Method and apparatus for configuring and controlling interfacing devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9425978-B2
Application number	US-201313736767-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 8, 2013
Priority date	Jun 27, 2012
Publication date	Aug 23, 2016
Grant date	Aug 23, 2016

Abstract

A device-controlling system configures, monitors, and controls one or more interfacing devices, such that an interfacing device can obtain and disseminate sensor data from one or more attached physical devices that include sensors for measuring physical attributes. During operation, the system can configure an interfacing device by establishing a network connection with an interfacing device, and determining one or more rules for the interfacing device. A rule can indicate an action description for performing an action, and indicates a condition that indicates criteria for processing the rule's action description. The system can configure the interfacing device to process its associated rules.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
establishing, by a device-controlling computer, a communication session with a target sensor-interfacing device, wherein the target sensor-interfacing device obtains sensor data from one or more attached physical devices that each includes a sensor for measuring one or more physical attributes;
selecting, from a plurality of rules to be processed by a set of sensor-interfacing devices of a computer network, a rule which is to be processed by the target sensor-interfacing device, wherein a respective rule includes an action description that indicates instructions for performing an action, and the respective rule also includes a rule-triggering condition that indicates criteria for processing the respective rule's action description;
sending, by the device-controlling computer to the target sensor-interfacing device, the rule selected for the target sensor-interfacing device to configure the target sensor-interfacing device to process the selected rule's action description in response to the selected rule's rule-triggering condition being satisfied by sensor measurement data from the target sensor-interfacing device or another sensor-interfacing device of the computer network;
obtaining, from the target-interfacing device over the computer network, data that includes at least a sensor measurement and a geographic location; and
in response to receiving a request, from a client device, to obtain a device-monitoring user interface (UI):
obtaining a map that covers a geographic area associated with at least the target sensor-interfacing device; and
generating and presenting the device-monitoring UI that displays the obtained map, and displays the target sensor-interfacing device and corresponding sensor measurement data over the map.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
configuring the target sensor-interfacing device to send recent sensor data to the device-controlling computer; and
in response to determining that a rule associated with the target sensor-interfacing device is satisfied based on recent data from one or more sensor-interfacing devices, modifying the target sensor-interfacing device's operating state based on the rule's action description.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining one or more other devices that generate sensor data associated with the one or more rules for the target sensor-interfacing device; and
wherein configuring the target sensor-interfacing device involves:
programming the target sensor-interfacing device to process the one or more rules; and
configuring the target sensor-interfacing device to subscribe to sensor data from the one or more other devices.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data associated with a respective sensor-interfacing device includes device-accessing information for the respective device, which facilitates the client device to obtain real-time sensor data for the device-monitoring UI directly from the respective sensor-interfacing device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data associated with a respective device includes a set of image coordinates; and
wherein providing the device-monitoring UI involves:
obtaining an image of an area associated with at least one sensor-interfacing device; and
generating the device-monitoring UI to display the obtained image, and to overlay the at least one sensor-interfacing device over the obtained image.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the obtained image includes a frame from a real-time video feed; and
wherein providing the device-monitoring UI further involves updating the device-monitoring UI to display a recent frame from the real-time video feed.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the real-time video feed includes a video feed from a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera;
and wherein providing the device-monitoring UI further involves:
mapping the image coordinates for a respective sensor-interfacing device to a set of coordinates associated with the frame from the PTZ camera; and
updating the device-monitoring UI to overlay the at least one sensor-interfacing device over the recent frame based on the mapped image coordinates.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the user-definable rules is a compound rule that is associated with multiple physical devices.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a command, from a client device, to control the target sensor-interfacing device;
determining an established communication session for communicating with the target sensor-interfacing device; and
configuring the target sensor-interfacing device, via the communication session, as indicated by the received command.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a request to obtain a rule-configuring UI, wherein the rule-configuring UI indicates one or more existing rules for one or more sensor-interfacing devices, and facilitates creating or modifying new or existing rules; and
responsive to receiving a description for a rule:
determining one or more target sensor-interfacing devices that process at least a portion of the rule's action description;
generating a device-specific rule for a respective target device, wherein the device-specific rule includes a portion of the rule's action description that is to be processed by the respective target device; and
configuring the respective target device to process the device-specific rule.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the target sensor-interfacing device involves one or more of:
determining a geographic location for the target sensor-interfacing device;
determining a description for one or more physical devices coupled to the target sensor-interfacing device;
generating a digital certificate for the target sensor-interfacing device; and
provisioning the target sensor-interfacing device based at least on the digital certificate.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:
establishing a communication session with a target sensor-interfacing device, wherein the target sensor-interfacing device obtains sensor data from one or more attached physical devices that each includes a sensor for measuring one or more physical attributes;
selecting, from a plurality of rules to be processed by a set of sensor-interfacing devices of a computer network, a rule which is to be processed by the target sensor-interfacing device, wherein a respective rule includes an action description that indicates instructions for performing an action, and the respective rule also includes a rule-triggering condition that indicates criteria for processing the respective rule's action description;
sending, to the target sensor-interfacing device, the rule selected for the target sensor-interfacing device to configure the target sensor-interfacing device to process the selected rule's action description in response to the selected rule's rule-triggering condition being satisfied by sensor measurement data from the target sensor-interfacing device or another sensor-interfacing device of the computer network;
obtaining, from the target-interfacing device over the computer network, data that includes at least a sensor measurement and a geographic location; and
in response to receiving a request, from a client device, to obtain a device-monitoring user interface (UI):
obtaining a map that covers a geographic area associated with at least the target sensor-interfacing device; and
generating and presenting the device-monitoring UI that displays the obtained

Assignees

• Ubiquiti Networks Inc

Inventors

• Frei Randall W
• Cheng Linker
• Pera Robert J

Classifications

• H04L12/2825

  Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network (access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002) · CPC title

• H04L67/125

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · 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

• G06F1/26

  Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C) · CPC title

• H04L12/281

  indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network (for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025) · CPC title