CN106211325B - Method and device for searching indoor electronic equipment - Google Patents
Method and device for searching indoor electronic equipment Download PDFInfo
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- CN106211325B CN106211325B CN201610779769.7A CN201610779769A CN106211325B CN 106211325 B CN106211325 B CN 106211325B CN 201610779769 A CN201610779769 A CN 201610779769A CN 106211325 B CN106211325 B CN 106211325B
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- 238000001514 detection method Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 56
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Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W64/00—Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
- H04W64/003—Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management locating network equipment
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W84/00—Network topologies
- H04W84/02—Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop]
- H04W84/10—Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks
- H04W84/12—WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
Abstract
The invention relates to a method and a device for searching indoor electronic equipment. There is provided a method for finding an indoor electronic device, characterized by comprising: transmitting a detection signal into the indoor space through one or more signal transceivers disposed in the space; determining an optimal connection configuration between the signal transceiver and the electronic equipment according to a response signal of the electronic equipment to be searched to the detection signal; and prompting a user of the location of the electronic device according to the optimal connection configuration.
Description
Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for facilitating a user's search for electronic devices in an indoor environment such as a home or office.
Background
Home digital systems are increasingly being popularized and installed, most of which are used together with intelligent digital devices and software or computer programs, for example, in order to realize centralized control of home products, users often choose to use mobile terminals (such as mobile phones or personal computers) for manipulation, so in this manner of use, the mobile terminals will be configured as core units in the home digital system by the users, however, an increasingly prominent problem is that the users often forget where the mobile terminals are to be disposed of.
To achieve simplicity in the home environment, messages are routed or forwarded wirelessly. The routed or forwarded message contains control signaling for the home device and multimedia data, such as audio-video information or digital codes.
For example, the IEEE association has promulgated the 802.11 standard for enabling electronic devices to communicate with each other, broadly referred to as "Wi-Fi". These standards (including 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11 n) define frequencies, modulations, data rates, and message formats for transferring information between electronic devices. Generally, in 802.11-compliant Wi-Fi networks, there is a designated "access point" (AP) that manages the Wi-Fi network, which typically requires a wired or wireless connection to the internet. In other operations, the AP may route messages between networked electronic devices. The Wi-Fi network has a network name (typically configurable by a network administrator interacting with the AP). The AP may periodically broadcast the network name or an electronic device that discovers the network name from the AP's broadcast may join the network by sending a "join" request to the AP. In general, an AP will only route messages between electronic devices joining the network.
Of course, wireless signals are easily intercepted, and accordingly the Wi-Fi standard provides a variety of security protocols such as Wire Equivalent Privacy (WEP), wi-Fi protected access (WPA), and ieee802.11i (also known as WPA 2). These protocols provide for encryption of information sent over the network and specify the particular encryption technique to be used. The Wi-Fi network AP may be configured for a particular security protocol.
In general, an electronic device joining a secure Wi-Fi network needs to know a particular network password or key that can be used to encrypt/decrypt routing messages. Although the password or key is not typically transferred wirelessly between devices, an access point in the secure Wi-Fi network may require any electronic device attempting to join the network to prove that it has obtained the password or key. To connect the computer to a secure Wi-Fi network, the user may obtain the password from the network administrator (Admin) and input it into the computer, for example, as a response to a prompt generated by a network configuration program running on the electronic device.
However, currently, the range of Wi-Fi access devices has begun to extend beyond ordinary computers or servers to other devices, such as jacks that use the 802.11 standard for communications. These devices have a limited user interface such that a user cannot enter a password or key for the Wi-Fi network into the device, typically requiring the device to first be connected to a computer via a wired interface (e.g., USB) in order to configure the Wi-Fi interface, and then switch the device to a wireless mode of operation.
In addition to this, sensors may be used to implement routing messages. For example, information is routed using invisible light (e.g., infrared light) or visible light (e.g., light). In some implementations, the routing implemented using the sensors has limited capabilities (e.g., data traffic is limited), in which case routing messages may be implemented using Wi-Fi networks intermixed with the wireless network of the sensors.
Disclosure of Invention
Aspects of the present invention seek to address the above disadvantages or inconveniences, and facilitate a user's more convenient and efficient search for electronic devices in a variety of ways.
In one aspect of the invention, a method for locating an indoor electronic device includes: transmitting a detection signal into the indoor space through one or more signal transceivers disposed in the space; determining an optimal connection configuration between the signal transceiver and the electronic equipment according to a response signal of the electronic equipment to be searched to the detection signal; and prompting a user of the location of the electronic device according to the optimal connection configuration.
Specifically, the optimal connection configuration includes at least one of: a shortest spatial distance between the signal transceiver and the electronic device; an optimal signal strength of a wireless connection established between the signal transceiver and the electronic device; or the signal transceiver is in the same wireless data network as the electronic device.
In one embodiment, the method further comprises: initiating a plurality of second signal transceivers other than the first signal transceiver to transmit detection signals and receive response signals from the electronic device thereto based on said response signals to one first signal transceiver; and determining the coordinate position of the electronic equipment to be searched in the indoor space according to the optimal connection configuration between the first and second signal transceivers and the electronic equipment.
In another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for searching for an indoor electronic device includes: a signal gating circuit coupled to one or more signal transceivers disposed in the indoor space for controlling the one or more signal transceivers disposed in the indoor space to transmit detection signals into the space; and the data processing circuit is coupled with the signal gating circuit and is used for determining the optimal connection configuration between the signal transceiver and the electronic equipment according to the response signal of the electronic equipment to be searched to the detection signal and prompting the position of the electronic equipment according to the optimal connection configuration.
In one embodiment, the signal transceiver includes an electrical accessory embedded within the interior building surface.
As a variant, the device further comprises: a selection circuit coupled to the signal gating circuit for enabling a plurality of second signal transceivers other than the first signal transceiver to transmit detection signals and receiving response signals from the electronic device thereto based on the response signals to the one first signal transceiver; wherein the data processing circuit is further configured to determine a coordinate location of the electronic device to be found in the indoor space based on an optimal connection configuration between the first and second signal transceivers and the electronic device.
In various aspects, the first signal transceiver has a first signal strength, the second signal transceiver has a second signal strength, and the second signal strength is substantially lower than the first signal strength.
In the above embodiment, the prompt includes at least one of: and the electronic equipment emits light, sounds or vibrates, the indoor position of the electronic equipment is displayed to a user, and another equipment nearby the electronic equipment emits light, sounds or vibrates.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for finding an indoor electronic device includes: a processor; a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following: one or more signal transceivers disposed in the control room space transmit detection signals into the space; determining an optimal connection configuration between the signal transceiver and the electronic equipment according to a response signal of the electronic equipment to be searched to the detection signal; and prompting a user of the location of the electronic device according to the optimal connection configuration.
Drawings
Features, elements, components, etc. that appear in various embodiments of the invention are presented by way of example, but not by way of limitation. In addition, these features, elements, and components are shown in plural in each of the following and drawings, and are labeled with different symbols or numerals for convenience of description, but each denote a component of the same or similar construction or function.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a signal transceiver of the present invention in a more visual sense;
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a three-dimensional spatial connection of signal sensors according to the present invention;
fig. 3 schematically shows a top view of a signal sensor arrangement of a domestic interior;
FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the structure of an apparatus for finding an electronic device according to the present invention;
FIG. 5 schematically illustrates the communication connection configuration of the signal gating circuit of the present invention;
fig. 6 shows a flow chart of a method for finding an electronic device according to an implementation of the invention.
Detailed Description
The content of this specification is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the major technical aspects described herein. Thus, those skilled in the art will recognize that the following features are merely examples and should not be construed in any way to narrow the scope or spirit of the technical solutions described herein. Other features and advantages of the embodiments described herein will be apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings, and the claims.
The processes shown in the figures accompanying this specification are performed by processing logic that comprises hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic chip units, etc.), firmware (such as run on a general purpose device or a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Although the processes are described below in terms of some sequential operations, it should be appreciated that some of the described operations may be performed in a different order. Further, some operations may be performed in parallel rather than sequentially.
In addition, in the description and claims that follow, the terms "coupled" and "coupled" along with their derivatives may be used. The skilled artisan will appreciate that the terms are not intended to be synonymous with one another. "coupled" is used to indicate that two or more elements that may or may not be in direct physical or electrical contact with each other are co-operating or interacting with each other. "connected" is used to indicate the establishment of communication between two or more elements coupled to each other.
Fig. 1 depicts more vividly a scene of a home indoor environment in which several kinds of home electronic devices are arranged as desired by a home user. These home electronics devices are shown to include stationary mounted devices such as wall sockets 204, 206-210, air conditioner 205, recessed lights 201 and down lights 202, 203, etc., and portable electrical devices such as lights 211, 213 or wired sockets 212, and in particular, the portable electrical devices include a home control terminal 3, the home control terminal 3 having an interface device 31 for visual manipulation by a user.
The example of the electronic device 1 in fig. 1 may be any form of digital device, and the term "electronic device" as used herein generally refers to any logic circuit that may respond to a request for a data link or data pairing of a wireless network and subsequently establish a data pairing or handshake with other electronic devices or signal sensors, transceivers.
In one embodiment, the electronic device 1 may also exchange data information with other digital devices of the user using other input/output channels. Examples of other input/output channels include analog signals on audio cable input and output paths (e.g., audio interfaces); a camera, two-dimensional code reader, or other camera input device in combination with the image analyzer; display output means which can generate a computer readable image; a sensor, such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, or proximity detector (such as by a position sensor), may employ the motion, orientation, or position of the electronic device 1 to input information to the electronic device; invisible light (e.g., infrared light) detectors and/or emitters, ultrasonic detectors and/or emitters, and the like.
For example, the electronic device 1 may be a mobile phone, a laptop or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device held by a user, which is not easily found in case of neglect by the user due to the portability and compact design of the electronic device 1, in which case the effect achieved using the embodiments of the present invention is particularly pronounced.
For another example, the electronic device 1 may be a remote controller of any household indoor electrical appliance, and the remote controller may transmit the control signal by using invisible light (for example, infrared light) or may transmit the control command by using other Radio Frequency (RF) modes. In addition, the remote control may be used to receive responses from the appliance, and these responses may be presented to the user in any manner, such as a more compact visual interface, an audio ring tone, or vibration.
In general, referring to fig. 6, a method for finding an electronic device 1 placed in the home may include:
and S100, transmitting detection signals into the indoor space through one or more signal transceivers arranged in the indoor space. In one embodiment shown in fig. 1, the signal transceiver is a plurality of receptacles, such as 206, 207, and 209, configured to be embedded within a wall surface. For example, the outlet 207 may have a transmitter for transmitting, for example, wireless routing information to the indoor space of the home according to a broadcast signal from the home control terminal 3.
And S200, determining the optimal connection configuration between the signal transceiver and the electronic equipment according to the response signal of the electronic equipment 1 to be searched to the detection signal. An example of the electronic device 1 may be a laptop or tablet computer, e.g. the user may want to initiate a seek operation by the home control terminal 3 when he cannot recall where the laptop was discarded in the home earlier.
And S300, prompting the user of the position of the electronic equipment 1 or waking up the electronic equipment 1 according to the optimal connection configuration so as to give a prompt to the household user. In some embodiments, the alert may be generated by a buzzer of a laptop, for example. In addition, the search for small electronic devices such as mobile phones can give a prompt to the user in a voice prompt or ringing mode.
In one embodiment, the optimal connection configuration includes at least:
(1) The shortest spatial distance between the signal transceiver and the electronic device 1. As seen in connection with fig. 2, a plurality of signal transceivers 21, 22, 23 and 24 in the interior space of the home transmit wireless signals, such as Wi-Fi signals, into the space. In this way, a detection signal transmitted by a signal transceiver 22 in the space can be received by a plurality of other signal transceivers 21, 23 or 24 other than the electronic device 1 to be found.
In one embodiment, the transmitted detection signal may contain a detection identifier that indicates that the signal transceiver 22 broadcast a response request to the electronic device 1 that may be present to obtain at least a feedback signal for that electronic device 1. For example, the detection identifier may comprise a two-bit 16-ary code, which is responsive to which the electronic device 1 receives and recognizes the detection identifier to feed back, for example, the device name. As such, no response will be fed back after the other signal transceiver 21, 23 or 24 receives the detection identifier, e.g. the signal transceiver 22 has transmitted the detection identifier to the signal transceiver 21 during the broadcast signal, the signal transceiver 21 may make the choice: not responding to the detection identifier; or respond to the detection identifier and feed back a zero code, so that there is only a response of the electronic device 1 to the broadcast channel of the signal transceiver 22.
In any embodiment of the invention, a "channel" or "channel" is used to refer to a medium channel that conveys information from a sender to a receiver. It should be noted that the term "channel" as used herein may be considered to be used in a manner consistent with the communication standard of the type of device used with reference to that term, as the characteristics of the term "channel" may vary from one wireless protocol to another.
In interpreting some standard terms, the channel width is variable (e.g., depending on device computing capabilities, band conditions, etc.). For example, 4G-LTE may support adjustable channel bandwidths from 1.4MHz to 20 MHz. Conversely, the WLAN channel may be 22MHz bandwidth, while the Bluetooth channel may be 1MHz bandwidth. Other protocols and standards may include different channel definitions. In addition, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels. For example, different channels for uplink or downlink and/or different channels for different purposes such as data, control information, etc.
In addition, the plurality of signal transceivers 21, 22, 23, 24 may broadcast the detection signal into the space at the same time, and if Wi-Fi is used as the detection signal transmitted by one of the broadcast channels, the electronic device 1 may respond to the detection signal transmitted by one of the broadcast channels, and thus, the step S200 may further include: the spatial distance between this signal transceiver (e.g. signal transceiver 22) establishing a wireless connection with the electronic device 1 and the electronic device 1 is detected. Wherein the determination of the spatial distance is determined based on the signal transmission strength of the signal transceiver and the data transmission rate on the uplink and downlink of the established wireless connection. The established wireless connection is based on the electronic device 1 responding to the detection identifier to feed back, for example, a device name, and further, a signal transceiver establishing a wireless connection with the electronic device 1 will transmit data to the electronic device 1.
In one embodiment, the transmitted data content is used to at least change a setting within the electronic device 1, a portion of the additional functionality of the electronic device 1 being available to be accessed without manual change by the user. For example, other communication ports of the electronic device 1, such as accessories like Bluetooth, flash, etc., are turned on.
In another embodiment, the detection signal may be broadcast by a signal transceiver 24 within the space that has the widest range of transmission. As shown in fig. 1, the ceiling lamp 201 may be configured as the signal transceiver 24, so that the signal transceiver 24 may have a preferable wireless signal transmission range in the space (e.g., no shielding in a range from the ceiling to the surrounding), and the detection signal may be effectively broadcast in the space.
(2) The signal transceiver has the best signal strength for the wireless connection established between the electronic device 1. According to the foregoing embodiment, a detection signal broadcast by a signal transceiver can be received and responded to by the electronic device 1, and then the signal loss S can be automatically measured at the electronic device 1 L And according to the signal emission intensity S of the signal transceiver T To obtain the received signal strength S of the wireless signal generated by any one of the signal transmitters obtained at the electronic device 1 side R In principle, the method meets the following conditions:
S R ＝S T –S L (1)
so that it can be based on the received signal strength S R To learn which signal transceiver is closest to the electronic device 1, or at least in the strongest signal range around the signal transceiver, or in dependence on the received signal strength S R To calculate the actual spatial distance L between the signal transceiver and the electronic device 1 1 。
(3) The signal transceiver is in the same wireless data network as the electronic device 1.
In some embodiments of the present invention, each signal transceiver may be of a different type as a wireless AP. And in some examples, when one signal transceiver broadcasts the detection signal, the other signal transceiver will cease transmitting wireless signals or possibly generate multimedia data, for example, so that the wireless signals transmitted by each signal transceiver may be independent and different from each other, and the detection signals received by the electronic device 1 may be correspondingly different, and thus the manner in which each wireless AP is identifiable to be accessed may not be relevant. In other examples, multiple signal transceivers may also broadcast the detection signal synchronously, at which time the electronic device 1 will be set to e.g. promiscuous mode or dedicated listening mode.
In one embodiment, if the electronic device 1 has access to a signal transceiver as a wireless routing network of the wireless AP before being discarded by the user, and after being discarded, the home control terminal 3 polls each wireless AP device to obtain registration information, such as a device name, an IP, and a MAC address, of the electronic device 1 in the wireless routing network, then the signal transceiver (e.g., the wired socket 212) where the wireless AP device is located may indicate a general range where the electronic device 1 is located.
As a variation of any of the foregoing embodiments, the method further comprises: activating, by a signal transceiver, a plurality of signal transceivers other than the signal transceiver based on the response signal; and determining the coordinate position of the electronic equipment to be searched in the indoor space of the home according to the optimal connection configuration.
In any of the above embodiments, if it is only determined that the electronic device 1 is within the strongest signal range, the specific location of the electronic device 1 cannot be known to the user accurately, and in order to achieve the better effect, step S200 may include step S201: upon determining that the electronic device 1 is within the signal range of the optimal signal strength of a certain signal transceiver (e.g. lamp 201), the other signal transceiver 21, 22 or 23 is activated to broadcast the same detection identifier as the content previously transmitted by that signal transceiver 24. The broadcast signals of the signal transceivers 21, 22 or 23 may be received synchronously at the electronic device 1, so that the electronic device 1 may traverse these broadcast signals to feed back responses one by one, in which case the electronic device 1 will be configured not to establish a wireless connection with any one of the signal transceivers 21, 22 or 23, i.e. not to request registration on the wireless routing network of these signal transceivers 21, 22 or 23.
In the example shown in fig. 1, if the electronic apparatus 1 is discarded on a desk by a user, a response signal receivable through the ceiling lamp 201 is transmitted to the home control terminal 3, and the home control terminal 3 can activate signal sensors within the signal range, such as the sockets 204, 206, 207 and 209 shown in fig. 1, according to the signal range of the optimum signal strength.
In one embodiment, the spatial region in which the electronic device 1 is located may be framed by at least three signal transceivers 21, 22, 23 within the space according to the principles depicted in fig. 2. In the example of fig. 1, the sockets 206, 207 and 209 may be provided as the three signal transceivers, or the sockets 204, 206, 207 and 209 may be provided respectivelyFour signal transceivers 24, 21, 22 and 23 are arranged so that a spatial plane defined by at least three signal transceivers 21, 22, 23 can be determined in the case of confirming the general range in which the electronic device 1 is located, according to the spatial distance L of the ceiling lamp 201 to the spatial plane 2 And the above-mentioned spatial distance L 1 The vector difference between them determines the spatial coordinates of the electronic device 1.
In another embodiment, the foregoing step S201 may be further modified to include: upon determining that the electronic device 1 is within a signal range of a first signal strength of a certain signal transceiver, e.g. the lamp 201, at least one of the other signal transceivers 21, 22 or 23 is activated to transmit, e.g. broadcast, a detection signal having a second signal strength. The second signal strength may be far lower than the first signal strength, so that when the electronic device 1 cannot effectively receive the detection signal under the second signal strength, other spatial positions where the electronic device 1 may be located may be excluded to further determine a more specific position of the electronic device 1.
As a further variant of any of the previous embodiments, a public key may be established and interacted between the electronic device 1 and the signal transceiver, or the signal transceiver and the home control terminal 3.
In some embodiments, a public key may be used in order to securely transmit signals during the search for the electronic device 1. The public key is exchanged using the detection signal. The public key may be incorporated into the subfields when using the aforementioned detection signals, and other formats may be used. For example, a dynamic negotiation key may be used, and in other embodiments, the generation of the public key may be based on cryptographic characters associated with either signal transceiver.
In one embodiment, the confirmation detection content may be calculated by the signal transceivers and the electronic device 1 may be validated by storing the confirmation detection content with the same between the signal transceivers. For example, the signal transceiver and the electronic device 1 may each store information that detects content based on the acknowledgement. If both have the same information content, the identity of the electronic device 1 may be verified and the user may be required to verify the electronic device 1 by the home control terminal 3.
Alternatively, random challenge codes may be used between the signal transceivers to verify that the parties have identical acknowledgment detection content. The signal transceiver may generate encryption and authentication keys based on the shared validation detection content. In the aforementioned step S200, the signal transceiver may use the authentication key to securely communicate with the electronic device 1. For example, the signal transceiver may encrypt a broadcast message (which may also be the aforementioned detection signal) using the authentication key, and then transmit the encrypted broadcast message in an information element (or other data item) in the detection signal. Similarly, the signal transceiver may receive a detection signal containing an encrypted broadcast message from the home control terminal 3 and use the authentication key to decrypt and authenticate the message. In step S200, the wireless connection established by the authentication key described above may be looped indefinitely. The process may end when step S300 is completed.
In other embodiments, in conjunction with fig. 2, an example of the signal transceiver 21, 22, 23 or 24 transmitting wireless signals into the space may be an infrared optical mode. In one embodiment, the ceiling lamp 201 may be used as the signal transceiver 24 to transmit an infrared light signal into the space, and the electronic device 1 having an infrared light interface will receive and reflect the infrared light signal, so that the signal transceiver 24 may measure the distance D4 between the electronic device 1 (e.g., an infrared remote controller), and determine the specific height position of the electronic device 1 according to the distance D4.
Further, after the signal transceiver 24 receives the reflected infrared signal in response, the home control terminal 3 may be instructed to activate other signal transceivers. In one embodiment, a plurality of signal transceivers at the same spatial longitudinal height may be activated, for example in fig. 1, the wall sockets 206, 207, 208 are at the same longitudinal height (e.g. 1.5 m), such that a spatial plane 4 may be determined by the wall sockets 206, 207, 208, and each socket may then emit an infrared light detection signal to the electronic device 1, each socket may calculate the distances D1, D2 and D3 between it and the electronic device from the reflected infrared light signals, while determining the spatial coordinates of the electronic device 1 from the distances D1, D2 and D3. It should be appreciated that the electronic device 1 may be located in another spatial plane 6, and in an ideal situation, if the electronic device 1 is located in or substantially in the spatial plane 4, the actual position of the electronic device 1 may be calculated directly by the plane distance measurement formula, so as to prompt the user. In other embodiments, the actual height of the spatial plane 6 may also be calculated from the height of the spatial planes 5 and 4 in which the signal transceiver 24 is located, in which case the height of the wall socket may be different from before, such as the longitudinal height of the socket 209 or 210 in fig. 1, which enables a more accurate definition of the height position of the electronic device 1.
In addition, in the example of fig. 4, as an implementation of the foregoing steps of the present invention, the apparatus for searching for an electronic device in a home may include:
a signal gating circuit 1001 coupled to a plurality of signal transceivers disposed in a home indoor space, and configured to transmit a detection signal into the home indoor space through the plurality of signal transceivers disposed in the home indoor space; and
a data processing circuit 1002, coupled to the signal gating circuit, for determining an optimal connection configuration between the signal transceiver and the electronic device 1 according to a response signal of the electronic device to be searched for to the detection signal; and waking up the electronic device 1 according to the optimal connection configuration to give a prompt to a home user.
In some embodiments, the device may be the home control terminal 3 described above.
In one embodiment, the signal gating circuit 1001 within the home control terminal 3 may contain several data access interfaces, each port of which (e.g., backplane connector) will be defined by the data processing circuit 1002 as a port type.
In one example shown in fig. 5, the data access interface has 8 ports T1-T3, N1-N5, where the ports T1-T3 are configured to identify the dc current of the power supply external to the home control terminal 3, and the data ports N1-N5 may be configured to identify the type of communication protocol of the in-home transport network, which may be a network using ZigBee, bluetooth or Wi-Fi protocols, for example.
Wherein each port may be connected to an external signal transceiver 181-186. In addition, the power take-off interface may include ports P1-P3, where P1 and P2 are used to couple the ac power lines Lin and Lout, respectively, and P3 is used to ground E of the power circuit within the home control terminal 3. In one implementation, the respective integrated circuits of the power taking interface and the data access interface may be electrically isolated, or the total electrical isolation may be performed by the power supply 159 at the power taking slot and the data slot in the body of the home control terminal 3, so that the respective integrated circuits of the power taking interface and the data access interface may not need to be electrically isolated.
In addition, the data processing circuit 1002 is configured to allocate a corresponding number of ports to interface redundancy occurring in the data access interface. For example, in the initial state, each data access interface is connected in a serial bus manner. In the example shown in fig. 5, one data port N1 is a network interface adapted to the external network device 181, such as a Wi-Fi network, and the other corresponding data ports N1 are configured to be adapted to the Wi-Fi network, and are configured by serial bus. Likewise, another data port N2 is for a network interface adapted to an external network device 182, such as a ZigBee network. Alternatively still, one of the ports N4 is used for a network interface adapted to the external network device 184, such as Bluetooth, so that in case the number of ports per data access interface is sufficient, no interface redundancy will occur, and typically one port type may be defined for each of the ports N1-N5 of the data transfer protocol.
In some cases, when one data transmission protocol type needs to occupy multiple ports N1 to N5, if there are multiple transmission protocol types, the number of ports will be insufficient, i.e. the "interface redundancy". In this case, the data processing circuit 1002 is configured to obtain other unoccupied ports and protocol types of the ports thereof; and changing the protocol type of the unoccupied port to the protocol type corresponding to the interface redundancy. For example, in the case where the network interface using the external network device 186 is an RS485 bus and other multi-line buses, if the interface redundancy occurs and the data transmission protocol of the required interface is RS485, the initial protocol type of the port such as the blank port shown in fig. 5 may be changed to be adapted to RS485 (the port occupied in the figure is denoted by ""). As such, the data processing circuit 1002 may be configured to receive requests from other data processing circuits within the home control terminal 3 indicating interface redundancy and to find its corresponding unoccupied port of the data access interface and its protocol type.
In one embodiment, the signal transceiver is an electrical accessory embedded in the interior building surface of the home. Examples of the electrical accessory may include the wall socket 206 shown in fig. 1, and may be an attachment device of a household electrical appliance, such as a desk lamp 211 or a decorative auxiliary lamp 202.
In some implementations, the encrypted message content exchanged between the signal transceivers may include digital certificates, such as network names and keys, required to join the secure wireless network of any one wireless AP.
For example, a signal transceiver of a user interface under some local area networks (e.g., a socket with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth interface) may establish a wireless connection with, for example, a Wi-Fi light fixture, and may obtain a digital certificate for joining the current wireless network over the wireless connection. The signal transceiver may then use these digital certificates to join or create a new wireless network. Once the signal transceiver has joined the wireless network, the signal transceiver and the home control terminal 3 can communicate with each other or with the electronic device 1 via the wireless network. In this way, the wireless connection may be terminated or the wireless connection link may be maintained as another communication path.
It should be understood that any of the devices shown in fig. 1 are exemplary and that variations and modifications may be made. For example, although the electronic device 1 is depicted as a personal computer, the electronic device 1 may also be other types of devices including, but not limited to, tablet computers, smart phones, mobile communication or computing devices, and the like. In addition, the electronic device 1 need not have a large-scale computing capability, and any electronic device capable of performing the operational steps described herein may be used as the object to be sought.
In some embodiments, the signal transceiver may have a limited interface or no interface. For example, a speaker may produce sound but need not have any components (e.g., buttons, dials, touch screens, etc.) that are capable of detecting user actions. Similarly, the home control terminal 3 can present an image of the location of the electronic device 1 on a display interface (for example in black and white or depending on the color implemented) and may have a display capable of displaying some characteristics or simple status lights. The user input interface may provide only one or more control buttons. Such limited interfaces or non-existent user interfaces can make it difficult or impossible for a user to enter a network name, password, or other digital certificate required for joining a secure wireless network. Some embodiments of the present invention allow a signal transceiver to wirelessly and securely acquire a digital certificate of a wireless network generated by the home control terminal 3 regardless of whether the signal transceiver has an extremely limited or no user interaction interface, thereby simplifying the operation of connecting the illustrated signal transceiver to the wireless network.
One or more integrated circuits (e.g., a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller) may be used to implement the operation of the data processing circuit. In various embodiments, the data processing circuit may perform various steps in response to program code and may maintain multiple processing steps that are performed simultaneously or multi-threaded. Some or all of the program code executing at any given time may reside in the data processing circuit and/or in an attached storage medium.
The term "storage medium" is intended to include: a mounting medium such as a CD-ROM or optical disk device; computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR-RAM, SRAM, EDO-RAM, rambus-RAM, etc.; nonvolatile memory such as flash memory, magnetic media (e.g., hard disk drive), or optical memory; registers, or other similar types of storage elements, etc. The storage medium may also include other types of non-transitory memory or combinations thereof. Furthermore, the storage medium may be located in a computer system executing the program, or may be located in a different another computer system connected to the server system through a wireless network (such as the internet). In the latter scenario, the other computer system may provide the program instructions to the previous computer for execution. The term "storage medium" may include two or more storage media, which may exist in different locations, for example, in different computer systems connected by a network. The storage medium may store digital program instructions executable by one or more data processing circuits.
As a variant, the device further comprises: a selection circuit 1003 coupled to the signal gating circuit 1001 for activating, by a signal transceiver, a plurality of signal transceivers other than the signal transceiver based on the response signal; wherein the data processing circuit 1002 is further configured to determine a coordinate position of the electronic device 1 to be found in the home indoor space according to the optimal connection configuration.
Further, the optimal connection configuration is generated during operation of the electronic device by a user. According to the foregoing embodiments, the user may operate through an input interface of the home control terminal 3, which may include input devices such as a keyboard, a touch pad, a touch screen, a click wheel, a dial, buttons, switches, a keyboard, a microphone, etc., and output devices such as a video screen, an indicator light, a speaker, a headphone jack, etc., along with supporting electronic components (e.g., an a/D or D/a converter, a signal processor, etc.). The user may operate the input interface to invoke the functions of the data processing circuit and may for example view and/or listen to output from the home control terminal 3 via an output device of the input interface.
Fig. 3 provides a top plan view of a home indoor environment in which the location of certain components or elements may be changed without affecting the use of the drawing. The home indoor environment may comprise three spaces 300, 310, 320, and the user 100 is generally in the space 300 to try to find the electronic device 1, and can operate through the home control terminal 3, and it should be understood that the operation manner is the best according to the guidance of the foregoing embodiment.
In one embodiment, the home control terminal 3 is a removable device that the user 100 can place in another space 310 to perform other electrical functions, such as an attachable air purification device, a wireless routing device, etc. The user 100 may make a visual input directly through the interface device 31 provided at the home control terminal 3, or may trigger the home control terminal 3 to perform this input through a signal transceiver (for example, the illustrated wall socket 206). For example, the public key may be established using the home control terminal 3. The public key may be exchanged using the detection signal, which may be incorporated into a sub-field, or other formats may be used. For example, a dynamic negotiation key may be used, and in other embodiments, the generation of the public key may be based on cryptographic characters associated with either signal transceiver.
Alternatively, the home control terminal 3 may be configured to randomly select a signal transceiver in one of the spaces 320 to transmit the detection signal. For example, the detection signal may be transmitted directly through the socket 207 or both the sockets 207, 208, and the electronic device 1 may be identified as being in a general location within the range that the electronic device 1 is able to receive. In another embodiment, if the home control terminal 3 has known the general location of the electronic device 1, it may be prompted by the home electrical device, for example, the representation of fig. 3 may be presented on its interface device 31, or the user may be prompted in other ways, for example, to control the lighting of the lamp 213 to indicate that the electronic device 1 is at least within the illumination range of the lamp 213.
As used in this application, the terms "circuit," "apparatus" and "devices" refer to all of the following: (1) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as in analog and/or digital circuit device-only implementations), and (2) combinations of circuits and software (and/or firmware), such as combinations of control circuits or control circuits/software (including digital signal control circuits), portions of software and memory that work together to cause a device, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions, and (3) circuits, such as micro-control circuits or micro-control circuit portions, that require software or firmware for operation, even if the software or firmware is not physically present.
The definition of "circuit" or "means" applies to all uses of that term in this application, including in any claims. As another example (as used in this application), the term "circuit" may also encompass an embodiment mode of only one control circuit (or multiple control circuits) or control circuit portion, as well as its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term "apparatus" may also cover (e.g., and if applicable to the particular claim element) a baseband integrated circuit or application control circuit integrated circuit for use in a mobile phone or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other network device.
In addition, an apparatus for finding an indoor electronic device includes:
a processor; a memory coupled to the processor, storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following: one or more signal transceivers disposed in the control room space transmit detection signals into the space; determining an optimal connection configuration between the signal transceiver and the electronic equipment according to a response signal of the electronic equipment to be searched to the detection signal; and prompting a user of the location of the electronic device according to the optimal connection configuration.
In the illustrative description of the invention, references to "memory", "processor", etc. should be understood to encompass not only computers having different architectures such as single/multiple logic control structures and serial (von neumann)/parallel structures, but also specific analog/digital integrated circuits such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), application specific circuits (ASICs), signal processing devices, and other processing circuitry devices. References to computer programs, instructions, code etc. should be understood to encompass software or firmware for programmable control circuitry, such as programmable content with instructions for a hardware device of the processor, or configuration settings for a fixed function device, gate array or programmable logic device etc.
The processor may also include electrically coupling the processor to a plurality of network ports or I/O devices through one or more system buses, wherein a network port may include a LAN controller, a modem, and the like. The I/O device may include an input attachment device that facilitates user input.
The foregoing detailed description has been presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a device memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, considered to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to a desired result. The operations are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.
The processes and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular apparatus or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the operations. The required structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description below. In addition, the present disclosure is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the disclosure as described herein.
Claims (7)
1. A method for finding an indoor electronic device with a home device, comprising:
transmitting a detection signal into the indoor space through one or more signal transceivers fixedly arranged in the space; the signal transceiver is arranged in the intelligent household equipment;
determining an optimal connection configuration between the signal transceiver and the electronic device according to a response signal of the electronic device to be searched to the detection signal, wherein the optimal connection configuration comprises at least one of the following components:
a shortest spatial distance between the signal transceiver and the electronic device;
an optimal signal strength of a wireless connection established between the signal transceiver and the electronic device;
obtaining the optimal signal strength comprises: acquiring a signal loss amount, calculating to obtain a received signal strength according to the signal loss amount, and determining the optimal signal strength according to the received signal strength;
or alternatively
The signal transceiver and the electronic equipment are in the same wireless data network; and
the home control end prompts the user of the position of the electronic equipment according to the optimal connection configuration, and the method further comprises the following steps:
the home control terminal starts a plurality of second signal transceivers except the first signal transceiver to send detection signals and receive response signals of the electronic equipment to the second signal transceivers according to the response signals of the first signal transceivers;
The first signal transceiver has a first signal strength, the second signal transceiver has a second signal strength, and the second signal strength is substantially lower than the first signal strength,
the prompt includes at least one of: and the electronic equipment emits light, sounds or vibrates, the indoor position of the electronic equipment is displayed to a user, and another equipment nearby the electronic equipment emits light, sounds or vibrates.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the response signal comprises at least one of a device name, an IP address, a MAC address, and a device ID of the electronic device.
3. The method for searching for indoor electronic equipment with household equipment according to claim 1, wherein the household control terminal determines the coordinate position of the electronic equipment to be searched in the indoor space according to the optimal connection configuration between the first and second signal transceivers and the electronic equipment.
4. The method for searching for indoor electronic devices with home appliances according to claim 1, wherein the registration information of the electronic device in the wireless routing network can be obtained after each wireless AP device is polled by the home control terminal.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the signals are securely transmitted during the seeking of the electronic device using a public key, the public key being exchanged using the detection signal.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal transceiver communicates with the electronic device using an authentication key.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of signal transceivers are at the same vertical level, a spatial plane is defined by the signal transceivers, each signal transceiver then transmits an infrared light detection signal to the electronic device, each signal transceiver measures a distance from the electronic device by the reflected infrared light signal, and the spatial coordinates of the electronic device are determined based on the distance.
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| CN107995612A (en) * | 2017-11-16 | 2018-05-04 | 北京小米移动软件有限公司 | Equipment finding method, device and electronic equipment |
| CN109862602B (en) * | 2019-02-26 | 2021-07-09 | 新华三技术有限公司 | Access Point (AP) searching method and device |
| CN112468306A (en) * | 2019-09-09 | 2021-03-09 | 西安诺瓦星云科技股份有限公司 | Communication control method, device, system and storage medium |
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