Smart Appliance App Provisioning Through Wireless Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of network-enabled appliances face difficulties in discovering and downloading manufacturer-supplied apps for these devices, as they need to manually locate and authenticate each app across different operating systems, which is cumbersome and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A setup agent program on smart devices periodically scans the local wireless environment to detect networked appliances, initiates app downloads or synchronizations, and uses cloud-based services to coordinate and authenticate apps across multiple devices, automating the process and providing user notifications for available updates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual app location and authentication is required for each appliance, then user control and security are maintained, but user convenience and setup time deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service by allowing appliances to automatically publish their presence and required apps through cloud services. The setup agent on smart devices automatically detects these publications, retrieves app information, and initiates downloads without requiring manual user intervention for each appliance-app pairing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by having appliances pre-publish their app requirements and authentication credentials to cloud services before users need them. This advance preparation allows the setup agent to quickly retrieve and process app information when appliances are detected, eliminating the need for manual user configuration steps.
2Extent of automation
If automated app synchronization is implemented across multiple devices, then user convenience is improved, but system complexity and security management worsen
Solution Approach 1:
Cloud-based services act as intermediaries between appliances and smart devices. The cloud service receives appliance publications, stores app information and authentication credentials, and provides this information to setup agents on smart devices. This intermediary layer simplifies the automation process by centralizing data management and reducing direct complexity between multiple devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The cloud-based service provides universal functionality by serving multiple appliances and multiple smart devices through a single centralized system. This multi-functional platform handles app publication, storage, retrieval, and authentication coordination for numerous devices simultaneously, reducing overall system complexity compared to implementing separate synchronization mechanisms on each device.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method is used to provision an app to a smart device for use in connection with an appliance. A presence of the appliance on a wireless network which includes the smart device is detected and data received from the appliance is used to initiate a retrieval of the app. When the retrieved app is installed on the smart device the app is usable with the smart device to provide at least an interface between the smart device and the appliance. In some circumstance, installation of the app on the smart device may also include causing the app to be synchronized with a corresponding app that was prior installed on another smart device capable of communicating with the appliance.