3233results about "Substation remote connection/disconnection" patented technology

A system and method in a network of devices, which ascertains the user's context to suggest the most preferred task for the user to perform. User's context includes his / her location, the content he / she is interested in, the devices which are being used by him / her, and the devices and content allowed to be used by the user. Using this context, the system suggests tasks to the user that are appropriate to that context. The determination of context and the suggestion of tasks are performed by keeping track of the content and the devices available to the user at any given time. The suggestion of tasks is performed in accordance with certain policies. For example, the user can control the behavior of the system by changing the rules in the policy. Tasks are in the form of simple sentences that can be easily understood by the user. If, based on certain context, more than one task is possible, the system suggests the task with the highest priority to the user.

A two way communication system is adapted to reduce latency while the communications system is operating in a low power mode. The two way communication system includes a local host having a first primary communication channel and a secondary out of band transmitter; and customer premise equipment having a primary communication channel for communicating with the first primary communication channel of the local host and a secondary low power out of band receiver that receives out of band control signals from the out of band transmitter during low power operation of the customer premise equipment.

The embodiments described herein present methods and apparatus for an energy-saving status indicator. A method includes receiving a configuration of a first power consumption state for a status indicator light in a network device. The method then activates the first power consumption state using the configuration. After detecting a condition, the method activates a second power consumption state for the status indicator light. The transition from the first power state to the second power state may be from a low power state to a normal operating state or from a normal operating state to a low power state in various embodiments. Other embodiments are described.

A communications unit is provided that can be coupled to a building's telecommunication wiring to provide an automated mechanism for isolating the building's wiring from a PSTN, while also providing a telecommunications connection to an alternative communications network via, for example, broadband or cellular networks. The communications unit can further be configured to be coupled to an alarm controller unit of a security system, thereby permitting the security system to communicate with a remote server system without loss of alarm data. The communications unit can also be configured to permit the legacy security system to provide normal disconnect functionality of building telephones from an outgoing telecommunications line while an alarm condition is present.

A network service management server is provided for an internal network operated by a multi-system operator, at a selected location of the internal network, such as a network head-end. The server registers a client connecting to one of the network entities. It also assigns to the client an address associated with the one of the network entities to which the client is connected. The server manages network services by handling information relating to network services for the client based on the assigned address. The server can handle network services for the client based solely on the clients assigned IP address.

Methods and systems for securing remotely-operable devices are provided. A remotely-operable device can receive a command related to a component of the remotely-operable device operating in an environment. The remotely-operable device can include a reality-rules database (RRDB) that is configured to store a plurality of reality rules with each reality rule relating to a constraint on the remotely-operable device. The remotely-operable device can determine a reasonableness value for the command based on a constraint, where the constraint is determined based on a constraint related to at least one reality rule of the plurality of reality rules stored in the RRDB. The remotely-operable device can encode the reasonableness value for the command in a feedback message. The remotely-operable device can send the encoded feedback message from the remotely-operable device.

A method of controlling an installation formed by a plurality of home automation equipment items linked to a building, and handling therein, depending on the type of home automation equipment item, thermal and visual comfort functions, such as heating and air conditioning, natural ventilation, lighting, solar protection functions, and / or security functions, such as closure and / or alarm functions, the home automation equipment items communicating over one and the same home automation network. A programmable remote control implementing the control method.

A location service and method provides a location aware computing device that is extensible by allowing different types of location awareness providers operate with the service. The method includes receiving a request for a location context, acquiring data associated with a current location from one or more location detection devices, reconciling the acquired data for any inconsistencies concerning the current location by applying either or both of a hierarchical and a metric process, and generating a location object accessible to applications. The service includes a location management component configured to route location data, a fuser engine configured to receive one or more location reports generated from the location data, reconcile conflicts between the location reports and generate a location object, and one or more location application programming interfaces (APIs) coupled to the location management component to transmit the location object from the fuser engine to an application.

Some embodiments concern a method of distributing information regarding one or more electrical devices using a first server. Each of the one or more electrical devices can have unique identification information, an internal IP address, and an external IP address. The method can include: receiving in the first server a first request to register a first electrical device of the one or more electrical devices, the first request to register comprises the unique identification information, the internal IP address, and the external IP address of the first electrical device of the one or more electrical devices; storing in the first server the unique identification information, the internal IP address, and the external IP address of the first electrical device of the one or more electrical devices using the first server; receiving in the first server from a first client computer a first request for information regarding the first electrical device of the one or more electrical devices; using the first server to determine the external IP address of the first electrical device of the one or more electrical devices; redirecting the first request for the information to a first gateway device if an external IP address of the first client computer is identical to the external IP address of the first electrical device of the one or more electrical devices; and returning the external IP address of the first electrical device of the one or more electrical devices if the external IP address of the first client computer is different from the external IP address of the first electrical device of the one or more electrical devices. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A network service management server is provided for an internal network operated by a multi-system operator, at a selected location of the internal network, such as a network head-end. The server registers a client connecting to one of the network entities. It also assigns to the client an address associated with the one of the network entities to which the client is connected. The server manages network services by handling information relating to network services for the client based on the assigned address. The server can handle network services for the client based solely on the clients assigned IP address.

A method and apparatus for sharing secret information between devices in a home network are provided. In the method and apparatus, home network devices receive a password (credential) input by a user and encrypt secret information based on the credential by using keys generated according to a predetermined identity-based encryption (IBE) scheme. Accordingly, it is possible to securely share the secret information between home network devices without any certificate authority or certificate.

A method and a system for wireless communication is provided which involves maintaining a data communication module in a power saving mode, detecting channel reservation for communication on a wireless data channel during one or more reserved time periods, and upon successful data channel reservation, transitioning the data communication module from the power saving mode to an active mode for data communication on the reserved data channel. Preferably, the data communication module is transitioned back to the power saving mode upon completion of data communication on the data channel.

Mechanisms for organizing messages across different message types. This may be accomplished by using a single integrated user interface in which messages across a variety of different message types are represented in a common way. For example, the user experience of placing a telephone call is standardized, regardless of the actual telephone technology (Cell Phone, VoIP, or POTS) used to conduct the telephone conversation. Also, addition to a general log that includes the overall list of messages, each message also has a separate, message-based log, thereby allowing for more flexible querying and organization of the messages regardless of the message type.