A first device is installed at a first location in a first space visible to a user. A second device is installed at a second location in a second space not visible to the user. A device control method acquires line-of-sight information indicating a line-of-sight direction of the user from a camera. The line-of-sight direction of the user is determined based on the line-of-sight information. In a case where the line-of-sight direction indicates a third location other than the first location, the second device is identified as an object of control. Sound data indicating speech of the user is acquired from a microphone, a control command corresponding to the sound data is generated, and the control command is transmitted to the object of control.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for exposing (i.e. bridging) data and services offered by low power, low duty cycle transducers (e.g. sensors and actuators) in a standardized format over existing and established home networking technologies. A transducer access point is a functional component that serves as a proxy for health devices and sensors that are off/asleep the majority of the time to conserver power (e.g. battery life). The transducer access point may be implemented as a stand alone device or embedded within a computing device such as a home PC.

A system for providing devices such as WCDs, televisions, stereos, video game systems, etc. access to media content through an entity such as a web server. In accordance with at least one embodiment, UPnP or DLNA compliant devices may utilize a user's home network to access a user's media library from on an online media service. The media service may provide a user interface to the device to enable the user to access his media library. The media may be stored on a networked storage device connected to the media service, on the user's network devices, on the user's WCD, etc. The media service may automatically query the user's WCD to determine the presence of other persons in his proximity, and determine their preferences. A customized media stream that is suitable for the whole group may be generated based at least in part on the combined preferences of the group.

The present application discloses a home appliance control authority sharing method. The method includes: receiving a control sharing operation and obtaining authority setting rules corresponding to the control sharing operation; generating a control authority of a terminal to be shared based on the authority setting rule; sharing the control authority to the terminal to be shared so that the terminal to be shared can control the home appliance according to the control authority set by the authority setting rule. The present application also discloses a control terminal, a home appliance and a storage medium.

An intelligent voice enable device searching method and apparatus are disclosed. A method for searching a plurality of voice enable devices according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes receiving first device information from a first device receiving a wake-up voice; searching a first account associated with the first device based on the first device information; searching devices of a first group registered in the first account; searching a second account associated with a second device other than the first device among the devices of the first group; searching devices of a second group registered in the second account; searching devices of a third group sharing an IP address with the devices of the first group or the devices of the second group; and selecting a voice enable device to respond to the wake-up voice among the devices of the first group, the second group, and the third group. The method has an effect that a device that responds to a wake-up voice may be searched more accurately than in a conventional approach.

A method for controlling the functioning of two or more smart home appliances of a network system comprising a cloud server, a terminal device and two or more smart home appliances registered in said cloud server. The method comprises: selecting two or more smart home appliances of the same type; grouping the selected smart home appliances into a products group; selecting control instructions; associating the selected control instructions to the products group to define group control instructions; and sending the group control instructions to the grouped smart home appliances so that all the grouped smart home appliances concurrently execute identical functions according to the group control instructions.

A method of creating a sharing users' group for sharing control of a registered smart home appliance, wherein a first registered user sends an invitation notification to a second terminal device of a second user to participate to the users group, the second user accepts the invitation notification, and a cloud server associates the second terminal device to the registered smart home appliance, whereupon the second user is able to select control instructions and associate the selected control instructions to the registered smart home appliance, and the cloud server is able to send the control instructions selected by the second user to the registered smart home appliance.

Methods, architectures, and algorithms to improve content transfer performance, smoothness and efficiency among multiple electronic computing devices are provided. In one example, an electronic computing device includes a plurality of sensors or devices, a communication interface, a memory device configured to store computer-executable instructions, and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to determine a proximity of a user relative to the electronic computing device in an environment detected by the plurality of the sensors or devices and determine a transfer of a content based on a proximity metric stored from the memory device.

A smart home system control method and apparatus, and an electronic device. Device information of a smart device waiting to be added in a smart scene is acquired. According to the device information, a previous device required to be replaced and at least one smart scene in which the previous devices has been added are acquired. The smart device is configured in the at least one smart scene, and the previous device is removed from the at least one smart scene.

A climatic system includes a climatic apparatus and a local network, in particular wireless. A computer is linked to an internet network access router. The climatic apparatus includes a communicating device to transmit on the local network an item of information relating to its manner of operation. A method for implementing such a climatic system is also provided.