NETWORK ADDRESSABLE APPLIANCE INTERFACE DEVICE

• US 20150350008A1
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kim, Ryan Yong, Pathuri, Venkata Subba Rao, Kelly, Francis Michael, Glawson, David Allen, Whitney, Jason Lynn
• Granted Patent: US 9,647,888 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/41 by acting on aggregated flows or links
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an interface device to control an appliance through a network. The interface device can be device-agnostic and can be incorporated into any suitable appliance. Upon initialization, the interface device can determine the capabilities of the attached appliance and send out update information that can be received by a controller. The controller can send commands designated to control the appliance, which are received by the interface device and translated into appropriate commands that are transmitted to the appliance. The interface device can turn the appliance into a network device, such as a home automation network device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

initializing, on a computing device, an interface device having a network interface and an appliance interface, wherein initializing the interface device includes receiving appliance capability information specific to an appliance, wherein the appliance capability information is received using the appliance interface, wherein the appliance capability information identifies an attribute of a value, and wherein the value corresponds to a function of the appliance;

determining network device capability information, wherein the network device capability information corresponds to the appliance capability information; and

transmitting the network device capability information using the network interface.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting an update request through the appliance interface, wherein the update request corresponds to the identified value, and wherein the identified value is a readable value corresponding to a condition of the appliance;

receiving an updated status for the readable value; and

transmitting a status update through the network interface, wherein the status update corresponds to the updated status for the readable value.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting appliance identification information through the network interface, wherein initializing the interface device further includes receiving the appliance identification information using the appliance interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein initializing the interface device further comprises supplying the interface device with power from the appliance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance interface is a serial interface.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a network device control signal through the network interface, wherein the network device control signal is associated with the identified value, wherein the identified value is a controllable value corresponding to a setting of the appliance, and wherein the appliance capability information further identifies a control scheme for the controllable value

transmitting an appliance control signal through the appliance interface, wherein the appliance control signal updates the controllable value, and wherein the appliance control signal corresponds to the network device control signal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving appliance capability information includes:

transmitting a plurality of attribute requests, each of the plurality of attribute requests identifying one of a plurality of value identification numbers, wherein the appliance capability information identifies at least one attribute associated with each of the plurality of value identification numbers, wherein each value identification number corresponds to a value, and wherein each value corresponds to a function of the appliance.

8. A system, comprising:

one or more data processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including;

initializing, on a computing device, an interface device having a network interface and an appliance interface, wherein initializing the interface device includes receiving appliance capability information specific to an appliance, wherein the appliance capability information is received using the appliance interface, wherein the appliance capability information identifies an attribute of a value, and wherein the value corresponds to a function of the appliance;

determining network device capability information, wherein the network device capability information corresponds to the appliance capability information; and

transmitting the network device capability information using the network interface.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including:

transmitting an update request through the appliance interface, wherein the update request corresponds to the identified value, and wherein the identified value is a readable value corresponding to a condition of the appliance;

receiving an updated status for the readable value; and

transmitting a status update through the network interface, wherein the status update corresponds to the updated status for the readable value.

10. The system of claim 8, further comprising instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including:

transmitting appliance identification information through the network interface, wherein initializing the interface device further includes receiving the appliance identification information using the appliance interface.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein power for the one or more data processors is supplied from the appliance.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the appliance interface is a serial interface.

13. The system of claim 8, further comprising instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including:

receiving a network device control signal through the network interface, wherein the network device control signal is associated with the identified value, wherein the identified value is a controllable value corresponding to a setting of the appliance, and wherein the appliance capability information further identifies a control scheme for the controllable value

transmitting an appliance control signal through the appliance interface, wherein the appliance control signal updates the controllable value, and wherein the appliance control signal corresponds to the network device control signal.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein receiving appliance capability information includes:

transmitting a plurality of attribute requests, each of the plurality of attribute requests identifying one of a plurality of value identification numbers, wherein the appliance capability information identifies at least one attribute associated with each of the plurality of value identification numbers, wherein each value identification number corresponds to a value, and wherein each value corresponds to a function of the appliance.

15. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, including instructions configured to cause a data processing apparatus to:

initialize, on a computing device, an interface device having a network interface and an appliance interface, wherein initializing the interface device includes receiving appliance capability information specific to an appliance, wherein the appliance capability information is received using the appliance interface, wherein the appliance capability information identifies an attribute of a value, and wherein the value corresponds to a function of the appliance;

determine network device capability information, wherein the network device capability information corresponds to the appliance capability information; and

transmit the network device capability information using the network interface.

16. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the data processing apparatus to:

transmit an update request through the appliance interface, wherein the update request corresponds to the identified value, and wherein the identified value is a readable value corresponding to a condition of the appliance;

receive an updated status for the readable value; and

transmit a status update through the network interface, wherein the status update corresponds to the updated status for the readable value.

17. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the data processing apparatus to:

transmit appliance identification information through the network interface, wherein initializing the interface device further includes receiving the appliance identification information using the appliance interface.

18. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein power for the computing device is supplied from the appliance.

19. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the appliance interface is a serial interface.

20. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the data processing apparatus to:

receive a network device control signal through the network interface, wherein the network device control signal is associated with the identified value, wherein the identified value is a controllable value corresponding to a setting of the appliance, and wherein the appliance capability information further identifies a control scheme for the controllable value

transmit an appliance control signal through the appliance interface, wherein the appliance control signal updates the controllable value, and wherein the appliance control signal corresponds to the network device control signal.

21. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions configured to cause the data processing to receive appliance capability information are further configured to cause the data processing apparatus to:

transmit a plurality of attribute requests, each of the plurality of attribute requests identifying one of a plurality of value identification numbers, wherein the appliance capability information identifies at least one attribute associated with each of the plurality of value identification numbers, wherein each value identification number corresponds to a value, and wherein each value corresponds to a function of the appliance.