Systems and methods of mapping connected devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021119885-A1
Application number	US-202017138248-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2020
Priority date	Aug 3, 2017
Publication date	Apr 22, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments described herein are directed at mapping and controlling network-enabled IoT devices housed in an environment via a graphical user interface (GUI) of an electronic device. The disclosed features include generating a digital map representing the 3D or the 2D position of the IoT devices in the environment. In some embodiments, the digital map can be overlaid on a layout of a physical floorplan of the environment also showing physical objects in the environment. Different IoT devices in the environment can be controlled via a GUI common to the different IoT devices. Additionally, the GUI can be used to select a group of IoT devices and perform group-wise control of the IoT devices in the group.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor of an electronic device, cause the processor to:
receive information including spatial locations of one or more IoT devices deployed in an environment; associate each IoT device in the one or more IoT devices with a respective position in the environment based on the spatial information; generate a graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying a digital map that includes a graphical representation of the one or more IoT devices relative to the environment, wherein the graphical representation corresponds to the spatial information; upon receiving a request from a user of the electronic device, overlay the digital map on a physical floorplan of the environment, wherein the physical floorplan includes one or more indicia representing one or more physical objects included in the environment.

2 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the information including spatial locations of one or more IoT devices includes settings, configurations, network addresses, and operational details of the one or more IoT devices in the environment.

3 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the physical floorplan of the environment is selected from a set of floorplan templates stored in a memory coupled to the electronic device.

4 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 3 , wherein the request from the user of the electronic device is a first request, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
upon receiving a second request from the user, update the set of floorplan templates by adding a new floorplan template to the set of floorplan templates.

5 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the request from the user of the electronic device is a first request, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
upon receiving a second request from the user, modify the physical floorplan of the environment by modifying the one or more indicia representing the one or more physical objects included in the environment.

6 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the respective position is a three-dimensional (3D) or a two-dimensional (2D) position in the environment based on the spatial information.

7 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more physical objects included in the environment comprises at least one of: a wall, furniture, a plant, a painting, a lamp, a staircase, a bathroom fixture, or a plumbing fixture.

8 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the respective position of each IoT device is represented on the digital map by an industry-standard icon or a user-defined icon.

9 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the request from the user of the electronic device is a first request, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
upon receiving a second request from the user, communicating a control signal to the one or more IoT devices for querying operational settings of the one or more IoT devices; and based on operational settings of the one or more IoT devices and a third request from the user, communicating an update signal to modify the operational settings of the one or more IoT devices.

10 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more IoT devices are of different types or produced by different manufacturers, and wherein the GUI is configured to control each of the one or more IoT devices through a common interface.

11 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
upon selection of a group of IoT devices in the one or more IoT devices deployed in the environment, transmit command signals to conduct operations on all IoT devices in the group.

12 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations includes at least one of: group timer selection, group time settings, or group network settings.

13 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
upon deployment of a new IoT device in the environment, receiving a registration signal from the new IoT device; and broadcast information relating to the new IoT device to the one or more IoT devices in the environment, based on the registration signal from the new IoT device.

14 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device is a remote control device configured to operate a DVR or a set-top box.

15 . An electronic device comprising:
a memory; a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to:
receive information including spatial locations of one or more IoT devices deployed in an environment;
associate each IoT device in the one or more IoT devices with a respective position in the environment based on the spatial information;
generate a graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying a digital map that includes a graphical representation of the one or more IoT devices relative to the environment, wherein the graphical representation corresponds to the spatial information; and
upon receiving a request from a user of the electronic device, overlay the digital map on a physical floorplan of the environment, wherein the physical floorplan includes one or more indicia representing one or more physical objects included in the environment.

16 . The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the one or more IoT devices are of different types or produced by different manufacturers, and wherein the GUI is configured to control each of the one or more IoT devices through a common interface.

17 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving information including spatial locations of one or more IoT devices deployed in an environment; associating each IoT device in the one or more IoT devices with a respective position in the environment based on the spatial information; generating a graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying a digital map that includes a graphical representation of the one or more IoT devices relative to the environment, wherein the graphical representation corresponds to the spatial information; and upon receiving a request from a user of the electronic device, overlaying the digital map on a physical floorplan of the environment, wherein the physical floorplan includes one or more indicia representing one or more physical objects included in the environment.

18 . The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein the request from the user of the electronic device is a first request, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
upon receiving a second request from the user, communicating a control signal to the one or more IoT devices for querying operational settings of the one or more IoT devices; and based on operational settings of the one or more IoT devices and a third request from the user, communicating an update signal to modify the operational settings of the one or more IoT devices.

19 . The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein the one or more IoT devices are of different types or produced by different manufacturers, and wherein the GUI is configured to contr

Assignees

• Dish Network Llc

Inventors

• Flores Guerra Jesus

Classifications

• H04L41/0893

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title

• H04W4/08

  User group management · CPC title

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04L41/22 Primary

  comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title