Notification device interaction

• US 7,039,698 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2002
• Issued: 05/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Knapp Investment Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kreiner, Barrett, Jarboe, Andre, Kleinfelter, Kevin, Slemmer, John B., Olsson, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Knight, Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Holmes, Michael B.
• Application Number:
  US10/177,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20040019667A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,414 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/544 Remote
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

Devices and methods are disclosed for establishing device interaction among electronic devices of a device environment and a notification device interfaced with the user. Notification devices allow the user to communicate directly with the device environment, such as by entering information in a mobile phone that has a wireless connection to the environement. A device of the environment has a first transmitter and receiver for communicating with other devices, such as a notification device within the environment. In the instance where a notification device is located remotely, the device of the environment may also include a second transmitter and receiver for communicating with the remotely located notification device through a remote communications transport. A memory stores interaction rules and translation rules, and a processor implements the interaction rules and translation rules to establish interaction with the notification device. Methods may involve detecting a change of state at a device and then communicating with the notification device in accordance with the interaction rules and translation rules thereafter. Methods may also involve directing a message from a notification device to a device of the environment, such as through the remote communication transport, and then communicating from the device of the environment to additional devices.

Claims

1. A method of establishing interaction with a notification device interfaced with a user and an environment having a plurality of devices where each device performs one or more functions within the environment with the one or more functions of each device being associated with various states, the method comprising:

detecting a change of state at a first device;

in response to detecting the change of state, referencing rules of device interaction that govern communication between the first device and a notification device, the rules of device interaction providing an association between the detected change of state of the first device, the notification device that is communicated with in response, and the content of the communication to the notification device interfaced with the user, wherein referencing the rules of device interaction further comprises detecting from the rules a hierarchy of notification devices and non-notification devices to communicate with in response to the detected change of state; and

communicating with the notification device according to the rules of device interaction in response to detecting the change of state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification device is located remotely, and wherein the method further comprises referencing rules of translation that indicate instructions for conveying information remotely to the notification device through a remote communications transport.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting whether a first notification device is responsive to the communication; and

when the first notification device is not responsive, communicating with a second notification device according to the rules of device interaction.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with a first notification device and contemporaneously communicating with a second notification device.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving user input to create the translation rule for the second device.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein information is conveyed remotely through email.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein information is conveyed remotely through electronic pages.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein, for the detected change of state, the referenced rules of device interaction require that a page be left with a user followed by a call to a mobile phone if there is no response to the page within a certain amount of time.

8. A device for establishing interaction between a notification device interfaced with a user and a plurality of devices within an environment where each device performs one or more functions within the environment with the one or more functions of each device being associated with various states, the device comprising:

a first transmitter for a communication transport of the environment;

a first receiver for the communication transport of the environment;

a memory that stores interaction rules and translation rules for communicating between the notification device and the plurality of devices of the environment; and

a processor in communication with the first transmitter, the first receiver, and memory, the processor being configured and to direct messages between devices of the environment and the notification device according to the interaction rules and translation rules, wherein the interaction rules specify when a communication to a notification device should occur and the translation rules specify the content to include in the communication to the notification device, wherein the processor is further configured to detect from the interaction rules a hierarchy of notification devices and non-notification devices to communicate with in response to a detected change of state of a device of the plurality.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the notification device is remotely located and communicates through a remote communications transport, the device further comprising:

a second transmitter for the remote communication transport;

a second receiver for the remote communication transport; and

wherein the processor is further configured to translate messages between the communication transport of the environment and the remote communication transport according to the translation rules.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to send a message to a first notification device of the hierarchy, detect whether the first notification device is responsive to the communication, and when the first notification device is not responsive, communicate with a second notification device of the hierarchy according to the rules of device interaction and the rules of translation.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to receive user input to create the translation rules and to store the translation rules created from the user input in the memory.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein the remote communication transport is email system.

13. The device of claim 9, wherein the remote communication transport is an electronic paging system.

14. The device of claim 9, wherein the remote communication transport is the Internet.

15. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

detect a change of state at a first device;

in response to detecting the change of state, to reference rules of device interaction that govern communication between the first device and a notification device, the rules of device interaction providing an association between the detected change of state of the first device, the notification device that is communicated with in response, and the content of the communication to the notification device interfaced with the user, wherein referencing the rules of device interaction further comprises detecting from the rules a hierarchy of notification devices and non-notification devices to communicate with in response to the detected chance of state; and

communicate with the notification device according to the rules of device interaction in response to detecting the change of state.

16. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 15, wherein the notification device is located remotely, and further comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to reference rules of translation that indicate instructions for conveying information remotely to the notification device through a remote communications transport.

17. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

detect whether a first notification device is responsive to the communication; and

when the first notification device is not responsive, to communicate with a second notification device according to the rules of device interaction.

18. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to communicate with a first notification device and to contemporaneously communicate with a second notification device.

19. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 16, further comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to receive user input to create the translation rule for the second device.

20. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 16, wherein information is conveyed remotely through email.

21. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 16, wherein information is conveyed remotely through electronic pages.

23. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 15, wherein, for the detected change of state, the referenced rules of device interaction require that a page be left with a user followed by a call to a mobile phone if there is no response to the page within a certain amount of time.