Access, monitoring, and control of appliances via a media processing system
First Claim
1. A system supporting access and control of at least one home appliance at a first location from a remote second location, the system comprising:
- one or more circuits at the first location having media management capability to exchange media content among a plurality of devices selected to form a media exchange network for exchanging the media content and the one or more circuits to manage the at least one home appliance, wherein the one or more circuits are configured to communicate over a wired or wireless local area network with the at least one home appliance, the one or more circuits configured to, at least;
identify the at least one home appliance configured to communicate with the one or more circuits;
identify the plurality of devices of the media exchange network;
receive one or more commands from a remote device at the second location via a wired or wireless wide area network to control the at least one home appliance, wherein when the remote device is one of the plurality of devices of the media exchange network, the one or more commands are passed to the at least one home appliance and when the remote device is not one of the plurality of devices of the media exchange network, the one or more circuits to verify authorization of the one or more commands and to communicate with the at least one home appliance for the access and control of the at least one home appliance; and
enable control of the at least one home appliance from the remote device at the second location.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device and method for accessing, monitoring, and controlling home appliances in a media exchange network by establishing a communication link between a communication initiation device and at least one home appliance and communicating at least one command from the communication initiation device to the at least one home appliance via the communication link. The at least one home appliance then generates at least one response to the at least one command. The commands may include turning the home appliance(s) on and off, parameter adjustment commands, access commands, monitoring commands, mode change commands, and programming commands. Appliance responses may include powering on, powering off, changing a mode of operation, sending a status to the communication initiation device, adjusting an operational parameter, and changing a programmed operational step.
10 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system supporting access and control of at least one home appliance at a first location from a remote second location, the system comprising:
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one or more circuits at the first location having media management capability to exchange media content among a plurality of devices selected to form a media exchange network for exchanging the media content and the one or more circuits to manage the at least one home appliance, wherein the one or more circuits are configured to communicate over a wired or wireless local area network with the at least one home appliance, the one or more circuits configured to, at least; identify the at least one home appliance configured to communicate with the one or more circuits; identify the plurality of devices of the media exchange network; receive one or more commands from a remote device at the second location via a wired or wireless wide area network to control the at least one home appliance, wherein when the remote device is one of the plurality of devices of the media exchange network, the one or more commands are passed to the at least one home appliance and when the remote device is not one of the plurality of devices of the media exchange network, the one or more circuits to verify authorization of the one or more commands and to communicate with the at least one home appliance for the access and control of the at least one home appliance; and enable control of the at least one home appliance from the remote device at the second location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A television set at a first location having a media processing system to exchange media content and to manage a plurality of appliances coupled to a local area network comprising:
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a communication interface configured to communicate with a plurality of appliances over the local area network and to communicate over a wide area network to exchange media content among a plurality of devices selected to form a media exchange network for exchanging the media content and the communication interface to receive a command from a remote device at a second location to control one of the plurality of appliances; a processor, that provides processing for the media processing system of the television set and configured to operate with the communication interface to receive the command, is configured to identify the plurality of devices of the media exchange network and is configured to identify the plurality of appliances, wherein when the remote device is one of the plurality of devices of the media exchange network, the command is passed to the one home appliance and when the remote device is not one of the plurality of devices of the media exchange network, the processor is to verify authorization of the command and to communicate with the one home appliance for the access and control of the one home appliance from the remote device at the second location. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification