Transmitting appliance-specific content to a user device

• US 9,294,575 B1
• Filed: 06/18/2014
• Issued: 03/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Grandios Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Grandios Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Cronin, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne, Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rubin, Blake
• Application Number:
  US14/308,411
• Time in Patent Office: 643 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• 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 12/2809 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 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• 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 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; 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 12/2827 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 12/2829 involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered
• 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

Abstract

Methods and systems are presented for transmitting appliance-specific content to a user device associated with an appliance. In some embodiments, a third party platform may serve as a secure intermediary between a user device associated with an appliance (e.g., an oven) and a third party appliance service provider (e.g., appliance manufacturer). In some embodiments, the third party platform database may store appliance ownership data from the user device and compare an appliance search provided by the appliance service provider with the appliance ownership data in order to match an appliance service provider with a user device associated with an appliance meeting the criteria of the appliance search. The appliance service provider may efficiently transmit appliance-specific content (e.g., a list of approved or preferred appliance servicers) to the appliance user by way of the appliance user'"'"'s user device. In some embodiments, the data exchange facilitated by the third party platform may be customized based on user-specified appliance center settings.

Claims

1. A method for receiving appliance-specific content on a user device, the method comprising:

receiving a first user input via a user interface at the user device, wherein the first received user input includes a selection of an appliance center setting, the selection identifying at least one appliance manufacturer from a plurality of appliance manufacturers, the appliance center setting included in operating system software of the user device;

receiving a second user input via the user interface, wherein the second received user input includes a selection of a function of a plurality of functions corresponding to the selected appliance manufacturer, the selected function included in the operating system software of the user device;

transmitting information corresponding to the selected manufacturer and to the selected function for storage to a database of a third party platform, wherein the information corresponding to the selected manufacturer and to the selected function are transmitted over a network from the user device;

executing instructions stored in memory, wherein the execution of the instructions by the processor;

activates an appliance center feature on the user device based on the first and second user inputs, and

prepares appliance ownership data for transmission from the user device regarding an appliance based on the selected manufacturer and the selected function in response to an appliance search by the third party platform, and wherein the appliance ownership data is transmitted to the third party platform for storage in the database; and

receiving appliance-specific content from a requesting appliance service provider identified as an allowed appliance service provider, wherein the third party platform;

receives an appliance search request including appliance-identifying information from the requesting appliance service provider,

compares the appliance search request and the transmitted appliance ownership data to identify a match to the appliance associated with the user device, and

allows the appliance-specific content to be transmitted from the requesting appliance service provider based on the identified match, wherein the content is specific to the matching appliance, and corresponds to the selected manufacturer and the selected function.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance center setting identifies an allowed appliance, and wherein the appliance ownership data is transmitted only for the allowed appliance when the selected function enables the transmission based on the appliance ownership data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance center mode is activated based on the appliance center setting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user device is authenticated at the third party platform, the authentication is based on a user ID associated with a user of the user device and a third party platform ID uniquely associated with the user device, and the appliance center setting includes the user ID and the third party platform ID.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance search is allowed when a function of the plurality of functions enables the appliance search, the appliance search identifying information includes an appliance make and model number.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein comparing the received appliance search request and the transmitted appliance ownership data includes looking for the same appliance make and model number in the transmitted appliance ownership data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the third party platform further receives application ownership data from a plurality of user devices, and wherein information in the received appliance search request is compared to the application ownership data from the plurality of user devices.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein more than one match is identified, each identified match between a respective appliance associated with a user device and the appliance service provider.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance service provider is an appliance manufacturer, and the user device receives the appliance-specific content from the appliance manufacture when the selected function is enabled.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance service provider is an appliance servicer, and the user device receives the appliance-specific content from the appliance servicer when the selected function is enabled.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance service provider is an appliance distributor, and the user device receives the appliance-specific content from the appliance distributor when the selected function is enabled.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance service provider is an advertiser, and the user device receives the an advertisement from the advertiser when the selected function is enabled.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance service provider is an appliance manufacturer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance-specific content includes a user manual.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance-specific content includes appliance warranty information.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein activating the appliance center feature comprises executing an appliance application on the user device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the appliance center setting is displayed in an interface of the appliance application.

18. An apparatus for receiving appliance-specific content, the apparatus comprising:

a user interface that;

receives a first user input, wherein the first received user input includes a selection of an appliance center setting, the selection identifying at least one appliance manufacturer from a plurality of appliance manufacturers, the appliance center setting included in operating system software, and

receives a second user input, wherein the second received user input includes a selection of a function of a plurality of functions corresponding to the selected appliance manufacturer, the selected function included in the operating system software;

a communication interface that transmits information corresponding to the selected manufacturer and to the selected function for storage to a database of a third party platform; and

a processor that executes instructions stored in memory, wherein the execution of the instructions by the processor;

activates an appliance center feature based on the first and second user inputs, and

prepares appliance ownership data for transmission from the user device regarding an appliance based on the selected manufacturer and the selected function in response to an appliance search by the third party platform, wherein the appliance ownership data is transmitted to the third party platform for storage in the database, the communication interface receives appliance-specific content from a requesting appliance service provider identified as an allowed appliance service provider, and the third party platform;

receives an appliance search request including appliance-identifying information from the requesting appliance service provider,

compares the appliance search request and the transmitted appliance ownership data to identify a match to the appliance, and

allows the appliance-specific content to be transmitted from the requesting appliance service provider based on the identified match, wherein the content is specific to the matching appliance, and corresponds to the selected manufacturer and the selected function.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for receiving appliance-specific content on a user device associated with an appliance, the method comprising:

receiving a first user input via a user interface at the user device, wherein the received user input includes a selection of an appliance center setting, the selection identifying at least one appliance manufacturer from a plurality of appliance manufacturers, the appliance center setting included in operating system software of the user device;

receiving a second user input via the user interface, wherein the second received user input includes a selection of a function of a plurality of functions corresponding to the selected appliance manufacturer, the selected function included in the operating system software of the user device;

transmitting information corresponding to the selected manufacturer and to the selected function for storage to a database of a third party platform, wherein the information corresponding to the selected manufacturer and to the selected function are transmitted over a network communication interface from the user device;

activating an appliance center feature on the user device based on the first and second user inputs;

transmitting appliance ownership data from the user device regarding an appliance based on the selected manufacturer and the selected function in response to an appliance search by the third party platform, wherein the transmitted appliance ownership data is provided for storage in the database; and

receiving appliance-specific content from a requesting appliance service provider identified as an allowed appliance service provider, wherein the third party platform;

receives an appliance search request including appliance-identifying information from the requesting appliance service provider,

compares the appliance search request and the transmitted appliance ownership data to identify a match to the appliance associated with the user device, and

allows the appliance-specific content to be transmitted from the requesting appliance service provider based on the identified match, wherein the content is specific to the matching appliance, and corresponds to the selected manufacturer and the selected function.