KR20010017425A - Apparatus and method for controlling home appliances - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device and a method for integratedly controlling household appliances are provided to combine operating states and corresponding environment information of the household appliances, and to make corresponding appliances share the states and information through a database, so as to perform an optimum automatic control for the household appliances. And the device and method enables an alarm or report operation through a communication network when errors are generated. CONSTITUTION: Household appliances output setup information and peripheral environment information according to control signals, and use information transmitted from external as information for controlling self operating states. A database(12) stores the peripheral environment information according to the household appliances in predetermined types. A controller(11) combines and classifies the peripheral environment information transmitted according to the household appliances by outputting the control signals according to the household appliances, and stores the combined information in the database(12). And the controller(11) notifies errors of each household appliance detected from the peripheral environment information to corresponding departments through an electronic communication medium, and transmits the information stored in the database(12) and information related to the household appliances downloaded through the electronic communication medium to the corresponding household appliances. A communication unit(13) is for data communication between the controller(11) and the electronic communication medium.

Description

Apparatus and method for integrated control of home appliances {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING HOME APPLIANCES}

The present invention relates to a home appliance, and more particularly, to an integrated control device and method for home appliances.

Many home appliances related to real life are used in homes such as refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, TVs, microwave ovens, gas ovens, and air purifiers.

These home appliances are a simple operation in accordance with the development of modern technology, for example, in the case of the refrigerator to avoid the refrigeration / freezing operation to maintain the temperature set by the user and to detect the ambient temperature using a sensing means such as a temperature sensor The development of technology, such as maintaining the temperature at an appropriate level.

As another example, in the case of an air conditioner, an infrared sensor and a temperature sensor are used to determine the surrounding environment through the detection of the surrounding temperature and the human body, and to achieve an optimal air conditioning operation for the corresponding space.

In addition, according to the trend of home automation, the technology for controlling such home appliances automatically at home or outside has been developed and applied more widely in real life.

The home appliances according to the related art separately grasp the surrounding environment and perform an appropriate automatic control operation according to the characteristics of the home appliance. The surrounding environment information identified by each home appliance cannot be shared in the home appliance period. Since only the home appliance control operation is inefficient.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, integrating home appliances to collect the surrounding environment information obtained through each home appliance, to make a database, and to share in the home appliance period for efficient home appliance control. It is an object of the present invention to provide a control apparatus and method.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an integrated home appliance control apparatus according to the present invention

Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

11: control unit 12: database

13: communication

Integrated control apparatus for home appliances according to the present invention outputs the setting information and the surrounding environment information according to the control signal and uses a plurality of home appliances using information transmitted from the outside as information for controlling their operating state, and surroundings for each home appliance A database for storing environmental information in a predetermined form and a control signal for each household appliance, and accordingly, the surrounding environment information transmitted by each household appliance is collected, classified, stored in a database, and each household appliance identified from the surrounding environment information. The controller transmits the abnormal state of the electronic device to the relevant department through the electronic communication medium, and transmits the information stored in the database and the home appliance related information downloaded through the electronic communication medium to the home appliance, and data communication between the controller and the electronic communication medium. Characterized in that it comprises a communication unit for.

In the integrated control method of home appliances according to the present invention, a method for integrated control of a plurality of home appliances that can input and output information, comprising: classifying the surrounding environment information for each home appliance according to a specific format and making a database; Collecting the necessary information for each home appliance among the collected information and transmitting the necessary information for each home appliance; and controlling the operation of the home appliance by integrating the preset information and the transmitted information. .

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described a preferred embodiment of the integrated control device and method according to the present invention.

1 is a block diagram showing an integrated home appliance control apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the integrated home appliance control apparatus according to the present invention includes a database 12 for storing surrounding environment related information and a communication unit 13 for performing various data communication through an electronic communication medium such as the Internet. ), Various home appliances and data input / output lines are connected to collect surrounding environment information output from each home appliance and store it in the database 12, and when an abnormality of the home appliance occurs, through the communication unit 13 It is configured to include a control unit (11) for reporting the occurrence of a safety-related alarm or safety accident of the home appliance, and for controlling software upgrades and remote troubleshooting services of the home appliance through the Internet.

At this time, each home appliance and the control unit 11 is connected to a communication line for transmitting a control signal and exchange the environment-related information.

Referring to the home appliance integrated control operation of the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

First, the control unit 11 transmits a data transmission command to each home appliance by a predetermined time unit through a communication line.

Therefore, each home appliance transmits the internal setting information or the surrounding environment related information detected using various sensors to the control unit 11 through a communication line.

That is, in the case of a refrigerator, the capacity of the refrigerator, the amount of food in the refrigerator, and the number of times of opening are transmitted.

And in the case of air conditioner transmits outside humidity, room temperature, season information, human activity information.

Subsequently, the gas oven range transmits cooking amount, use time, and current operation status.

And in the case of an air purifier, it transmits room temperature, usage time, and current operation status.

Subsequently, the washing machine transmits the water temperature, the washing amount, and the current operating state of the washing water used.

In addition, in the case of other home appliances, the surrounding environment related information is transmitted to the control unit 11.

Therefore, the control unit 11 collects the surrounding environment related information transmitted from each home appliance every predetermined time, integrates the overlapping information, and updates the database 12 by segmenting the information related to the home appliance.

The control unit 11 transmits the granular information in the database 12 to the home appliance.

That is, information on the current season, current time, and humidity obtained from the air conditioner is transmitted to the refrigerator, which is an associated home appliance.

In addition, information such as room temperature and operation status of other equipment is transmitted to the air conditioner.

Subsequently, information such as the number of family members calculated from information of other home appliances is transmitted to the gas oven range.

And the cooking time, cooking course and the indoor air pollution degree obtained from the gas oven range, and the human activity information obtained from the air conditioner is transmitted to the air purifier.

Subsequently, information such as the number of family members and seasons calculated from the information of other home appliances is transmitted to the washing machine.

Therefore, each home appliance updates the internal setting contents with the information transmitted from the control unit 11 to itself and performs a control operation according to the corresponding information.

That is, in the case of the refrigerator, when it is late at night based on the season, current time, humidity information, etc., the user sleeps, thus performing low noise operation so as not to disturb sleep and performing optimal cooling control to suit the season / humidity.

In the case of the air conditioner, the indoor temperature of the undetectable space is determined according to the indoor temperature and the operation state of the other equipment, and the air conditioning control is performed to achieve the optimal cooling state in response thereto.

Subsequently, in the case of the gas oven, the optimal cooking state is controlled according to the cooking amount using family member information.

In the case of the air purifier, the operation is controlled so as to maintain a comfortable indoor air state at all times according to the cooking time, the cooking course, and the resulting air pollution and human activity information.

Subsequently, in the case of the washing machine, optimal washing is performed according to the type of cloth of the season using the season and family number information, and optimum washing control is performed by determining the washing amount according to the number of families.

On the other hand, the control unit 11 grasps the operation state of each home appliance, for example, when a fire occurrence is predicted due to an abnormality of the gas oven range, when a gas leak or the like is detected or a leak of the washing machine is detected. The communication unit 13 generates an alarm on the electronic communication medium, that is, the Internet, or reports to the corresponding department, that is, the fire station.

In addition, the control unit 11 receives the software for upgrading (Up-grade) data of each home appliance via the Internet and transmits to the home appliance to perform the upgrade, or in the event of abnormality of a specific home appliance, software remote failure Make repairs possible.

Apparatus and method for integrated home appliance control according to the present invention collects the operating state and the corresponding environmental information of all home appliances used in the home and can be shared through a database to automatically control the optimal home appliance according to the current surrounding environment It can carry out alarm or report operation through communication network such as internet in case of abnormality such as fire, gas leak, etc., thereby maximizing the efficiency of home appliance control and user convenience.

Claims (2)

A plurality of home appliances outputting setting information and surrounding environment information according to a control signal and using information transmitted from the outside as information for controlling an operation state thereof; A database for storing the surrounding environment information for each home appliance in a predetermined form; Outputs a control signal for each home appliance, collects and classifies surrounding environment information transmitted according to each home appliance, stores it in the database, and identifies an abnormal state of each home appliance identified from the surrounding environment information through an electronic communication medium. A control unit for notifying departments and transmitting information stored in a database and home appliance related information downloaded through the electronic communication medium to the home appliance; And a control unit for data communication between the control unit and the electronic communication medium. In the method of integrally controlling a plurality of home appliances capable of input / output information, Classifying the surrounding environment information for each home appliance according to a specific format into a database; Collecting necessary information for each home appliance among the databaseized information and transmitting the necessary information for each home appliance; And controlling the operation of the home appliance by integrating the predetermined information and the transmitted information in the home appliance.