Device control method, device control system, and server device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9774608-B2
Application number	US-201314415807-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2013
Priority date	Aug 7, 2012
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

A device control method used in a device control system in which an operation terminal is used to remotely operate a device with a server device mediating between the operation terminal and the device, the device control method including: acquiring, upon reception of an operation instruction for operation of the device from the operation terminal, environment information pertaining to at least one of the device and the operation terminal; performing a determination of whether or not to cause execution of processing corresponding to the operation instruction based on whether or not the environment information satisfies a predetermined condition; and causing the device to execute an execution command for execution of the processing when a result of the determination is affirmative, and not causing the device to execute the execution command when the result of the determination is negative.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A device control method used in a device control system in which an operation terminal is used to remotely operate a device with a server device mediating between the operation terminal and the device, the device control method comprising:
receiving, from the operation terminal, an operation instruction for operation of the device;
acquiring, upon reception of the operation instruction, environment information pertaining to at least one of the device and the operation terminal;
performing, by using the environment information, a first determination of whether or not to cause execution of processing corresponding to the operation instruction;
controlling command execution such that (i) the device is caused to execute an execution command for execution of the processing when a result of the first determination is affirmative, and (ii) the device is not always caused to execute the execution command when the result of the first determination is negative;
only when the result of the first determination is negative, generating first information that is unique to the operation instruction and transmitting, to a predetermined destination which is associated with a user who has issued the operation instruction, an inquiry including the first information and inquiring whether or not the user desires to cause forcible execution of the processing, the predetermined destination acquired at least before the transmission of the inquiry;
receiving, as a response to the inquiry, a request to cause forcible execution of the processing, the request including second information that is unique to the operation instruction; and
performing a second determination of whether or not the request is valid by determining whether the second information included in the request matches the first information included in the inquiry, the request being determined as being valid only when the second information matches the first information, wherein
in the generating first information that is unique to the operation instruction, the first information is generated, by the server device, as an arbitrary character sequence,
in the performing the second determination, the second information matches the first information when the second information is a same arbitrary character sequence as the arbitrary character sequence generated in the generating first information that is unique to the operation instruction, and
command execution is controlled such that the device is caused to execute the execution command only when the request is valid.

2. The device control method of claim 1 further comprising:
storing an operation condition that indicates, for each of one or more functions of the device, whether or not execution of processing corresponding to the function is permitted in one or more operation states of the device, wherein
the environment information includes information indicating an operation state of the device,
the operation instruction pertains to one of the one or more functions of the device, and
the operation condition is referred to in the first determination, and the result of the first determination is affirmative when determined that execution of processing corresponding to said one of the one or more functions is permitted in the operation state indicated by the environment information.

3. The device control method of claim 1 , wherein
the environment information includes location information pertaining to locations of the operation terminal and the device, and
the result of the first determination is affirmative when information pertaining to a positional relationship between the operation terminal and the device, which is based on the location information, indicates a positional relationship within a predetermined range.

4. The device control method of claim 1 , wherein
the environment information includes time information pertaining to a time point at which the operation terminal issues the operation instruction, and
the result of the first determination is affirmative when the time information indicates a time point within a predetermined time period, in a condition pertaining to a relationship between the operation instruction and the time point at which the operation terminal issues the operation instruction.

5. The device control method of claim 1 , wherein
the environment information includes temperature information pertaining to a temperature around the device, and
the result of the first determination is affirmative when the temperature information indicates a temperature within a predetermined temperature range, in a condition pertaining to a relationship between the operation instruction and the temperature around the device.

6. The device control method of claim 1 further comprising:
performing a detection of whether or not a person is within a predetermined range around the device, wherein
the result of the first determination is affirmative when a result of the detection indicates that a person is not within the predetermined range, in a condition pertaining to the operation instruction and the detection.

7. The device control method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving execution authority information pertaining to an authority of control required for causing execution of the processing; and
performing, based on the execution authority information, a check of whether or not an authority required to cause forcible execution of the processing is possessed, wherein
the command execution is controlled such that the device is not caused to execute the execution command when a result of the check is negative.

8. The device control method of claim 7 , wherein
user information is acquired in advance, the user information pertaining to a determination of whether or not a user possesses the authority required to cause forcible execution of the processing,
the execution authority information includes user specification information enabling specification of the user who has issued the operation instruction, and
the check is performed by comparing the user information and the user specification information.

9. The device control method of claim 1 , wherein
when the request is not received by a predetermined time point following the transmission of the inquiry, the device is not caused to execute the execution command.

10. The device control method of claim 1 , wherein
the inquiry is received by another operation terminal differing from the operation terminal, and the request is received from the another operation terminal.

11. The device control method of claim 1 , wherein
the inquiry is received by another operation terminal differing from the operation terminal, and the request is received from the operation terminal.

12. The device control method of claim 1 , wherein
the inquiry is received by the operation terminal, and the request is received from the operation terminal.

13. The device control method of claim 1 , wherein
each of the arbitrary character sequence generated in the generating first information that is unique to the operation instruction and the same arbitrary character sequence comprises a passphrase.

14. A device control method used in a device control system in which an operation terminal is used to remotely operate a device with a server device mediating between the operation terminal and the device, the device control method comprising:
acquiring environment information to be used for performing the remote operation, the environment information pertaining to at least one of the device and the operation terminal;
performing, for each of one or more fu

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nakano Toshihisa
• Kozuka Masayuki
• Minami Masataka
• Ohmori Motoji
• Matsuo Takeshi
• Sakata Tsuyoshi
• Suzuki Fumiaki

Classifications

• G08C17/02 Primary

  using a radio link · CPC title

• G08C2201/93

  Remote control using other portable devices, e.g. mobile phone, PDA, laptop · CPC title

• H04M1/72533

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G08C2201/42

  Transmitting or receiving remote control signals via a network · CPC title

• H04L12/2807

  Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network (arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50) · CPC title