User identification and location determination in control applications

• US 9,602,172 B2
• Filed: 09/05/2013
• Issued: 03/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crestron Electronics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Crestron Electronics Incorporated
• Inventors: Jackson, Daniel, Bargetzi, Fred, Donlan, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Terrell, Emily C
• Application Number:
  US14/019,418
• Publication Number:
  US 20140070919A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,293 Days
• Field of Search: 340/5.61, 340/5.5, 340/10.1, 340/10.52, 340/12.5, 340/13.25
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10297 arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/61 Password, biometric
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 23/04 using light waves, e.g. infrared
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/04 including near field communication means, e.g. RFID
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• 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

Abstract

A system in which a portable electronic device communicates with an external device to determine a location. Upon determining its location, the portable electronic device transmits this information as well as identifying information to a control processor. The control processor controls one or more controllable devices according to the location and identifying information. The portable electronic device may determine the location via NFC tag or via one or more RF beacons transmitting information according to the Bluetooth 4.0 protocol.

Claims

1. A system for providing individualized control, the system comprising:

(a) an NFC tag encoding encoded information comprising a tag ID, control system information and one or more payloads, each of the one or more payloads further comprising an action; and

(b) a portable electronic device identified by a user ID and comprising an NFC interface, a network interface, a display, a memory encoding one or more processor-executable instructions and a processor configured to load the one or more processor-executable instructions when encoded from the memory, wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed comprising;

(i) reading the encoded information from the NFC tag via the NFC interface of the portable electronic device,

(ii) selecting a desired action from one of the one or more payloads,

(iii) establishing communication with a control processor corresponding to the control system information via the network interface, including;

(1) receiving, from each of at least three beacons, a transmission signal strength of a signal transmitted by that beacon,

(2) determining, for each of the at least three beacons, a received signal strength of the signal transmitted by that beacon, and

(3) estimating, for each of the at least three beacons, a distance between the portable electronic device and that beacon based on a difference between the transmission signal strength and the received signal strength of the signal transmitted by that beacon,

(4) selecting a nearest one of the at least three beacons based on the distances estimated from the transmission signal strength and the received signal strength of the at least three beacons, and

(5) transmitting the user ID and location of the portable electronic device to the control processor via the selected beacon, and

(iv) transmitting the desired action to the control processor via the selected beacon.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein:

(a) the NFC tag further encodes an application identifier; and

(b) the one or more processor executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed comprising opening a control application on the portable electronic device corresponding to the application identifier.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the control system information comprises a project file ID and a control processor ID.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed further comprising:

(a) loading a project file corresponding to project file ID with the control application; and

(b) establishing communication with a control processor corresponding to the control processor ID.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein:

(a) the NFC tag further encodes a page ID; and

(b) the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed further comprising

(i) reading from the NFC tag the page ID via the NFC interface of the portable electronic device, and

(ii) displaying on the display a page of the control application corresponding to the page ID.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the page of the control application comprises one or more selectable visual items representing one or more control functions of a controllable device.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the page of the control application comprises one or more selectable visual items representing one or more control functions of a zone of a facility.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the portable electronic device is further identified by a device ID and the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed further comprise transmitting the device ID to the control processor.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein:

(a) each of the one or more payloads further comprises a corresponding user ID; and

(b) the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed further comprising selecting a desired action from the one or more payloads by comparing each user ID of the one or more payloads with the user ID of the control application.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein:

(a) the NFC tag encodes a payload with an unassigned user; and

(b) one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed further comprising selecting a desired action from the one or more payloads by selecting the action form the payload comprising the unassigned user ID when no payload user ID matches the device user ID.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed further comprising displaying an error page of the control application in response to no payload user ID'"'"'s matching the device user ID.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the NFC tag is associated with a controllable device.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the NFC tag is associated with a location.

25. The system of claim 4 wherein:

(a) the NFC tag further encodes a page ID associated with the location of the portable electronic device; and

(b) the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed further comprising

(i) reading, from the NFC tag via the NFC interface of the portable electronic device, the page ID associated with the location of the portable electronic device, and

(ii) displaying, on the display, a page of the control application corresponding to the page ID and associated with the location of the portable electronic device.

26. The system of claim 4 wherein:

(a) the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed further comprising

(i) receiving, from the control processor via the selected beacon, a page ID associated with the location of the portable electronic device, and

(ii) displaying, on the display, a page of the control application corresponding to the page ID and associated with the location of the portable electronic device.

14. A system for providing individualized control, the system comprising:

(a) an NFC tag encoding an application identifier, a tag ID, a project ID, a control processor ID and one or more payloads, each of the one or more payloads further comprising an action; and

(b) a portable electronic device identified by a device ID and a user ID and comprising an NFC interface, a network interface, a display, a memory encoding one or more processor-executable instructions and a processor configured to load the one or more processor-executable instructions when encoded from the memory, wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed comprising;

(i) reading the encoded information from the NFC tag via the NFC interface of the portable electronic device,

(ii) opening a control application on the portable electronic device corresponding to the application ID,

(iii) loading a project file corresponding to project file ID with the control application,

(iv) selecting a desired action from one of the one or more payloads,

(v) establishing communication with a control processor corresponding to the control processor ID, including;

(1) receiving, from each of at least three beacons, a transmission signal strength of a signal transmitted by that beacon,

(2) determining, for each of the at least three beacons, a received signal strength of the signal transmitted by that beacon,

(3) estimating, for each of the at least three beacons, a distance between the portable electronic device and that beacon based on a difference between the transmission signal strength and the received signal strength of the signal transmitted by that beacon,

(4) selecting a nearest one of the at least three beacons based on the distances estimated from the transmission signal strength and the received signal strength of the at least three beacons, and

(5) transmitting the user ID, the device ID, and location of the portable electronic device to the control processor via the selected, and

(iv) transmitting the desired action to the control processor via the selected beacon; and

(c) the control processor comprising a network interface, a memory encoding one or more processor-executable instructions and a processor configured to load the one or more processor-executable instructions when encoded from the memory, wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed comprising;

(i) determining whether there are more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs;

(ii) processing the desired action directly if there are not more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs;

(iii) determining whether there are more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs and device IDs;

(iv) demultiplexing the desired action based on the user ID if there are not more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs and device IDs; and

(v) demultiplexing the desired action based on the user ID and the device ID if there are more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs and device IDs.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the portable electronic device is configured for downloading the project file from the control processor.

27. The system of claim 14 wherein:

(a) the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the control processor, cause acts to be performed further comprising;

(i) determining a level of access for the portable electronic device based on the user ID and the device ID.

28. The system of claim 14 wherein:

(a) the one or more processor-executable instructions, when executed by the control processor, cause acts to be performed further comprising;

(i) determining, for the location of the portable electronic device, whether there are more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs;

(ii) processing the desired action directly if there are not more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs;

(iii) determining, for the location of the portable electronic device, whether there are more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs and device IDs;

(iv) demultiplexing the desired action based on the user ID if there are not more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs and device IDs; and

(v) demultiplexing the desired action based on the user ID and the device ID if there are more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs and device IDs.

16. A method for providing individualized control, said method comprising:

(a) providing

(i) an NFC tag encoding encoded information comprising an application identifier, a tag ID, control system information and one or more payloads, each of the one or more payloads further comprising an action,

(ii) a portable electronic device identified by a device ID and a user ID and comprising an NFC interface, a network interface and a display, and

(iii) a control processor identified by a control processor ID and comprising a network interface;

(b) positioning the NFC interface of the portable electronic device within communication range of the NFC tag;

(c) reading the encoded information from the NFC tag via the NFC interface of the portable electronic device;

(d) opening a control application on the portable electronic device corresponding to the application identifier;

(e) selecting a desired action from one of the one or more payloads;

(f) establishing communication with a control processor corresponding to the control processor ID, including;

(i) receiving, from each of at least three beacons, a transmission signal strength of a signal transmitted by that beacon,

(ii) determining, for each of the at least three beacons, a received signal strength of the signal transmitted by that beacon,

(iii) estimating, for each of the at least three beacons, a distance between the portable electronic device and that beacon based on a difference between the transmission signal strength and the received signal strength of the signal transmitted by that beacon,

(iv) selecting a nearest one of the at least three beacons based on the distances estimated from the transmission signal strength and the received signal strength of the at least three beacons, and

(v) transmitting the user ID, the device ID, and location of the portable electronic device to the control processor via the selected beacon; and

(g) transmitting the desired action to the control processor via the selected beacon.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the control system information comprises a project file ID and a control processor ID.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of loading on the control application a project file corresponding to the project file ID.

19. The method of claim 16

(a) wherein

(i) the NFC tag further encodes a page ID corresponding to a page of the control application, and

(ii) the step of reading from the NFC tag further comprises reading the page ID;

and

(b) further comprising the step of displaying on the portable electronic device a page of the control application corresponding to the page ID encoded on the NFC tag.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the page further comprises one or more selectable items corresponding to a control action of a controllable device and wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

(a) receiving a selection of one of the selectable items; and

(b) transmitting a corresponding control action to the control processor.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of selecting a desired action from the one or more payloads further comprises the steps of

(a) determining if any of the one or more payloads comprise a user ID that matches the user ID of the portable electronic device;

(b) selecting the action from a payload with a user ID matching the user ID of the portable electronic device as the desired action;

(c) determining if any of the one or more payloads comprise an unassigned user ID;

(d) selecting the action from a payload with an unassigned user ID as the desired payload if there are no payloads with user IDs matching the user ID of the portable electronic device; and

(e) displaying an error page of the control application if there are no payloads with matching user IDs or a payload with an unassigned user ID.

22. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of providing a control processor comprising a network interface.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the step of loading the project file on the control application further comprises the steps of:

(a) comparing the project ID encoded on the NFC tag with the project ID of project files stored on the portable electronic device; and

(b) downloading the project file corresponding to the project ID if the desired project file is not stored on the portable electronic device.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprising the steps of:

(a) determining whether there are more than one corresponding executables for the desired action for according to user IDs;

(b) processing the desired action directly if there are not more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs;

(c) determining whether there are more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs and device IDs;

(d) demuliplexing the desired action based on the user ID if there are not more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs and device IDs; and

(e) demultiplexing the desired action based on the user ID and the device ID if there are more than one corresponding executables for the desired action according to user IDs and device IDs.

29. The method of claim 16,

(a) wherein:

(i) the NFC tag further encodes a page ID associated with the location of the portable electronic device,

(ii) the step of reading from the NFC tag further comprises reading the page ID; and

(b) further comprising;

(i) displaying, on the portable electronic device, a page of the control application corresponding to the page ID encoded on the NFC tag and associated with the location of the portable electronic device.

30. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

(a) receiving, from the control processor via the selected beacon, a page ID associated with the location of the portable electronic device, and

(b) displaying, on the display, a page of the control application corresponding to the page ID and associated with the location of the portable electronic device.