TWI662241B - Home appliance system, diagnostic method for home appliance, and terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a home appliance system that reduces the information to be held by a communication device among many types of information.

The solving means of the present invention is a home appliance having a memory unit for storing operation history data, a server storing plural defined information of corresponding form information, and a home appliance having a communication device capable of receiving and receiving information from the home appliance and the server. In the system, the communication device obtains the definition information corresponding to the form information of the home appliance from the server, and obtains the operation history data of the home appliance from the home appliance.

Description

Home appliance system, diagnostic method for home appliance, and terminal device

The present invention relates to a home appliance system, a diagnostic method for a home appliance, and a terminal device.

The user of the home appliance is in a situation where the home appliance is called to a service staff in order to determine whether a malfunction has occurred or the repair is needed when the home appliance is found to be abnormal. Patent Document 1 discloses a structure for performing various analyses of home appliances by a communication terminal.

[Prior technical literature] [Patent Literature]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2016-95601

When a service person uses a communication terminal, such a service person is not limited to diagnosing a few types of home appliances, but may diagnose conditions of most types of home appliances. However, for the diagnosis of home appliances, knowing home appliances The past operation status is better. The data about such information is usually stored in the memory of the home appliance as the operation history data. However, the reason why the operation history data is stored in the memory (memory section) is different depending on the type and form of the home appliance. Therefore, reading the operation history data from the memory alone cannot make it useful. Information.

For the creation of useful information, it is necessary to obtain, together with the operation history data, the defined information on which rules the operation history data of each home appliance may be different and which are stored in the memory. That is, useful information (operation history) can be created only by combining the operation history data itself listed as a numerical value with the meaning of the numerical value. However, the definition information may differ depending on the type and form of the home appliance, so it is difficult for the communication terminal to save, for example, almost all of the definition information that may have many types.

The first invention invented in view of the foregoing is a home appliance system having: a home appliance having a memory unit for storing operation history data; a server containing plural defined information corresponding to information in a corresponding form; and a communication device, It can receive and receive information with the home appliance and the server; it is characterized in that the communication device obtains the defined information corresponding to the form information of the home appliance from the server, and obtains the home appliance from the home appliance Operation history data.

In addition, a second aspect of the present invention, which is in view of the foregoing circumstances, is a diagnostic method for a home appliance, which includes a step of storing operation history data of the home appliance, and preparing a device that can be used between the home appliance and the server. A communication device for receiving and receiving information; a step for preparing the form information of the home appliance; a step for notifying the server of the form information to the server; the server sending defined information corresponding to the form information to the communication device Steps; the communication device obtains the operation history data from the home appliance; the communication device or the server creates an operation history based on the defined information and the operation history data; and displays the communication device based on the operation history. A step of creating a table or a chart, or a step of displaying the presence or absence of a failure of the household electrical appliance or an estimated result of the cause of the failure.

Furthermore, the third invention invented in view of the foregoing is a terminal device, which is characterized in that it obtains a part of the definition information from a server that stores the plural information of the corresponding form of individual definition information; The function of the operation history data of the appliance to create the operation history of the home appliance.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. In addition, the same components are assigned the same reference numerals, and the same description is not repeated.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the home appliance system of this embodiment. The home appliance system includes a home appliance 1, an I / F substrate 2, a communication device 3, and a customer service center 5. The communication device 3 can communicate with the customer service center 5 through a wide area network 4 (such as the Internet).

[Household appliances 1]

The home appliance 1 is a memory unit (memory) 11 that stores operation history data and control data of the home appliance 1 itself.

The operation history data may correspond to, for example, the detection values of the sensors installed in the home appliance 1 and the states of the devices and components that are controlled while referring to the detection values of the sensors of the home appliance 1. The type and number of sensors installed in the home appliance 1 and the position in the home appliance 1 may be different depending on the type and type of the home appliance 1. For example, when the home appliance 1 is a refrigerator, it is of course different from when it is an air cleaner. Even if the same appliance is a refrigerator, if the models are different, the number, type, and location of the sensors may be different. The home appliance 1 can memorize the detection values and states of these sensors every predetermined time. The predetermined time may vary depending on the type and type of the home appliance 1. Hereinafter, information indicating the type and type of the home appliance 1 is referred to as "form information." For example, information indicating that the home appliance 1 is a "refrigerator" and the model number is "A" is an example of the form information. [0013] As the sensor, for example, if it is a refrigerator, a temperature or humidity sensor outside the box, a temperature or humidity sensor in a refrigerating room, a temperature or humidity sensor in a freezer room, or a vegetable room Temperature or humidity sensor, temperature or humidity sensor in the ice making room, temperature or humidity sensor in the freezing room, temperature sensor on the partition wall of the opening edge of the refrigerator compartment, illuminance sensor outside the box, human body Sensors, sensors for opening and closing the door of each storage room, etc. [0014] As a state of a machine or a component, for example, when the refrigerator is to be considered as the home appliance 1, the number of rotations of a compressor, the number of rotations of a fan that blows air to a condenser, an opening degree of an expansion valve, and The amount of current, the number of rotations of the fan that sends the cold air from the evaporator (cooler) to each storage room, the opening or closing of the adjustment gate, the amount of current in the vegetable room, and the ON / OFF of the lighting in the box. [0015] The control data includes rules and the like related to the driving of the devices and components of the home appliance 1. For example, when the home appliance 1 is a refrigerator, data related to functions and conditions (tables) that determine the number of revolutions of the compressor of the refrigerator. For example, a method (rule) for determining the number of revolutions of the compressor based on the temperature outside the tank and the temperature of each storage room. [0016] In this way, the operation history data described above is stored in the storage unit 11. That is, in the memory section 11, there is an area for storing the detection values of various sensors, or the status address of various machines and components. However, at which address, which operation history data is stored, it depends on the type of the home appliance 1 And types may vary. [0017] [I / F substrate 2] The I / F substrate 2 has a function of converting the operation history data stored in the storage unit 11 of the home appliance 1 into a form readable by the communication device 3, or converting control data into a writable Functions in the form of being stored in the memory unit 11 of the home appliance 1. When the home appliance 1 and the communication device 3 can directly receive and receive data, it is not necessarily necessary. For example, when the home appliance 1 needs to receive and receive the data due to serial communication, and the communication device needs to receive and receive the data due to the USB specification, these can be relayed. In addition, the area into which the control data is written does not necessarily need to be the same as the constituent elements for storing the operation history data. That is, instead of the memory portion 11, it may be used as another memory portion. [0018] [Communication device 3] The communication device 3 is a home appliance communication unit that can receive and receive information directly with the home appliance 1 or indirectly through the I / F substrate 2. The customer service center 5 is a machine of a central communication department that receives and transmits information. The communication device 3 also has a display section that displays a graph created based on the operation history data and the definition information described later, and the estimated result of the failure cause of the home appliance 1 and can calculate and process the data received from the customer service center 5 and from the home appliance. Computing section for data read by machine 1. The communication device 3 is ideally a portable terminal such as a smart phone or tablet terminal that can be easily carried. [0019] [Customer Service Center 5] The customer service center 5 is a server 51 that stores various information (master file data) of the household appliance 1 of plural types or plural types. The server 51 stores control data and definition information due to the type of the home appliance 1 (refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine, conditioning heater, etc.) and type (refrigerator model A, model B, ...), respectively. [0020] The definition information includes information indicating which kind of data is stored at which address of the memory unit 11 for which reason. This specific example will be described later. [0021] [Refrigerator 10 as an example of the home appliance 1] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the refrigerator 10 as an example of the home appliance 1 and corresponding to some form of information. The refrigerator 10 includes a control unit 101, a control panel 102, a memory unit 11, a sensor that generates operation history data, and the like, which controls the entire refrigerator. [0022] The control unit 101 obtains the states and detection values of various switches, sensors, devices, and components from the operation information output unit 103 that outputs a part or all of the information corresponding to the operation history data. Specifically, the state of the storage room door switch 1031, the storage room temperature sensor 1032, the cooler temperature sensor 1033, the outside temperature sensor 1034, and the like, which obtain the opening and closing information of the door cover of each storage room. The state or detection value of the switches and sensors, and the number of rotations of each machine that controls the compressor 1035 and the cooling fan 1036, etc., are detected. The refrigerator 10 of the present embodiment is information equivalent to the operation history data. In addition, the memory unit 11 can be configured to store the target temperature value in the box specified by the user through the input unit 1022 of the control panel 102. [0023] The control panel 102 is provided with an input unit 1022 that switches the setting change of the cooling temperature and the operation stop of the rapid freezing, and a display unit that indicates the set cooling temperature, the operation state of the rapid freezing, and the open state of each door. 1021. [0024] In this way, the control unit 101 may total the length of the door opening time per unit time, the storage room according to the time series of each unit time (for example, every hour) based on the information of the opening and closing information of the storage room door switch 1031. Operation history data such as the temperature of each sensor such as the temperature sensor 1032, the operating time and number of revolutions of the compressor 1035, the operating time and number of revolutions of the cooling fan 1036, and the target value of the temperature in the box obtained from the control panel 102. And stored in the memory section 11. [0025] [Information Stored in Memory Unit 11] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of operation history data stored in the memory unit 11 of the home appliance 1. As described above, what kind of information is stored at which address of the storage unit 11 may differ depending on the type and type of the home appliance 1. Therefore, even if only the operation history data stored at the storage unit 11 (at address 100) is obtained, A value of 1 is stored, and a value of 7.2 is stored at address 101. It is also difficult to convert it into meaningful information. [0026] For example, the refrigerator 10 of this embodiment having the memory section 11 storing the operation history data of FIG. 3 is sequentially stored from the address 100 7 days ago. If it is off, save 0 (address 100) "," save the value of the refrigerator compartment sensor at the temperature in Celsius (address 101) "," reverse the sign of the positive and negative to save the value of the cooler temperature sensor at the temperature in Celsius (Address 102) "," Save the value of the temperature sensor outside the box with Celsius temperature (Address 103) "," Save the rotation number of the compressor with min ^-1 as the dimension (Address 104) "," min ^-1 holds the number of rotations of the cooling fan (address 105) as a dimension. " Then, from the address 106, the data of 6 days and 23 hours ago are stored in the same order. That is, instead of skipping 5 addresses from address 100 and memorizing the opening and closing information of the door cover switch every 60 minutes, skipping 5 addresses from address 101 and memorizing the temperature of the refrigerator compartment every 60 minutes If the value information (definition information) is obtained by analyzing the operation history data from the memory unit 11 of the present embodiment and analyzed, meaningful information (operation history) cannot be created. [0027] Furthermore, the values of "Skip 5 addresses" and "Every 60 minutes" in the foregoing example are examples, and the values are not limited to self-explanation by the practitioner. [0028] [Creation of operation history caused by combination with definition information] Generally, the definition information has a relatively large amount of data. Therefore, it is difficult for the communication device 3 to save the definition information for almost all of the products corresponding to the individual form information of the home appliance manufacturer. In addition, the combination of the definition information and the information (operation history data) of the memory unit 11 may create the operation history of the home appliance 1. Therefore, from the viewpoint of security, it is not ideal to save the communication device 3 with the definition information in advance. . On the other hand, the definition information is generally the same for all types and types of the household electrical appliances 1, so as long as the formal information is confirmed, the definition information to be obtained can be set individually. [Operation of the Home Appliance System] The communication device 3 of the home appliance system of this embodiment sends information related to the type and type (form information) of the home appliance 1 to the customer service center 5 through the wide area network 4. The customer service center 5 specifies the definition information of the home appliance 1 that should be sent to the communication device 3 based on the received form information, and sends the definition information of the home appliance 1 corresponding to the form information to the communication device 3 through the wide area network 4. At this time, the latest control data of the home appliance 1 may be transmitted together. [0030] The communication device 3 separately reads the operation history data stored in the memory unit 11 of the home appliance 1. The operation information is created by combining the read information with the defined information. That is, the communication device 3 of the home appliance system of the present embodiment reduces the necessity of preserving defined information that is not particularly necessary in advance. [0031] Thereafter, the communication device 3 performs calculation processing on the operation history, estimates the presence or absence of the failure of the home appliance 1 and the cause thereof, or displays the operation history of the home appliance 1 in a table format and a chart format. [0032] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the home appliance system of the present embodiment, taking the home appliance 1 as a refrigerator as an example. The actions of this system can be replaced as appropriate except when it is necessary to execute the steps that are the prerequisites in order to perform certain action steps. [0033] First, the refrigerator 10, which is an example of the home appliance 1, acquires the state and value of the operation information output unit 103 at predetermined intervals, for example (step S110). When a user of such a home appliance 1 feels that something is wrong with the home appliance 1, he can call a service person and request a diagnosis. [0034] The service person is holding the communication device 3 to visit the user's home where the home appliance 1 is installed. When the communication device 3 brought by the service person does not hold the definition information of the home appliance device 1, the form information is input to the communication device 3, and the server 51 requests the definition information (step S210). [0035] The server 51 that receives the request for the definition information sends the definition information corresponding to the received form information to the communication device 3 (step S310). In this case, the latest control data of the home appliance 1 may be transmitted as necessary. Steps S210 and S310 are not required to be performed when the corresponding defined information is already stored in the communication device 3. The definition information and control data held by the communication device 3 are preferably stored in a state where the acquisition date, definition date, and version of the definition information and control data can be obtained by referring to the communication device 3. In this way, it is easy to determine the version of the information and control data. [0036] Next, the service person connects the communication device 3 to the home appliance 1 directly or through the I / F substrate 2 and outputs a signal requesting operation history data to the home device 1 (step S220). At this time, the communication device 3 is required to input the form information of the home appliance 1. When the input form information and the form information of the home appliance 1 are not consistent, it is preferable to configure to output the operation history data. In addition, when the communication device 3 does not have the definition information corresponding to the form information of the home appliance 1, it is preferable that the communication device 3 is configured to reject the output of the operation history data. By setting such a step, it is possible to suppress the situation where an operation history is created using incorrect definition information. [0037] Next, the home appliance 1 receiving the request for the operation history data outputs the operation history data stored in the memory unit 11 to the communication device 3 (step S120). [0038] The communication device 3 that obtains the operation history data performs calculation processing that combines the defined information to create an operation history, and displays a part or all of the operation history in a table format or a chart format (step S230). In addition, the operation history can be analyzed to estimate and display whether or not the home appliance 1 has failed, and if so, the cause can be estimated and displayed. The charts and tables are described later. The service staff uses users to see the charts and tables, the existence of faults, and the estimated results of the causes. It is easy to answer the users' questions, and the users can promote their understanding. [0039] The operation history data acquired from the home appliance 1 is deleted by the service person operating the communication device 3 (step S240). Alternatively, the communication device 3 may be set to be automatically deleted after a predetermined period of time has elapsed from the acquisition of the operation history data, or the communication device 3 may be set to be notified of the recommended deletion after the predetermined period of time has elapsed. In addition, in order to suppress the situation where the version of the definition information becomes old, the definition of the definition information is also set to automatically delete the communication device 3 from the acquisition of the definition information after a predetermined period of time, or to notify the communication device 3 after the predetermined period of time has passed It is also recommended to set the communication device 3 in a manner to delete the gist. [0040] Furthermore, a part of step S230 may be executed by using the server 51 instead of the communication device 3. Specifically, the communication device 3 may send the operation history data to the server 51, and the server 51 may perform calculation processing of the operation history by combining the operation history data and the definition information. At this time, the communication device 3 only needs to obtain a calculation result and output a chart and a table, and may not receive the definition information from the server 51 in advance. 5 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the home appliance system when the control data of the home appliance 1 is updated. Steps S110, S210, and S310 can be performed in the same manner as described above, but instead of defining a request for information or adding a request for control data. The control data is received in step S310. [0042] The service person requests the writing of the control data to the home appliance 1 in addition to the form information of the home appliance 1 to which the control data is written (step S225). The home appliance 1 receives the request and outputs format information (step S125). The communication device 3 confirms whether the form information input in step S225 is consistent with the form information output in step S125, and executes a process of writing control data to the home appliance 1 (step S235). That is, when the form information of the two is inconsistent, the control data of the home appliance 1 cannot be rewritten. This can suppress the situation where inappropriate control data is written. 6 (a) (b) is an example of a graph created by the communication device 3 based on the operation history and displayed on the display portion of the communication device 3. The created graph may be created using all the information such as the sensors of the home appliance 1, and may be created using only information deemed necessary by the service personnel and the user. In Figure 6 (a) (b), the temperature outside the box for 7 days, the temperature of the refrigerator compartment, the temperature of the cooler, the opening time of the refrigerator compartment door, the presence or absence of reset of the refrigerator power supply, the amount of water tank used for ice making, The intensity setting of the refrigerating compartment cooling and the intensity setting of the freezing compartment cooling. The sampling time during the graphing may not necessarily coincide with the sampling time of the memory section 11. The service personnel can visually check the chart to estimate whether or not the home appliance 1 is malfunctioning, and the cause thereof. The service personnel can help the user understand the description by viewing the chart. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), the dimension of the vertical axis may be 2 or more. In this embodiment, the temperature and time in Celsius are disclosed on the vertical axis. In this way, the operation histories of different dimensions can be displayed on the same horizontal axis (time axis), so that multiple types of operation histories can be visualized at the same time, so it is convenient to estimate the cause of the failure, etc. [0044] FIG. 7 is an example of a table created by the communication device 3 based on the operation history and displayed on the display unit of the communication device 3, and displays the cause of the failure estimated based on the analysis of the operation history. Specifically, FIG. 7 (a) is a table showing the presence or absence of the failure of the home appliance 1 and the cause of the failure, and the number of days elapsed since the failure occurred, and FIG. 7 (b) is a door showing the door of the storage room that affects power saving. A table of the number of openings. [0045] The "fault code" in FIG. 7 (a) is defined in advance by the designer of the home appliance 1 and corresponds to the "content" one-to-one. The “content” is a description of the failure content of the home appliance 1. The home appliance 1 of this embodiment can understand that an abnormality occurs in the cooling fan motor and the outside temperature sensor. "Elapsed days" is a certain value or estimated value of the number of days since the occurrence of the abnormality described in "Contents". When "Content" is normal, "Elapsed Days" is not displayed. [0046] The "item" in FIG. 7 (b) is a case in which the door of the storage compartment of the refrigerator 10, which is an example of the home appliance 1, is opened several times within a predetermined period. The service staff can specify the period. By letting the user see the value, the user's awareness of power saving can be improved.

[0047]

1‧‧‧Household appliances

2‧‧‧I / F substrate

3‧‧‧ communication equipment

4‧‧‧ WAN

5‧‧‧Customer Service Center

10‧‧‧ refrigerator

11‧‧‧Memory Department (Memory)

51‧‧‧Server

101‧‧‧Control Department

102‧‧‧Control Panel

103‧‧‧Operation information output department

1021‧‧‧Display

1022‧‧‧Input Department

1031‧‧‧Storage room door switch

1032‧‧‧Storage room temperature sensor

1033‧‧‧Cooler temperature sensor

1034‧‧‧Out-of-box temperature sensor

1035‧‧‧Compressor

1036‧‧‧ cooling fan

[Fig. 1] A block diagram of the home appliance system of the first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a refrigerator as an example of the home appliance of the first embodiment.

3 is a diagram showing an example of a value of an address stored in a memory section of the home appliance of the first embodiment.

[Fig. 4] A flowchart particularly related to the definition information and the operation history data of the home appliance system of Embodiment 1. [Fig.

[FIG. 5] A flowchart particularly related to control data of the home appliance system of Embodiment 1. [FIG.

6 is a diagram showing a graph displayed on a communication device of the home appliance system of the first embodiment.

7 is a diagram showing a table displayed on a communication device of the home appliance system of the first embodiment.

Claims (6)

A home appliance machine system includes: a home appliance machine having a memory unit for storing operation history data; a server that stores plural definitive information corresponding to the type or type of information about the home appliance machine, that is, form information; and a communication device, which is It can receive and receive information with the aforementioned home appliances and the aforementioned server; it is characterized in that the aforementioned communication machine accepts the input of the form information of the aforementioned home appliances and sends the form information to the aforementioned server; the aforementioned server, which is Sending the definition information corresponding to the received form information to the communication device; the communication device obtains the operation history data of the home appliance from the home appliance device; the definition information includes saving the operation history data in the memory The rules of the time, and the amount of data is larger than the aforementioned form of information. The home appliance machine system described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the operation history is created by the communication device or the server according to the foregoing defined information and the operation history data; the communication device has a display according to the operation history. The display part of the created table; the above-mentioned table is a table containing an estimate of the cause of the malfunction of the home appliance. The home appliance system described in item 1 or 2 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the communication device obtains new control data corresponding to the home appliance from the server and outputs the control data to the home appliance. The aforementioned control information includes the rules related to the driving of the appliances and components of the aforementioned household electrical appliances. A diagnostic method for a home appliance, comprising: a step of storing operation history data of the home appliance; a step of preparing a communication device capable of receiving and receiving information between the home appliance and a server; preparing a type of the home appliance or Steps related to the type-related information, that is, form information; a step of preparing the aforementioned server storing plural defining information corresponding to the aforementioned form information individually; a step of notifying the aforementioned form information to the aforementioned server; the aforementioned server will correspond to the aforementioned server The step of receiving the defined information of the aforementioned form of information and sending it to the communication device; the step of the communication device obtaining the operation history data from the home appliance; the communication device or the server performs operation based on the definition information and the operation history data A history step; and a step of displaying a table or chart created by the communication device based on the operation history, or a step of displaying the presence or absence of a failure of the household electrical appliance or an estimated result of the cause of the failure. The diagnostic method for a household electrical appliance as described in item 4 of the scope of patent application, wherein the communication device has a step of inputting form information to the communication device before the communication device obtains the operation history data from the household electrical device; When the form information is inconsistent with the form information of the home appliance, the communication device cannot obtain the operation history data from the home appliance; and when the operation history data is available, the operation history data is automatically deleted after a predetermined period of time has passed from the acquisition. Or notify the steps of the recommended removal. A terminal device is characterized in that a part of the defined information is obtained from a server that holds information related to the type or type of the corresponding household electrical appliance, that is, the form information, the individual plural definition information; the amount of data of the definition information is greater than the aforementioned form information ; With the function of using the aforementioned defined information and the operation history data of the home appliance to create the operation history of the home appliance.