Device customized home network top-level information architecture

• US 9,137,034 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2009
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Humpleman, Richard, Wang, Dongyan
• Primary Examiner(s): Long, Andrea
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUYNH, LINDA TANG
• Application Number:
  US12/557,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20100070868A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,196 Days
• Field of Search: 571733-740, 571/700, 571/764, 571/853, 571/835, 345/326
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40117 Interconnection of audio or video/imaging devices home automation networks H04L12/2803; bitstream network arrangements specially adapted for distribution of digital video signals H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/18 Delegation of network management function, e.g. customer network management [CNM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method and system for generating a user interface in a plurality of multiple devices connected to the network system for controlling devices that are currently connected to a network. A network system includes a physical layer, wherein the physical layer provides a communication medium than can be used by devices to communicate with each other, and multiple devices connected to the physical layer, one or more of said multiple devices storing information including device information. A plurality of said multiple devices each including an agent adapted for (a) obtaining information from devices currently connected to the network, said information including device information; (b) generating a user interface description in each of said one or more devices based at least on the obtained information, the user interface description in each device including at least one reference associated with the device information of each of said devices currently connected to the network; and (c) displaying one or more user interfaces each based on one of said one or more user interface descriptions, on one or more devices connected to the network capable of displaying a user interface, for user control of said devices that are currently connected to the network.

Claims

1. A method for providing a user interface for controlling devices that are currently connected to a network, the method comprising:

displaying a user interface on one or more devices connected to the network capable of displaying a user interface, the user interface including at least one reference associated with each of said devices connected to the network for user selection of said one or more devices that are currently connected to the network; and

in response to selection of a reference associated with a device from the user interface, using the selected reference for communicating with the selected device over the network to access user interface information for the selected device and dynamically generating a web-based control page for display on a browser for user interaction with the selected device via the web-based control page using the accessed user interface information, wherein the accessed user interface information comprises graphical user interface information for generating a graphical user interface for the web-based control page,

wherein the web-based control page is generated based on the accessed user interface information from the selected device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said accessed user interface information for the selected device comprises an HTML page contained in that selected device for generating the user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the user interface comprises displaying the user interface on a browser on said one or more devices capable of displaying a user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

connecting at least one client device to the network capable of displaying a user interface; and

displaying a user interface on the client device for controlling server devices that are currently connected to the network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the accessed user interface information resides in each device, and further includes a user control interface description for user interaction with the device,

the method further comprising, upon detecting user selection of a device from the user interface, using the associated reference to access the selected device and obtain the user control interface description in the selected device, and then displaying the obtained user control interface description as the control page for user command and control of the selected device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the user interface such that the reference in that user interface provides access to at least the information for each associated device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the user interface such that the user interface further includes device data corresponding to each device based on the user interface information obtained from each device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessed user interface information in each device includes device identification information and device description information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessed user interface information in each device includes a user control interface description for user interaction with the device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

generating each user interface such that each reference in that user interface is linked to at least the user control interface description in each corresponding device; and

detecting user selection of a device from one of said user interfaces, and using a reference in the user interface to access the control interface description in the device and then display the control interface description as a control page for user command and control of the device.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating each user interface wherein that user interface further includes device data corresponding to each device based on the information obtained from each device, the device data providing reference to the user control interface description in each device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the control page comprises:

accessing said selected device in response to the selection of the reference associated with the selected device, and accessing the information contained in the selected device;

generating the control page including the device data corresponding to said selected device using the accessed user interface information contained in the selected device; and

displaying the control page on the one or more devices.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the web-based control page is generated by receiving the information for the selected device from the selected device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface for controlling the selected device is generated from the selected device without accessing a remote controlled device memory.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference associated with the selected application device provides each device with a choice of preferred user interface content, graphics format or change of user interface content without altering a user interface description page.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein communication of changes of the user interface description page is unnecessary.

17. A webpage-based network system for performing a service, comprising:

a physical layer including a communication medium used by devices to communicate with each other;

one or more devices connected to the physical layer, each of the one or more devices are configured to store information including device description information;

an agent process in each of the one or more devices that uses a computing device to;

obtain device description information from the one or more devices;

dynamically generate a webpage-based user interface utilizing the obtained device description information, wherein the obtained device description information comprises graphical user interface information for generating graphics for the webpage-based user interface, the webpage-based user interface including one or more references associated with the information in one or more of said devices for changing information included in the device description information;

display said user interface on one or more client devices connected to the network, each client device including a browser capable of displaying the webpage-based user interface, for user control of said one or more devices; and

in response to selection of a reference associated with a device from the webpage-based user interface via a browser, use the reference to access the selected device and access the information in the selected device to display a dynamically-generated control interface using the accessed information of the selected device for user interaction with the selected device,

wherein the control interface is generated using the information accessed from the selected device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said accessed information in each device comprises an HTML page contained in that device that is used for generating the control interface.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein each agent displays the user interface on a browser on said one or more devices capable of displaying a user interface.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising at least one client device connected to the network capable of displaying a user interface, wherein the one or more agents display a user interface on the client device, for controlling devices that are currently connected to the network.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the devices currently connected to the network is capable of displaying a user interface, and the one or more agents display a user interface on said at least one device, for controlling the devices that are currently connected to the network.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein each agent generates a user interface such that the reference in the generated user interface provides access to at least the information in each corresponding device.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein each agent generates a user interface such that the user interface further includes device data corresponding to each device based on the portion of information obtained from each device.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the accessed information in each device includes device identification information.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the accessed information is stored in non-volatile memory in each device and includes a user control interface description for user interaction with the device.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein each agent generates each user interface such that each reference in that user interface is linked to at least the user control interface description in each corresponding device, and upon detecting user selection of a device from one of said user interfaces, the agent uses a reference in the user interface of the selected device to access the control interface description in the selected device and then display the control interface description as a control interface for user command and control of the selected device.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein each agent generates a user interface that includes device data corresponding to each device based on the device description information obtained from each device, the device data providing reference to the user control interface description in each device.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein each agent displays the control interface by:

accessing said selected device in response to the selection of the reference associated with the selected device, and accessing the information contained in the selected device;

generating the control interface including the device data corresponding to said selected device using the accessed information contained in the selected device; and

displaying the control interface on one or more devices connected to the network capable of displaying a user interface.

29. A network system for performing a service, comprising:

a physical layer including a communication medium used by devices to communicate with each other;

multiple devices connected to the physical layer, said multiple devices are configured to store information including device information; and

an agent process that uses a computing device to;

(a) obtain device information for devices currently connected to the network from the devices;

(b) dynamically generate a webpage-based user interface based at least on the obtained device information, wherein obtained device information comprises graphical user interface information for generating graphics for the webpage-based user interface, and the user interface including one or more references associated with the information in one or more of said devices currently connected to the network, wherein said references are used for changing information included in the obtained device information;

(c) display said webpage-based user interface on one or more client devices connected to the network capable of displaying the webpage-based user interface, for user control of said devices that are currently connected to the network; and

(d) in response to selection of a reference associated with a device from the webpage-based user interface, use the selected reference for accessing information for the device from the device to display a webpage-based control interface on a web browser using the accessed information of the selected device for user interaction with the selected device,

wherein the control interface is generated based on the information accessed from the selected device.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein said accessed information in each device comprises an HTML page contained in non-volatile memory in that device.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein each agent displays a user interface on a browser on said one or more devices capable of displaying a user interface.

32. The system of claim 29, further comprising at least one client device connected to the network capable of displaying a user interface, wherein the one or more agents display a user interface on the client device, for controlling devices that are currently connected to the network.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein at least one of said devices currently connected to the network is capable of displaying a user interface, and the one or more agents display a user interface on said at least one device for controlling devices that are currently connected to the network.

34. The system of claim 29, wherein each agent generates a user interface such that the reference in the generated user interface provides access to at least the information in each corresponding device.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein each agent generates each user interface such that the user interface further includes device data corresponding to each device based on the information obtained from each device.

36. The system of claim 29, wherein the accessed information in each device includes device identification information.

37. The system of claim 29, wherein the accessed information in each device includes a user control interface description for user interaction with the device.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein each agent generates each user interface such that each reference in that user interface is linked to at least the user control interface description in each corresponding device, and upon detecting user selection of a device from one of said user interfaces, the agent uses a reference in the user interface of the selected device to access the control interface description in the selected device and then display the control interface description as a generated control interface for user command and control of the selected device.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein each agent generates each user interface wherein the generated user interface further includes device data corresponding to each device based on the information obtained from each device, the device data providing reference to the user control interface description in each device.

40. The system of claim 29, wherein each agent displays the control interface by:

accessing said selected device in response to the selection of the reference associated with the selected device, and accessing the information contained in the selected device

generating the control interface including the device data corresponding to said selected device using the accessed information contained in the selected device; and

displaying the control interface on one or more devices connected to the network capable of displaying a user interface.

41. A method for displaying a webpage-based user interface for controlling application devices that are currently connected to a network, comprising:

obtaining a first set of device information from the application devices;

dynamically generating a webpage-based user interface based at least on the obtained first set of device information, wherein the obtained first set of device information comprises graphical user interface information for generating the webpage-based user interface, the webpage-based user interface including one or more references associated with a second set of device information stored in one or more of said application devices;

displaying said webpage-based user interface on a web browser for user control of said application devices; and

in response to selection of a reference from the webpage-based user interface associated with an application device, displaying a control page on the web browser by accessing the selected application device over the network and accessing the second set of device information of said selected application device from said selected application device,

wherein the control interface is generated based on the first and second sets of information accessed from the selected device.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein displaying the control page comprises:

accessing said selected application device in response to the selection of the reference associated with the selected application device, and accessing the second set of device information contained in the selected device;

generating the control page using the accessed second set of device information contained in the selected device; and

displaying the control page on the web browser in a control device.