KR100425762B1 - Control System for Home Appliance Network - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a home appliance network control system, and more particularly, to a home appliance network control system optimized according to a communication scheme according to one cycle.

The home appliance network control system according to the present invention comprises at least one slave device and a master device connected to each other through a predetermined network and controlling the operation or monitoring of the slave device. Communicate with the slave device in 1-cycle units.

Description

Home Appliance Network Control System

The present invention relates to a home appliance network control system, and more particularly, to a home appliance network control system optimized according to a communication scheme according to one cycle.

At present, home automation for automatically controlling home appliances in each home or remote is almost commercially available. In the early stages of home automation, each device was controlled separately using a telephone or an infrared ray, and there was no linkage between the devices, but now, a communication network is used to establish a network between home appliances and control the network. We are using a method that allows integrated management.

Many microcomputers currently applied to home appliances have a built-in serial communication function and are configured to communicate with other microcomputers or devices. Such microcomputers have various sizes of resources that can be used for communication, such as memory, depending on the characteristics of the product. In the case of multimedia products such as PC (Personal Computer) and TV or audio, a high-performance hardware specification is adopted to operate various basic functions, so a specification for a large amount of data and high speed communication is required.

On the other hand, refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, lamps, gas alarms, stands or boilers are generally simpler than the functions of the PC or multimedia products described above. . In the case of home appliances employing such low-function microcomputers, basic remote control and operation status monitoring are the main communication targets. Therefore, a standard for communication using a small microcomputer resource is required.

However, in the case of communication protocols used or ongoing for the purpose of communication between home appliances, a separate communication module such as a modem is additionally installed in each device or used to use the high specification communication standards used in the PC or multimedia devices. It is attempting to modify some of the high specification communication standards.

The home appliance according to the prior art has to separately install a separate hardware communication module such as a modem for each device by applying a high specification communication standard used in a PC or a multimedia device. There is a problem of increased efficiency and cost.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a home appliance network control system that can satisfy the low cost / high efficiency characteristics of home appliances employing a low-function microcomputer used at home There is a purpose.

1 is a view showing a home appliance network network.

2 is a view showing a communication structure between a master-slave master / slave combined device according to the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a master-slave communication structure according to the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a half duplex communication structure according to the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a 1 request-1 response communication cycle.

6 is a diagram illustrating a communication cycle in case of a packet error.

7 is a diagram illustrating one request-multiple response communication cycle.

8 is a diagram illustrating one request communication cycle.

The home appliance network control system according to the present invention comprises at least one slave device and a master device connected to each other through a predetermined network and controlling the operation or monitoring of the slave device. Communicate with the slave device in 1-cycle units.

In this case, the 1-cycle communication includes a 1 request- 1 response communication cycle in which the master device transmits only 1 request packet to the slave device and terminates communication when receiving a 1 response packet in response to the slave device. The master device transmits 1 request packet to a plurality of the slave devices, receives 1 response packet in response to the slave device, and waits for a response, and terminates communication when a predetermined maximum reception time is reached. And one request-many response communication cycle, and the master device includes at least one communication cycle of sending one notification packet to one or more slave devices and ending communication.

Further, in the one request-one response communication cycle, if the master device does not receive the one response packet from the slave device within a predetermined reception time, it is preferable to terminate the communication.

Further, in the 1 request-1 response communication cycle, when the master device receives 1 transmission error packet from the slave device, it is preferable to retransmit the 1 request packet to the slave device.

Further, in the one notification communication cycle, it is preferable that one or more of the slave device and the other hybrid device that have received the one notification packet do not transmit one response packet to the master device.

In addition, the 1-cycle communication preferably has a predetermined delay time between the communication cycles.

In addition, the master device preferably comprises a master means for controlling the operation of the slave device or monitor the status, and slave means in response to a request from another master device.

In addition, the master means and the slave means is preferably logically independent.

The home appliance network control system according to the present invention includes at least one slave device, a master device connected to each other through the slave device and a predetermined network, and a hybrid device connected to each other through the slave device and the master device. The hybrid device has a master means capable of controlling the operation of the slave device or monitoring its status, and a slave means in response to a request of a master means of another hybrid device, wherein the master device comprises the slave device and the hybrid device. And the master means of the hybrid device communicates with the slave device and other hybrid devices in one-cycle units.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a home appliance network control system according to the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in detail as follows.

First, referring to the network of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, multimedia device products such as TV and audio connected to an A / V network through a gateway connected to an external Internet network, a printer, a scanner, a PC camera connected to a PC network, etc. Its sub-products include products such as refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, humidifiers, lights, stands, and gas alarms, connected via a network manager to a living network. In this case, the network manager may be a separate management device or a user's PC.

Looking at such a home appliance network control system of the present invention.

First, the present invention is applied to the master (slave) method. In other words, all communication cycles are initiated by the master and terminated by the master device. Any device can be a master, but in order to do so, it must have a function to control the flow of data on a communication line and have information and control codes for products connected to a network. Therefore, only a device with a user interface function such as a PC is equipped with all the functions of the master, and other devices can only serve as masters of limited functions such as communication with a predetermined slave or communication by a simple control code.

In addition, while maintaining the basic master-slave communication method as described above, a device in which the master and the slave logically coexist so as to enable direct communication between devices, that is, peer-to-peer communication. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, a device (hereinafter, referred to as a P2P device) that is physically one device but logically independent of a master and a slave is defined.

All products connected to the network are based on P2P devices, but, as shown in FIG. 3, may be defined as master, slave, transmit only, or receive only due to the hardware characteristics of the product.

That is, the master has a function of starting and terminating communication with the corresponding slave when a communication start event occurs due to a change of state in the end user or device in order to start a new communication cycle.

In case of slave, it is always in standby state and cannot request communication from other device by itself.

In case of P2P device, the master and slave logically coexist inside (ie, hybrid device). When communication start event occurs due to end user or device internal status change, it acts as master and leads the communication cycle. After that, it operates as a slave and enters a standby state.

In the case of a transmission-only device, only a transmission is possible due to hardware characteristics. An infrared remote controller corresponds to this.

Receiving-only device is a device capable of receiving only due to the hardware characteristics, and this includes a product that is equipped with an infrared receiver and is operated by a battery.

Next, the home appliance network control system according to the present invention performs signal transmission in a half-duplex method using one bus, as shown in FIG. 4.

In other words, data is not received from another device at the time of transmission, and data is not transmitted to the other device at the time of reception. This is to minimize the use of memory for communication, and at the same time to correspond to a network composed of one bus using a serial communication function, such as the home appliance network of the present invention.

Therefore, both the master and slave can share the memory for transmission and reception. In the case of P2P devices, since the master and slave do not operate at the same time, the memory for transmission and reception can be shared as one. This eliminates the need for Interupt, which increases programming freedom on the product side.

Next, the home appliance network system according to the present invention performs communication in a one-cycle manner. The 1-cycle method may be divided into a 1 request-1 response method, a 1 request-multi response method, and a 1 request method.

In this case, the 1 request-1 response method is a method in which one master transmits only 1 packet to one slave and the slave receives 1 packet in response thereto, and the master receives and terminates it.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method of resending a request when a response error occurs in a slave, and ending communication by receiving a response accordingly.

And, as shown in FIG. 7, in the one request-multi-response scheme, one master transmits one packet to multiple slaves, and each slave transmits one packet in response thereto, and the master continues to wait for a response and then sets a predetermined maximum. The communication is terminated when the reception time elapses.

As shown in FIG. 8, the one request method is a method in which one master transmits one packet to one or more slaves and terminates communication without waiting for a response. At this time, if there is data transmission composed of several packets, the master divides the packet into the size of the corresponding slave and transmits the data in one packet unit.

The home appliance network control system according to the present invention has a master-slave, 1-cycle, and half-duplex communication system, and a simplified and standardized protocol compared to the conventional home appliance. Low-cost optimized home communication network control system can be implemented by using the microcommunication serial communication function.

Claims (15)

At least one slave device; And a master device connected to the slave device through a predetermined network to control an operation of the slave device or to monitor a state, and the master device communicates with the slave device in one-cycle units. Home appliance network control system. The 1-cycle communication according to claim 1, wherein the 1-cycle communication is performed by the master device transmitting only 1 request packet to the slave device and terminating communication when receiving a 1 response packet in response thereto from the slave device. The response communication cycle and the master device transmit one request packet to a plurality of the slave devices, receive one response packet from the slave device in response thereto, and wait for a response, and the predetermined maximum reception time has elapsed. One request-multiple response communication cycle for terminating the communication, and the master device includes at least one communication cycle of sending one notification packet to one or more slave devices and terminating the communication. Home appliance network control system characterized in that. The home appliance network control according to claim 2, wherein in the first request-one response communication cycle, the communication is terminated if the master device does not receive the first response packet from the slave device within a predetermined reception time. system. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein in the first request-one response communication cycle, when the master device receives one transmission error packet from the slave device, the first request packet is retransmitted to the slave device. Home appliance network control system. The home appliance network according to claim 2, wherein in the first notification communication cycle, one or more of the slave device and the other hybrid device that have received the first notification packet do not transmit one response packet to the master device. Control system. 3. The home appliance network control system according to claim 2, wherein the one-cycle communication places a predetermined delay time between the communication cycles. The household appliance according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the master device comprises a master means capable of controlling the operation of the slave device or monitoring a state thereof, and a slave means responding to a request of another master device. Network control system. 8. The home appliance network control system according to claim 7, wherein the master means and the slave means are logically independent. At least one slave device; A master device connected with the slave device through a predetermined network; The slave device and the master device and a hybrid device connected to each other through the network, the hybrid device is a master means for controlling the operation or monitoring the state of the slave device, and at the request of the master means of the other hybrid device And a slave means for responding together, wherein the master device communicates with the slave device and the hybrid device, and the master means of the hybrid device communicates with the slave device and the other hybrid device in one-cycle units. Network control system. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one-cycle communication comprises: 1 request packet for the master device to one of the slave device and hybrid device, or the master means of the hybrid device to one of the slave device or another hybrid device. 1 request- 1 response communication cycle that transmits only and terminates communication when receiving a response packet from the one device in response thereto, and the master device transmits to the plurality of slave devices and / or hybrid devices or the The master means of the hybrid device transmits one request packet to the plurality of slave devices and / or other hybrid devices, receives one response packet from each of the plurality of devices in response thereto, and continues to wait for a predetermined maximum 1 request-multiple response to terminate communication when reception time has elapsed 1 notification that the communication cycle and the master device send one notification packet to one or more slave devices and hybrid devices or the master means of the hybrid device send one notification packet to one or more slave devices and other hybrid devices and terminate communication A home appliance network control system comprising at least one communication cycle of communication cycles. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein in the first request-one response communication cycle, if the master means of the master device or the hybrid device does not receive the first response packet from the one device within a predetermined reception time, the communication is terminated. Home appliance network control system, characterized in that. 12. The apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein in the one request-one response communication cycle, when the master means of the master device or the hybrid device receives one transmission error packet from the one device, The home appliance network control system, characterized in that for retransmitting the 1 request packet. The home appliance network control system according to claim 10, wherein, in the first notification communication cycle, the device that receives the first notification packet does not transmit one response packet to the master device or the hybrid device. The home appliance network control system according to claim 10, wherein the one-cycle communication places a predetermined delay time between the communication cycles. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the master means and the slave means are logically independent.