System and method for server-based control

{
  "publication_number": "US11128710B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "System and method for server-based control",
  "abstract": "A system and method in a building or vehicle for an actuator operation in response to a sensor according to a control logic, the system comprising a router or a gateway communicating with a device associated with the sensor and a device associated with the actuator over in-building or in-vehicle networks, and an external Internet-connected control server associated with the control logic implementing a PID closed linear control loop and communicating with the router over external network for controlling the in-building or in-vehicle phenomenon. The sensor may be a microphone or a camera, and the system may include voice or image processing as part of the control logic. A redundancy is used by using multiple sensors or actuators, or by using multiple data paths over the building or vehicle internal or external communication. The networks may be wired or wireless, and may be BAN, PAN, LAN, WAN, or home networks.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A method for operating multiple actuators in response to captured human voice data, for use with a client device and a controlled device in a building, each communicating over a wireless network, and for use with an Internet-connected server device external to the building, the method comprising: capturing, by a microphone in the client device, a first human voice data; sending to the server, by the client device via the wireless network, the captured first human voice data; receiving, by the server over the Internet, the captured first human voice data; processing, by the server, the captured first human voice data; responsive to the processing, sending a first message, by the server to the client device over the Internet; receiving, by the client device via the wireless network, the first message; operating a first actuator in the client device in response to the received first message; capturing, by the microphone in the client device, a second human voice data; sending to the server, by the client device via the wireless network, the captured second human voice data; receiving, by the server over the Internet, the captured second human voice data; processing, by the server, the captured second human voice data; responsive to the processing, sending a second message, by the server to the controlled device over the Internet; receiving, by the controlled device via the wireless network, the second message; and operating a second actuator in the controlled device in response to the received second message.",
    "2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processing comprises performing a voice recognition algorithm for identifying the voice of a specific person.",
    "3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the client device further comprises a sensor that outputs sensor data that responds to a physical phenomenon, wherein the method further comprising sending to the server, by the client device via the wireless network, the sensor data, and wherein the first message is sent by the server in response to the sensor data.",
    "4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the sensor is a thermoelectric sensor that responds to a temperature or to a temperature gradient of an object using conduction, convection, or radiation, or wherein the sensor is a photoelectric sensor that responds to a visible or an invisible light or gamma rays.",
    "5. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the first and second actuators is directly or indirectly affecting, changing, producing, or creating a physical phenomenon.",
    "6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the physical phenomenon comprises temperature, humidity, pressure, audio, vibration, light, motion, sound, proximity, flow rate, electrical voltage, or electrical current.",
    "7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the client device comprises multiple microphones, and wherein the capturing comprises capturing, by the multiple microphones in the client device, the human voice data.",
    "8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the multiple microphones are arranged as a directional microphones array operative to estimate a number, magnitude, frequency, Direction-Of-Arrival (DOA), distance, or speed of a phenomenon impinging the microphones array.",
    "9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the microphone is an omnidirectional, unidirectional, or bidirectional microphone that is based on the sensing an incident sound-based motion of a diaphragm or a ribbon, or wherein the microphone comprises a condenser, an electret, a dynamic, a ribbon, a carbon, or a piezoelectric microphone.",
    "10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the client device or the controlled device are addressable in the wireless network or the Internet using an address stored in a volatile or non-volatile memory of the respective device for uniquely identifying the respective device in the network.",
    "11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the address is a Media Access Control (MAC) layer address that is MAC-48, Extended Unique Identifier (EUI) EUI-48, or EUI-64 address type or wherein the address is a layer 3 address and is static or dynamic Internet Protocol (IP) address that is IPv4 or IPv6 type address.",
    "12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless network is a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), that is according to, or based on, Bluetooth™ or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.1-2005 standards, or wherein the WPAN is a wireless control network that is according to, or based on, Zigbee™, IEEE 802.15.4-2003, or Z-Wave™ standards.",
    "13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless network is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that is according to, or base on, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, or IEEE 802.11ac.",
    "14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless network uses a wireless communication over a licensed or an unlicensed radio frequency band, that is an Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio band.",
    "15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless network is a cellular telephone network that is a Third Generation (3G) network that uses Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) UMTS, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), UMTS Time-Division Duplexing (TDD), CDMA2000 1×RTT, Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), or Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) EDGE-Evolution, or wherein the cellular telephone network is a Fourth Generation (4G) network that uses Evolved High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+), Mobile Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA), or is based on IEEE 802.20-2008.",
    "16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the controlled device is integrated in, is part of, or is entirely included in, an appliance.",
    "17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the primary functionality of the appliance is associated with food storage, handling, or preparation.",
    "18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the primary function of the appliance is heating food, and wherein the appliance is a microwave oven, an electric mixer, a stove, an oven, or an induction cooker.",
    "19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the appliance is a refrigerator, a freezer, a food processor, a dishwasher, a food blender, a beverage maker, a coffeemaker, or an iced-tea maker.",
    "20. The method according to claim 16, wherein the primary function of the appliance is associated with environmental control, and the appliance is part of an Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system.",
    "21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the primary function of the appliance is associated with temperature control, and wherein the appliance is an air conditioner or a heater.",
    "22. The method according to claim 16, wherein the primary function of the appliance is associated with cleaning, wherein the appliance primary function is associated with clothes cleaning and the appliance is a washing machine, or wherein the appliance is a vacuum cleaner.",
    "23. The method according to claim 16, wherein the appliance is an answering machine, a telephone set, a home cinema system, a High Fidelity (HiFi) system, a Compact Disc (CD) or Digital Video Disc (DVD) player, an electric furnace, a trash compactor, a smoke detector, a light fixture, or a dehumidifier.",
    "24. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first actuator is an electric light source for converting electrical energy into light that emits visible or non-visible light for illumination or indication, and the non-visible light is infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, or gamma rays.",
    "25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the electric light source comprises a lamp, an incandescent lamp, a gas discharge lamp, a fluorescent lamp, a Solid-State Lighting (SSL), a Light Emitting Diode (LED), an Organic LED (OLED), a polymer LED (PLED), or a laser diode.",
    "26. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first actuator is a motion actuator that causes linear or rotary motion.",
    "27. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first actuator is a sounder for converting an electrical energy to omnidirectional, unidirectional, or bidirectional pattern emitted, audible or inaudible, sound waves.",
    "28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the sounder comprises an electromagnetic loudspeaker, a piezoelectric speaker, an electrostatic loudspeaker (ESL), a ribbon or planar magnetic loudspeaker, or a bending wave loudspeaker, or wherein the sounder comprises an electric bell, a buzzer, a chime, a whistle, or a ringer.",
    "29. The method according to claim 27, wherein the operating of the first actuator comprises playing digital audio content that is pre-recorded or synthesized, or wherein the operating of the first actuator comprises simulating the voice of a human being or generating music, or wherein the operating of the first actuator comprises sounding a syllable, a word, a phrase, a sentence, a short story, or a long story, using male or female voice."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "This disclosure relates generally to an apparatus and method for control such as in a building or in a vehicle using a server implementing gateway or control functionalities.\n\nThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP), including Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the interlinked hypertext documents on the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail. The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet. These data routes are hosted by commercial, government, academic and other high-capacity network centers, the Internet exchange points and network access points that interchange Internet traffic between the countries, continents and across the oceans of the world. Traffic interchange between Internet service providers (often Tier 1 networks) participating in the Internet backbone exchange traffic by privately negotiated interconnection agreements, primarily governed by the principle of settlement-free peering.",
  "cpc": [
    "H04L 67/12",
    "B60K 31/00",
    "B60K 31/18",
    "B60Y 2200/11",
    "B60Y 2200/12",
    "B60Y 2200/126",
    "B60Y 2200/13",
    "B60Y 2200/30",
    "B60Y 2200/40",
    "B60Y 2200/50",
    "B60Y 2200/90",
    "G01C 21/00",
    "G06Q 2240/00",
    "G07C 3/02",
    "G07C 5/008",
    "G08G 1/00",
    "Y04S 40/18"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "H04L 29/08",
    "B60K 31/00",
    "G01C 21/00",
    "G07C 5/00",
    "G08G 1/00"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "May Patents Ltd"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Yehuda Binder",
    "Benjamin Maytal"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2017-07-23",
  "publication_date": "2021-09-21",
  "grant_date": "2021-09-21",
  "priority_date": "2012-01-09",
  "application_number": "US-201715657163-A",
  "family_id": "48902549",
  "cited_by_count": 20,
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