Barrier operator feature enhancement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9644416-B2
Application number	US-201615069351-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2016
Priority date	Nov 8, 2012
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

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 communication module configured to communicate with a pre-installed barrier operator by sending communication signals by wired communication protocol, the communication module comprising a wired communication port configured to be connected through one or more wires to the barrier operator;
control circuitry configured to use the communication module to communicate with the pre-installed barrier operator, the control circuitry configured to use the barrier operator communication module to communicate to the pre-installed barrier operator to control movement of a barrier operated by the 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 wireless door position sensor configured to provide information regarding movement of a barrier operated by the pre-installed barrier operator, and at least one mobile computing device configured to effect operation of the pre-installed barrier operator;
wherein the input/output module is configured to receive an instruction signal sent in response to receipt of interaction through a user interface provided on a mobile device, and to receive communications from the wireless door position sensor to detect a location of a barrier operated by the pre-installed barrier operator;
wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the communication module to send communication signals to the pre-installed barrier operator according to communication protocols that effect movement of the barrier by the pre-installed barrier operator;
wherein the control circuitry is configured to, in response to receiving the instruction signal from the mobile computing device via the input/output module, effect communicating with the pre-installed barrier operator to control movement of the barrier between an open and closed position;
wherein the control circuitry is further configured to monitor at least one aspect of the pre-installed barrier operator, the monitoring at least one aspect including monitoring usage history of the pre-installed barrier operator and storing information pertaining to the usage history in an online database;
wherein the information pertaining to the usage history stored in the online database includes information pertaining to the receipt of instruction signals received by the input/output module signal sent in response to receipt of interaction through a user interface provided on a mobile device and information from the wireless door position sensor pertaining to the detected a location of a barrier operated by 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 network adaptor to effect a connection to Internet.

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

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the input/output module is configured to receive commands to one or both of operate the pre-installed barrier operator from the mobile computing device over the Internet and send status information regarding the pre-installed barrier operator to the mobile computing device over the Internet.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the input/output module is configured to receive communications from the wireless door position sensor using a protocol different from a protocol used to communicate with the at least one pre-installed barrier operator.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the input/output module is configured to send status information regarding the pre-installed barrier operator to the mobile computing device over the Internet, wherein the status information includes information based at least in part on the communications received from the wireless door position sensor regarding the detected location of the barrier operated by the pre-installed barrier operator.

7. A method comprising:
receiving at an input/output module communications comprising information from a wireless door position sensor pertaining to the movement and a detected location of a barrier operated by a pre-installed barrier operator;
receiving at an input/output module an instruction signal from a mobile computing device, the instruction signal sent in response to receipt of interaction through a user interface provided on the mobile computing device;
in response to receiving the instruction signal, controlling, via control circuitry, a communication module to send communication signals to the pre-installed barrier operator by wired communication protocol, the communication signals being sent according to a communication protocol that effects movement of the barrier by the pre-installed barrier operator, wherein the communication signals effect the pre-installed barrier operator to control movement of the barrier between an open and closed position;
monitoring usage history of the barrier operator via the control circuitry, the monitoring including recording information pertaining to the effecting of the pre-installed barrier operator to control movement of the barrier between an open and closed position and storing information pertaining to the usage history in an online database;
wherein the information pertaining to the usage history stored in the online database includes information received at the input/output module from the wireless door position sensor pertaining to the movement of a barrier operated by a pre-installed barrier operator, and information pertaining to the instruction signals received at the input/output module from the mobile computing device.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising receiving the instruction signal sent from the mobile computing device over the Internet.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the communications received from the wireless door position sensor are of a communication protocol different from the communication protocol used to communicate with the at least one pre-installed barrier operator.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising sending via the input/output module status information to the mobile computing device over the Internet, wherein the status information includes information based at least in part on the communications received from the wireless door position sensor regarding the detected location of the barrier operated by the pre-installed barrier operator.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring at least one aspect of the barrier operator further includes monitoring error conditions or tamper warnings of the barrier operator.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a light, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to effect flashing of the light in coordination with communicating with the pre-installed barrier operator to control movement of the barrier between an open and closed position.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a sound generator, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to effect generation of a sound by the sound generator in coordination with communicating with the pre-installed barrier operator to control movement of the barrier between an open and closed position.

14. The method of claim 7 , further comprising effecting generation of a sound by a sound generator and flashing of a light in coordination with sending communication signals to effect closing of the barrier by the pre-installed barrier operator.

Assignees

• Chamberlain Group Inc

Inventors

• Fitzgibbon James J
• Keller Jr Robert R

Classifications

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• E05Y2800/70

  Retrofitting of elements · CPC title

• E05F15/77 Primary

  using wireless control · 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

• G05B19/042

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title