Systems and methods for time based remote control of product functionality
Assignee4Iiii Innovations Inc.
InventorsKipling William Fyfe, Gregory Charles Lund
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods provide remote control of product functionality and software kits allow firmware development of remote control of product functionality. The remote control may be time-based where the product functionality is based upon the expiration date and a current time. The remote control may be location-based where the product functionality is based upon the geographical location of the product. The remote control of the product functionality may be based upon proximity of the product to an authentication device.
Claims35
A method for remote time-based control of product functionality, comprising:
- receiving, within a product and from a remote server, an expiration date for a feature of the product;
- storing the expiration date within a memory of the product;
- controlling the feature within the product based upon the expiration date and a current time.
A method for remotely controlling a feature of a product from a remote server, comprising:
- receiving, within the remote server, a geographic location of the product;
- determining whether the geographic location is within a geographic area stored within a geographic feature list within remote server;
- and
- when the geographic location is within the geographic area, enabling a feature of the product corresponding to the geographic area by sending a message to the product from the remote server.
A method for remotely controlling a feature of a product from a remote server, comprising:
- receiving, within the remote server, a geographic location of the product;
- determining whether the geographic location is within a geographic area stored within a geographic feature list within remote server;
- and
- when the geographic location is within the geographic area, disabling the feature of the product by sending a message to the product from the remote server.
A method for remotely controlling a feature of a product from a remote server, comprising:
- receiving, within the remote server, an indication that the product is proximate an authentication device;
- determining, within the remote server, a controllable feature of the product based upon identification of the authentication device;
- and
- sending a message to the product from the remote server to control the feature of the product.
A method for remotely controlling a feature of a product from a remote server based upon a control token identifying the product and the feature, comprising:
- receiving, within the remote server, the control token identifying the product and the feature;
- determining, based upon a value within the control token, a new expiration date for the feature;
- storing, within a database of the remote server, the new expiration date in association with the feature and the product;
- generating a feature update message containing the new expiration date for the feature of the product;
- and
- sending the feature update message to the product to remotely control the feature.
Product having time based remote controlled functionality, comprising:
- a receiver for receiving a feature control message for a feature of the product from a remote server;
- a processor communicatively coupled with the receiver;
- and
- a memory, communicatively coupled with the processor, storing machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor perform the steps of:
- receiving, from the remote server, an expiration date for a feature of the product;
- storing the expiration date within the memory;
- controlling the feature within the product based upon the expiration date and a current time.
A remote control system, comprising:
- a remote server configured with a feature database and a product controller;
- a product configured by a software development kit to enable a feature of the product based upon a message received from the remote server and to automatically disable the feature after a period defined within the message based upon a real-time clock;
- and
- a mobile device running an app configured by a software development kit to communicate with both the remote server and the product, the mobile device relating messages between the remote server and the product.
A software development kit (SDK) for building firmware of a product, the SDK defining machine readable instructions executable by a processor of the product to implement remote time based control of a feature of the product, the SDK comprising:
- instructions for receiving an update message from a remote server defining an expiry date for the feature;
- instructions for storing the expiry date in a table in association with the feature;
- and
- instructions for disabling the feature on the product when the expiry date in the table is prior to a current time, the instructions.
A software development kit (SDK) for building an app to run on a mobile device, the SDK defining machine readable instructions executable by a processor of the mobile device to implement remote time based control of a feature of a product from a remote server, the SDK comprising:
- instructions for communicating with the remote server;
- instructions for communicating with the product;
- instructions for interacting with a user of the mobile device to configure the product via the remote server.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.