Methods and apparatus for using smart environment devices via application program interfaces

• US 9,854,386 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2015
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Karp, Igor
• Primary Examiner(s): Baturay, Alicia
• Application Number:
  US14/722,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20150372833A1
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• Field of Search: 709217, 706 4
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/48 prior to normal operation, e.g. pre-heating or pre-cooling
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/523 for displaying temperature data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/61 using timers
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/65 for selecting an operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/00 Control inputs relating to users or occupants
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/04 involving the use of models or simulators
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 17/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1904 variable in time
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1917 using digital means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 17/10 Actuation by presence of smoke or gases , e.g. automatic alarm devices for analysing flowing fluid materials by the use of optical means
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• 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 12/282 : 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 12/2829 : involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 : Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 : Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 : for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/00 : Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 : for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• 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 67/30 : Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 : Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 : for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 : Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 : Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• 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: H05B 47/105 : in response to determined parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 : via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/196 : characterised by user interface arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/1965 : using handheld communication devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 : Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

Systems and Methods disclosed herein relate to provisioning vendor information to associate vendor data access rights, vendor data writing rights, or both, of a data model comprising information related to one or more smart-devices, one or more smart-device environment structures comprising the one or more smart-devices, or any combination thereof with the vendor; provisioning a particular electronic device type of the vendor by providing information about the particular electronic device type to a service that interprets this information to understand subsequent data submissions of the particular electronic device, wherein the provisioning of the particular electronic device is associated with the vendor; pairing the particular electronic device with a system hosting the data model by registering the particular electronic device with the system hosting the data model; and sending the subsequent data submissions from the one or more smart-devices to the service.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method, comprising:

provisioning vendor information to associate rights to access and write vendor data of a data model comprising information related to one or more smart-devices, one or more smart-device environment structures comprising the one or more smart-devices, or any combination thereof with a vendor;

provisioning a particular electronic device type of the vendor, for a particular electronic device, by providing compatibility information about the particular electronic device type to a service that interprets the compatibility information to understand subsequent data submissions of the particular electronic device, the provisioning of the particular electronic device type being associated with the vendor by associating the particular electronic device type with the provisioned vendor information;

provisioning the particular electronic device, comprising;

accessing one or more build-time profiles for the particular electronic device that provide a description of capabilities of the particular electronic device, metadata related to data provided by the particular electronic device, or both; and

using the one or more build-time profiles to understand the subsequent data submissions of the particular electronic device, by importing the one or more build-time profiles to the service and generating one or more device type manifests that are used to describe, translate, validate, or any combination thereof, the subsequent data submissions and any other data submissions by other devices having a device type in common with the particular electronic device;

pairing the particular electronic device with a system hosting the data model by registering the particular electronic device with the system hosting the data model by associating the particular electronic device with the provisioned particular electronic device type; and

sending the subsequent data submissions from the one or more smart-devices to the service after the particular electronic device is registered with the system hosting the data model.

2. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein provisioning the vendor comprises:

sending, receiving, or both a request from a vendor cloud or a vendor device to interact with the system hosting the data model;

sending, receiving, or both an identification of the vendor; and

upon approval of the request, generating an entry for the vendor in a vendor entity of a service tracking the vendor data access rights, vendor data writing rights, or both.

3. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, comprising:

associating an application-layer protocol vendor identifier with the vendor by populating an application-layer protocol vendor identifier field in the entry of the vendor entity;

associating a vendor path with the vendor by populating a path field in the entry of the vendor entity;

associating a name with the vendor by populating a name field in the entry of the vendor entity;

or

any combination thereof.

4. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, comprising:

generating an entry for the device type of the particular electronic device in a device type entity.

5. The processor-implemented method of claim 4, wherein provisioning the particular electronic device comprises:

associating the one or more device type manifests with the device type by populating a manifest field in the entry of the device type entity.

6. The processor-implemented method of claim 4, wherein provisioning the particular electronic device comprises:

associating a path of the device type with the device type by populating a path field in the entry of the device type entity.

7. The processor-implemented method of claim 4, wherein provisioning the particular electronic device comprises:

if the device type is compatible with an application-layer protocol, associating application-layer protocol compatibility information of the device type with the device type by populating an application-layer protocol profile identifier in the entry of the device type entity.

8. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein pairing the particular electronic device comprises:

generating an entry for the particular electronic device in a device entity of the system hosting the data model;

receiving a location of the particular electronic device, a unique identifier of the particular electronic device, or both; and

associating the location, the unique identifier, or both with the particular electronic device in the system hosting the data model by populating one or more fields in the entry of the device entity.

9. The processor-implemented method of claim 8, if the particular electronic device is compatible with an application-layer protocol, associating application-layer protocol information of the device with the device by populating an application-layer protocol identifier in the entry of the device entity.

10. The processor-implemented method of claim 8, comprising:

associating the particular electronic device with a smart-device environment structure housing the particular electronic device by populating a pairing status field of the device entity with an identifier of the smart-device environment structure housing the particular electronic device.

11. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, comprising:

generating an entry for at least one of the smart-device environment structures in a structure entity, wherein the entry for the smart-device environment comprises a unique identifier and an indication of devices paired to the smart-device environment;

or

generating an authorized user entry in an authorized user entity, the authorized user entry representative of a user associated with the smart-device environment structure; and

associating the authorized user entity with the structure entity;

or

both.

12. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, comprising:

each time an electronic device is paired, generating a pairing history entry in a device history entity, the pairing history entry noting a pairing of the electronic device with at least one of the smart-device environment structures.

13. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory, comprising instructions executable by the processor to configure the processor to;

provision vendor information to associate rights to access and write vendor data of a data model comprising information related to one or more smart-devices, one or more smart-device environment structures comprising the one or more smart-devices, or any combination thereof with a vendor;

provision a particular electronic device type of the vendor, by providing compatibility information about the particular electronic device type to a service that interprets the compatibility information to understand subsequent data submissions of the particular electronic device, the provisioning of the particular electronic device type being associated with the vendor by associating the particular electronic device type with the provisioned vendor information;

provision the particular electronic device by;

accessing one or more build-time profiles for the particular electronic device that provide a description of capabilities of the particular electronic device, metadata related to data provided by the particular electronic device, or both; and

using the one or more build-time profiles to understand the subsequent data submissions of the particular electronic device, by importing the one or more build-time profiles to the service and generating one or more device type manifests that are used to describe, translate, validate, or any combination thereof, the subsequent data submissions and any other data submissions by other devices having a device type in common with the particular electronic device;

pair the particular electronic device with a system hosting the data model by registering the particular electronic device with the system hosting the data model by associating the particular electronic device with the provisioned particular electronic device type; and

send the subsequent data submissions from the one or more smart-devices to the service after the particular electronic device is registered with the system hosting the data model.

14. The system of claim 13, comprising:

the particular electronic device that comprises the processor; and

an application programming interface (API);

wherein the processor is configured to provide a pairing message to the API, wherein the pairing message comprises a request to pair to the system, such that authorized data requests, submissions, or both are registered with the data model; and

wherein the API is configured to receive the pairing message in a first format and convert the pairing message into a second format expected by downstream services of the system.

15. The system of claim 14, comprising the downstream services, wherein:

the downstream services are configured to retrieve an associated device type based upon the device type provisioning, wherein the associated device type provides a manifest comprising compatibility information between an API client electronic device and the system; and

the system is configured to;

retrieve the authorized data requests, submissions, or both from the API client electronic device via the API and interpret the authorized data requests, submissions, or both using at least the manifest; and

process the authorized data requests, submissions, or both using the data model.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions to pair the particular electronic device are executable by the processor to:

generate an entry for the particular electronic device in a device entity of the system hosting the data model;

receive a location of the particular electronic device, a unique identifier of the particular electronic device, or both; and

associate the location, the unique identifier, or both with the particular electronic device in the system hosting the data model by populating one or more fields in the entry of the device entity.

17. A tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising machine-readable instructions to:

provision vendor information to associate rights to access and write vendor data of a data model comprising information related to one or more smart-devices, one or more smart-device environment structures comprising the one or more smart-devices, or any combination thereof with a vendor;

provision a particular electronic device type of the vendor, for a particular electronic device, by providing compatibility information about the particular electronic device type to a service that interprets the compatibility information to understand subsequent data submissions of the particular electronic device, wherein the provisioning of the particular electronic device type being associated with the vendor by associating the particular electronic device type with the provisioned vendor information;

provision the particular electronic device by;

accessing one or more build-time profiles for the particular electronic device that provide a description of capabilities of the particular electronic device, metadata related to data provided by the particular electronic device, or both; and

using the one or more build-time profiles to understand the subsequent data submissions of the particular electronic device, by importing the one or more build-time profiles to the service and generating one or more device type manifests that are used to describe, translate, validate, or any combination thereof, the subsequent data submissions and any other data submissions by other devices having a device type in common with the particular electronic device;

pair the particular electronic device with a system hosting the data model by registering the particular electronic device with the system hosting the data model by associating the particular electronic device with the provisioned particular electronic device type; and

send the subsequent data submissions from the one or more smart-devices to the service after the particular electronic device is registered with the system hosting the data model.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, comprising instructions to provision the vendor by:

generating a vendor entry in a vendor entity, the vendor entity comprising an identification field, an application-layer protocol vendor identification field storing application-layer protocol compatibility data, a name field storing the name of the vendor, and a path field.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, comprising instructions to provision the particular electronic device type by:

generating a device type entry in a device type entity, the device type entity comprising a device type identification field, an application-layer protocol product identification field storing application-layer protocol compatibility data for the device type entry, a name field storing a name of the device type entry, and a manifest field storing a device type manifest.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, comprising instructions to pair a pairing device, by:

generating a device entry in a device entity, the device entity comprising a device identification field, an application-layer protocol device identification field storing application-layer protocol compatibility data for the device entry, a name field storing a name of the device entry, and a paired at field storing an indication of a structure where the device is hosted.