Method and apparatus for providing a home area network middleware interface

• US 20110069719A1
• Filed: 09/22/2010
• Published: 03/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unwired Global Systems LLC (Jeffrey M. Gross)
• Original Assignee: Wireless Glue-Synaptica, Inc. (f/k/a Synaptica Networks, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fries, Robert Gustav IV, Lin, John Wei-Iy
• Granted Patent: US 8,488,624 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/463
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2836 Protocol conversion between an external network and a home network controlling appliance services of a home automation network from a device located outside the home and the home network H04L12/2818; protocol conversion H04L69/08; adaptation of digital video signals for transport over a specific home network H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets

Abstract

A method and apparatus for implementing a protocol-neutral middleware interface in a home area network. The method comprises receiving one or more data packets from a client device using a first communication protocol, and decoding the data packets into a set of platform independent data objects. The data packets are decoded into the platform independent data objects by utilizing a metadata mapping located within one or more field classes. The apparatus comprises a frame engine, and one or more field classes. The frame engine receives a data packet in a first communication protocol. The frame engine decodes the data packet into a set of platform independent data objects. The frame engine uses a metadata map contained within the one or more field classes to decode the data packet into the set of platform independent data objects.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a platform independent network interface in a home area network performed by a special-purpose computer programmed by a frame engine comprising:

receiving one or more data packets encoded in a first communication protocol; and

decoding the data packets into a set of platform independent data objects wherein the data packets are decoded in accordance with a metadata map within one or more metadata fields.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising encoding the platform independent data objects into a second communication protocol wherein the platform independent data objects are encoded in accordance with a second metadata mapping within a second set of one or more metadata fields.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting the encoded platform independent data objects to a destination device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more metadata fields comprise one or more sub-fields for parsing the data packet into a set of protocol neutral data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more sub-fields comprise a reference to executable code.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more sub-fields further comprise one or more rules for decoding an object within the data packet.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an interface to access the set of platform independent data objects.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the interface is provided by an application programming interface.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the application programming interface is provided by a scripting language interface.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the contents of the one or more data packets comprise power usage statistics.

11. An apparatus for implementing a platform independent network interface in a home area network comprising:

a frame engine to receive and decode a data packet transmitted in a first communication protocol; and

one or more metadata fields to provide the frame engine with a metadata map for decoding the data packet in the first protocol into a set of platform independent data objects.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

a second set of one or more metadata fields to provide the frame engine with a second map for encoding the platform independent data object into a second communication protocol.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising a network module to transmit the encoded platform independent data object to a destination device.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the frame engine provides an application programming interface for accessing the platform independent data objects.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the application programming interface is provided by a scripting language interface.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the contents of the one or more data packets comprise power usage statistics.

17. A home area network implementing a protocol neutral interface comprising:

a first network of client devices communicating using a first communication protocol; and

a routing computer coupled to the first network, wherein the routing computer executes a frame engine for decoding a communication received from the first network to a set of platform independent data objects in accordance with a metadata map located within one or more metadata fields.

18. The computer network of claim 17 further comprising a second network of client devices communicating using a second communication protocol coupled to the routing computer, wherein the frame engine encodes the platform independent data objects into the second communication protocol for transmission to the second network.

19. The computer network of claim 17, wherein the frame engine provides an application programming interface to the protocol neutral set of data.

20. The computer network of claim 17, wherein the metadata fields comprise one or more sub-fields.