Intelligent gateway for heterogeneous peer-to-peer home automation networks

• US 8,086,757 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2010
• Issued: 12/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Michael Alan Chang
• Original Assignee: Michael Alan Chang
• Inventors: Chang, Michael Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): Hwang, Joon H
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE IV, THOMAS E
• Application Number:
  US12/730,042
• Publication Number:
  US 20110137436A1
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: 709/248, 700 1- 4, 700/11, 700 19- 20, 700/90, 700/286, 340 1231- 1232, 340/12.52, 370464-465, 370/479, 370/241, 370/252
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2836 Protocol conversion between an external network and a home network controlling appliance services of a home automation network from a device located outside the home and the home network H04L12/2818; protocol conversion H04L69/08; adaptation of digital video signals for transport over a specific home network H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless

Abstract

A solution for home automation management includes, at a network device configured to support multiple home automation technologies, receiving a message from a first home automation control device (HACD) managed by the network device, towards a second HACD managed by the network device. The network device translates the message to a form recognizable by the second HACD, and then sends the translated message towards the second HACD in accordance with home automation technology supported by the second HACD. According to one aspect, the solution may be extended to a network of multiple network devices configured to support multiple home automation technologies.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at a network device configured to support a plurality of home automation technologies, determining a presence of one or more home automation control devices (HACDs) in one or more peer-to-peer networks communicatively coupled to the network device, each of the HACDs configured as a peer device in one of the peer-to-peer networks, each of the HACDs further configured to negotiate with other HACDs to agree to a task to deliver an optimized performance based at least in part on a first energy savings goal of a HACD configured to control a first electrical appliance and a second energy savings goal of a second HACD configured to control a second electrical appliance, the optimized performance comprising an optimization in energy usage of the first electrical appliance or the second electrical appliance; and

determining a presence of one or more other network devices configured to support a plurality of home automation technologies; and

when the one or more other network devices are determined to be present, exchanging information with the one or more other network devices, the information comprising;

an identification of the one or more other network devices;

an identification of one or more home automation networks supported by the one or more other network devices; and

an identification of one or more HACDs in the one or more home automation networks supported by the one or more other network devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining communication with the one or more other network devices.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising mimicking an addressing scheme of each of the plurality of home automation technologies.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the network device comprises a memory for storing information comprising HACD state information.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of home automation technologies comprises two or more of:

Zigbee®

technology;

Insteon®

technology;

Echelon LONWORKS®

technology; and

Z-Wave®

technology.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the HACDs comprise a data store for storing status information regarding all peer devices in the peer-to-peer network including the HACD.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing a task to achieve the optimized performance.

8. A method comprising:

at a network device configured to support a plurality of home automation technologies, receiving a message sent from a first home automation control device (HACD) managed by the network device, towards a second HACD managed by the network device, the network device communicatively coupled to one or more peer-to-peer networks, each of the one or more peer-to-peer networks comprising one or more HACDs configured as a peer in one of the peer-to-peer networks, each of the HACDs further configured to negotiate with other HACDs to agree to a task to deliver an optimized performance based at least in part on a first energy savings goal of a HACD configured to control a first electrical appliance and a second energy savings goal of a second HACD configured to control a second electrical appliance, the optimized performance comprising an optimization in energy usage of the first electrical appliance or the second electrical appliance;

translating the message to a form recognizable by the second HACD; and

sending the translated message towards the second HACD in accordance with home automation technology supported by the second HACD.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising maintaining communication with the one or more other network devices.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising mimicking an addressing scheme of each of the plurality of home automation technologies.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the network device comprises a memory for storing information comprising HACD state information.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of home automation technologies comprises two or more of:

Zigbee®

technology;

Insteon®

technology;

Echelon LONWORKS®

technology; and

Z-Wave®

technology.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein each of the HACDs comprise a data store for storing status information regarding all peer devices in the peer-to-peer network including the HACD.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising executing a task to achieve the optimized performance.

15. A method comprising:

at a network device configured to support a plurality of home automation technologies, receiving a message sent from a first home automation control device (HACD) managed by the network device, towards a second HACD managed by a second network device configured to support a plurality of home automation technologies, the network device communicatively coupled to one or more peer-to-peer networks, each of the one or more peer-to-peer networks comprising one or more HACDs configured as a peer in one of the peer-to-peer networks, each of the HACDs further configured to negotiate with other HACDs to agree to a task to deliver an optimized performance based at least in part on a first energy savings goal of a HACD configured to control a first electrical appliance and a second energy savings goal of a second HACD configured to control a second electrical appliance, the optimized performance comprising an optimization in energy usage of the first electrical appliance or the second electrical appliance;

reformatting the message based at least in part on a protocol for communications between the first network device and the second network device; and

sending the reformatted message towards the second network device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising maintaining communication with the one or more other network devices.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising mimicking an addressing scheme of each of the plurality of home automation technologies.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the network device comprises a memory for storing information comprising HACD state information.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the plurality of home automation technologies comprises two or more of:

Zigbee®

technology;

Insteon®

technology;

Echelon LONWORKS®

technology; and

Z-Wave®

technology.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein each of the HACDs comprise a data store for storing status information regarding all peer devices in the peer-to-peer network including the HACD.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising executing a task to achieve the optimized performance.