Multi-services gateway device at user premises

• US 9,253,150 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2015
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tyson King
• Original Assignee: Prodea Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Ansari, Amir, Cowgill, George A., Nicholls, Leon E., Ramayya, Jude P., Masina, Ramprakash, McQuarters, Alvin R., Raissyan, Atousa, Clavenna, Robert A. II
• Primary Examiner(s): LI, GUANG W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Combs, Joe
• Application Number:
  US14/633,449
• Publication Number:
  US 20150237008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 340 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/64 Browsing; Visualisation therefor generation of a list or set of audio data G06F16/638
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19656 Network used to communicate with a camera, e.g. WAN, LAN, Internet
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• 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 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/80 : Actions related to the user profile or the type of traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 : based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 : Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 : Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 : for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 : for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 : based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 : for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 : for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/102 : Gateways arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways, H04L12/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 : Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1108 : Web based protocols, e.g. webRTC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 : Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 : using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/325 : in the network layer [OSI layer 3], e.g. X.25 H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/00 : Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 ; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/40 : Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 : for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/00 : Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 : of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/0431 : Key distribution or pre-distribution; Key agreement
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 : Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 : Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/911 : Bridge, e.g. brouter, bus extender

Abstract

An application gateway including application service programming logically positioned on a user premises side of a network demarcation forming an edge of the wide area network at a user premises can provide managed services to a user and one or more endpoint devices associated with the application gateway. The application gateway can be controlled remotely by the application service provider through a service management center and configured to execute an application service provided from the application service provider. The application gateway executes the application service at the user premises independent of application services executing on the application service provider'"'"'s network. An application service logic manager can communicate with an application service enforcement manager to verify that the request conforms with policy and usage rules associated with the application service in order to authorize execution of the application service on the application gateway, either directly or through endpoint devices.

Claims

1. An application gateway for operation at a user premises to provide a service to at least one of a user and one or more endpoint devices associated with the application gateway, the application gateway comprising:

a first interface for enabling bi-directional communication within the user premises with an associated endpoint device;

a second interface for enabling bi-directional communications with the associated endpoint device via a wide area network, and for enabling at least some bi-directional communications via the wide area network with a service management center and an application service provider located externally to the user premises;

access to an application service enforcement manager controlled by the application service provider through the service management center and configured to provide policy and usage rules associated with an application service provided by the application service provider, wherein the application service provider through the service management center provides the policy and usage rules associated with the applications service to the application gateway, wherein the application gateway enables authentication, authorization, configuration, or service use of endpoint devices, based upon policy and usage rules received from the service management center;

an application gateway programming controlled remotely by the application service provider through the service management center and configured to execute the application service provided from the application service provider, wherein the application gateway programming executes the application service at the user premises while logically positioned on a user premises side of a network demarcation forming an edge of the wide area network at a user premises and independent of application services executing on the application service provider'"'"'s network, wherein upon receiving a request to execute the application service on the application gateway programming at the user premises, the application service logic manager communicates with the application service enforcement manager to verify that the request conforms with the policy and usage rules associated with the application service in order to authorize execution of the application service on the application gateway;

a processor device coupled to the first and second interfaces;

storage coupled to the processor;

a user interface associated with at least one of the gateway and an endpoint device for enabling management and control of application services executed by the application gateway; and

programming in the storage for execution by the processor, wherein;

(a) the programming comprises the application service received from the application service provider, the programming logically positioned on a user premises side of a logical network,

(b) the programming in the storage delivers the application service to the associated endpoint device, and

(c) the logical application service provider demarcation point provides a demarcation in accessibility to hardware resources of the application gateway for operation at a user premises, whereby at least some hardware resources of the application gateway for operation at a user premises are logically positioned on the application service provider side of the logical application service provider demarcation point and are inaccessible to the associated endpoint device from the user side of the logical application service provider demarcation point.

2. The application gateway of claim 1, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway enables at least one of:

home security of the user premises via connected devices within the user premises, management of video cameras and associated video data captured within the user premises, and management of sensors located at or within the user premises.

3. The application gateway of claim 1, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway enables management of monitors at or within the user premises.

4. The application gateway of claim 1, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway enables management including monitoring of medical devices within the user premises.

5. The application gateway of claim 1, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway enables management of wired and wireless connections to endpoint devices at or within the user premises.

6. The application gateway of claim 1, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway enables management of at least one of:

digital rights of media utilized by endpoint devices at or within the user premises and context sensitive advertising that is available for rendering on endpoint devices at or within the user premises.

7. The application gateway of claim 1, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway enables home automation and control of at least one of:

devices within the user premises and devices at locations that are remote from the user premises.

8. The application gateway of claim 7, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway further enables at least one of:

home security of the user premises via connected devices within the user premises, management of video cameras and associated video data captured within the user premises, and management of sensors located at or within the user premises.

9. The application gateway of claim 7, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway further enables management of monitors at or within the user premises.

10. The application gateway of claim 7, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway further enables management including monitoring of medical devices within the user premises.

11. The application gateway of claim 7, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway further enables management of wired and wireless connections to endpoint devices at or within the user premises.

12. The application gateway of claim 7, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway further enables management of at least one of:

digital rights of media utilized by endpoint devices at or within the user premises and context sensitive advertising that is available for rendering on endpoint devices at or within the user premises.

13. An application gateway device for operation at a user premises to provide a managed service to one or more endpoint devices associated with the application gateway device for operation at a user premises, the application gateway device for operation at a user premises comprising:

a first interface for enabling bi-directional communication within the user premises with an associated endpoint device also located within the user premises;

a second interface for enabling bi-directional communications with the associated endpoint device via a wide area network, and for enabling at least some bi-directional communications via the wide area network with a service management center and an application service provider located externally to the user premises;

an application service enforcement manager controlled by the application service provider through the service management center and configured to provide policy and usage rules associated with an application service provided by the application service provider, wherein the application service provider through the service management center provides the policy and usage rules associated with the applications service to the application gateway device for operation at a user premises, wherein the application gateway enables authentication, authorization, configuration, or service usage of endpoint devices, based upon policy and usage rules received from the service management center;

an application gateway program resident in the application gateway device for operation at a user premises and therefore logically positioned on a user premises side of a logical network demarcation forming an edge of the wide area network at a user premises, said application gateway program controlled by the application service provider through the service management center and configured to execute an application service provided from the application service provider, wherein the application gateway program executes the application service at the user premises independent of any application service that is executing on the application service provider'"'"'s network, wherein upon receiving a request to execute the application service on the application gateway at the user premises the application service logic manager communicates with the application service enforcement manager to verify that the request conforms with the policy and usage rules associated with the application service in order to authorize execution of the application service to the application gateway, thereby eliminating any need for the application service logic manager in communication with the application service enforcement manager to establish a logical application service provider demarcation point that extends into the user premises past a wide area network demarcation point at the user premises to allow the application service provider to provide the application service that is executed on the application gateway at the user premises;

a processor device coupled to the first and second interfaces;

storage coupled to the processor;

a user interface associated with at least one of the gateway and an endpoint device for enabling management and control of application services executed by the application gateway device; and

programming in the storage for execution by the processor, wherein;

(a) the programming comprises the application service received from the application service provider, the programming logically positioned on a user premises side of a logical network demarcation,

(b) the programming in the storage delivers the application service to the display associated with at least one of the application gateway device for operation at a user premises and an endpoint device via the first or second interface, and

(c) the logical application service provider demarcation point provides a demarcation in accessibility to hardware resources of the application gateway device for operation at a user premises, whereby at least some hardware resources of the application gateway device for operation at a user premises are logically positioned on the application service provider side of the logical application service provider demarcation point and are inaccessible to the associated endpoint device from a user side of the logical application service provider demarcation point.

14. The application gateway device of claim 13, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway device enables home automation and control of at least one of:

devices within the user premises and devices at locations that are remote from the user premises.

15. The application gateway device for operation at a user premises of claim 14, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway device enables at least one of:

home automation of connected devices within the user premises;

home security of the user premises via connected devices within the user premises;

management of video cameras and associated video data captured within the user premises;

management of sensors located at or within the user premises;

management of monitors at or within the user premises;

management, including monitoring, of medical devices within the user premises;

management of wired and wireless connections to endpoint devices at or within the user premises;

management of digital rights utilized by endpoint devices at or within the user premises; and

management of context sensitive advertising that is available for rendering on endpoint devices at or within the user premises.

16. The application gateway device for operation at a user premises of claim 13, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway device enables at least one of:

home automation of connected devices within the user premises;

home security of the user premises via connected devices within the user premises;

management of video cameras and associated video data captured within the user premises;

management of sensors located at or within the user premises;

management of monitors at or within the user premises;

management, including monitoring, of medical devices within the user premises;

management of wired and wireless connections to endpoint devices at or within the user premises;

management of digital rights utilized by endpoint devices at or within the user premises; and

management of context sensitive advertising that is available for rendering on endpoint devices at or within the user premises.

17. A application gateway device for operation at a user premises to provide a managed service to one or more endpoint devices associated with the application gateway device for operation at a user premises, the application gateway device for operation at a user premises comprising:

a first interface for enabling bi-directional communication within the user premises with an associated endpoint device also located within the user premises;

a second interface for enabling bi-directional communications with the associated endpoint device via a wide area network, and for enabling at least some bi-directional communications via the wide area network with a service management center and an application service provider located externally to the user premises;

an application service enforcement manager controlled by the application service provider through the service management center and configured to provide policy and usage rules associated with an application service provided by the application service provider, wherein the application service provider through the service management center provides the policy and usage rules associated with the applications service to the application gateway device for operation at a user premises;

an application gateway program resident in the application gateway device for operation at a user premises, said application gateway program controlled by the application service provider through the service management center and configured to execute the application service provided from the application service provider, wherein the application gateway device executes the application service at the user premises independent of any application service that is executing on the application service provider'"'"'s network, wherein upon receiving a request to execute the application service on the application gateway device at the user premises via the application gateway device for operation at a user premises, the application service logic manager communicates with the application service enforcement manager to verify that the request conforms with the policy and usage rules associated with the application service in order to authorize execution of the application service to the application gateway device, thereby eliminating any need for the application service logic manager in communication with the application service enforcement manager to establish a logical application service provider demarcation point that extends into the user premises past a wide area network demarcation point at the user premises to allow the application service provider to provide the application service that is executed on the application gateway device at the user premises via the application gateway device for operation at a user premises;

a processor device coupled to the first and second interfaces;

storage coupled to the processor a graphical user interface rendered on a display associated with at least one of the application gateway device for operation at a user premises and an endpoint device for enabling management and control of application services executed by the application gateway device; and

programming in the storage for execution by the processor, wherein;

(a) the programming comprises the application service received from the application service provider, the programming logically positioned on a user premises side of a logical network demarcation,

(b) the programming in the storage provides delivers the application service to the associated endpoint device via the first or second interface, and

(c) the logical application service provider demarcation point provides a demarcation in accessibility to hardware resources of the application gateway device for operation at a user premises, whereby at least some hardware resources of the application gateway device for operation at a user premises are logically positioned on the application service provider side of the logical application service provider demarcation point and are inaccessible to the associated endpoint device from a user side of the logical application service provider demarcation point.

18. The application gateway device of claim 17, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway device enables home automation and control of at least one of:

devices within the user premises and devices at locations that are remote from the user premises.

19. The application gateway device for operation at a user premises of claim 17, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway device enables at least one of:

home automation of connected devices within the user premises;

home security of the user premises via connected devices within the user premises;

management of video cameras and associated video data captured within the user premises;

management of sensors located at or within the user premises;

management of monitors at or within the user premises;

management, including monitoring, of medical devices within the user premises;

management of wired and wireless connections to endpoint devices at or within the user premises;

management of digital rights utilized by endpoint devices at or within the user premises; and

management of context sensitive advertising that is available for rendering on endpoint devices at or within the user premises.

20. The application gateway device for operation at a user premises of claim 19, wherein the service application executed at the application gateway device enables at least one of:

home automation of connected devices within the user premises;

home security of the user premises via connected devices within the user premises;

management of video cameras and associated video data captured within the user premises;

management of sensors located at or within the user premises;

management of monitors at or within the user premises;

management, including monitoring, of medical devices within the user premises;

management of wired and wireless connections to endpoint devices at or within the user premises;

management of digital rights utilized by endpoint devices at or within the user premises; and

management of context sensitive advertising that is available for rendering on endpoint devices at or within the user premises.