Cloud system for controlling outdoor grill with mobile application

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10652386-B2
Application number	US-201916660522-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2019
Priority date	Oct 23, 2015
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

Embodiments are directed to communicating with and controlling operation of electronically-controlled appliances. In one scenario, a computer system receives a first input from a computing system indicating that an electronically-controlled appliance is permitted to communicate with a cloud computing platform. The computer system generates a notification that is to be sent to a software application, where the software application is configured to control functions of the electronically-controlled appliance. The computer system transmits the generated notification to the software application, where the generated notification indicates that the cloud computing platform is communicably connected to the electronically-controlled appliance. The computer system then receives a second input from the software application indicating that specified functions are to be performed on the electronically-controlled appliance, and transmits instructions to the electronically-controlled appliance to perform the specified functions. These functions are then interpreted and carried out by a hardware controller on the electronically-controlled appliance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A controller for a smoking device, comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the smoking device to:
communicate wirelessly with a remote device to link the smoking device with the remote device;
in response to receiving authorization from the remote device, establish direct communication with a cloud computing platform;
in response to establishing direct communication with the cloud computing platform, terminate direct wireless communication with the remote device;
receive one or more communications from the cloud computing platform, the one or more communications comprising instructions for controlling the smoking device, the instructions originating from the remote device; and
in response to receiving the one or more communications, adjust at least one cooking characteristic of the smoking device based on the instructions of the one or more communications.

2. The controller for a smoking device of claim 1 , wherein the direct communication is established via an access point within range of the smoking device.

3. The controller for a smoking device of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller to, in response to receiving instructions to perform a custom cooking cycle from the cloud computing platform, initiate the custom cooking cycle, the custom cooking cycle originating from the remote device.

4. The controller for a smoking device of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller of the smoking device to:
in response to receiving instructions to perform a user-selected recipe from the cloud computing platform, implement the user-selected recipe, the user-selected recipe originating from the remote device; and
adjust an amount of fuel to be delivered to a combustion area of the smoking device to implement the user selected recipe.

5. The controller for a smoking device of claim 4 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller to further adjust the amount of fuel to be delivered to the combustion area of the smoking device based on one or more of a time interval identified in the user-selected recipe or temperature data received from a temperature probe.

6. The controller for a smoking device of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller of the smoking device to:
acquire ambient temperature data from one or more sensors;
transmit ambient temperature information to the cloud computing platform; and
receive modified instructions from the cloud computing platform for controlling the smoking device, the modified instructions being modified based on the ambient temperature information.

7. The controller for a smoking device of claim 1 , wherein the modified instructions include an adjusted cooking cycle.

8. The controller for a smoking device of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller to:
monitor usage of the smoking device; and
transmit usage data representative of the monitored usage to the cloud computing platform.

9. The controller for a smoking device of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller to:
transmit usage data comprising at least one of digital probe information, food item temperature information, grill temperature information, cooking cycle usage information, fuel burn rate information, ambient temperature information, duration of use information, amount of power drawn from components of the smoking device, recipe usage data, alert information, ignition data, power off data, component failure data, or cooking time data to the cloud computing platform; and
receive advertisements from the cloud computing platform, the advertisements being tailored based at least partially on the transmitted usage data.

10. The controller for a smoking device of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller to:
communicate wirelessly with a remote device via a first communication protocol; and
communicate with the cloud computing platform via a second, different communication protocol.

11. The controller for a smoking device of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller of the smoking device to cause a hopper and an auger of the smoking device to load additional wood pellets into a combustion area of the smoking device.

12. A cloud computing platform for communicating with and controlling operation of a smoking device, the cloud computing platform comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to:
receive a first communication directly from the smoking device indicating that the smoking device is in network communication with the cloud computing platform;
generate a second communication indicating that the smoking device is in network communication with the cloud computing platform;
transmit the second communication to one or more software applications operated on a remote device;
receive a third communication from the remote device via the one or more software applications, the third communication including control instructions for the smoking device; and
transmit the control instructions directly to the smoking device.

13. The cloud computing platform of claim 12 , furthermore comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to:
receive ambient temperature data from the smoking temperature;
modify the control instructions based on the received ambient temperature; and
transmit the modified control instructions to the smoking device.

14. The cloud computing platform of claim 13 , wherein the control instructions include instructions to perform a cooking cycle, and wherein the modified control instructions include adjusted instructions to perform an adjusted cooking cycle based on the ambient temperature.

15. The cloud computing platform of claim 12 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to:
receive usage data from the smoking device;
analyze the usage data received from the smoking device; and
generate one or more smoking device-related analytics for the smoking device, and
wherein the usage data comprises one or more of digital probe information, food item temperature information, grill temperature information, cooking cycle usage information, fuel burn rate information, ambient temperature information, duration of use information, amount of power drawn from components of the smoking device, recipe usage data, alert information, ignition data, power off data, component failure data, cooking time data.

16. The cloud computing platform of claim 12 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the cloud computing platform to:
determine a location of the remote device relative to the smoking device;
in response to determining that the location of the remote device within a certain distance of the smoking de

Assignees

• Traeger Pellet Grills Llc

Inventors

• Colston Michael

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

• G08C2201/42

  Transmitting or receiving remote control signals via a network · CPC title

• G08C17/02 Primary

  using a radio link · CPC title

• G08C2201/93

  Remote control using other portable devices, e.g. mobile phone, PDA, laptop · CPC title