System and method for providing network support services and premises gateway support infrastructure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11611449-B2
Application number	US-202217706105-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2022
Priority date	Dec 29, 2006
Publication date	Mar 21, 2023
Grant date	Mar 21, 2023

Abstract

A service management system communicates via wide area network with gateway devices located at respective user premises. The service management system remotely manages delivery of application services, which can be voice controlled, by a gateway, e.g. by selectively activating/deactivating service logic modules in the gateway. The service management system also may selectively provide secure communications and exchange of information among gateway devices and among associated endpoint devices. An exemplary service management system includes a router connected to the network and one or more computer platforms, for implementing management functions. Examples of the functions include a connection manager for controlling system communications with the gateway devices, an authentication manager for authenticating each gateway device and controlling the connection manager and a subscription manager for managing applications services and/or features offered by the gateway devices. A service manager, controlled by the subscription manager, distributes service specific configuration data to authenticated gateway devices.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
communicatively coupling, within a user premises, a first endpoint device, a second endpoint device, and a management device using a wireless communication protocol;
communicatively coupling, via the management device, the first endpoint device, the second endpoint device, and a remotely located system external to the user premises;
receiving, at the management device, endpoint device information from the first endpoint device, wherein the first endpoint device is a device configured to play audio, display an image, or a combination thereof;
responsive to receiving the endpoint device information, managing operations of the second endpoint device, wherein the second endpoint device is a lighting unit located within the user premises; and
in response to one or more communications with the remotely located system, controlling at least one of:
one or more user interfaces,
application service logic,
services framework logic,
platform management logic, or
any combination thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication protocol is an X10, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, WiFi, or ZigBee protocol.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
responsive to receiving the endpoint device information, managing interactions between the management device and a television; and
wherein the endpoint device information includes one or more context-sensitive commands that are based on a context associated with the user premises.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the managing the second endpoint device is performed using application services provided by the system external to the user premises.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein managing the second endpoint device includes one or both of accessing a bridge device and/or scheduling future actions.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the endpoint device information comprises settings specified for the second endpoint device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first endpoint device is a mobile phone.

8. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the method is performed by a home-automation control device and the method further comprises receiving a command from a user device, the command including a selection of visual content to display on the first endpoint device; and
wherein the command is directed to the home-automation control device as a result of a user making a selection of the home-automation control device from a roster of multiple home-automation control devices.

9. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the method is performed by a home-automation control device and the method further comprises receiving a command from a user device; and
wherein the command was directed to the home-automation control device as a result of a user making a selection of the home-automation control device from a roster of multiple home-automation control devices.

10. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a process comprising:
communicatively coupling, within a user premises, a first endpoint device, a second endpoint device, and a management device using a wireless communication protocol;
communicatively coupling, via the management device, the first endpoint device, the second endpoint device, and a remotely located system external to the user premises;
receiving, at the management device, endpoint device information from the first endpoint device, wherein the first endpoint device is a device configured to play audio, display an image, or a combination thereof;
responsive to receiving the endpoint device information, managing operations of the second endpoint device, wherein the second endpoint device is a lighting unit located within the user premises; and
in response to one or more communications with the remotely located system, controlling at least one of:
one or more user interfaces,
application service logic,
services framework logic,
platform management logic, or
any combination thereof.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 ,
wherein the process further comprises receiving additional endpoint device information from at least one sensor located within the user premises; and
wherein the wireless home automation of the second endpoint device is further based on the additional endpoint device information.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the endpoint device information comprises settings specified for the second endpoint device.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the process further comprises managing home security at the user premises through interactions with a video camera and associated video data captured within the user premises by the video camera.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the first wireless communication protocol is a mesh protocol used to communicate with the first and second endpoint devices.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the first and second endpoint devices are communicatively coupled to the remotely located system through a local network that is connected to a wide area network on which the remotely located system communicates.

16. A computing system comprising:
one or more communication circuits that:
communicatively link, within a user premises, at least a first endpoint device, a second endpoint device, and a management device using a wireless communication protocol; and
communicatively link, via the management device, the first and second endpoint devices and a remotely located system external to the user premises;

one or more processors; and
one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform a process comprising:
receiving, at the management device, endpoint device information from the first endpoint device, wherein the first endpoint device is a device configured to play audio, display an image, or a combination thereof;
responsive to receiving the endpoint device information, managing operations of the second endpoint device, wherein the second endpoint device includes a lighting unit located within the user premises; and
in response to one or more communications with the remotely located system, controlling at least one of:
one or more user interfaces,
application service logic,
services framework logic,
platform management logic, or
any combination thereof.

17. The computing system of claim 16 , wherein the first endpoint device is a television or has a wired connection to a television.

18. The computing system of claim 16 , wherein the managing the second endpoint device is performed using application services provided by the system external to the user premises.

19. The computing system of claim 16 , wherein the first endpoint device is a mobile phone.

20. The computing system of claim 16 , wherein the endpoint device information comprises configuration settings specified for the second endpoint device.

Assignees

• Kip Prod P1 Lp

Inventors

• Ansari Amir
• Cowgill George A
• Nicholls Leon E
• Ramayya Jude P
• Masina Ramprakash
• Mcquarters Alvin R
• Raissyan Atousa

Classifications

• H04L12/2807 Primary

  Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network (arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50) · CPC title

• H04L65/1108

  Web based protocols, e.g. webRTC · CPC title

• H04L47/83

  based on usage prediction · CPC title

• G06Q30/04 Primary

  Billing or invoicing · CPC title

• H04L63/08

  for authentication of entities (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32) · CPC title