APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONFIGURING A DEVICE IN A NETWORK

• US 20100214948A1
• Filed: 06/15/2006
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify Holding B.V. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Knibbe, Engel J., Stommen, Theodoor H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,665,762 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• 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 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/199 Commissioning of light sources

Abstract

The invention provides a method, apparatus and computer program product for ensuring that a device (26) operable in a network (1) is configured to operate according to documented functional requirements for the network. Positional information comprising the coordinates of each device (26, 9, 50) in the network (1) is received via a gateway (9, 50) at a data processing apparatus (10) storing the documented functional requirements. The coordinates of each device (26, 9) in the network (1) are used to deduce the required functionality of the device based on the stored functional requirements, instructions for implementing the functionality are generated and the instructions are sent via the gateway (9, 50) to the network. The invention has particular relevance in the commissioning stage of a lighting control network.

Claims

1. A method of configuring a device (26) operable in a network (1) to operate according to predetermined functional requirements for the network stored in a data processing apparatus (10), comprising

receiving positional information for the device (26) at the data processing apparatus (S7.5);

relating the positional information to the stored functional requirements (S7.6); and

transmitting the functional requirements for the device (26) to the network (S7.7) for configuring the device (26).

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining the coordinates of the device (26) in the network (1) based on the positional information.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the relating comprises deducing the functional requirements of a device having the obtained coordinates from the stored functional requirements for the network.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the predetermined functional requirements comprises functional requirements for a plurality of virtual devices (34) corresponding to the physical devices (26) of the network (1).

5. The method of claim 4 wherein relating the positional information to the stored functional requirements comprises matching the coordinates of the physical device (26) with coordinates of a virtual device (34) and deducing the functional requirements for the physical device based on the functional requirements for the virtual device.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving at the data processing apparatus (10) at least one of a unique ID and a network address of the device (26) and storing the at least one of a unique ID and a network address of the device in memory of the data processing apparatus (10).

7. The method of claim 6 wherein transmitting the functional requirements to the network comprises transmitting the functional requirements to an address in the network based on the at least one of a unique ID and a network address.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving an indication of the characteristics of the device and using the indication of the characteristics of the device to couple the positional information of the device with the functional requirements.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the positional information and transmitting the functional requirements comprises receiving the positional information from and transmitting the functional requirements to a gateway (9, 50) connected to the device.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the device (26) and the gateway (9, 50) communicate using radio frequency signals.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising previously storing the functional requirements in memory (11, 18, 19) of the data processing apparatus.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising prior to storing the functional requirements, deducing the functional requirements from electrical wiring diagrams in architectural drawings.

13. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on a processor, are operable to perform the method of claim 1.

14. An apparatus (10) for configuring a device (26) operable in a network (1) to operate according to predetermined functional requirements for the network;

comprising

a memory (11, 18, 19) for storing the functional requirements;

a receiver (17) for receiving positional information of the device;

a processor (12) for relating the positional information to the functional requirements; and

a transmitter (17) for transmitting the functional requirements of the device to the network.

15. An apparatus of claim 14 wherein the memory (11, 18, 19) is configured to store the functional requirements as a plurality of virtual devices corresponding to the physical devices (26) of the system, each virtual device having separate functionality for implementing the predetermined functional requirements for the network (1).

16. An apparatus of claim 15 wherein the processor (12) is operable to match the positional information of the device (26) with coordinates of one of the virtual devices (34).

17. An apparatus of claim 14 further comprising means for receiving the functional requirements.

18. An apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for receiving the functional requirements comprises a graphical user interface (32) for allowing a user to define the functional requirements, the graphical user interface further allowing a user to view the function requirements.

19. An apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for receiving the functional requirements comprises means for importing architectural drawings including electrical wiring diagrams and means for deducing the functional requirements for the network from said architectural drawings including electrical wiring diagrams.

20. A device (26) operable in a network (1) comprising

means (31, 28, 29) for obtaining positional information with respect to at least three other devices in the network;

a transmitter (31) for transmitting the positional information via the network to an apparatus (10) configured to store functional requirements for said network;

a receiver (31) for receiving instructions via the network in response to transmission of the positional information to the apparatus (10);

a processor (28) for processing the received instructions and controlling an application unit (30) for operating according to predetermined functional requirements for the network.

21. A device (26) according to claim 20 wherein the transmitter and the receiver form part of a radio frequency transceiver (31).