Smart home control of electronic devices

Abstract

A content management (CM) system is provided to centrally control operation of one or more connected devices by issuing control requests and/or data requests. In some situations the connected device(s) include devices that control presentation of television programming-related content, such as digital video recorder (“DVR”) devices and media center devices, and in other situations may include other types of media devices and/or other electromechanical (“E/M”) devices that may be centrally controlled, such as E/M devices for home automation that may operate independently or in conjunction with the media devices. In some situations, the CM system communicates with the connected devices via a network and using appropriate protocol(s), and may be accessed remotely via a network so as to allow a user to remotely operate the CM system. The CM system may further control searching, identification, selection, and presentation of pieces of media content by the connected device(s).

1 . A system configured to control a plurality of networked devices in an environment, the computing system comprising: 
 one or more processors; and    a management system that when executed by the one or more processors communicatively couples to at least one media device via a first network connection that uses a first communication protocol and to at least one computing system via a second network connection that uses a second communication protocol, the computing system being coupled to at least a first one of a plurality of electromechanical devices to allow the computing system to control operation of the first one of the electromechanical devices, the media device being communicatively coupled to at least one content presentation device and to at least a second one of the plurality of electromechanical devices, the management system further configured to couple to at least a third one of the plurality of electromechanical devices via a third network connection that uses a third communication protocol, the content management system including:    a core module to generate control requests and data requests related to operation of the at least one media device, the computing system, and the third one of the plurality of electromechanical devices;    first, second, and third gateway modules corresponding respectively to the at least one media device, the computing system, and the third one of the plurality of electromechanical devices, the gateway modules being in communication with the core module to receive the control requests and data requests from the core module, and further being in communication with the core module to provide responses to the control requests and the data requests to the core module; and    first, second, and third communication interfaces respectively included with the gateway modules to provide the control requests and the data requests generated by the core module to the at least one media device, the computing system, and the third one of the plurality of electromechanical devices via the respective first, second, and third network connections using the respective first, second, and third communication protocols, and to provide responses to the control requests and the data requests to the core module.    
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the management system further includes a graphical user interface that can be used to instruct the core module to generate the control requests and the data requests, and that can further be used to receive from the core module and to present at least some of the responses to the control requests and data requests received from the at least one media device, the computing system, and the third one of the plurality of electromechanical devices.  
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein a control request related to operation of the at least some of the electromechanical devices, as provided by the management system to the computing system via the second network connection using the second communication protocol or as provided by the management system to the third one of the plurality of electromechanical devices via the third network connection using the third communication protocol, is based on context information associated with a control request that is provided by the management system to the at least one media device via the first network connection using the first communication protocol and that is related to operation of the at least one content presentation device.  
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 3  wherein the context information is communicated between the second one of the plurality of electromechanical devices and the at least one media device, or between the at least one media device and the computing system, the context information being usable by the management system to determine which control requests related to operation of particular ones of the plurality of electromechanical devices should be generated to complement operation of the at least one content presentation device.  
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of electronic devices include at least one or more of a lighting device, HVAC device, security device, automated drapes, automated wall panel, and household appliance.  
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the third one of the plurality of electromechanical devices include functionality to directly process and respond to the control requests and data requests provided by the management system via the third network connection using the third communication protocol.  
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the second one of the plurality of electromechanical devices uses functionality of the computing system to indirectly process and respond to the control requests and data requests provided by the management system via the second network connection using the second communication protocol.  
   
   
       8 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one storage unit accessible to the management system to store data that can be accessed and shared by the at least one media device, the computing system, and the third one of the plurality of electromechanical devices.  
   
   
       9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the environment comprises a home environment.  
   
   
       10 . A method for a computing device to control a plurality of networked devices in an environment, the method comprising: 
 configuring the computing device as a central control point, the computing device capable to issue control requests and data requests related to operation of the networked devices, the networked devices including a media device, a computing system, and a plurality of electromechanical devices;    using separate gateway modules of the computing device to correspondingly communicate the control requests and data requests to the media device, the computing system, and at least one of the plurality of electromechanical devices, the gateway modules being usable to communicate using at least one communication protocol via respective network connections to the media device, the computing system, and the at least one of the plurality of electromechanical devices, the control requests being usable to allow the computing device to control operation of the media device and to indirectly control operation of the at least some of the plurality of electromechanical devices through the computing system, the control requests further being usable to allow the computing device to directly control operation of the at least one of the plurality of electromechanical devices; and    using context information to allow the computing device to determine which of the networked devices to control in a complementary manner.    
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein using the context information includes: 
 generating a first control request to control operation of one of the networked devices, and sending the first control request from the computing device to the one networked device;    based on the first control request, determining second control requests for at least some of the other networked devices;    sending data requests to the at least some of the other networked devices to determine their status;    receiving status information pertaining to the at least some of the other networked devices that were sent the data requests; and    based on the received status information, generating the second control requests and providing the second control requests to the at least some of the other networked devices to control their operation in a manner complementary to the operation of the one networked device.    
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein controlling operation of the at least some of the other networked devices in the manner complementary to the operation of the one networked device includes adjusting an operation of the at least some of the other networked devices to be consistent with presentation of media content by the media device controlling a content presentation device.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising providing a resource that can be shared between the networked devices.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 10  wherein configuring the computing device as the central control point includes designating the computing device as the central control point in the communication protocol.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising: 
 determining whether a device is added or removed to a network that includes the network connections; and    if a device is added to the network, determining capabilities of the device by accessing an application program interface of the device, the application program interface providing information indicative of services available from the device.    
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the communication protocol is Universal Plug and Play.  
   
   
       17 . A computer-readable medium whose contents enable a computing device to control a plurality of networked devices in an environment, by performing a method comprising: 
 establishing the computing device as a central control point to issue control requests and data requests to the networked devices, and to receive responses to the control requests and the data requests;    using the control requests to allow the computing device to specify a manner in which at least one of the networked devices is to operate or to control operation of at least another one of the networked devices; and    using the data request to obtain context information, the context information being usable by the computing device to determine which control request to issue to particular ones of the network devices to allow the such networked devices to operated in a complementary manner.    
   
   
       18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 17  wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the computing device and/or is a data transmission medium transmitting to the computing device a generated data signal containing the contents.  
   
   
       19 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 17  wherein the contents are instructions that when executed cause the computing device to perform the method.  
   
   
       20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 17  wherein the method further includes establishing at least one network connection to allow the computing device to communicate with the networked devices using different communication protocols to communicate with different ones of the networked devices, at least one of the communication protocols allowing communication between the computing device and at least one of the networked devices substantially without modification of the at least one of the networked devices.