Gateway Device Application Development System

• US 20120278454A1
• Filed: 04/19/2012
• Published: 11/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acumera, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Acumera, Inc.
• Inventors: Stewart, Brett B., Heinen, Dirk D., Baxter, Margo a.
• Granted Patent: US 10,187,494 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

Configuring and managing gateway devices. A gateway device may be installed at a location, such as a merchant location or home. The gateway device may manage (e.g., monitor and/or control) one or more devices at the location. For example, the gateway device may manage various fuel tank devices, point of sale devices, refrigeration devices, liquid dispensing devices, etc., at a convenience store. The gateway device may provide reported information to and receive commands from a cloud server, which may be in communication with other devices which may be used to view reported information of or control the managed devices. The cloud server may also be configured to install applications, e.g., for execution by the cloud server, the gateway device, and/or other devices. For example, the gateway device may install applications provided by the cloud server to manage the devices coupled to the gateway device.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable memory medium comprising program instructions for automatically configuring a gateway device, wherein the program instructions are executable to:

detect a gateway device that is deployed at a location;

receive an indication of a plurality of premise devices coupled to the gateway device at the location;

automatically determine a plurality of applications to be deployed on the gateway device, wherein said automatically determining is based on the indication of the plurality of premise devices coupled to the gateway device;

provide the plurality of applications to the gateway device over a wide area network, wherein the gateway device is configured to execute the plurality of applications, wherein at least one of the applications is executable by the gateway device to manage a first premise device of the plurality of devices at the location.

2. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 1, wherein the indication of the plurality of premise devices comprises identification information of each premise device coupled to the gateway device.

3. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 2, wherein the identification information identifies a type of each premise device.

4. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 2, wherein the identification information identifies a model of each premise device.

5. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 1, wherein the identification information identifies a serial number of each premise device.

6. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 1, wherein the indication comprises identification information of the first premise device coupled to the gateway device, wherein said automatically determining the plurality of applications comprises determining the at least one of the applications for managing the first premise device coupled to the gateway device using the identification information of the first premise device.

7. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 1, wherein the indication comprises identification information for each of the plurality of premise devices, wherein said automatically determining the plurality of applications comprises determining one or more applications associated with each identification information.

8. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 1, wherein at least a subset of the applications are designed for distributed execution by the gateway device and a server, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

automatically install the at least a subset of the applications on the server.

9. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 8, wherein the program instructions are executed by a cloud server, wherein said automatically installing the at least a subset of the applications is performed on the cloud server.

10. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 1, wherein the gateway device is configured to execute a first application of the at least one of the applications to control the first premise device at the location.

11. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 1, wherein the gateway device is a merchant gateway device of a merchant located at a merchant location.

12. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 11, wherein the merchant is a convenience store.

13. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 1, wherein the gateway device is located at a home of a user, wherein the plurality of premise devices are located in the home of the user.

14. A method for automatically configuring a gateway device, comprising:

at least one computer system detecting a gateway device that is deployed at a location;

the at least one computer system receiving an indication of a plurality of premise devices coupled to the gateway device at the location;

the at least one computer system automatically determining a plurality of applications to be deployed on the gateway device, wherein said automatically determining is based on the indication of the plurality of premise devices coupled to the gateway device;

the at least one computer system providing the plurality of applications to the gateway device over a wide area network, wherein the gateway device is configured to execute the plurality of applications, wherein at least one of the applications is executable by the gateway device to manage a first premise device of the plurality of devices at the location.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the indication of the plurality of premise devices comprises identification information of each premise device coupled to the gateway device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the indication comprises identification information of the first premise device coupled to the gateway device, wherein said automatically determining the plurality of applications comprises determining the at least one of the applications for managing the first premise device coupled to the gateway device using the identification information of the first premise device.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein at least a subset of the applications are designed for distributed execution by the gateway device and the at least one computer system, wherein the method further comprises:

the at least one computer system automatically installing the at least a subset of the applications.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the gateway device is a merchant gateway device of a merchant located at a merchant location.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the merchant is a convenience store.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the gateway device is located at a home of a user, wherein the plurality of premise devices are located in the home of the user.

21. A non-transitory computer readable memory medium comprising program instructions for automatically configuring a gateway device at a location, wherein the program instructions are executable to:

determine a plurality of premise devices coupled to the gateway device at the location;

provide an indication of the plurality of premise devices to a server over a wide area network;

receive a plurality of applications from the server over the wide area network, wherein the plurality of applications are automatically determined based on the provided indication;

execute the plurality of application programs, wherein a first application is executable to manage a first premise device of the plurality of premise devices at the location.

22. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 21, wherein said determining the plurality of premise devices is performed automatically by the gateway device without receiving user input specifying the plurality of devices.

23. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 21, wherein said determining the plurality of premise devices comprises receiving user input identifying a premise device of the plurality of premise devices.

24. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 21, wherein the indication of the plurality of premise devices comprises identification information of each premise device coupled to the gateway device.

25. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 24, wherein the identification information identifies a type of each premise device.

26. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 24, wherein the identification information identifies a model of each premise device.

27. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 24, wherein the identification information identifies a serial number of each premise device.

28. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 21, wherein the indication comprises identification information of the first premise device coupled to the gateway device, wherein the first application is automatically determined by the server for managing the first premise device coupled to the gateway device using the identification information of the first premise device.

29. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 21, wherein at least a subset of the applications are designed for distributed execution by the gateway device and the server, wherein the at least a subset of the applications are also executed by the server.

30. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 21, wherein the gateway device is a merchant gateway device of a merchant located at a merchant location.

31. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 30, wherein the merchant is a convenience store.

32. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 21, wherein the gateway device is located at a home of a user, wherein the plurality of premise devices are located in the home of the user.

33. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

upon establishing a network connection to the wide area network, automatically provide a message to the server.

34. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 34, wherein the message comprises identification information of the gateway device.

35. A method for automatically configuring a gateway device at a location, comprising:

determining a plurality of premise devices coupled to the gateway device at the location;

providing an indication of the plurality of premise devices to a server over a wide area network;

receiving a plurality of applications from the server over the wide area network, wherein the plurality of applications are automatically determined based on the provided indication;

executing the plurality of application programs, wherein a first application is executable to manage a first premise device of the plurality of premise devices at the location.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said determining the plurality of premise devices is performed automatically by the gateway device without receiving user input specifying the plurality of devices.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein said determining the plurality of premise devices comprises receiving user input identifying a premise device of the plurality of premise devices.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein the indication of the plurality of premise devices comprises identification information of each premise device coupled to the gateway device.

39. The method of claim 35, wherein at least a subset of the applications are designed for distributed execution by the gateway device and the server, wherein the at least a subset of the applications are also executed by the server.

40. The method of claim 35, wherein the gateway device is a merchant gateway device of a merchant located at a merchant location.

41. The method of claim 35, wherein the gateway device is located at a home of a user, wherein the plurality of premise devices are located in the home of the user.

42. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

upon establishing a network connection to the wide area network, automatically providing a message to the server.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the message comprises identification information of the gateway device.

44. A gateway device, comprising:

a first one or more interfaces for communicating with a plurality of premise devices collocated with the gateway device;

a second one or more interfaces for communicating with a server over a wide area network (WAN);

one or more processors;

one or more memory mediums coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the one or more memory mediums are configured to store applications that are executable by the one or more processors to manage the plurality of premise devices;

wherein the gateway device is configured to;

detect the plurality of premise devices collocated with the gateway device;

provide an indication of the plurality of premise devices to a server over the WAN;

receive a plurality of applications from the server over the WAN, wherein the plurality of applications are automatically determined based on the provided indication;

store the plurality of applications in the one or more memory mediums based on said receiving; and

execute the plurality of application programs to manage at least a subset of the plurality of premise devices.

45. The gateway device of claim 44, further comprising:

a modem coupled to the second one or more interfaces, wherein the modem is configured to provide communication capabilities over the WAN.

46. The gateway device of claim 44, wherein the first one or more interfaces comprise one or more of:

one or more local area network interfaces;

one or more serial interfaces;

or

a wireless local area network interface.

47. The gateway device of claim 44, further comprising:

a router, wherein the router is configured to provide a local area network (LAN) for the plurality of premise devices.