System and method for automatic configuration and management of home network devices

Abstract

Embodiments of a method and system for automatically installing and managing consumer devices in a home network environment are described. A system implements automated configuration and maintenance of devices and their peripherals that connect to the home network, in particular the establishment of a distributed system that serves as a service platform which facilitates automated discovery and initial and ongoing deployment of a home networks and the devices that may interact with or connect to their network automatically or through manual means. An embodiment is directed to a distributed system and method for facilitated automatic configuration, maintenance, and diagnostics of a local area network that in parallel provides for the interoperability of connected intelligent independent computing devices using physical layer, network layer and application layer programmatic interfaces. This distributed system provides a generalized aggregated interface that is a programmatic resource for representing a continuous and historic reference of a local network and connected devices.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for facilitating the management of devices within a home network comprising:
 a plurality of device drivers, each device driver configured for integrated operation of a respective device of a plurality of devices within the home;   a registry data structure storing operating parameters for each device of the plurality of devices, the registry data structure used to generate a network topology representing operational characteristics of the devices and interconnection information among the devices;   a plurality of transmission modules, each transmission module configured to communication with a device of the plurality of devices using a corresponding transmission protocol;   a graphical user interface process for controlling the display of device parameters to a user; and   a kernel process coordinating processing tasks within the apparatus.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the kernel process comprises a Linux operating system kernel. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2  wherein the kernel process executes a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol to functionally connect the apparatus to the plurality of devices. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3  wherein the transmission protocol is selected from the group consisting of: simple network management protocol (SNMP), secure hypertext transport protocol (HTTPS), DOCSIS 3.0, TR64, and TR69. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising:
 one or more physical ports for receiving a direct wire coupling for devices of the plurality of devices that are coupled through a wired link; and 
 a wireless transceiver for communicating with devices of the plurality of devices that are coupled through a wireless link. 
 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a housing including:
 a display screen for displaying the output of the graphical user interface process, 
 a plurality of control buttons for receiving user input; and 
 a universal serial bus (USB) port for accommodating a USB flash memory device storing one or more parameters associated with the plurality of devices.