WIRELESS ELECTRONIC DEVICE CONFIGURATION SYSTEM

• US 20140120901A1
• Filed: 10/28/2013
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Logical Concepts, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Logical Concepts, Inc.
• Inventors: Ward, Thomas Owen, Brown, David Lee
• Granted Patent: US 9,439,050 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/419
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A programmable electronic device includes a processor, a cellular transceiver module and a command interpreter module. The cellular transceiver module can be executable by the processor. The command interpreter module is in communication with the cellular transceiver module and is executable by the processor. The command interpreter module is configured to transmit and receive text messages via the cellular transceiver module. The command interpreter module is further configured to program and configure operation of the programmable electronic device from commands and content identified by the command interpreter module in the text messages. The text messages may be unstructured.

Claims

1. A programmable electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a cellular transceiver module executable by the processor; and

a command interpreter module executable by the processor and in communication with the cellular transceiver module, the command interpreter module configured to transmit and receive text messages via the cellular transceiver module, and

the command interpreter module further configured to program and configure operation of the programmable electronic device from commands and content identified by the command interpreter module in the text messages.

2. The programmable electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a memory, wherein the text messages comprise an unstructured format from which the command interpreter module is configured to identify a command comprising a character string as substantially matching a predetermined character string stored in the memory.

3. The programmable electronic device of claim 2, wherein the command interpreter module is further configured to parse the unstructured format of the remainder of the text messages other than the character string to identify content corresponding to the identified command.

4. The programmable electronic device of claim 3, wherein the command interpreter module is further configured to sequentially parse the remainder of the unstructured format of the text messages and identify the content by selective identification of a group of characters having similar characteristics.

5. The programmable electronic device of claim 4, wherein the command interpretation module is configured to ignore characters in the unstructured format having dissimilar characteristics from the group of characters having similar characteristics.

6. The programmable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the cellular transceiver comprises one of a first cellular transceiver for communication over a first wireless network, or a second cellular transceiver for communication over a second wireless network, the first wireless network being different from the first wireless network, and the processor is configured to determine that the first or the second cellular transceiver is present and automatically execute corresponding different communication related instructions that are compatible with the respective cellular transceiver determined as present.

7. The programmable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the text messages are configuration text messages, and the processor is configured to only enable configuration of the programmable electronic device with the configuration text messages in response to the programmable electronic device being in a programming mode that is different from an operational mode.

8. The programmable electronic device of claim 7, further comprising a user interface having a multi-function input configured to initiate a test of the programmable electronic device in response to receipt of a momentary signal on the multi-function input, and configured to initiate the programming mode in response to receipt of a continuous signal longer than a predetermined duration on the multi-function input.

9. The programmable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the command interpreter module is further configured to extract a parameter from the programmable electronic device in response to receipt of a text message requesting the parameter, and initiate transmission of the parameter in a response text message.

10. A programmable electronic device compromising:

a processor configured to control a command interpreter module, and at least one of a network adapter module or a cellular transceiver module;

a field input/output module in communication with the processor, the field input/output module configured to process a plurality of inputs and outputs of the programmable electronic device; and

the command interpreter module controlled by the processor to accept and execute text messages received wirelessly in an unstructured format by the cellular transceiver module, the command interpreter module further controlled by the processor to use the text messages to configure operation of the programmable electronic device or to configure operation of an external device via the field input/output module.

11. The programmable electronic device of claim 10, wherein the command interpreter module is further configured to convert the text message to a predetermined protocol compatible with the external device and communicate the converted text message to the external device via the field input/output module.

12. The programmable electronic device of claim 11, wherein the predetermined protocol of the converted text message comprises instructions to at least one of control, configure or program the external device.

13. The programmable electronic device of claim 10, wherein the text messages comprises a phone number configuration text message comprising a command and unstructured content, and the command interpreter module is configured to parse the command from the text message to identify the message as the phone number configuration text message, and is further configured to parse the unstructured content to identify a phone number included in the message.

14. The programmable electronic device of claim 13, wherein the command interpreter module is further configured to sequentially parse the unstructured content to identify and create a plurality of groups of numeric values included in the unstructured content, the numeric values located in any of a plurality of different character locations.

15. The programmable electronic device of claim 13, further comprising a memory in communication with the processor, and wherein the command includes an identifier of a storage location in the memory of the phone number.

16. A method of configuring operation of a programmable electronic device, the method comprising:

receiving with a cellular transceiver module a text message;

parsing the text message using a processor to identify a command included in a group of character locations at a beginning of the text message;

confirming, using the processor, that the command is valid;

identifying, using the processor, a next character location in the text message at an end of the identified command;

sequentially parsing, using the processor, an unstructured content of the text message in the next character location and a plurality of character locations included in the text message after the next character location;

identifying characters in the plurality of character locations with similar characteristics that correspond to the identified command using the processor; and

adjusting an operational configuration of the programmable electronic device, using the processor, based on execution of the identified command using the identified characters with similar characteristics.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying the command further comprises the step of substantially matching a character string extracted from the group of character locations with a predetermined character string stored in a memory included in the programmable electronic device.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying characters in the plurality of character locations comprises the step of grouping a predetermined number of characters identified as having the similar characteristics in a respective group.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein parsing the text message using a processor to identify a command further comprises the step of determining from the command an identifier of a storage location in the memory;

and identifying characters in the plurality of character locations comprises the step of combining a plurality of respective groups to form a phone number, and storing the phone number at the storage location indicated by the determine identifier.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising converting the text message to a format compatible with an external device based on the identified command using the identified characters, and transmitting the converted text message for receipt by the external device, the external device being separated away from the programmable electronic device.