Server and control method for determining a target electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12463843-B2
Application number	US-202217969211-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2022
Priority date	May 27, 2020
Publication date	Nov 4, 2025
Grant date	Nov 4, 2025

Abstract

A server and a control method are provided. The server includes a communication interface for performing communication with a plurality of electronic devices and a plurality of sensing devices, and at least one processor configured to identify a sensing device corresponding to a user's location from among the plurality of sensing devices based on information received from at least one of the plurality of electronic devices and the plurality of sensing devices through the communication interface, and control the communication interface to transmit a signal for controlling a target electronic device among the plurality of electronic devices to the target electronic device based on sensing data received from the identified sensing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A server comprising:
a communication interface configured to perform communication with a plurality of electronic devices and a plurality of sensing devices; and at least one processor configured to:
identify a sensing device corresponding to a location of a user among the plurality of sensing devices based on information received from the plurality of sensing devices through the communication interface and at least one of the plurality of electronic devices,
obtain a sensing data from the identified sensing device, and
control the communication interface to transmit a signal for controlling a target electronic device among the plurality of electronic devices to the target electronic device based on the sensing data,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
calculate a score by applying a predetermined weight to each value corresponding to information on intensity of communication signal, state information of the target electronic device or information on a user voice, to each of the plurality of electronic devices and the plurality of sensing devices,
identify a device having a highest score among the plurality of electronic devices and the plurality of sensing devices,
identify a regional sensing device located in the same region as a region of the identified sensing device among the plurality of sensing devices as the sensing device corresponding to the location of the user based on location information in case that one of the plurality of electronic devices is identified as the device having the highest score, and
identify an identified sensing device as the sensing device corresponding to the location of the user in case that one of the plurality of sensing devices is identified as the device having the highest score.

2 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
transmit the signal for controlling a surrounding environment of the target electronic device to the target electronic device based on the obtained sensing data.

3 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify the identified sensing device corresponding to the location of the user among the plurality of sensing devices as a sensing device closest to the user based on the information received from the plurality of sensing devices and the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices.

4 . The server of claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory for storing information on locations of regions in which the plurality of electronic devices and the plurality of sensing devices are located at a specific place, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify the regional sensing device located in a same region as a region of the identified one of the plurality of electronic devices among the plurality of sensing devices as the identified sensing device corresponding to the location of the user based on the location information.

5 . The server of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify the regional sensing device located in the same region as a region of an electronic device that transmits the electronic device's state information among the plurality of sensing devices as the sensing device corresponding to the location of the user in case that the electronic device's state information of the electronic device is received from the electronic device controlled based on a user command among the plurality of electronic devices through the communication interface.

6 . The server of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify the regional sensing device located in the same region as an electronic device that transmits information on a user voice among the plurality of sensing devices as the sensing device corresponding to the location of the user in case that the information on the user voice is received from the electronic device that receives the user voice among the plurality of electronic devices through the communication interface.

7 . The server of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify a first device having greatest intensity of a communication signal based on received information on intensity of the communication signal, and identify a sensing device corresponding to the identified first device among the plurality of sensing devices as the sensing device corresponding to the location of the user, in case that information on intensities of communication signals between the plurality of electronic devices, the plurality of sensing devices and a user terminal device is received through the communication interface.

8 . The server of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify the regional sensing device located in the same region as a region of an identified electronic device among the plurality of sensing devices as the sensing device corresponding to the location of the user based on the location information in case that one of the plurality of electronic devices is identified as the device having the greatest intensity of the communication signal, and identify an identified sensing device as the sensing device corresponding to the location of the user in case that one of the plurality of sensing devices is identified as the device having the greatest intensity of the communication signal.

9 . A control method for a server, the method comprising:
identifying a sensing device corresponding to a location of a user among the plurality of sensing devices based on information received from the plurality of sensing devices and at least one of a plurality of electronic devices; obtaining a sensing data from the identified sensing device; and transmitting a signal for controlling a target electronic device among the plurality of electronic devices to the target electronic device based on the sensing data, wherein the identifying of the sensing device includes:
calculating a score by applying a predetermined weight to each value corresponding to information on intensity of a communication signal, a state information of the target electronic device or information on a user voice, to each of the plurality of electronic devices and the plurality of sensing devices,
identifying a device having a highest score among the plurality of electronic devices and the plurality of sensing devices,
identifying a regional sensing device located in the same region as a region of the identified sensing device among the plurality of sensing devices as the sensing device corresponding to the location of the user based on location information in case that one of the plurality of electronic devices is identified as the device having the highest score, and
identifying an identified sensing device as the sensing device corresponding to the location of the user in case that one of the plurality of sensing devices is identified as the device having the highest score.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the transmitting includes:
transmitting the signal for controlling a surrounding environment of the target electronic device to the target electronic device based on the obtained sensing data.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein in the identifying of the sensing device, the sensing device corresponding to the location of the user among the plurality of sensing devices is identified as a sensing device closest to the user based on the information received from the plurality of sensing devices and the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices.

12 . The method of claim 9 , wher

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Park Mooserk
• Cho Ara
• Choi Sukwon

Classifications

• H04L67/125

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

• H04L12/2827 Primary

  Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality · CPC title

• H04L12/2816

  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 title

• G06F3/16

  Sound input; Sound output (speech processing G10L) · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title