Smart Home Device API Access Control Using Intermediary Service Layer
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing smart home systems face challenges in allowing third-party access to electronic devices while maintaining user experience and preventing undesirable behavior, requiring a solution to manage access and operation effectively.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a device service that allows third-party applications to access smart home devices through an API, using a subscription-based model where updates are sent based on operation status parameters, enabling controlled interaction and data exchange.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If third-party applications are allowed to access smart home devices directly, then developer access and functionality are improved, but device reliability and user experience may deteriorate due to undesirable behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a device service as an intermediary layer between third-party applications and smart home devices. This service receives requests from applications, validates them against operation status parameters, and forwards approved requests to devices. This mediator architecture enables third-party access while maintaining device reliability by filtering and controlling all interactions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the access control mechanism into distinct components: application layer, device service layer, and device layer. The device service layer handles authentication, parameter validation, and request routing separately from both the application and device, allowing independent management of access policies and device states.
2Reliability
If access restrictions are placed on third-party applications, then device operation stability is improved, but application functionality and user experience may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The access control system dynamically adjusts restrictions based on real-time operation status parameters of the device. Rather than static permissions, the device service evaluates current device state (such as operational mode, load conditions, or error states) and adaptively determines which application requests should be permitted, optimizing both stability and functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes access parameters (permission levels, rate limits, allowed operations) based on device operation status. When the device is in a healthy state, more permissive access is granted; when issues are detected, access restrictions are tightened. This parameter-based control allows flexible balancing of reliability and ease of operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances user experience by allowing controlled access and operation of smart home devices, improving detection accuracy of human presence over pets using PIR sensors by adjusting thresholds based on sensor measurements, and providing a secure and efficient way to manage device interactions.
Implementation Method 1
improving detection accuracy of human presence over pets using PIR sensors by adjusting thresholds based on sensor measurements
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and Methods disclosed herein relate to provisioning vendor information to associate vendor data access rights, vendor data writing rights, or both, of a data model comprising information related to one or more smart-devices, one or more smart-device environment structures comprising the one or more smart-devices, or any combination thereof with the vendor; provisioning a particular electronic device type of the vendor by providing information about the particular electronic device type to a service that interprets this information to understand subsequent data submissions of the particular electronic device, wherein the provisioning of the particular electronic device is associated with the vendor; pairing the particular electronic device with a system hosting the data model by registering the particular electronic device with the system hosting the data model; and sending the subsequent data submissions from the one or more smart-devices to the service.