; and

a wireless transceiver for communicating with devices of the plurality of devices that are coupled through a wireless link.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising a housing including:

a display screen for displaying the output of the graphical user interface process,

a plurality of control buttons for receiving user input; and

a universal serial bus (USB) port for accommodating a USB flash memory device storing one or more parameters associated with the plurality of devices.

16. A method of facilitating the configuration and management of devices for use in a home network consisting of a plurality of consumer electronic devices coupled to a service node, the method comprising:

executing a discovery routine to discover compatible devices of the plurality of devices in the network;

performing a search of devices in a database stored in a data center for devices in the network that are not compatible;

loading an agent process into each device of the discovered compatible devices for local execution on the respective device, the agent process communicating with the service to provide operational data relating to the respective device, and wherein the agent provides fail-over for critical communication and service systems of the service node and proxy communication to a data center;

storing device parameters of discovered compatible devices in a registry;

determining logical and physical interconnections among the plurality of devices in the network; and

generating a network topography comprising the registry data and the logical and physical interconnection data.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein each device of the plurality of devices is coupled to the service node through one of a wired link or a wireless link.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein compatible devices conform to one of the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol, UDP, TCP-IP, Zero-conf, HTTP, or HTTPS.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the agent process is configured to interact with a control process executed on the service node to allow management of the respective device by the service node, wherein management includes monitoring the respective device, detecting problems, performing device troubleshooting, removing the respective device, and updating the respective device.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising interfacing with at least one service provider, the interface providing the network topology to facilitate servicing of a device based on the network context of the device.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the at least one service provider provides configuration and operational data related to the respective device.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising displaying operational information related to the network through a graphical user interface on the service node.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising displaying operational information related to the network through a graphical user interface on a computer coupled to the service node, the computer executing a client-side process configured to provide configuration and management processes for management of the plurality of devices.

24. The method of claim 16 further comprising interfacing the service node to the data center over a network, the data center including at least one server executing an automatic configuration process for provisioning and maintaining the service node, and an operational support software process for maintaining programs executed by the plurality of devices, the data center further comprising a data store configured to store operational data related to the plurality of devices.