Systems and methods for development of an automation control service

• US 10,331,095 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2015
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Inventors: Patel, Dipan, Finnerty, Nadine, Shrum, Jr., Edgar V., Goldberg, Andrew, Taylor, Haynes
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sanders, Joshua T
• Application Number:
  US14/668,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20150309493A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,553 Days
• Field of Search: 700275
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 7/01 Probabilistic graphical models, e.g. probabilistic networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure relate to intelligent automation control of an environment based at least on intelligence associated with behavior of an operator and/or equipment.

Claims

1. A method for developing automation control services, comprising:

providing, by a computing system comprising at least one memory device and at least one processor, an asset representation of each of a group of automation control assets in an operational environment, wherein the asset representation is implementation-agnostic;

providing, by the computing system, an information model for each of the group of automation control assets;

providing, by the computing system, a common control language for the group of automation control assets, wherein the common control language permits discovery and control of the group of automation control assets by the computing system based on at least the information model;

gathering data regarding the behavior of a user in the operational environment, wherein the data is gathered prior to generation of an initial automation control asset;

generating, by the computing system and based at least on the asset representation, the information model, the common control language, and the data regarding the behavior of the user, the initial automation control asset that regulates operation of an agent of the operational environment based at least on a first change in the operational environment, wherein the agent comprises a non-human device;

generating, by the computing system, an inventory of a group of agents, wherein the group of agents comprises one or more of an automation control service, a second automation control asset, an electronic device, a sensor, or a network service;

generating, by the computing system, an information structure representative of the generated inventory, wherein the information structure conveys relationships among the group of agents;

generating, by the computing system, a third automation control asset based at least in part on at least a portion of the generated inventory; and

directing, by the computing system and based at least on the initial automation control asset, the operation of the agent of the operational environment.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an automation control service comprising the generated automation control asset.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing system and based at least on the automation control service, an input message from the agent;

mapping, by the computing system and based at least on the common control language, the input message to a control message; and

determining, by the computing system and based at least on the control message, a control action for the agent.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising communicating availability of at least one of the generated automation control asset or the generated automation control service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the computing system, a recommendation for an automation control service based at least on a group of extant automation control services.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the computing system and based at least on a group of extant automation control assets, a recommendation for the automation control asset.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the computing system and based at least on one of (i) provisioning an automation control service for the operational environment or (ii) detecting a second change in the operational environment, the agent, wherein the agent is in a group of agents.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the computing system, at least a portion of the generated inventory, wherein the generated inventory is provided via an extensive markup language (XML) schema.

9. A system, comprising:

at least one memory device having instructions encoded thereon; and

at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory device and configured to execute the instructions and, in response, further configured at least to;

provide an asset representation of each of a group of automation control assets, wherein the asset representation is implementation-agnostic;

provide an information model for each of the group of automation control assets;

provide a common control language for each of the group of automation control assets, wherein the common control language permits discovery and control of the group of automation control assets by the system based on at least the information model;

gather data regarding the behavior of a user in an operational environment, wherein the data is gathered prior to generation of an initial automation control asset;

generate the initial automation control asset based at least on the asset representation, the information model, the common control language, and the data regarding the behavior of the user, wherein the initial automation control asset regulates operation of an agent of the operational environment based at least on a first change in the operational environment, wherein the agent comprises a non-human device;

generate an inventory of a group of agents, wherein the group of agents comprises one or more of an automation control service, a second automation control asset, an electronic device, a sensor or network service;

generate an information structure representative of the generated inventory, wherein the information structure conveys relationships among the group of agents;

generate a third automation control asset based at least in part on at least a portion of the generated inventory; and

direct the operation of the agent of the operational environment based at least on the initial automation control asset.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured, in response to execution of the instructions, to generate an automation control service comprising the generated automation control asset.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured, in response to execution of the instructions, to:

receive an input message from the agent based at least on the automation control service;

map the input message to a control message based at least on the common control language; and

determine a control action for the agent based at least on the control message.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured, in response to execution of the instructions, to communicate availability of at least one of the generated automation control asset or the generated automation control service.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured, in response to execution of the instructions, to provide a recommendation for an automation control service based at least on a group of extant automation control services.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured, in response to execution of the instructions, to provide a recommendation for the automation control asset based at least on a group of extant automation control assets.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured, in response to execution of the instructions, to identify the agent, wherein the agent is in a group of agents, based at least on one of (i) provision an automation control service for the operational environment or (ii) detect a second change in the operational environment.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured, in response to execution of the instructions, to provide at least a portion of the generated inventory, wherein the generated inventory is provided via an extensive markup language (XML) schema.