SYSTEM, DEVICE, AND APPARATUS FOR COORDINATING ENVIRONMENTS USING NETWORK DEVICES AND REMOTE SENSORY INFORMATION

• US 20150195099A1
• Filed: 01/06/2015
• Published: 07/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Allure Energy Incorporated
• Inventors: Imes, Kevin R., Hollister, James, Cottrell, John
• Granted Patent: US 10,135,628 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

According to an aspect of the disclosure, a system, device and apparatus for coordinating environments using networked devises and remote sensory based information is provided. The system can include an intelligent remote sensor configured to communicate sensory-based information to a network device and a mobile device. The system also includes an environment coordinator configured to communicate with the intelligent remote sensor to initiate coordinating operating conditions of the network device at a site.

Claims

1. An intelligent remote sensor enabled apparatus comprising:

a wireless communication device configured to communicate with a mobile device and an environment coordinator located at a site;

an operating condition selector capable of enabling a manual selection of an operating condition of a network connected device at the site;

a processor configured to;

process a selection of the operating condition selector to enable activation of a setting of the network connected device;

detect a connection of the mobile device to the wireless communication device;

initiate communication of setting information to the environment coordinator to alter the operating condition of the network connected device; and

a memory configured to store the setting information used by the processor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a sensor module configured to sense at least one operating condition within an environment at the site.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising the sensor module configured to provide one or more of the following:

temperature sensing;

humidity sensing;

network availability sensing;

connected device sensing;

power management sensing;

proximity sensing;

network device sensing;

distance sensing;

motion sensing;

sound sensing;

light sensing; and

airflow sensing.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising a near field communication (NFC) device configured to:

output authentication data to the mobile device to join the mobile device when the mobile device is placed near the NFC device; and

output sensory-based information including status information of the environment.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the environment coordinator is deployed within the network device.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a proximity sensing module configured to alter transmission of a wireless communication of the communication device based on a presence or absence of a user.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a proximity sensing module configured to alter a sleep state and an awake state based on a proximity based input and a time interval.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the processor is configured to use one or more of:

a Bluetooth LE device to transmit sensory-based information when in an awake state;

a power management module configured to initiate a reduction in power consumption when a user is away or home by altering an operating mode of the Bluetooth LE device;

wherein the time interval can include a variable time interval to initiate the wakeup and sleep states.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is further configured to initiate communication with an iOS-based operating system device using an iBeacon protocol and to initiate a communication with an Android-based operating system device using Bluetooth LE protocol upon detection of either iOS.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising the communication device configured to transmit sensory-based information formatted to be displayed on a GUI of a mobile device.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a touch button for enabling and disabling one or more network device including:

a lighting device;

a temperature device;

a speaker device;

a camera device;

a door lock; and

a additional network device.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a touch button to lock and unlock manual, non-proximity based detection.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising processor configured to be used with the mobile device to activate and deactivate use of sensory-based information to alter operating the network connected device based on the mobile device connecting to the communication device.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the touch button is configured to initiate the processor to group the network connected devices and further to enable and disable use when activated or deactivated by the manual lock and unlock button.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a first color material covering a portion of a housing; and

wherein the communication device communicates information identifying the first color material, the information receivable by the mobile device to display the first color on a display of the mobile device that resembles the first color material.

16. A system comprising:

an intelligent remote sensor configured to communicate sensory based information to a network device and a mobile device;

an environment coordinator configured to communicate with the intelligent remote sensor to initiate coordinating operating conditions of the network device at a site; and

a mobile application configured to be deployed on the mobile device and communicate with the intelligent remote sensor to automatically alter an operating condition of the network device when the mobile device is within a specific region of the site.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

wherein the intelligent remote sensor includes a first external color;

a second intelligent remote sensor including a second external color that is different from the first external color; and

the mobile application configured detect color information transmitted from each of the intelligent remote sensors to display each of the first and second intelligent remote sensors by their respective colors.

18. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

wherein the intelligent remote sensor further includes;

a Bluetooth enabled communication device configured to transmit information to the mobile device and detect a presence of the mobile device within a predefined distance of the intelligent remote sensor;

a near field communication device configured to detect the mobile device located near a housing of the intelligent remote sensor;

wherein the environment coordinator further includes;

a Bluetooth enabled communication device configured to receive sensory based information transmitted from the intelligent remote sensor;

a Wifi enabled communication device configured to receive the sensory based information communicated from the mobile device.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the environment coordinator is configured to:

identify settings information received from either of the mobile device or the intelligent remote sensor;

alter operating conditions of the network device based on settings information established at either; and

process sensor based information detected at the intelligent remote sensor.

20. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

communication means for communicating information between the mobile device and the intelligent remote sensor;

processing means for determining an operating condition; and

power supply means for managing power consumption of the intelligent remote sensor in response to a presence at the site.

21. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

wherein the intelligent remote sensor includes;

a Bluetooth enabled device configured to communicate with a Bluetooth enabled network device and the mobile device using a Bluetooth communication protocol;

a Zigbee enabled device configured to communicate with a Zigbee enabled network device using a Zigbee communication protocol;

a Z-Wave device configure to communicate with a Z-Wave enabled network device using a Z-Wave communication protocol;

a Bluetooth communication with the mobile device that includes a communication tunnel configured to communicate a Zigbee enabled message and a Z-Wave enabled message to the mobile application;

wherein the mobile application is configured to process the Zigbee enabled message the Z-Wave enabled message into a different format to be used by the mobile application.