AUTOMATIC-CONFIGURATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ADDING DEVICES TO APPLICATION SYSTEMS

• US 20090232020A1
• Filed: 03/11/2008
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Aaron Baalbergen, Demian Martin
• Original Assignee: Aaron Baalbergen, Demian Martin
• Inventors: Martin, Demian, Baalbergen, Aaron
• Application Number:
  US12/046,382
• Publication Number:
  US 20090232020A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• 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 12/2814 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 12/2821 Avoiding conflicts related to the use of home appliances cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; protocols for network security H04L63/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5061 Pools of addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/085 specially adapted for interworking of IP-based networks with other networks

Abstract

A method for adding a device to an application system is disclosed. The method may include associating a set of Media Access Control address ranges with a set of device providers. The method may also include obtaining a Media Access Control address associated with the device. The method may also include determining a provider of the device if the Media Access Control address is within a Media Access Control address range in the set of Media Access Control address ranges, wherein the provider of the device is associated with the Media Access Control address range.

Claims

1. A method for adding a device to an application system, the method comprising:

associating a set of Media Access Control address ranges with a set of device providers;

obtaining a Media Access Control address associated with the device; and

determining a provider of the device if the Media Access Control address is within a Media Access Control address range in the set of Media Access Control address ranges, wherein the provider of the device is associated with the Media Access Control address range.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing an Internet search for the associating.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtaining and the determining are automatically performed without responding to a user command.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

monitoring a network associated with the application system for broadcast packets; and

receiving a broadcast packet from the device, the broadcast packet containing the Media Access Control address.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the provider of the device based on the first three bytes of the Media Access Control address.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a product type of the device based on at least one of the fourth byte, the fifth byte, and the sixth byte of the Media Access Control Address.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the Media Access Control address and a configuration data database to determine whether the device is already in the application system.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically, without responding to a user command, running one or more detection scripts to retrieve additional information concerning the device.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically, without responding to a user command, using at least one of the Media Access Control address and information concerning the provider of the device to retrieve additional information concerning the device.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising automatically, without responding to any user command, adding the additional information concerning the device to a configuration data database associated with the application system.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising automatically, without responding to any user command, running a configuration script to set up the device using the additional information concerning the device.

12. A configuration system for adding a device to an application system, the configuration system comprising:

a Media Access Control address database configured to store association information pertaining to association between a set of Media Access Control address ranges and a set of device providers;

a configuration unit configured to obtain a Media Access Control address associated with the device, the configuration unit further configured to determine a provider of the device if the Media Access Control address is within a Media Access Control address range in the set of Media Access Control address ranges, the provider of the device associated with the Media Access Control address range.

13. The configuration system of claim 12 wherein the configuration unit is configured to automatically, without responding to a user command, determine the provider of the device after the device has been coupled to the application system.

14. The configuration system of claim 12 wherein the configuration unit is further configured to monitoring a network associated with the application system for broadcast packets and to

receive a broadcast packet from the device, the broadcast packet containing the Media Access Control address.

15. The configuration system of claim 12 wherein the configuration unit represents a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server.

16. The configuration system of claim 12 wherein the configuration unit is further configured to determine the provider of the device based on the first three bytes of the Media Access Control address, and the configuration unit is further configured to determine a product type of the device based on at least one of the fourth byte, the fifth byte, and the sixth byte of the Media Access Control Address.

17. The configuration system of claim 12 wherein the configuration unit is further configured to automatically, without responding to a user command, use the Media Access Control address and a configuration data database to determine whether the device is already in the application system.

18. The configuration system of claim 12 wherein the configuration unit is further configured to automatically, without responding to a user command, use at least one of the Media Access Control address and information concerning the provider of the device to retrieve additional information concerning the device.

19. The configuration system of claim 18 wherein the configuration unit is further configured to automatically, without responding to any user command, add the additional information concerning the device to a configuration data database associated with the application system.

20. The configuration system of claim 18 further comprising a configuration script database configured to store pre-written configuration scripts for various devices, wherein the configuration unit is further configured to automatically, without responding to any user command, run a configuration script retrieved from the configuration script database to set up the device using the additional information concerning the device.