WO2005096608A1

WO2005096608A1 - A system and a method of remotely controlling network home appliances by the short message service of the mobile telephone

Info

Publication number: WO2005096608A1
Application number: PCT/CN2005/000423
Authority: WO
Inventors: Weiliang Zhang
Original assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2004-03-31
Filing date: 2005-03-31
Publication date: 2005-10-13
Also published as: CN1677941A

Abstract

A system of remotely controlling network home appliances by the short message service of the mobile telephone, comprises: home gateway, which is used to connect the network home appliance with external network, and exchange the message between the the network home appliance and external network; home appliance server, which connects the home gateway by internet, and which is used to transmit the control instruction forwarded by short message and receive the state information of the network home appliance; short message gateway, which connects the home appliance server, converts the short message instruction of the mobile telephone to the format accorded with the home appliance server, and transmits the control information to home appliance server, and converts the returned state information which home appliance corresponding to the instruction information sended by mobile telephone to short message , then provides them to mobile telephone.

Description

System and method for remotely controlling network home appliances using mobile phone short message service

The present invention relates to a remote control system and method for network home appliances, and in particular, to a system and method for remotely controlling Emperor U network home appliances using a short message service of a mobile phone. Background technique

The home network is being continuously improved with the implementation of integration technology, communication technology, interoperability and wiring standards. It involves the operation and management of all terminal devices in the home network, such as home appliances.

To remotely control network home appliances, the current common practice is to connect the home appliances to a home gateway. The home gateway is connected to the server of the home appliance manufacturer. The user uses a computer to access and control the network home appliances through the Internet.

The basic goal of a home network is: to connect various information-related communication equipment, household appliances and home security devices in a home to a home intelligent system through home bus technology (HBS) for centralized or remote monitoring, control, and Family affairs management, and maintain harmony and coordination of these home facilities and residential environment. Most subsystems and terminal devices in the home can be automatically controlled and managed through the home network.

The existing remote control methods of network home appliances mainly adopt wired and wireless methods. The disadvantages of this method are: If the user uses a computer as the terminal, the user cannot control the network appliances anytime and anywhere; if the user uses a mobile phone as the terminal, the mobile phone must be connected to the Internet, and the cost of mobile phone Internet access is high. Unable to remotely control network appliances.

With the continuous development of mobile phone short message services, short message services are widely used because of their ease of use, speed, and cost savings. Therefore, it is hoped that a wireless communication remote control network and a short message service can be combined to realize the remote control of network home appliances by using the short message service. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for implementing remote control of network home appliances based on a mobile phone's short message service. The method and system of the present invention can use short messages to perform complex control on network home appliances, meanwhile, it can also improve the flexibility of the network home appliance control system, and can timely adjust the content of short message services according to market conditions.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention, according to an aspect of the present invention, a short message using a mobile phone is provided. A system for remotely controlling network home appliances for information services includes: a home gateway for connecting network home appliances to an external network, exchanging messages between the network home appliances and the Xibu Department network; a home appliance server, connected to the home gateway through the Internet, for Send the control instructions forwarded by the short message gateway to the home gateway, and receive relevant status messages of network appliances; the short message gateway, connected to the appliance server, is used to convert the short message instructions of the mobile phone into a format consistent with the appliance server, and The converted control information is transmitted to the home appliance server, and the status message returned by the network home appliance in response to the instruction issued by the mobile phone is converted into a short message and provided to the mobile phone.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for remotely controlling a network home appliance by using a short message service of a mobile phone is provided, including the steps of: the mobile phone sends a query or control command to a short message gateway; the short message gateway looks up from a user registration record The user name and password corresponding to the mobile phone number sends a connection request to the home appliance server; the short message gateway logs in to the home appliance server with the found user name and password, and submits the query or control command sent by the mobile phone to a format compatible with the home appliance server The home appliance server transmits the query or control command sent by the mobile phone to the home gateway; and the home gateway controls the corresponding network home appliance to perform the corresponding operation according to the received query or control command. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following describes preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings to make the foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more clear, where:

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a system for remotely controlling network home appliances by using a mobile phone short message service according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a user inputting a user name and password displayed on a mobile phone;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship of a process of performing state query or control on network home appliances according to the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an example of a display interface for inputting control parameters according to the present invention. detailed description

An embodiment of a remote control system for implementing network home appliances according to the present invention is described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a system for remotely controlling network home appliances using a short message service of a mobile phone according to the present invention. The network home appliance control system includes mobile phone 1, short message gateway 2, home appliance server 3, home gateway 4, and other devices such as refrigerator 5, washing machine 6, air conditioner 7, microwave oven 8, electric water heater 9, rice cooker 10, electric lamp 11, etc. Class of network appliances. It should be noted that the types of network appliances are not limited to those listed above, but It includes all network appliances that can access the home network at present and in the future.

In the system shown in FIG. 1 for controlling network home appliances with a wireless communication link, in addition to the short message gateway 2, the mobile phone 1, the home appliance server 3, the home gateway 4, and the network home appliances 5--11 are remote from the prior art. Wireless control network appliances are the same. The dotted line in the figure indicates that the two parties connected are not in the same place.

Each home network includes multiple network home appliances, and the network home appliances (5-11) are connected to the home gateway 4 to transmit status information, control commands, and the like. Network appliances and home networks can be networked through wired and wireless methods. That is to say, the devices in the home network can be connected to the home gateway 4 in a wired and wireless manner.

The home gateway 4 serves as a physical interface between home network appliances and external devices, so that each network appliance can obtain various services. The home gateway 4 may provide a human-machine interface to the user. The user can enter the control option interface of any network appliance to control each device connected to the home gateway 4. In addition, the home gateway 4 manages various network appliances. When a new device is added to the home gateway, the home gateway 4 can add a new device by adding a device file. Similarly, the home gateway 4 also has a function of deleting network home appliances. The home gateway exchanges data with various network appliances according to wired and wireless communication protocols.

The home gateway 4 is connected to the home appliance server 3 through the Internet, and the home appliance server 3 is connected to the short message gateway 2. The home appliance server 3 can transmit the control instructions sent by the mobile phone to the home gateway 4 and receive related status messages of the network home appliances.

In order to achieve the objective of the present invention, the wireless remote network home appliance control system according to the present invention adds a short message gateway 2 to the original wireless control network home appliance system. The short message gateway 2 is connected to a home appliance server 3 of a home appliance manufacturer. The short message gateway 2 logs in to the home appliance server with the found user name and password according to the user name and password entered during user registration. The user uses the mobile phone to send a short message related to controlling the home appliances of the network to the short message gateway 2. The short message gateway 2 converts the corresponding control information into a format consistent with the home appliance server. Then, the converted control information is transmitted to the home appliance server 3. In addition, the short message gateway 2 converts the status information returned by the network appliance in response to an instruction issued by the mobile phone into a short message and provides it to the mobile phone. Through the above configuration, it is possible to control the network home appliances by using the short message service of the mobile phone, and to set most of the functions of the original network home electric system by setting the short message format.

The network appliance remote control system adopting the above structure only needs to add a short message gateway to the original network appliance system and provide an interface with the short message gateway at the appliance service center, without changing the existing network appliance system, so it can be implemented Smooth upgrade of the system. In addition, the user can also install a program in the mobile phone, especially a program on the Java SM card, which can realize remote control of network home appliances through the menu interface. In this embodiment, the user mobile phone 1 and the short message gateway 2 communicate with each other according to a prescribed control command, and the short message gateway 2 converts the received information into a command format that can be received by the home appliance server 3 and transmits it to the home appliance server.

The following describes the specific implementation manners of the present invention in detail, and only the parts directly related to the present invention are described here, and the description of the prior art is omitted to avoid confusion. It mainly includes two parts: the interface between the mobile phone and the short message gateway, and the interface between the short message gateway and the home appliance server. Interface between mobile phone and short message gateway

The control command set between the mobile phone and the short message gateway is described in detail below. The control commands are mainly divided into three types: registration commands, query commands, and control commands. Since it is inconvenient to directly control network home appliances by editing short messages, the present invention describes a method for controlling network home appliances through a control menu displayed by a mobile phone. The invention provides a menu structure diagram displayed on a mobile phone and how to display a control menu on the mobile phone. Finally, the operation flow of controlling network home appliances using a mobile phone is described. The operation flow is described according to the three functions of registration, query, and control, and examples are given.

In order to wirelessly use the mobile phone's short message service to control network appliances, the user must first use a mobile phone to register a user name and password on the short message gateway 2. This username and password were obtained when Home Gateway 4 was installed. With this user name and password, the network appliance remote control system can uniquely determine the network address of the home gateway 4.

After receiving the registration information sent by the U user through the mobile phone, the short message gateway 2 establishes a correspondence table between the mobile phone number and the user name and password. After the user completes the registration, he can directly input the query command to query the running status of any home appliance in the home network (5-11), or enter a control command to control any of the home network appliances (5-11). The user can also cancel the registration by short message.

The registration instructions for mobile phone remote control can be defined as follows:

Syntax description:

Register user = [user name] password = [password]

Unregister user = [user name] password = [password]

R user = [user name] password = [password]

UR user = [user name] password = [password]

When the user sends a registration request to the mobile phone, the mobile phone can accept the user name entered by the user through the "Register user" field or "R user" field, and the "password" field accepts the password entered by the user. When a user requests deregistration, the mobile phone can accept the user name entered by the user through the "Unregister user" field or "UR user" field, and the "password" field accepts the password entered by the user.

Table 1 below gives examples of users requesting registration and taking a shame registration.

i

When a program for displaying the control menu is installed on the mobile phone 1, the user can select the registration function through the control menu (select (1), then (2) in Table 5). The mobile phone can be displayed on the display screen when it is in use. "Please enter your user", the user enters his user name "John", and then the user can be prompted for a password. For example, users can enter their password "shanshan2002". Similarly, when the user requests to cancel the registration, the user name and password can also be entered as described above. The display interface can be the same or different.

After registering on the short message gateway 2, the user can enter a query command, and this command can be used to query the running status of all network appliances in the household. The query instruction is defined as follows:

Syntax description:

Query

Q where "Q" is short for "Query".

Table 2 is an example of query instructions.

Table 2

After user registration, you can also use control commands to remotely control network appliances, and change the operation status of network appliances. Its control instructions are defined as follows-syntax description:

Control [home appliance type] [Number] [states] [parameter]

C [home appliance type] [Number] [states] [parameters]

The control instruction includes a "home appliance type" field, a "Number" field, a "states" field, and a "parameter" field. Appliance Number "Number" Field Represents the number of each appliance when there are multiple appliances of the same type.

Table 3 below lists abbreviations for some common appliances. Obviously, it is not limited to the letters listed in Table 3, and other letters or character abbreviations may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention. table 3

When a user controls a network home appliance by using a short message service, a short message may be input through a display screen of a mobile phone, and a control instruction is input according to a syntax of the control instruction described above. For example, the first letter "C" indicates that a control instruction is issued, followed by a controlled object, a control state, and a control parameter. For example, as shown in Table 4 below, the command "C Ml on 4" means "set the heating time of microwave oven 1 to 4 minutes and start it". Table 4 also lists other examples for reference and understanding.

Table 4

C Ml on 4 (Set the heating time of microwave 1 to 4 minutes.

And start)

C W1 off (turn off the washing machine 1) '·

Control Al on 25 (turn on air conditioner 1 and set temperature to 25

Degrees)

Control Rl on

C L1 on (light on 1)

C HI on 50 (turn on the electric ice maker, set the temperature to 50 degrees) The following describes the system menu set for the convenience of the user to remotely control the network appliances by using the short message service. Due to direct editing, the short message requires the user to remember the control command format, which adds a burden to the user. In order to provide users with a good interface, an application is installed on the SIM card of the mobile phone so that a menu control mode can be provided on the mobile phone. Taking the Java SIM card as an example, it is only necessary to use the Java SIM card development tool to develop an application program that displays a network home appliance control menu on the mobile phone, and at the same time, receives the user's menu command and converts it into a corresponding short message The content is sent to the short message gateway. The following explains the structure of the system menu in detail. Table 5 below shows the structure of the control menu displayed on the mobile phone.

table 5

The system control menu is divided into three levels of menus, consistent with the depth of other menus on the mobile phone.

The following describes a procedure for remotely controlling network home appliances by using a mobile phone short message service according to the present invention. Remote control of network appliances using short messages must first register a user name and password, and then can perform status query or control of network appliances. Figure 3 below shows the relationship between the three control commands.

The following describes the process of controlling short-lived eyebrows and controlling network appliances with a direct control method of short messages.

a) Registration

The user must first register the username and password on the short message gateway 2 before they can remotely control the network appliances through short messages.

In Table 5 above, the user first selects the first-level menu and then selects (2) in the second-level menu. The mobile phone displays the interface shown in Figure 2. In addition, as an alternative, the user name and password can also be entered in the same screen display, for example, using the interface shown below.

Please enter your

User name: John

Password: shanshan2002 After receiving the short message, the short message gateway 2 automatically creates a table of the user's mobile phone number and username and password. b) query

In Table 5, the user first selects the first level menu and then selects (3) in the second level. The application on the Java SIM card automatically generates a short message in the following format.

After receiving the short message, the Query short message gateway 2 automatically finds the user name and password registered by the user according to the mobile phone number of the user, and converts the received short message into a corresponding format and submits it to the home appliance server. After the status query is completed, the system automatically returns a short message. For example, a mobile phone displays a short message example as shown in Table 6 below.

Table 6 Examples of short messages returned by the system

The microwave is on. The washing machine is off. The refrigerator is on. The rice cooker is off. Electric water heater is off. Lights 1, 2, 3 are off and light 4 is on. c) control

In Table 5, for example, when the user wants to control the microwave oven, the user first selects the first-level menu, then selects (4) in the second-level menu, and then selects (9) in the third-level menu. The application in the Java SIM card automatically forms a short message in the format shown in Table 7 below.

Table 7

C M1 on

After receiving the short message, the short message gateway 2 automatically finds the user name and password registered by the user according to the mobile phone number of the user, and converts the received short message into a corresponding format and submits it to the home appliance server. After the control operation is completed, the system automatically returns a short message as shown in Table 8 below when the operation is successful.

Table 8

Successful operation! The microwave is on! ~~~

If the operation fails, the system automatically returns the short message shown in Table 9.

Table 9

operation failed! The microwave was not snoring!

The user can also remotely set the parameters of the network appliance through the short message and the "parameter" field in the control command. For example, in Table 5, the user first selects (1) in the first level menu, then (4) in the second level menu, and then selects (11) in the third level menu to set the heating time. The mobile phone can The interface shown in Figure 4 will pop up automatically. The user enters the number 3 on the interface shown in FIG. 4 to indicate that it is cooked for 3 minutes, and then selects OK. The application in the Java SIM card automatically forms a short message "Control Ml on 3" in the following format, which indicates Control the microwave oven with number 1 to start heating for 3 minutes.

After receiving the short message, the short message gateway 2 automatically finds the registered user name and password of the user according to the mobile phone number of the user, and converts the received short message into a corresponding format and submits it to the home appliance server. After the control operation is completed, the system automatically returns a short message as shown in Table 10.

Table 9

Successful operation! The microwave oven has been closed, the heating time is set

Set to 3 minutes interface between short message gateway and appliance server

The short message gateway is connected to the home appliance server 3 using http or https, and the short message gateway notifies the home appliance server of the user name and password and the control content through http or https. The interface and operation process of the short message gateway and the home appliance server are introduced below.

The interface parameters between the short message gateway and the home appliance server are the same as the interface parameters between the short message gateway and the mobile phone, except that when receiving a short message, the user name and password registered by the user are found according to the mobile phone number, and established with the home appliance server Outside the connection process.

The operation flow of the short message gateway and the home appliance server is as follows:

In FIG. 1, the mobile phone 1 sends a query or control command to the short message gateway 2. The short message gateway 2 searches the user registration record for the user name and password corresponding to the mobile phone number, and sends a connection request to the home appliance server 3, And log in the home appliance server 3 with the found user name and password, and submit the content of the control command. The content of the control command is consistent with the interface parameters between the short message gateway and the mobile phone.

So far, the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments. It should be understood that those skilled in the art can easily make various other modifications without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims is not limited to the above description, but is to be interpreted in a broad sense.

Claims

Rights request

1. A system for remotely controlling network home appliances by using a short message service of a mobile phone, comprising: a home gateway for connecting network home appliances to an external network, and exchanging messages between the network home appliances and an external network;

A home appliance server, connected to the home gateway through the Internet, for transmitting control instructions forwarded by the short message gateway to the home gateway, and receiving related status messages of network home appliances;

The short message gateway is connected to the home appliance server, and is used to convert the short message instructions of the mobile phone into a format consistent with the home appliance server, and transmit the converted control information to the home appliance server, and return the network home appliances in response to the instructions issued by the mobile phone. The status message is converted into a short message provided to the mobile phone.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile phone remotely controls the network home appliance's control command set through a short message and a gateway, including a registration command, a query command, and a control command.

The system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile phone controls a network home appliance through a short message control menu displayed by its display.

The system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein after receiving the registration information sent by the mobile phone, the short message gateway establishes a correspondence table between the mobile phone number and the username and password.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the short message gateway is connected to the home appliance server by using a super transmission protocol, and the short message gateway notifies the home appliance server of the user name and password and control content through a hypertext transmission protocol.

The system according to claim 2, wherein the control command includes a home appliance type field, a home appliance number field, a home appliance status field, and a control parameter field.

The system according to claim 2, wherein the network home appliance responds to the query or control command issued by the mobile phone, and returns a status message corresponding to the query or control command to the mobile phone.

8. A method for remotely controlling network home appliances by using a short message service of a mobile phone, comprising the steps of: the mobile phone sends a query or control command to a short message gateway;

The short message gateway looks up the user name and password corresponding to the mobile phone number from the user registration record, and sends a connection request to the home appliance server;

The short message gateway logs in the home appliance server with the found user name and password, and converts the inquiry or control command sent by the mobile phone into a format consistent with the home appliance server;

The home appliance server transmits an inquiry or control command issued by the mobile phone to the home gateway; and The home gateway controls a corresponding network appliance to perform a corresponding operation according to the received query or control command.

9. A mobile phone for remotely controlling network home appliances using a short message service, provided with a program for performing remote control of network home appliances using a short message service of a mobile phone according to any one of claims 1 to 8.