Application programming interface manager

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10501285-B2
Application number	US-201815926562-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 20, 2018
Priority date	Sep 21, 2015
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

Modern elevators are computer controlled and a computer program sending service requests to an elevator system may be implemented in a mobile device. An API-manager is used in a mobile device for providing a common programming interface for all elevator related applications in the mobile device. The API-manager has a certificate that is used for identifying the person using the mobile device. Thus, it is possible to execute service requests that require authorization or access rights. When the identification is provided at the API-manager third party applications executed in the mobile device do not need own certificates. Furthermore, as the API-manager has a certificate service requests can be trusted also when the mobile application is provided by a third party.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for controlling an elevator system by a mobile device, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving a request for an elevator service call;
transmitting said received request to an API-manager configured to transmit elevator service calls to at least one elevator of the elevator system in said mobile device through an application programming interface;
transmitting an authentication request using said API-manager to the elevator system from said mobile device;
authenticating said mobile device by using a certificate issued by a certificate authority; and
in response to a successful authentication, checking validity of said elevator service call, and in response to an approved validity check, transmitting said request to said elevator system.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises transmitting said request from said elevator system to a second external system.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein said second external system is a system for controlling at least one elevator.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said API-manager is configured to receive elevator service calls from a plurality of mobile applications.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said certificate is stored at said mobile device.

6. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising code adapted to perform the method according to claim 1 , when executed on a data-processing system.

7. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one memory, wherein the at least one memory comprises an API-manager; and
a wireless network connection,
wherein the apparatus is configured to:
receive a request for an elevator service call;
transmit said received request to the API-manager in said apparatus through an application programming interface;
transmit an authentication request to an elevator system from said apparatus;
authenticate said apparatus by using a certificate issued by a certificate authority; and
as a response to a successful authentication, check validity of said elevator service call, and as a response to an approved validity check, to transmit said request to said elevator system.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the apparatus is further configured to transmit said request from said elevator system to a second external system.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein said second external system is a system for controlling at least one elevator.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein said API-manager is configured to receive service calls from a plurality of mobile applications.

11. A system comprising:
at least one elevator coupled to a control system;
an external system; and
an apparatus comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one memory, wherein the at least one memory comprises an API-manager; and
a wireless network connection,
wherein the apparatus is configured to:
receive a request for an elevator service call;
transmit said received request to the API-manager in said apparatus through an application programming interface;
transmit an authentication request to the system from said apparatus;
authenticate said apparatus by using a certificate issued by a certificate authority; and
as a response to a successful authentication, check validity of said elevator service call, and as a response to an approved validity check, to transmit said request to the system,

wherein said apparatus is further configured to transmit service requests to said external system and said external system is configured to process said service requests and transmit processed service requests to said control system.

12. The method according to claim 2 , wherein said API-manager is configured to receive elevator service calls from a plurality of mobile applications.

13. The method according to claim 3 , wherein said API-manager is configured to receive elevator service calls from a plurality of mobile applications.

14. The method according to claim 2 , wherein said certificate is stored at said mobile device.

15. The method according to claim 3 , wherein said certificate is stored at said mobile device.

16. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said certificate is stored at said mobile device.

17. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising code adapted to perform the method according to claim 4 , when executed on a data-processing system.

18. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising code adapted to perform the method according to claim 5 , when executed on a data-processing system.

19. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein said second external system is a system for controlling at least one elevator.

20. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein said API-manager is configured to receive service calls from a plurality of mobile applications.

Assignees

• Kone Corp

Inventors

• Koivisto Ari
• Vuorenala Jere
• Elomaa Niko

Classifications

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04L67/125

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• B66B1/468

  Call registering systems · CPC title

• G06F9/54

  Interprogram communication · CPC title

• B66B1/3453

  Procedure or protocol for the data transmission or communication · CPC title