NFC center

• US 9,985,699 B1
• Filed: 12/15/2015
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blazer And Flip Flops, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Blazer And Flip Flops, Inc.
• Inventors: Cronin, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Chakraborty, Raj
• Application Number:
  US14/970,102
• Time in Patent Office: 896 Days
• Field of Search: 455 411, 455 412
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23161 Hand held terminal PDA displays machine control program when user is near that machine
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/48 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• 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 12/2814 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: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

The present invention includes systems and methods for a near field communication (NFC) center that stores NFC information for various NFC devices and products. The NFC information is supplied by the device or product itself or from the manufacturer of the device or product. A user is then able to obtain the NFC information through their user mobile device from the NFC center. With the NFC information, the user can manage one or more NFC devices in real time.

Claims

1. A method for managing near field communication (NFC) data from a variety of different NFC devices, the method comprising:

receiving uploaded NFC data regarding one or more NFC devices over a communication network, wherein the uploaded NFC data is sent from one or more NFC data servers and received at an NFC service network server, wherein the uploaded NFC data includes an NFC web link associated with a specified one of the NFC devices, wherein the NFC web link accesses information identifying when an update is available for the specified NFC device;

storing the uploaded NFC data regarding the one or more NFC devices in a database in memory associated with the NFC service network server;

receiving a user selection sent from a mobile device over the communication network regarding one or more selected NFC devices;

retrieving a set of NFC data from the database in memory, the retrieved set of NFC data regarding the one or more selected NFC devices; and

transmitting the set of NFC data regarding the one or more selected NFC devices over the communication network to the mobile device, wherein each of the one or more selected NFC devices is configured based on the transmitted set of NFC data as part of an NFC communication between the mobile device and the respective selected NFC device, wherein the mobile device supplies the update to the specified one of the NFC devices via the NFC web link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the uploaded NFC data includes a data code file associated with a specified one of the NFC devices, wherein execution of the data code file by the mobile device allows for control or update of the specified NFC device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device receives one or more preferences regarding the selected NFC devices, and wherein the mobile device configures communications with the selected NFC devices by implementing the received one or more preferences via the NFC communication.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising polling the mobile device regarding any updates to the one or more preferences.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising polling the NFC data servers regarding any updates to the NFC data regarding the NFC devices.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the mobile device provides the preferences to a remote support database for storage.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device stores the set of NFC data in a local memory.

8. A system for managing near field communication (NFC) data from a variety of different NFC devices, the system comprising:

a communication network interface that receives uploaded NFC data regarding one or more NFC devices over a communication network, wherein the uploaded NFC data is sent from one or more NFC data servers, wherein the uploaded NFC data includes an NFC web link associated with a specified one of the NFC devices, wherein the NFC web link accesses information identifying when an update is available for the specified NFC device;

a database in memory that stores the uploaded NFC data regarding the one or more NFC devices;

wherein the communication network interface receives a user selection sent from a mobile device over the communication network regarding one or more selected NFC devices; and

a processor that executes instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor retrieves a set of NFC data regarding the selected NFC devices from the database; and

wherein the communication network interface further transmits the set of NFC data regarding the selected NFC devices over the communication network to the mobile device, wherein each of the selected NFC devices is configured based on the transmitted set of NFC data as part of an NFC communication between the mobile device and the respective selected NFC device, wherein the mobile device supplies the update to the specified one of the NFC devices via the NFC web link.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the uploaded NFC data includes a data code file associated with a specified one of the NFC devices, wherein execution of the data code file by the mobile device allows for control or update of the specified NFC device.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile device receives one or more preferences regarding the selected NFC devices, and wherein the mobile device configures communications with the selected NFC devices by implementing the received one or more preferences via the NFC communication.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the communication network interface further polls the mobile device regarding any updates to the one or more preferences.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the communication network interface further polls the NFC data servers regarding any updates to the NFC data regarding the NFC devices.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the mobile device provides the preferences to a remote support database for storage.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile device stores the set of NFC data in a local memory.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for managing near field communication (NFC) data from a variety of different NFC devices, the method comprising:

receiving uploaded NFC data regarding one or more NFC devices over a communication network, wherein the uploaded NFC data is sent from one or more NFC data servers and received at an NFC service network server, wherein the uploaded NFC data includes an NFC web link associated with a specified one of the NFC devices, wherein the NFC web link accesses information identifying when an update is available for the specified NFC device;

storing the uploaded NFC data regarding the one or more NFC devices in a database in memory associated with the NFC service network server;

receiving a user selection sent from a mobile device over the communication network regarding one or more selected NFC devices;

retrieving a set of NFC data from the database in memory, the retrieved set of NFC data regarding the one or more selected NFC devices; and

transmitting the set of NFC data regarding the one or more selected NFC devices over the communication network to the mobile device, wherein each of the one or more selected NFC devices is configured based on the transmitted set of NFC data as part of an NFC communication between the mobile device and the respective selected NFC device, wherein the mobile device supplies the update to the specified one of the NFC devices via the NFC web link.