Dock Pro/ Technical Terminology Cheat Sheet
This article will go over commonly used terms on technical tickets.
Is there a term you are looking for a definition on but don't see it on the list? Let the Tech Team Lead know! They will be able to add it.
AWS - Stands for "Amazon Web Services" and is a secure cloud services platform. We use AWS as a database to store information coming to us from Wi-Fi connected Dock Pro units and from the Sleepme app. This database known as the Sleepme Platform is also the go between for the Dock Pro Unit and the customer's app.
Bluetooth - A short-range wireless technology used to pair a Dock Pro unit to the customer's mobile device so that Wi-Fi credentials can be shared with the Dock Pro. After the Wi-Fi connection is established on the Dock Pro, the radio signal will stop and the unit will no longer use Bluetooth. Bluetooth can be reenabled by taking the unit through a factory reset, which will put it into Bluetooth pairing mode.
BLE - This stands for "Bluetooth Low Energy" and is a type of Bluetooth that uses less energy when in use. For our purposes you don't need to know much about this besides the fact that "BLE" is an abbreviation for Bluetooth.
Firmware - A specific class of software that works as the bridge between software and hardware. Firmware is code that is directly on a system's motherboard and does things such as turn the system on, take it through its power cycle and other foundational code for the hardware to function.
Firmware Version - Firmware updates are sent out to our units "OTA" and automatically begin downloading if a unit has a connection to its local network. New versions are released to provide additional content and to patch issues/bugs found on prior firmware versions.
OTA - Stands for "Over The Air" and refers to wireless downloads that are sent out to the Dock Pro units. You may see to term OTA when someone is talking about updating their firmware.
VPN - This stands for "Virtual Private Network" and works as another layer of defense on the internet. It masks a user's IP address, encrypting their data and routing it through secure networks to servers in far away states or even other countries. Due to it bouncing the user's information around the globe there is a possibility that it could cause issues with the user's device connecting to our platform. If they are using a VPN it would be smart to ask them to turn it off to see if that helps resolve any potential connectivity issues.
ISP - This stands for "Internet Service Provider" and refers to the company that the user gets their internet through. Examples of this would be Comcast, Verizon etc. In some cases a user will need to contact their ISP to have network configurations changed or to get further assistance with more technical processes.
Wi-Fi - Fun fact, no one can stay with certainty where the term "Wi-Fi" came from, but it is the radio signal sent from a wireless router to a nearby device, which translates the signal into data you can see and use. The device then transmits a radio signal back to the router, which connects to the internet by wire or cable. Our system only has the ability to send and receive radio signals that are 2.4GHz.
2.4GHz and 5 GHz Frequencies - These are the two main frequencies used to connect devices to a wireless network. 2.4GHz was the standard for a long time and has a long range than 5GHz, but 5GHz is able to transfer data more quickly. Our systems, like the majority of smart home devices, connects solely to the 2.4GHz signal.
SSID - Stands for "Service Set IDentifier" and is the name assigned to a wireless network. All devices on the network need to use this identifier in order to communicate over a given network. Home networks don't require the use of a visible SSID unless the network uses several different access points that devices roam between.
IP Address - This stands for "Internet Protocol Address" and is a series of numbers that identifies a device on a network. For our purposes, you can use the IP Address found in Hypnos after the unit is connected to the customers network to determine if the unit is showing up on the Routethis scan if it's not labeled.
MAC Address - This stands for "Media Access Control Address" and is a hardware identification number that uniquely identifies each device on a network. This is not the same as our unit's MAC ID's.
MAC ID - The MAC ID of a Dock Pro unit can be found on the back near the Serial Number, and will be formatted like the following example: 7C:87:CE:C7:FB:70. The MAC ID is used by development and should be one of the points of data gathered if you need to escalate a ticket to Tier 3 support.
Serial Number - This is a number that is assigned to one unit and is used to identify the unit on our platform. The number also provide information such as the production date, for more information on this please read through the SOP "Serial # BreakDOWN"
Mbps - Broadband speeds are measured in Mbps or "Megabits per second". This measurement will be found on Routethis and the larger the number, the faster the data transfer rate of the customer's network.
Router - A router works as a traffic controller for incoming and outgoing data on a customers network. A router will relay information intended for a specific IP Address to the correct device and then relay information from it to the IoT. If you think of a person's local network as a roadway for a local town, their router would be the onboarding/off ramp to the highway, allowing data to enter and leave the local network.
IoT - This stands for "Internet of Things" and is term used to describe the network of connected objects or "things" that are able to collect and exchange data in real time using embedded sensors.
Access Point - An access point is a networking device that allows wireless-capable devices to connect to it, and ultimately to the customers network. Access points work as a sub-device to the customer's router. The router acts as the local network's hub while access points allow for more devices to connect to that hub.
Mesh Network - A mesh network is a local network configuration in which the "nodes" connect directly, dynamically and without any hierarchy to as many other nodes as possible to route data from devices as efficiently as possible to the router. Each node works as an access point for a device. This means that data can flow quickly from router to device and vice versa without having to follow a specific pathway, mitigating congestion and latency.
Wi-Fi Extender - A Wi-Fi extender works by receiving an existing Wi-Fi signal and rebroadcasting it to extend the signals range, similar to how a walkie-talkie.
Band Steering - Band steering is functionality that automatically steers anyone connecting to a wireless network to the best frequency band available. This can cause issues for our system if the router tries to switch our units over to the 5GHz frequency since it is not supported. A symptom of this issue in a user experience would by that they can initially connect to the network but then disconnect. If they are within a nominal range but this issue occurs it is possible that band steering is the culprit.
Router Bridging - Router Bridging is a feature found on many routers that will extend the range of a wireless network. It works by connecting two routers, making one the actual router and the other the "bridge" router or "brouter". The bridge router is subordinate to the router and will complete any of the normal processes of a router, instead it will pass data packages along to the router which will continue to act as the networks central hub. This is normally only used in situations where there is an extremely large distance that a single network needs to cover so we will likely not run into this often.