Barrier Operator Feature Enhancement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016010382-A1
Application number	US-201514858497-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 18, 2015
Priority date	Nov 8, 2012
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A barrier operator feature enhancement device is designed to provide one or more features found in modern barrier operator devices and to incorporate those features into a previously installed barrier operator system. To facilitate ease of use, the barrier operator feature enhancement device can communicate with a large variety of barrier operators. Such communication may be wireless or wired, depending on the communication protocol implemented by a particular previously installed barrier operator. To facilitate the ease of installation, the device is designed to configure itself to operate with the communication protocol of the previously installed barrier operator. Once configured to be able to communicate with the previously installed barrier operator, the feature enhancement device works with the barrier operator to provide one or more additional features to enhance the capabilities of the previously installed barrier operator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus comprising:
a barrier operator communication module configured to be able to communicate with a plurality of barrier operator types that use different communication protocols by sending communication signals by wireless or wired communication protocols; control circuitry configured to use the barrier operator communication module to communicate with any of the plurality of barrier operator types, the control circuitry configured to use the barrier operator communication module to communicate to at least one pre-installed barrier operator to control operation of at least one feature of the at least one pre-installed barrier operator; an input/output module operatively in communication with the control circuitry, the input/output module configured to communicate with at least one peripheral device configured to provide information regarding an operation status of the pre-installed barrier operator and at least one second peripheral device configured to effect operation of the pre-installed barrier operator; the control circuitry configured to, in response to the communication with the at least one second peripheral device, effect communicating with the pre-installed barrier operator to effect an action or setting change of the pre-installed barrier operator, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the barrier operator communication module to send communication signals using the different communication protocols to the pre-installed barrier operator; wherein the input/output module is configured to receive an instruction signal through a user interface provided on a mobile device; wherein the control circuitry is configured to, in response to receiving the instruction signal, configure the barrier operator communication module to use a communication protocol, of the different communication protocols, that effects an action or setting change of the pre-installed barrier operator.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the input/output module is configured to communicate with at least one peripheral device comprising a computing device.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the input/output module is configured to communicate with at least one peripheral device comprising a computing device of one or more of the group consisting of:
a home computer;
a server computing device;
a mobile computing device;
a gateway device configured to enable communications with one or more of a home computer, server computing device, or a mobile computing device over a network;
and combinations thereof.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the input/output module is configured to communicate with at least one peripheral device comprising a door position sensor.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the input/output module is configured to communicate with at least one peripheral device comprising a network adaptor to effect a connection to Internet.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the input/output module is configured to send communications to and receive communications from devices over the Internet.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the input/output module is configured to receive commands to one or both of operate the pre-installed barrier operator from a device over the Internet and send status information regarding the pre-installed barrier operator to a device over the Internet.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the input/output module is configured to receive communications from at least one peripheral device comprising a sensor disposed to detect a location of a barrier operated by the pre-installed barrier operator.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the input/output module is configured to receive communications from the sensor using a protocol different from a protocol used to communicate with the at least one pre-installed barrier operator.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the barrier operator communication module is configured to be able to communicate with a plurality of barrier operator types by sending communication signals by one or more of the group consisting of:
wire-line relay switch activation,
wire-line serial communications,
wire-line encrypted serial communications,
a first wireless transmission protocol based on a handheld transmitter frequency,
a second wireless transmission protocol different from the first wireless transmission protocol,
radio frequency communications based on a frequency different from handheld transmitter frequencies,
radio frequency communications based on frequency hopping for spread spectrum,
and combinations thereof.

11 . The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the input/output module is configured to receive communications from the sensor using one or more of a communication in accord with IEEE 802.11 or in a frequency range between 2.402 GHz to 2.480 GHz.

12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the received instruction signal comprises information pertaining to a communication protocol of a particular barrier operator type, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to configure the barrier operator communication module to use a communication protocol, of the different communication protocols, based at least in part on the information pertaining to the communication protocol of the particular barrier operator type.

13 . A method comprising:
receiving at a communication module a communication comprising an instruction signal through a user interface provided on a mobile device, the instruction signal comprising information pertaining to a particular barrier operator type; in response to receipt of the instruction signal, accessing, via control circuitry, a memory that associates at least one communication protocol, of a plurality of communication protocols, with barrier operator types and configuring the communication module to operate according to an assigned communication protocol, of the plurality of communication protocols, that is associated with the particular barrier operator type; receiving at the communication module information from a peripheral device; determining at the communication module an action or setting change for a pre-installed barrier operator based on the information from the peripheral device; sending from the communication module a communication signal according to the communication protocol to the pre-installed barrier operator, the communication signal configured to effect an action or setting change of the pre-installed barrier operator r in response to receipt of a communication from a peripheral device configured to effect an action or setting change of the pre-installed barrier operator.

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein the receiving information from a peripheral device further comprises receiving information from one or more from the group consisting of: an obstacle detector, a network adaptor, a separate barrier operator, a handheld transmitter, a wall controller, a door position sensor, and combinations thereof.

15 . The method of claim 13 further comprising detecting presence of a vehicle with a presence detector and effecting communication with one or more peripheral devices in response to an initial detection of absence of the vehicle.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the effecting communication with one or more peripheral devices in response to an initial detection of absence the vehicle is one or more from the group consisting of:
effecting communication with a thermostat device to effect a change in temperature setting for a climate control system; effecting communication with a lighting

Assignees

• Chamberlain Group Inc

Inventors

• Cate Casparus
• Fitzgibbon James J
• Keller Jr Robert R
• Murray James Scott
• Sorice Cory
• Stanek Gregory John

Classifications

• G05B2219/2628

  Door, window · CPC title

• G05B2219/25168

  Domotique, access through internet protocols · CPC title

• G07C2009/00928

  for garage doors · CPC title

• E05F15/70

  with automatic actuation · CPC title

• G05B2219/25217

  Configure communication protocol, select between several · CPC title