PRESENCE BASED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING DEVICES

• US 20140176310A1
• Filed: 12/26/2013
• Published: 06/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oren Kotlicki
• Original Assignee: Oren Kotlicki
• Inventors: KOTLICKI, Oren
• Granted Patent: US 9,483,934 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/12.5
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link

Abstract

System and method for presence based control of connected devices including a smart device configured to operate at least one connected device, and a locator configured to supervise an entrance of a subarea of a monitored area, wherein the smart device and the locator are configured to exchange radio frequency (RF) signals and to determine the presence of the smart device within the subarea based on received RF signals, and wherein the smart device to issue control commands to operate the at least one connected device based on a predefined scheme and on the presence of the smart device within the subarea.

Claims

1. A presence based system comprising:

a smart device configured to operate at least one connected device; and

a locator configured to supervise an entrance of a subarea of a monitored area,

wherein the smart device and the locator are configured to exchange radio frequency (RF) signals and to determine presence of the smart device within the subarea based on received RF signals; and

wherein the smart device is configured to issue control commands to operate the at least one connected device based on a predefined scheme and on the presence of the smart device within the subarea.

2. The presence based system of claim 1, wherein the smart device and the locator are configured to determine the presence of the smart device within the subarea by detecting passing of the smart device through an entrance of the subarea.

3. The presence based system of claim 2, wherein the smart device and the locator are configured to detect the passing of the smart device through the entrance based on received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the received RF signals.

4. The presence based system of claim 3, wherein the smart device and the locator are configured to detect the passing of the smart device through the entrance if the RSSI of the received RF signals is above a predefined threshold.

5. The presence based system of claim 4, wherein the predefined threshold is customized to the smart device and the locator.

6. The presence based system of claim 4, wherein the RF signals are transmitted by the smart device and received by the locator.

7. The presence based system of claim 4, wherein the RF signals are transmitted by the locator and received by the smart device.

8. The presence based system of claim 1, wherein the smart device is configured to determine the presence of the smart device within the subarea based on the received RF signals.

9. The presence based system of claim 1, wherein the locator is configured to determine the presence of the smart device within the subarea based on the received RF signals, and wherein the locator is configured to inform the smart device of the presence of the smart device within the subarea.

10. The presence based system of claim 1, wherein the locator comprises a directional antenna.

11. The presence based system of claim 10, wherein beam width of the directional antenna is less than 45 degrees.

12. The presence based system of claim 1, comprising additional locator, the additional locator configured to supervise the entrance, and wherein the smart device and the locators are configured to distinguish between entrance into and exit from the subarea of the smart device based on the sequence of RSSI of RF signals exchanged between each of the locators and the smart device.

13. The presence based system of claim 1, further comprising at least one additional smart device as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the smart devices has a user priority rank associated to it, and wherein the smart device to control the at least one controlled device based on the presence of the at least one additional smart device and based on the user priority ranks.

14. The presence based system of claim 1, wherein the smart device is configured to control the at least one connected device using direct wireless communication between the smart device and the at least one connected device.

15. The presence based system of claim 1, comprising a transparent wireless bridge device to connect between the smart device and the at least one connected device, wherein the smart device is configured to control the at least one connected device through the transparent wireless bridge device.

16. A smart device configured to control at least one connected device, wherein the smart device configured to determine, using a locator configured to supervise an entrance of a subarea of a monitored area, presence of the smart device in the subarea, wherein the presence is determined based on strength of received RF signals exchanged between the smart device and the locator, and wherein the smart device is configured to control the at least one connected device based on the presence of the smart device within the subarea and on a predefined scheme stored in the smart device.

17. The smart device of claim 16, wherein the smart device is configured to produce the RF signals and to determine the presence based on received indications from the locator of passing of the smart device through the entrance.

18. The smart device of claim 16, wherein the smart device is configured to determine the presence of the smart device within the subarea by detecting passing of the smart device through the entrance.

19. The smart device of claim 18, wherein the smart device is configured to receive the RF signals from the locator and to determine the passing of the smart device through the entrance, based on the received RF signals.

20. The smart device of claim 19, wherein the passing of the smart device through the entrance is determined if RSSI of the received RF signals is above a predefined threshold.

21. The smart device of claim 19, wherein the predefined threshold is customized to the smart device and the locator.

22. The smart device of claim 16, wherein the smart device has a user priority rank, wherein the smart device is configured to obtain indications of presence of other smart devices in the same subarea, and to obtain user priority ranks associated with the other smart devices, and wherein the smart device is configured to control the at least one connected device based on the user priority rank of the smart device and on the user priority ranks associated with the other smart devices.

23. The smart device of claim 16, wherein the smart device comprises an antenna, wherein the antenna is used for the exchanging of RF signals between the smart device and the locator and for at least one of data and voice communication.

24. The smart device of claim 16, wherein the smart device is configured to control the at least one connected device using direct wireless communication between the smart device and the at least one connected device.

25. A method for controlling at least one connected device by a smart device, the method comprising:

determining presence of the smart device in a subarea of a monitored area, wherein the presence is determined based on strength of RF signals exchanged between the smart device and a locator configured to supervise an entrance of the subarea;

controlling the at least one connected device by the smart device based on a predefined scheme stored in the smart device and on the presence of the smart device within the subarea.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein determining the presence comprises detecting passing of the smart device through the entrance.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein passing is detected if RSSI of the RF signals is above a predetermined threshold.

28. The method of claim 27, comprising:

customizing the predetermined threshold to the smart device and the locator.

29. The method of claim 26, comprising:

producing the RF signals by the smart device;

receiving the RF signals by the locator; and

receiving from the locator indications of the passing of the smart device through the entrance of the subarea associated with the locator.

30. The method of claim 26, comprising:

producing the RF signals by the locator;

receiving at the smart device RF signals produced by the locator; and

determining the passing of the smart device through the entrance, based on the received RF signals.

31. The method of claim 25, comprising:

assigning a user priority rank to the smart device;

receiving at the smart device indications of presence of other smart devices in the same subarea, each of the other smart devices having an associated user priority rank; and

controlling the at least one connected device based on the user priority rank of the smart device and on the user priority ranks of the other smart devices.