CN113452590A

CN113452590A - Household electrical appliance

Info

Publication number: CN113452590A
Application number: CN202110804861.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 笠原贤哉; 长谷川亮
Original assignee: Hitachi Global Life Solutions Inc
Current assignee: Hitachi Global Life Solutions Inc
Priority date: 2017-12-21
Filing date: 2018-09-04
Publication date: 2021-09-28
Anticipated expiration: 2038-09-04
Also published as: TWI707585B; CN113452590B; TW201929556A; CN109951361B; JP2019114830A; CN109951361A; JP6727183B2

Abstract

The present invention provides a household appliance that manages operation rights without being restricted by a server. A household electrical appliance having a transmission/reception unit capable of receiving a request from an operation terminal, including: a judgment unit for judging whether or not to accept the request; a terminal information storage unit for storing operation terminal information as storage terminal information; and a processing unit for causing the household electrical appliance to perform an operation , and the judgment unit compares the operation terminal information that is the source of the request with the stored terminal information, and judges whether or not to allow the request to be accepted.

Description

Household electrical appliance

Technical Field

The invention relates to a household appliance.

Background

In recent years, household electrical appliances such as vacuum cleaners, washing machines, refrigerators, and air conditioners have become connectable to wide area networks such as the internet, and information on the household electrical appliances can be obtained and operated from the outside. It is known that, for example, authentication (pairing) is performed between an operation terminal such as a smartphone and a home appliance to avoid an unauthorized operation and the like before the operation of the home appliance is validated by the operation terminal. The home appliance can only be operated from the paired device. In this case, although it is possible to pair a plurality of operation terminals to 1 home electric appliance, it is desirable to realize smooth processing when operation requests (commands) are made to the home electric appliance from the plurality of operation terminals at the same time.

In patent document 1, the server 5 has an operation right management unit 5-3(0017, 0043, fig. 8) that manages the operation right.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2015-82778

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In patent document 1, since management of the control right is handled by the server, it is unclear how to manage control of the control-compliant apparatus when a situation occurs in which connection with the server is impossible, for example.

Means for solving the problems

In view of the above, the present invention provides a home appliance having a transmitter/receiver unit capable of receiving a request from an operation terminal, comprising: a determination unit for determining whether or not to permit the request to be accepted; a terminal information storage unit for storing the operation terminal information as storage terminal information; and a processing unit for operating the home appliance, wherein the determination unit determines whether or not to permit the request to be accepted by comparing operation terminal information, which is a transmission source of the request, with the storage terminal information.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an appliance control system of embodiment 1.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of request processing performed by the appliance control system of embodiment 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an appliance control system of embodiment 2.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[ example 1]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the appliance control system of the present embodiment. The device control system includes a wide area network 2,

operation terminals

3 and 5, a wireless LAN router 4, and a home appliance 6.

[ operation terminals 3, 5]

The

operation terminals

3 and 5 are, for example, portable terminals that are held by users of the home electric appliances 6. The

operation terminals

3 and 5 are devices capable of communicating with the home electric appliance 6 using a wide area network protocol and a wireless communication protocol. In the case of communication using a wireless communication protocol, communication with the home electric appliance 6 can be performed via the wireless LAN router 4.

In the present embodiment, among the

operation terminals

3 and 5, a terminal that is not within a wireless communication range with the wireless LAN router 4 is referred to as a first operation terminal 3, and a terminal that is within a wireless communication range is referred to as a second operation terminal 5. For convenience, an area within a communication range with the wireless LAN router 4 is referred to as "indoor", and an area outside the communication range is referred to as "outdoor".

[ Wireless LAN Router 4]

The wireless LAN router 4 is a device that transmits information transmitted to the wireless LAN router 4 to other devices (

operation terminals

3 and 5, and home electric appliances 6) as transmission targets using a wide area network protocol and a wireless communication protocol.

[ household Electrical appliances 6]

The home electric appliance 6 is a device capable of communicating with the

operation terminals

3 and 5 via communication with the wireless LAN router 4 using a wireless communication protocol. Examples of the home electric appliance 6 include a vacuum cleaner, a washing machine, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, and the like, but are not particularly limited.

The home appliance 6 can receive a request (command) such as start, drive, and drive end, a reservation thereof, and adjustment of an operation in the drive by an operation of a switch, a button, or the like provided in the home appliance 6, or an operation from the

operation terminals

3 and 5 via communication.

The home appliance 6 includes a transmitting/receiving unit 61, a determination unit 63 for determining whether or not to permit the request based on the permission condition, a processing unit 62 for interpreting the request for permission and executing the processing, a terminal information storage unit 64 for storing operation right information, and a timer unit 65 for measuring an elapsed time from the latest operation of the determination unit 63 and the like.

The transceiver 61 receives requests (commands) from the

operation terminals

3 and 5 and information (operation terminal information) unique to the

operation terminals

3 and 5, and transmits responses such as the determination result of the determination unit 63 and the processing result of the processing unit 62 to the

operation terminals

3 and 5.

The determination unit 63 determines whether or not to permit the reception of the request received by the transmission/reception unit 61 based on a preset permission condition. The determination unit 63 of the present embodiment determines whether or not to permit acceptance by comparing operation terminal information unique to each of the

operation terminals

3 and 5 of the transmission sources of the request received by the transmission/reception unit 61 with operation terminal information (hereinafter referred to as storage terminal information) stored in the terminal information storage unit 64. Specifically, when the storage terminal information does not exist, or when the operation terminal information included together with the request received by the transmission/reception unit 61 matches the storage terminal information, the reception request is permitted, and otherwise the reception request is not permitted.

The determination unit 63 can store the operation terminal information in the terminal information storage unit 64.

The processing unit 62 interprets the request that the determination unit 63 allows acceptance, and causes the home appliance 6 to execute a process corresponding to the request. For example, when the request is to drive the home appliance 6, the home appliance 6 is driven in accordance with the request. In addition, various requests such as image pickup by an image pickup unit mounted in the home appliance 6 and return of image pickup data can be satisfied.

The terminal information storage unit 64 can set (store) the stored terminal information in response to the request of the determination unit 63. The storage terminal information can be deleted based on the time counting by the time counting unit 65. When the transmission/reception unit 61 receives the operation terminal information without setting the storage terminal information, the determination unit 63 sets the operation terminal information as the storage terminal information.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the transmission/reception unit 61 receives a request from any one of the

operation terminals

3 and 5 without setting the storage terminal information, the operation terminal information of the operation terminal is set as the storage terminal information (given the operation right). The request from the operation terminal to which the operation right is given is permitted to be accepted by the determination section 63.

The timer unit 65 measures an elapsed time from the last operation time of the home appliance 6, for example, the transmission/reception unit 61, the determination unit 63, or the processing unit 62 (for example, the time when the processing unit 62 executes the processing last). When a predetermined time has elapsed, the storage terminal information is deleted.

The transmission/reception unit 61 is, for example, a wireless communication board, the determination unit 63 and the processing unit 62 are, for example, processors, the terminal information storage unit 64 is, for example, a semiconductor memory medium, and the timer 65 can be, for example, a clock counter.

In this way, in the present embodiment, the home appliance 6 includes the terminal information storage unit 64 that stores the operation terminal information, the determination unit 63 that determines whether or not to permit the request and to give the operation right, and the timer unit 65 that deletes the operation right. Therefore, for example, when the conditions for giving the operation right and the conditions for deleting the operation right are to be updated, it is possible to cope with this by updating the software (firmware) for each home appliance 6 or installing the latest software when a newly manufactured home appliance 6 is manufactured. In this regard, for example, when a server is separately provided and the server manages the operation right, maintenance of the server is easily necessary for updating the provision condition, and there is a risk of affecting all home electric appliances related to the server. That is, according to the present embodiment, when updating the conditions and the like, the range of influence spread can be reduced.

[ commands from the operation terminals 3, 5]

The

operation terminals

3 and 5 are provided with programs (application programs) capable of giving commands to the home electric appliance 6. The application program transmits a command using the wide area network protocol when the home appliance 6 is to be commanded from outdoors, and transmits a command via the wireless LAN router 4 using the wireless communication protocol when the home appliance is to be commanded from indoors. In particular, even when the user is indoors, the communication using the wide area network protocol can be switched to by the selection of the user.

When a plurality of

operation terminals

3 and 5 are to make requests to the same home electric appliance 6 at the same time regardless of whether the operation terminals are located indoors or outdoors, there is a risk that an operation different from the intention of the user of any of the

operation terminals

3 and 5 is performed when all the requests are received. Therefore, it is preferable that only one of the

operation terminals

3 and 5 temporarily has exclusive ownership of the operation right, and that the operation right be deleted when the request from the

operation terminal

3 or 5 is completed. In this embodiment, the home appliance 6 manages the operation right.

[ setting of operation right and processing of request for home electric appliance 6]

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of request processing and operation right management by the device control system of the present embodiment.

First, the home electric appliance 6 determines whether or not a request from the

operation terminal

3 or 5 is received (step S10). If the request is received (step S10, YES), it is confirmed whether or not storage terminal information exists (step S100). Even if the request is not received (no at step S10), it is confirmed whether or not the storage terminal information exists (step S20).

When the storage terminal information is set in step S100 (yes in step S100), it is checked whether or not the operation terminal information of the operation terminal of the request transmission source matches the storage terminal information (step S200).

If the storage terminal information is not set (no at step S100), the operation terminal information of the operation terminal of the request source is set as the storage terminal information (step S110), and the processing unit 62 is caused to execute the processing conforming to the request (step S111), and the process returns to step S10.

When the storage terminal information is set in step S20 (yes in step S20), it is checked whether or not the time counted by the timer unit 65 has elapsed a predetermined time (step S30).

If the storage terminal information is not set (no at step S20), the process returns to step S10.

When the predetermined time has elapsed in step S30 (yes in step S30), the storage terminal information (deletion operation right) is deleted (step S40), and the process returns to step S10.

If the predetermined time has not elapsed (no at step S30), the process returns to step S10.

Next, in step S200, if they match (yes in step S200), the processing unit 62 is caused to execute the process in accordance with the request (step S300), the timer 65 is reset to start counting time (step S301), and the process returns to step S10.

If they do not match (no at step S200), the transmission source of the request is notified of the rejection of the acceptance request (step S210), and the process returns to step S10. As a method of notifying the rejection, only a message of the rejection may be notified, an operation terminal to which an operation right is currently assigned may be notified, or how much time has elapsed since the operation of the operation terminal to which the operation right is assigned was last performed may be notified (counting status of the timer unit 65).

[ setting of types of commands that can be executed indoors and outdoors ]

The determination unit 63 of the present embodiment can acquire information that the

operation terminals

3 and 5 have transmitted a request from either the inside or the outside, and perform a determination using the information.

In the case of outdoor, the types of commands that can be executed for the home electric appliances 6 may be the same as or less than those that can be executed in the case of indoor. Examples of the command include a start reservation, a start command, an end reservation, an end command, an automatic (autonomous) drive command, a manual drive command, and viewing of information such as a reservation status of the home appliance 6. Among them, for example, in regard to a manual driving command (for example, a command such as a forward movement from a current position and a jump), since the degree of freedom of the commander is high, it can be made possible to perform it only in the indoor mode from the viewpoint of safety. For example, the information may be viewed only from both the indoor and outdoor sides, and the request for the operation of the home electric appliance 6 may be received only from the indoor side. In this way, by enabling the command to be executed only in the indoor mode depending on the type of the command, it is possible to reduce the risk that a person other than the user of the home appliance 6 may illegally execute the command. The setting may be changeable when the

operation terminals

3 and 5 are indoors, or may be changeable by an operation such as a switch on the home appliance 6.

[ substitution of the hour-piece 65 ]

Instead of the timer unit 65, a storage terminal information deleting unit may be provided that deletes the operation terminal information stored in the terminal information storage unit 64 by some phenomenon. For example, the representative right may be given to one of the

operation terminals

3 and 5, and the operation right may be deleted when a request for deleting the operation terminal information is received from the operation terminal.

[ setting of priority of operation terminals 3, 5]

The terminal information storage unit 64 of the present embodiment may be configured to be capable of storing priority information of the

operation terminals

3 and 5. For example, the user of the home appliance 6 can set one of the

operation terminals

3 and 5 to be higher in priority than the other by operating the home appliance 6 or the

operation terminals

3 and 5. In the present embodiment, the operation terminal 3 is described with priority.

In this case, when the operation terminal information of the second operation terminal 5 is stored in the terminal information storage unit 64 (the second operation terminal has the operation right), the first operation terminal 3 transmits a request to the home appliance 6. At this time, the determination unit 63 detects that the priority of the first operation terminal 3 that has currently received the request is higher than that of the second operation terminal 5 having the operation right, and instead of step S210, for example, notifies part or all of the following information (1) to (3) to the operation terminal 3, and notifies the following information (4) or (5) to the operation terminal 5:

(1) the currently stored terminal information is set as the other terminal.

(2) The current storage terminal information is set as the operation terminal 5.

(3) Information of the terminal information deleting unit is stored. For example, the measurement time of the timer unit 65.

(4) Other operation terminals having higher priority than the own terminal transmit requests.

(5) The first operation terminal 3, which is an operation terminal having a higher priority than the own terminal, transmits a request.

Next, the first operation terminal 3 receives an inquiry as to whether or not the operation right is acquired from the home electric appliance 6. When it is desired (forced) to acquire the operation right, the determination unit 63 deletes the operation right of the second operation terminal 5 and gives the operation right to the first operation terminal 3 by replying to the home appliance 6 as desired.

[ example 2 ]

The structure of the present embodiment can be the same as embodiment 1 except for the following points.

[ Server 1]

The server 1 is a device capable of communicating with other devices using a wide area network protocol. The server 1 can communicate with another device by communication using a wireless communication protocol and a wide area network protocol from the home electric appliance 6 in advance, for example.

In the present embodiment, when the first operation terminal 3 (outdoor) that cannot perform communication using the wireless communication protocol is to transmit a request to the home electric appliance 6, the request is transmitted to the server 1. This request includes a number (home appliance number) unique to the target home appliance 6. The home appliance number is acquired by performing authentication processing between the

operation terminals

3 and 5 and the home appliance 6.

On the other hand, the home appliance 6 periodically inquires the server 1 whether there is a request, or always connects to the server 1 and can immediately receive a request to the server 1. In the inquiry, the server 1 is notified of its own home appliance number, and the server 1 confirms whether or not there is a request for a matching home appliance number. If a corresponding request is found, the server 1 sends a request to the household appliance 6. This can improve safety.

The present invention is not limited to home appliances and can be applied to devices having a communication function.

Description of the reference numerals

1 Server

2 wide area network

3 first operation terminal

4 wireless LAN router

5 second operation terminal

6 household electrical appliances

61 transceiver unit

62 treatment section

63 determination part

64 terminal information storage part

And 65 a timer unit (storage terminal information deleting unit).

Claims

1. A home appliance having a transmission/reception unit capable of receiving a request from an operation terminal capable of communicating with the home appliance, the home appliance comprising:

a determination unit for determining whether or not to permit the request to be accepted;

a terminal information storage unit for storing the operation terminal information as storage terminal information; and

a processing unit for causing the home appliance to execute an operation,

the determination section compares operation terminal information as a transmission source of the request with the storage terminal information to determine whether or not to permit acceptance of the request,

the determination unit may change the contents of the commands that can be issued to the home appliance according to whether the operation terminal transmits the request from the outside or from the inside.

2. The household appliance of claim 1, wherein:

a storage terminal information deleting unit for deleting the storage terminal information,

when the transmission/reception unit receives the request after the storage terminal information deletion unit deletes the storage terminal information, the terminal information storage unit sets, as the storage terminal information, the operation terminal information of the operation terminal that is the transmission source of the request.

3. The household appliance of claim 2, wherein:

the storage terminal information deleting unit includes a time counting unit for counting time,

when the timer unit counts a predetermined time or more, the storage terminal information is deleted.