Apple Inc.

Other

Anush G Nadathur

Kevin P McLaughlin

Arun Godfrey Mathias

Srinivas Rama

Matthew C Lucas

Andrew W Burks

Nathan E Carroll

Joe S Abuan

Reed E Olsen

Benjamin A Smith

Thomas A Dilligan

Bob Bradley

Craig P Dooley

Vinay A Ramaswamy

Keith Walter Rauenbuehler

Gokul P Thirumalai

Nicholas M Fraioli

Dennis Mathews

Gregg J Golembeski, Jr

Stephen Olivier Lemay

Patrick L Coffman

Christopher Daryl Soli

Cyrus Daniel Irani

Zaka Ur Rehman Ashraf

Jared S Grubb

Sumit Saxena

Serhat S Bucak

Vikram Bhaskara Yerrabommanahalli

Marc Jason Krochmal

Franco Travostino

Matthew Scott Klahn

Kenneth A York

Varinder Singh

Thomas M Alsina

Madhusudan Chaudhary

Justin N Wood

Christopher M Garrido

Karthick Santhanam

Ming Jin

Vijay Sundaram

Shyam S Toprani

Hsien-Po Shiang

Abhishek Sen

Andrew P Richardson

Sang Ho Baek

Adam J Leonard

Wenhui Xu

George Lin

Carmen A Bovalino, Iii

Harlan Haskins

Yin Shun Osborn Chan

Andrew Burks

Gregg Golembeski, Jr

Kevin P Mclaughlin

Gregg Golembeski Jr

Kevin Mclaughlin

An automated environment can include multiple controller devices capable of communicating with multiple accessory devices. The controller devices can automatically elect one of their number as a coordinator device for the environment and can automatically perform a new election if an incumbent coordinator becomes unavailable or resigns. The election processes can be transparent to any users. An elected coordinator can perform various operations to facilitate management of the automated environment, including routing of communications between controllers and accessories.

Selection of a coordinator device for an automated environment

A uniform protocol can facilitate secure, authenticated communication between a controller device and an accessory device that is controlled by the controller. An accessory and a controller can establish a pairing, the existence of which can be verified at a later time and used to create a secure communication session. The accessory can provide an accessory definition record that defines the accessory as a collection of services, each service having one or more characteristics. Within a secure communication session, the controller can interrogate the characteristics to determine accessory state and/or modify the characteristics to instruct the accessory to change its state.

Uniform communication protocols for communication between controllers and accessories

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards techniques for adjusting a network connection of an accessory. In some examples, the computing device can determine that the accessory is not connected to a network (e.g., the same network to which the computing device is connected). The network may utilize a first connection type. Using a second type of connection, the computing device may determine an appropriate network for connection with the accessory. The computing device may then transmit instructions to the accessory, using the second type of connection, to adjust its network connection to be connected to the determined network. The determined network may use the first connection type.

Configuring accessory network connections

Modifications made by multiple controller devices to an environment model describing a shared automated environment can be coordinated. One of the controller devices can be designated as a coordinator, and any controller device other than the coordinator can send an update request to the coordinator. The coordinator can determine whether to accept or reject the requested modification and can report its determination to the requesting controller device. If the coordinator accepts the request, the coordinator can instigate operations to update the environment model across all controller devices of all users. If the coordinator rejects the request, the environment model is not updated. The controller device that made the request can update its local copy of the environment model and roll back the update if the request is rejected.

Coordinating modifications by multiple users to a shared automated environment by initiating a pair setup process with an accessory

In some implementations, a computing device can present accessory state information. For example, the computing device can receive accessory state information from various accessories and present status items representing the current state of the accessories. The status items can be prioritized according to classifications assigned to accessories and/or accessory state information. The status items can be filtered based on a role assigned to the user of the computing device. Additional implementations and details are described in the paragraphs that follow.

Techniques for utilizing a coordinator device

A first device can receive a delegation message from a second device. The delegation message can include a trigger data object that defines a triggered action set including a triggering event and an action to be performed by an accessory device in response to the triggering event. The first device can perform consistency checking of the received trigger data object relative to one or more previously received trigger data objects to determine whether a conflict exists.

Consistency checking of a delegated trigger in an automated environment

An integrated accessory control system can integrate functionality (services) of multiple disparate accessories and provide a unified user interface for interacting with the system via a controller device. An integrated accessory control system can include one accessory that can detect an event or action and send a notification to the controller device and at least one other accessory, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) camera, that can be operated in response to the notification. In response to the notification, a controller device can generate an integrated user interface for interacting with the accessories in the integrated accessory control system. The interface can include a live feed from the IP camera, which can provide a media stream responsive to instructions from the controller.

Integrated accessory control user interface

Embodiments of the present disclosure present devices, methods, and computer readable medium for enabling controller device to control proprietary digital media players, network accessories, and virtual assistants, providing an overall improved user experience. The techniques disclosed herein reduce clutter because a single controller can control various different devices and accessories. The techniques discloses also can include identifying a change in the configuration information for the computing device. The technique for accessory control can include transmitting updated configuration information for the controller, the configuration information associating a function for the computing device with a user interface element value for the controller.

Techniques for authorizing controller devices

Disclosure provides devices, methods, and computer-readable medium for secure frame management. Techniques disclosed herein provide an intelligent method for detecting triggering items in one or more frames of streaming video from an Internet Protocol camera. Upon detection, the camera transmits one or more frames of the video over a network to a computing device. Upon detecting a triggering item in a frame of the video stream, the computing device begins a streaming session with a server and stream the one or more frames of video and accompanying metadata to the server. The frames, metadata, and associated keys can all be encrypted prior to streaming to the server. For each subsequent segment of video frames that includes the triggering item, the server can append the frames of that segment to the video clip in an encrypted container. Once the triggering item is no longer detected, the streaming session can be closed.

Techniques for secure video frame management

A relay service can relay messages between controllers and electronically controllable accessory devices that may be located remotely from the controllers. Relaying of messages by the relay service can be decoupled from any knowledge of the functionality of the accessory or the content of the messages. Device identification and relaying of messages can be managed using 'relay aliases' that are meaningful only to the relay service and the endpoint devices (the controller and accessory). The endpoint devices can implement end-to-end security for messages transported by the relay service.

Relay service for communication between controllers and accessories

A computer system is used to initiate a process to configure an external accessory for use with at least a first device management application. The computer system displays a prompt that includes an option to initiate a process to configure the external accessory for use with at least a first device management application. While displaying the prompt, the computer system optionally receives a selection and/or an input corresponding to a selection of an option to initiate a process to configure the external accessory for use with at least a first device management application.

User interface for configuring external accessories with accessory device management applications

A device implementing a system for providing content in response to a request includes a processor configured to receive a voice request for content associated with a home environment, the voice request corresponding to a user account, and determine, based on the voice request, not to provide the content via the device. The processor is further configured to select, in response to the determining, a second device from among multiple devices associated with the home environment, wherein the selecting is based at least in part on configuration settings associated with the home environment, and provide for the second device to output the content based on a profile of the user account.

Multi-user devices in a connected home environment

Devices, methods, and computer-readable medium for secure frame management. The techniques disclosed herein provide an intelligent method for detecting triggering items in one or more frames of streaming video from an Internet Protocol camera. Upon detection, the camera transmits one or more frames of the video over a network to a computing device. Upon detecting a triggering item in a frame of the video stream, the computing device can begin a streaming session with a server and stream the one or more frames of video and accompanying metadata to the server. The frames, metadata, and associated keys can all be encrypted prior to streaming to the server. For each subsequent segment of video frames that includes the triggering item, the server can append the frames of that segment to the video clip in an encrypted container. Once the triggering item is no longer detected, the streaming session can be closed.

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Anush G Nadathur