US Patent 10104207 Automatic protocol discovery

A computing apparatus is configured to operate a controller on a communication log file to infer a message structure for communications between a remote control and a controlled device. The controller applies Hidden Markov Model and Finite State Machine to the message structure to operate the remote control on the controlled device to perform predefined actions, receives a state of the controlled device, and generates a semantic classification for the message structure from the state, the semantic classification applied to operation of the controller.