Managing a smart appliance with a mobile device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9959728-B2
Application number	US-201514730819-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 4, 2015
Priority date	Jun 4, 2015
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

A method, system or computer usable program product for a smart appliance to interact with a user through a mobile device including detecting whether a mobile device associated with a first user is outside a user configurable proximity range of a smart appliance; detecting a status of the smart appliance via a set of sensors; and responsive to detecting that the mobile device is outside the user configurable proximity range, sending a user configurable message to the mobile device associated with the first user including the status of the smart appliance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for a smart appliance to interact with a user through a mobile device comprising:
receiving a set of user preferences from a first user including a user configurable proximity range from the smart appliance and including conditions for the smart appliance to send a status update to the first user through an associated mobile device;
detecting whether the mobile device associated with a first user is outside the user configurable proximity range of a smart appliance;
detecting a current status of the smart appliance by a set of sensors;
generating a user configurable message based, at least in part, upon the current status of the smart appliance;
responsive to detecting that the mobile device is outside the user configurable proximity range and detecting the conditions received in the set of user preferences, sending the user configurable message from the smart appliance to the mobile device associated with the first user including the current status of the smart appliance;
determining that the first user did not respond to the user configurable message; and
responsive to the determination that the user did not respond, performing an action including notifying a second user of the user configurable message through a second mobile device associated with the second user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the action, performed in response to determining that the first user did not respond to the message, is based on the current status of the device.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining whether to shut down the smart appliance in accordance with the set of user preferences if the first user does not respond to the user configurable message.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein a video camera with facial recognition is utilized for detecting the first user thereby identifying the mobile device associated with the first user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a geographic scope of the user configurable proximity range based, at least in part, upon at least one of the following:
global positioning signal (GPS) location of the mobile device; and
sensors identifying a location of any users associated with the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the smart appliance is a cooking device and the status includes a state of a food item being cooked by the smart appliance.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising responsive to detecting that the mobile device is within the user configurable proximity range, sending a message to the user by the smart appliance.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of sensors includes sensors in the smart appliance and external sensors coupled to a local network.

9. The method of claim 2 further comprising determining whether to provide a status update to the mobile device based on a status change; and responsive to detecting that the mobile device is within the user configurable proximity range, sending a message to the user by the smart appliance; wherein the status change includes a change in status of a task being performed by the smart appliance; wherein the status change includes a change in location of the mobile device;
wherein the smart appliance is a cooking device and the status includes a state of a food item being cooked by the smart appliance; and wherein the set of sensors includes sensors in the smart appliance and external sensors coupled to a local network.

10. A computer program product for managing a smart appliance with a mobile device, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processing circuit to cause the device to perform a method comprising:
receiving a set of user preferences from a first user including a user configurable proximity range from the smart appliance and including conditions for the smart appliance to send a status update to the first user through an associated mobile device;
detecting whether the mobile device associated with a first user is outside the user configurable proximity range of a smart appliance;
detecting a current status of the smart appliance by a set of sensors;
generating a user configurable message based, at least in part, upon the current status of the smart appliance;
responsive to detecting that the mobile device is outside the user configurable proximity range and detecting the conditions received in the set of user preferences, sending the user configurable message from the smart appliance to the mobile device associated with the first user including the current status of the smart appliance;
determining that the first user did not respond to the user configurable message; and
responsive to the determination that the user did not respond, performing an action including notifying a second user of the user configurable message through a second mobile device associated with the second user.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the action, performed in response to determining that the first user did not respond to the message, is based on the current status of the device.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 further comprising determining whether to shut down the smart appliance in accordance with the set of user preferences if the first user does not respond to the user configurable message.

13. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein a video camera with facial recognition is utilized for detecting the first user thereby identifying the mobile device associated with the first user.

14. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein determining a geographic scope of the user configurable proximity range based, at least in part, upon at least one of the following:
global positioning signal (GPS) location of the mobile device; and
sensors identifying a location of any users associated with the mobile device.

15. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the smart appliance is a cooking device and the status includes a state of a food item being cooked by the smart appliance.

16. A data processing system for managing a smart appliance with a mobile device, the data processing system comprising:
a processor; and
a memory storing program instructions which when executed by the processor execute the steps of:
receiving a set of user preferences from a first user including a user configurable proximity range from the smart appliance and including conditions for the smart appliance to send a status update to the first user through an associated mobile device;
detecting whether the mobile device associated with a first user is outside the user configurable proximity range of a smart appliance;
detecting a current status of the smart appliance by a set of sensors;
generating a user configurable message based, at least in part, upon the current status of the smart appliance;
responsive to detecting that the mobile device is outside the user configurable proximity range and detecting the conditions received in the set of user preferences, sending the user configurable message from the smart appliance to the mobile device associated with the first user including the current status of the smart appliance;
determining that the first user did not respond to the user configurable message; and
responsive to the determination that the user did not respond, performing an action including notifying a second user of the user configurable message through a second mobile device associated with the second user.

17. The data processing system of cla

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• True Joseph A

Classifications

• H04W4/12

  Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements · CPC title

• G08B21/02 Primary

  Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons · CPC title

• G08B21/182

  Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold · CPC title

• G08B21/0247

  System arrangements wherein the alarm criteria uses signal strength · CPC title

• G08B25/08

  using communication transmission lines {(G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence)} · CPC title