CN106663006B

CN106663006B - Method for controlling electronic device and control system applying same

Info

Publication number: CN106663006B
Application number: CN201580036213.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张伟东; 林俊孝; 蓝士承; 张皓翔
Original assignee: U3d Ltd
Current assignee: U3d Ltd
Priority date: 2014-07-03
Filing date: 2015-06-29
Publication date: 2020-02-28
Anticipated expiration: 2035-06-29
Also published as: EP3164797A1; TWI567648B; JP2017530483A; TW201629754A; CN106663006A; WO2016000594A1; EP3164797A4

Abstract

A method for controlling and managing an electronic device is used for at least one control machine to control and manage at least one electronic device. In the method, a projectable space entity for building a workspace is provided to each of the at least one control machine, wherein at least one unifying tool for driving the at least one electronic device is selectively added to the projectable space entity. Then, the corresponding control machine utilizes a projection means to interpret the projectable space entity, so that a projected working space corresponding to the working space established through the projectable space entity is automatically established on the control machine, wherein the at least one unification tool drives the at least one electronic device to execute at least one task by an operation on the corresponding control machine.

Description

Method for controlling electronic device and control system applying same

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method for controlling an electronic device, and more particularly, to a method for controlling an electronic device through a working space. The invention also relates to a control system applying the control and management method.

Background

With the change of information communication technology, it is a inevitable trend in the future to create intelligent life with information, digitalization, humanization and convenience, and home appliances closely related to daily life naturally become the key to implement the vision of digital home and create smart life, so that it is an important future development direction for industry to intelligentize home appliances.

The intelligent home appliances generally refer to consumer electronics and home appliances having a networking function, and the networking function may be a wide service network, a local home network, or any other suitable network, and the purpose of the networking function is to integrate and connect various home appliances to realize the functions of home digitalization, intellectualization, and system integration.

In order to integrate and connect various home appliances, developers in the field tend to communicate with home appliances of different brands, different products or different functions through a unified communication protocol. For example, american high-pass (Qualcomm) corporation proposed a communication chip based on the AllJoyn open software architecture. The household appliance with the communication chip can communicate and interact through the AllJoyn platform. Also, for example, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) established by companies such as Microsoft (Microsoft), philips (Philip), Sony (Sony) establishes a set of communication protocols for connecting various home appliances to each other for common operation. The Taiwan institute of Industrial science also proposed SAANet control protocol for various electrical appliances. Therefore, any household user can control all the networked household appliances with the common communication protocol and acquire the information of the household appliances, and the household appliances can interact with each other due to the common communication protocol. However, since the manufacturers of the electric appliances with different brands have a competitive relationship, there is a strong possibility that they are not willing to use a common communication protocol or communication chip with the manufacturers of the electric appliances with different brands in terms of commercial interest.

Furthermore, new communication protocols are continuously developed for old appliances or new appliances in the future, but the new communication protocols may not be able to communicate with other or old communication protocols, and in such a case, the appliances developed based on the communication chip of the new communication protocols cannot communicate and interact with other appliances, which causes problems in use. Therefore, what is needed is a flexible operating environment that can easily and conveniently add new communication protocols to a control machine, and can also remove unnecessary communication protocols from the control machine at any time.

In addition, even though all the appliances can be controlled by a single control machine, it is inconvenient and inflexible when more than one user wants to use the control machine or when the control machine is located in a place where the user is not available; for example, when a user wants to remotely control a television in a living room but the control machine is placed in the room, the user must first move to the room to obtain the control machine.

Disclosure of Invention

An objective of the present invention is to provide a control method and a control system, so that a plurality of electronic devices developed by the same communication protocol or different communication protocols can be driven by the same control machine, or driven by a plurality of control machines sharing a common control rule and/or control interface. The control and management method and the control and management system can be operated by a single user and/or a plurality of users to control and manage the plurality of electronic devices, thereby being more convenient for the life requirements of people.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for controlling an electronic device, for at least one control machine to control the electronic device, the method comprising: providing a projectable space entity for building a workspace to each of the at least one control machine, wherein at least one unifying tool for driving the at least one electronic device is selectively added to the projectable space entity; and the corresponding control machine utilizes a projection means to interpret the projectable space entity, so that a projected working space corresponding to the working space established through the projectable space entity is automatically established on the control machine; wherein, the at least one unification tool drives the at least one electronic device to execute at least one task according to an operation on the corresponding control machine.

In another aspect, the present invention also provides a control system, including: at least one electronic device; and each control machine utilizes a projection means to interpret a projectable space entity so as to establish a projected working space corresponding to a working space established through the projectable space entity, wherein at least one unifying tool for driving the at least one electronic device is selectively added into the projectable space entity, and the at least one unifying tool is required to drive the at least one electronic device to execute at least one task by an operation on the corresponding control machine.

In a preferred embodiment, the at least one unification tool comprises at least one unified driver formed by unifying at least one driver.

In a preferred embodiment, the at least one driver is developed from a Software Development Kit (SDK) corresponding to the at least one electronic device.

In a preferred embodiment, the at least one unification tool comprises a plurality of unified drivers respectively formed by unifying a plurality of drivers for driving a plurality of electronic devices; the plurality of drivers are arranged in the projected working space after being unified so as to be compatible with each other.

In a preferred embodiment, the method for controlling the electronic device is used for controlling and managing a household appliance system, a medical equipment system, a security control system, a fire protection control system or a transportation system.

In a preferred embodiment, the projectable space entity is loaded to the corresponding control machine through a path link information (URI).

In a preferred embodiment, the at least one control machine is selected from a computer, a household appliance, a handheld electronic device, a wearable electronic device, or a combination thereof.

In a preferred embodiment, a control machine of the at least one control machine manages at least two different types of electronic devices.

In a preferred embodiment, the at least two different types of electronic devices are manufactured by different manufacturers, or provide different functions, or are manufactured by different manufacturers and provide different functions.

In a preferred embodiment, the projectable spatial entity is an object (object), an extensible markup language (XML), or an entity (instance) generated in a structured language (structured language) or a structured protocol (structured protocol).

In a preferred embodiment, the projection means is built in the corresponding control machine, or the projection means is loaded into the corresponding control machine.

Drawings

The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an embodiment of a unified method for controlling an electronic device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a unified script as an intermediate language for implementing a personal workspace.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a preferred configuration of unified elements in a personal workspace suitable for use in the electronic device of the present invention.

Fig. 4, fig. 5A and fig. 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating a method for establishing a projected workspace for a control electronic device according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a relative relationship between a projectable space entity and a projected work space applicable to the control electronic device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a preferred method of controlling an electronic device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an initial state of the control system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9A is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation of the control system shown in FIG. 8, wherein two electronic devices are controlled by the notebook computer.

Fig. 9B is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the control system shown in fig. 8, wherein two electronic devices are controlled and managed by the smart phone.

Fig. 9C is a conceptual diagram illustrating the operation of the control system shown in fig. 8, wherein two electronic devices are controlled by the wearable electronic device.

FIG. 10A is a diagram illustrating the relationship between a projectable spatial entity and a projected workspace associated with the operation shown in FIG. 9A.

FIG. 10B is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the projectable spatial entity and the projected workspace associated with the operation shown in FIG. 9B.

FIG. 10C is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the projectable spatial entity and the projected workspace associated with the operation shown in FIG. 9C.

FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating interaction between the projected workspace and the first and second electronic devices in connection with the operation shown in FIG. 9C.

Detailed Description

The invention will be more fully understood from the following description, including the following glossary of terms and conclusive examples. It is noted that the patent publication numbers or patent application numbers cited in this specification, and the complete disclosures thereof, are incorporated herein by reference.

The following examples of the invention are non-limiting and merely represent various aspects and features of the invention. In the most limiting technical sense, an "information source" as described herein refers to a sequence of symbols that can be interpreted as useful information, and that is used to organize and tag data. The information source includes: websites (e.g., internet services), intranets, software, electronic books, databases, and other mediums of information (e.g., non-transitory computer-usable storage media, mobile device storage media). Also, the "raw information" described herein may include files, web pages, databases, policies, rules, or any data accessible to the associated machine and server, while the "tools" described herein may include utilities, interface toolsets, intelligent agent tools, applications, service tools, or any executable elements accessible to the associated machine and server. However, the source, source and tool are not limited to the above.

In addition, the "original information" and the "original tool" are both an implementation of the "original element" described herein, and in implementing the present invention, a plurality of "original elements" from the same or different "information sources" can be respectively modeled as a plurality of "unified elements" through a unified approach, so that the plurality of "unified elements" in the same operating environment can be compatible with each other to cooperatively perform a specific task; wherein, the "unification tool" and the "unification information unit" are an implementation mode of the "unification element". Also, an "element transformer (matchizer)" described herein is a component, device, or program code to unify "original elements".

In an embodiment, the unification method includes: reforming raw information obtained from at least one of the plurality of sources according to a unified data structure, thereby modeling (modeling) the raw information as a unified information unit, and/or reforming raw tools obtained from at least one of the plurality of sources according to another unified data structure, thereby modeling the raw tools as unified tools; wherein the unified data structure and the another unified data structure can be the same or different, and the above-mentioned unified method can be accomplished by an element transformer (Matterizer).

Please refer to fig. 1, which is a conceptual diagram of an embodiment of a unified method for controlling an electronic device according to the present invention. Fig. 1 illustrates that the element transformer 992 reforms an attribute and an associated nexus (link) of the primary element 991 according to the unified data structure 993 to model the primary element 991 as a unified element 994, such that the basic attributes of the unified element 994 include the type (type) of the primary element 991 and the nexus (link) indicating where the primary element 991 is located.

In the embodiment, the primitive element 991 may be a primitive message and/or a primitive tool, but is not limited thereto. Secondly, in the above unification method, when the attribute obtainable from the original information corresponds to the attribute to be unified in the unified information unit, the unified information unit can be directly generated through the element converter 992; when the attribute that can be obtained from the original information and the attribute that is to be unified in the unified information unit cannot correspond to each other, the original information needs to be redefined by logically reforming the attribute and the related link of the original information, so that the original information is converted into new original information having the attribute corresponding to the attribute that is to be unified in the unified information unit, thereby indirectly generating the unified information unit.

Also, when the original tool is compatible with the working environment of the workspace (workspace), the unified tool can be directly generated via the element transformer 992; when the original tool is not compatible with the working environment of the working space, the original tool is driven by a converter (adapter) and/or a Software Development Kit (SDK) of the original tool to indirectly generate the unified tool; wherein, the adapter is used to provide the interface implementation (interworking) compatible with the working space.

The "specific implementation OF the normalization method", "specific obtaining manner OF the normalization elements", AND "specific operation manner OF the element converter" described in this embodiment can refer to the U.S. patent application with application number 14/324,069 AND name "a method OF unity INFORMATION AND TOOL INFORMATION SOURCES", AND to the chinese patent application with application number 14/324,069 as the basis for priority, with application number 201410768564.X, AND name "method for UNIFYING INFORMATION AND TOOLs FROM multiple INFORMATION SOURCES, AND computer program product AND apparatus applying the method", which are all assigned to the same assignee. The contents of the above-mentioned pending patent application are incorporated herein by reference and thus will not be described in detail herein. Moreover, those skilled in the art can make any equivalent design changes according to the actual application requirements.

Two further examples of unification methods suitable for use in the present invention are given below. The first unification method is an information unification method applied to Garmin satellite navigation. Similar to the above unification method, the POI (Point of Interest) function of Garmin satellite navigation is to perform unification procedure on the input original landmark information (original information) through the information unification method to obtain corresponding unified landmark information (unified information unit); the second method is a tool unification method applied to an Android system, which is an open source code mobile device operating system based on Linux, but most of the applications (source tools) in the Android system are written in Java, so that all the applications (source tools) written in Java can be modeled into unified applications (unified tools) compatible with the Android system by the tool unification method, and further can be executed in the Android system.

Furthermore, the term "workspace" as used herein refers to a workspace for at least one elementary transducer and/or at least one tool and/or at least one piece of information to interact with to perform a specific task, and at least one piece of information and/or at least one piece of tool can be input into the workspace through at least one elementary transducer, but the manner of inputting information and/or tool into the workspace is not limited thereto; next, information input devices (information input devices) described below (such as

information input devices

9881, 9882, 9883, etc. described later with reference to fig. 5) are all embodiments of the element transformer. Furthermore, the unified script is an intermediate language that can be used to implement the workspace, and the unified script can enable at least one element converter and/or at least one message and/or at least one tool to be provided (e.g., built-in or plug-in) to the workspace.

In one embodiment, the at least one message is at least one unified message unit formed by unifying at least one original message obtained from at least one message source, and the at least one tool is at least one unified tool formed by unifying at least one original tool obtained from at least one message source; the user can add (such as built-in or plug-in) the needed unified information unit and/or unified tool from the corresponding information source to the personal workspace according to different tasks, so the "workspace" can be a user-oriented "personal workspace".

Further, referring to fig. 2 and fig. 3, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a preferred concept of using unified scripts as an intermediate language for implementing the personal workspace, and fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a preferred configuration of the personal workspace. Fig. 2 and 3 illustrate the user selectively combining a unified information unit 985 ' corresponding to the original information 985 in the Dropbox982, a first unified tool 986 ' corresponding to the compatible original tool 986 in the cloud hard disk 983, and a second unified tool 987 ' corresponding to the incompatible original tool 987 in the server 984 into the personal workspace 981; specifically, the user may first edit a unified script 980 as an intermediate language for implementing the personal workspace 981, and set (configure) the information input device 9881 of the Dropbox982, the information input device 9882 of the cloud hard disk 983, and the information input device 9883 of the server 984 by the unified script 980; the information input device 9881 can unify the original information 985 in the Dropbox982 into a unified information unit 985' and input the unified information unit to the personal workspace 981. For example, but not limited to, unified script 980 refers to an intermediate language that can be used to implement a workspace, and information input 9882 is an element transformer of Dropbox.

Furthermore, fig. 2 and 3 also illustrate that the original tool stored in the cloud hard disk 983 is a compatible original tool 986 (i.e., the compatible original tool 986 is compatible with the component architecture for the unified tool in the personal workspace 981), and the first unified tool 986' corresponding to the compatible original tool 986 can be provided directly to the personal workspace 981 through the information input device 9882 of the unified script 980.

On the other hand, the original tool stored in the server 984 is an incompatible original tool 987 (i.e., the incompatible original tool 987 is incompatible with the component architecture for the unified tool in the personal workspace 981), and the second unified tool 987' corresponding to the incompatible original tool 987 is indirectly provided to the personal workspace 981 through the compatible translator 989 and the information input device 9883 of the unified script 980.

In addition, fig. 3 also illustrates that the user configures (e.g., groups or places) the unified information unit 985 ', the first unified tool 986 ' and the second unified tool 987 ' in a specific area of the personal workspace 981 according to the actual application requirement; finally, the user can access or control the corresponding unified information unit by using the unified tool to execute the required task according to the operation relationship between the unified tool and the unified information unit (such as the click action or the drag action between the unified tool and the unified information unit).

Regarding the "specific implementation of UNIFIED script as the intermediate language FOR realizing PERSONAL WORKSPACE" and "the user can derive the required UNIFIED information unit and/or the required UNIFIED tool from the corresponding information according to the actual application requirement from the specific implementation of combining into the PERSONAL WORKSPACE to execute TASK", the pending us patent application with application number 14/325,466 and name "METHOD FOR combining UNIFIED elements IN PERSONAL WORKSPACE" and the chinese patent application with application number 14/324,069, 14/325,466 as the basis of priority requirements, application number 201410796528.4 and name "METHOD FOR combining UNIFIED elements IN PERSONAL WORKSPACE and computer program product and system applying the METHOD" described IN this embodiment, are assigned to the same assignee and will not be described in detail herein.

It should be noted that the personal workspace is only one embodiment of the workspace, and the workspace applicable to the present invention is not limited to the above. For example, a unified script as an intermediate language for implementing a workspace can be edited in advance to make the workspace become a workspace with a preset element converter and/or preset information and/or preset tools built therein, and such a workspace is not limited to a personal operation, and can be provided for a plurality of users to perform operations simultaneously or separately according to actual application requirements. Moreover, the workspace can be projected to any electronic device with computing capability by a method of projecting the workspace, so that a user can operate the projected workspace on any electronic device with computing capability.

In one embodiment, a method of projecting a workspace comprises: first, a projectable space instance (projectable space instance) generated by a unified script is obtained through a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI); wherein the unified script is defined to configure at least one of the element converter, the information and the tool to build a workspace (as previously described), and the projectable space entity is used to build a projected workspace corresponding to the workspace to provide an interface for operating at least one of the element converter, the information and the tool to perform a task; then, a projection means (projector) is used to interpret the projectable space entity and establish an operating environment for at least one of the element converter, the information and the tool to be configured in the projectable space entity, so as to further execute the projected workspace, thereby providing at least one user to interact with the projected workspace.

In the method of projecting a workspace, the projection means can be obtained from a remote data station, a projectable space entity or a preloaded application, and loaded into an engine (engine) for providing a compatible environment to execute the projection means, and the engine can include, but is not limited to, a Javascript engine, a window application and/or a Linux application; furthermore, the unified script can be declared by a Document Type Definition (DTD), an extensible markup language schema (XML schema), a structured language (structured language), or a structured protocol (structured protocol), but not limited to the above; the projectable space entity may be an object (object), an extensible markup language (XML) file, or an entity (instance) generated by a structured language (structured language) or a structured protocol (structured protocol), but is not limited thereto.

Furthermore, the method of projecting a workspace will be described in more detail below with reference to some embodiments. Please refer to fig. 4, fig. 5A to fig. 5B, and fig. 6. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an initial state of the method for projecting a workspace in a preferred embodiment, fig. 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating an operation concept of the method for projecting a workspace, and fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a relative relationship between the projectable space entity shown in fig. 4 and the projected workspace shown in fig. 5B. As shown in fig. 6, there are a first electronic device 971 and a second electronic device 972 that can be connected to each other (e.g., connected via a network), the first electronic device 971 stores a space entity 973 capable of projection, and the second electronic device 972 has a built-in projection means 974.

Also, the unified script 980 is declared by a Document Type Definition (DTD) and is defined to configure at least one information input device (which is an implementation aspect of the element transformer) and/or at least one unified information element and/or at least one unified tool to build a workspace, and the projectable entity 973 is an extensible markup language (XML) generated object, which is used to build (build) a projected workspace 976 corresponding to the workspace and is allowed to be added or removed from the information input device and/or the unified information element and/or the unified tool, as shown in fig. 6. The above description will be described in more detail as follows.

Furthermore, the projection means 974 of the second electronic device 972 establishes an operating environment 975 for the projected workspace 976 to operate on the second electronic device 972, and provides a micro kernel 977 (see fig. 6) for the operating environment 975 to load (equal) at least one information input device and/or at least one unified information unit and/or at least one unified tool to be added to the projected workspace 976; when the second electronic device 972 obtains the projectable space entity 973 in the first electronic device 971 through a path connection message, the projection means 974 in the second electronic device 972 starts to interpret the projectable space entity 973, as shown in fig. 8A; moreover, after the projectable space entity 973 is interpreted by the projection means 974, the projected workspace 976 is established on the working environment 975 according to the content interpreted by the projectable space entity 973, as shown in fig. 8B, so that a user at the end of the second electronic device 972 can interact with the projected workspace 976 through the second electronic device 972 to perform related tasks.

The interrelationship of the unified script 980, the projectable space entity 973, and the projected workspace 976 is further described below in the context of use shown in fig. 7. The use scenario illustrated in FIG. 7 is: a workspace is created that can be projected and read jpg picture files and gif picture files stored in a designated network space for viewing by a user, and in this use scenario, the unified script 980 is declared as a Document Type Definition (DTD), and the projectable space entity 973 is generated in extensible markup language (XML).

Moreover, an information input device and a unification tool are added to the projectable space entity 973, and the information input device is used to input at least one unification information unit corresponding to the original information into the projected workspace 976; in the present use scenario, the information input device is a Dropbox input device (i.e. the dashed box 9761 in fig. 6), the original information is the jpg picture files 9791, 9792 and gif picture file 9793 in the Dropbox 979, the unified information units are the unified jpg picture file 9791 ', the unified jpg picture file 9792 ' and the unified gif picture file 9793 ', and the unified tool is a picture reader (i.e. the dashed box 9762 in fig. 6) for reading the picture files input into the projected workspace 976.

As described above, the projected workspace 976 is established after the projectable space entity 973 is interpreted by the projection means 974 in the second electronic device 972. In this embodiment, a Dropbox input device 9761 '(corresponding to the illustrated dotted line box 9761) and a picture reader 9762' (corresponding to the illustrated dotted line box 9762) are disposed on the projected workspace 976, and the Dropbox input device 9761 'further unifies and inputs the jpg picture file 9791, the jpg picture file 9792 and the gif picture file 9793 in the Dropbox 979 into the projected workspace 976, so that the unified jpg picture file 9791', the unified jpg picture file 9792 'and the unified gif picture file 9793' corresponding to the jpg picture file 9791, the jpg picture file 9792 and the gif picture file 9793, respectively, are presented on the projected workspace 976. Then, when the user at the second electronic device 972 operates any one of the unified jpg picture file 9791 ', the unified jpg picture file 9792' and the unified gif picture file 9793 'through a specific operation manner (for example, clicking one of the unified jpg picture file 9791', the unified jpg picture file 9792 'and the unified gif picture file 9793', or dragging one of the unified jpg picture file 9791 ', the unified jpg picture file 9792' and the unified gif picture file 9793 'to the picture reader 9762'), the picture reader 9762 'reads the content of the corresponding one of the unified jpg picture file 9791', the unified jpg picture file 9792 'and the unified gif picture file 9793', and displays the content of the corresponding one for the user to view. The Dropbox input 9761 'and the picture viewer 9762' are loaded by the micro core 977 (equip).

Specifically, the path link information of the projectable space entity 973 may be hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) path link information or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) path link information, and if the first electronic device 971 and the second electronic device 972 are a common device, the path link information of the projectable space entity 973 may also be local file link information, but the type of the path link information is not limited thereto. In addition, the projectable space entity 973 can be accessed by an authorized user or an authorized electronic device, for example, the projectable space entity 973 can be obtained by an authorized user through the path connection information via an authorized user account and password.

THE techniques disclosed in U.S. patent application No. 14/577,772 entitled METHOD OF PROJECTING apparatus tile AND SYSTEM USING THE SAME, and U.S. patent application nos. 14/324,069, 14/325,466, 14/577,772 as THE basis for claim priority, and chinese patent application No. 201410814138.5 entitled system for METHOD OF PROJECTING workspace and METHOD OF applying THE SAME, assigned to THE SAME assignee, are applicable to THE preferred embodiments OF THE present invention. The contents of the above-mentioned pending patent application are incorporated herein by reference.

It should be noted that the method for projecting the workspace is only one projection method for projecting the workspace to any electronic device with computing capability, but the projection method for projecting the workspace to any electronic device with computing capability is not limited to the above, and those skilled in the art can make any equivalent design changes according to the actual application requirements.

The present invention develops a method for controlling an electronic device by using the above or other related technologies. The method for controlling and managing electronic devices of the present invention is aimed at allowing a user to control electronic devices of the same type and different types by operating any control machine of a connectable network, such as the internet, and allowing a plurality of connectable control machines to share a common control rule or control interface setting only by a single and simple configuration regardless of the number of connectable control machines. The different types of electronic devices generally refer to electronic devices manufactured by different manufacturers and providing the same function, electronic devices manufactured by the same manufacturer and providing different functions, or electronic devices manufactured by different manufacturers and providing different functions.

Next, the method for controlling an electronic device according to the present invention will be described in more detail through embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

Please refer to fig. 7, which is a flowchart illustrating a preferred method of controlling an electronic device according to the present invention. The method for controlling the electronic device comprises the following steps: step P1, providing a projectable space entity for building a workspace to each of the at least one control machine, wherein at least one unifying tool for driving the at least one electronic device is selectively added to the projectable space entity; and step P2, the corresponding control machine utilizes a projection means to interpret the projectable space entity, so that a projected working space corresponding to the working space established through the projectable space entity is automatically established on the control machine; wherein, the at least one unification tool drives the at least one electronic device to execute at least one task according to an operation on the corresponding control machine.

The projectable space entity is configured according to a control design desired by a user, including control rules and/or control of a control interface (which will be further described in embodiments), and the at least one control machine may be selected from a computer, a household appliance, a handheld electronic device, a wearable electronic device, or a combination thereof, but not limited thereto.

Referring to fig. 8 to 10C, fig. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an initial state of the control system before the projected workspace is built, fig. 9A to 9C are schematic diagrams illustrating an operation concept of the control system shown in fig. 8, and fig. 10A to 10C are schematic diagrams illustrating a relative relationship between the projectable space entity and the projected workspace associated with a corresponding one of the operations shown in fig. 9A to 9C, respectively, in a preferred embodiment.

The control system according to the present invention comprises at least one electronic device and at least one control machine, wherein each control machine utilizes a projection means to interpret a projectable space entity, so that a projected working space corresponding to a working space established through the projectable space entity is established, wherein at least one unification tool for driving the at least one electronic device is selectively added to the projectable space entity, and the at least one unification tool is required to drive the at least one electronic device to execute at least one task by an operation on the corresponding control machine. In the non-limiting example shown in fig. 8, the control system 2 includes a first electronic device 21, a second electronic device 22, a configuration machine 23, and a notebook computer 241, a smart phone 242 and a wearable electronic device 243 (as the control machine 24) connected therebetween via a network (e.g., the internet). The first electronic device 21 is provided therein with a first communication chip 211 developed based on a first communication protocol, and the second electronic device 22 is provided therein with a second communication chip 221 developed based on a second communication protocol. The first communication protocol is different from the second communication protocol. The control machine 24 can be a computer, a household appliance, a handheld electronic device or a wearable electronic device, but not limited thereto. For example, the first communication chip 211 and the second communication chip 221 are respectively a communication chip developed based on the AllJoyn open software architecture and a communication chip developed based on the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) communication protocol, but not limited thereto.

For example, three

users

81, 82, 83 can enter the control system 2 through the notebook 241, the smart phone 242, and the wearable device 243, respectively, and control one or more electronic devices. First, the configuration machine 23 (e.g., a computer) has a projectable space entity 31 therein, and the projectable space entity 31 is created and compiled according to the actual requirements of the

users

81, 82 and 83. That is, once authorized, the

users

81, 82, and 83 can selectively add and compile a plurality of unification tools 41 respectively corresponding to the first electronic device 21 and the second electronic device 22 into the projectable space entity 31. When the projectable space entity 31 is loaded into any one of the control machines 24 () by way of, for example and without limitation, a path link information (URI), the corresponding control machine 241, 242, or 243 interprets the projectable space entity 31 to create the projected

workspace

32A, 32B, or 32C. Then, the corresponding control machine 241, 242 or 243 executes the projected

workspace

32A, 32B or 32C, so that the

user

81, 82 or 83 can appropriately control the first electronic device 21 and/or the second electronic device 22 to perform the required task.

In the present embodiment, the notebook computer 241, the smart phone 242, and the wearable electronic device 243 each have a projection means 244 for respectively establishing a working environment 2441 for the projected

workspaces

32A, 32B, 32C to operate on the control machines 241, 242, or 243, and providing the micro core 2412 corresponding to the workspaces to equip (acquiring) and open (launching) the unified tools 41 compiled into the projectable space entity 31. When each of the notebook computer 241, the smart phone 242, and the wearable electronic device 243 loads the projectable space entity 31 from the configuration machine 23, the projection means 244 starts to interpret the projectable space entity 31, and then the projected

workspace

32A, 32B, or 32C is established on the working environment 2441 according to the content interpreted by the projection means 244. In this way, the

users

81, 82, and 83 can control the first electronic device 21 and/or the second electronic device 22 to perform tasks by operating the respective control machines 241, 242, and 243. The projection means 244 may be built into the control machine 24. In addition, the projection means 244 can also be loaded from an external storage device (not shown) through the internet.

In the preferred embodiment, the unification tools 41 include a first driver 411 formed by unifying a first driver (device driver) corresponding to the first electronic device 21 and a second driver 412 formed by unifying a second driver corresponding to the second electronic device 22, and the projectable space entity 31 is an object instantiated by an extensible markup language (XML). Fig. 10A to 10C respectively illustrate the correspondence between the compiled content of the projectable space entity 31 and the unified first driver 411 and/or the unified second driver 412 in the projected workspaces 32A to 32C, as shown by two correspondences at both ends of the dashed line. In the embodiment, the first driver and the second driver may be developed by Software Development Kits (SDKs) corresponding to the first electronic device 21 and the second electronic device 22, respectively, and placed in a specific storage device with networking function, but not limited to the foregoing.

Please refer to fig. 11, which is a schematic diagram illustrating interaction between the projected workspace of the control machine such as the notebook computer and the first and second electronic devices according to the present invention. In the embodiment, since the unified first driver 411 and the unified second driver 412 are both configured in the projected workspace 32A through the unification of the first driver corresponding to the first electronic device 21 and the second driver corresponding to the second electronic device 22 during the establishment of the projected workspace 32A, the unified first driver 411 and the unified second driver 412 can be compatible and can communicate with each other. In this way, the first communication chip 211 of the first electronic device 21 communicating with the unified first driver 411 through the first communication protocol and the second communication chip 221 of the second electronic device 22 communicating with the unified second driver 412 through the second communication protocol can interact and perform tasks together. In addition, the projected workspace 32B and the projected workspace 32C can also interact with the first electronic device 21 and/or the second electronic device 22 in the same manner as described above, and thus, the details are not described herein.

Specifically, authorized users can also set the control authority of each

user

81, 82, and 83 by compiling the projectable space entity 31. Fig. 10A to 10C show that the compiled content of the projectable space entity 31 includes the identity authentication information 301. Taking fig. 10A as an example, the id information 301 shows that the accounts of

users

81, 82, and 83 are named David, Mary, and John, respectively, and the passwords corresponding to the accounts David, Mary, and John are ABC, 123, and xyz, respectively. Furthermore, the compiled content of the projectable space entity 31 includes the

rights information

302 and 303. The permission information 302 shows that the accounts David, Mary and John all have control permissions of the first electronic device 21 for the three

users

81, 82 and 83. That is, in the process that the projected

workspaces

32A, 32B, 32C are respectively established in the notebook computer 241, the smart phone 242, and the wearable electronic device 243, the unified first driver 411 is configured in the projected

workspaces

32A, 32B, 32C. Therefore, each

user

81, 82, and 83 can operate its own control machine 24 to control the first electronic device 21 to perform tasks by correctly inputting the account number and the password. On the other hand, the permission information 303 shows that only the

users

81 and 82 under David and Mary account have the control permission of the second electronic device 22. That is, in the process of the projected

workspaces

32A, 32B and 32C being established in the notebook computer 241, the smart phone 242 and the wearable electronic device 243, the unified second driver 412 is only configured in the projected

workspaces

32A and 32B. Therefore, only the

users

81 and 82 can control the second electronic device 22 to perform tasks by correctly inputting the account number and the password. Since the unified second driver 412 is not disposed in the projected workspace 32C, the user 83 cannot control the second electronic device 22 to perform tasks by operating the control machine 24 (i.e., the wearable electronic device 243).

The method for controlling an electronic device according to the present invention will be described by way of example. In this example, the first electronic device 21 and the second electronic device 22 are two home appliances, such as a television and an air conditioner, and the

users

81, 82 and 83 are family members, and an authorized person of the family members can compile the projectable space entity 31 and add the unified first driver 411 corresponding to the first electronic device 21 and the unified second driver 412 corresponding to the second electronic device 22 to the projectable space entity 31. Through the one-time compilation, any authorized family member can load the projected space entity 31 into its own control machine to control the first electronic device 21 and/or the second electronic device 22 without respectively spending time and effort to set the control rule or the control interface on its own control machine.

Of course, each family member may own a control machine for loading the projectable space entity, and the control machines may be respectively placed in different areas of the family according to actual conditions. For example, the control machine may include a tablet computer placed in a living room and a smart phone placed in a bedroom, but not limited thereto. Then, a family member who is originally in the living room and wants to remotely control the television can use the tablet computer as a control machine without taking the smartphone from the bedroom.

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a method for controlling an electronic device, such as a household appliance or a plurality of household appliances using the same or different communication protocols or communication chips, by a single control machine. Moreover, after simple setting, a plurality of control machines can share common control rules and/or control interfaces, so that a single user or a plurality of users can control the electronic device or the electronic devices, and the life needs of people are facilitated.

However, the above embodiments are only examples, and those skilled in the art can make any equivalent design changes according to the actual application requirements. For example, the configuration machine may be a common machine with one or more control machines. For another example, although the above-mentioned examples of life are the method for controlling an electronic device according to the present invention applied to a home electrical system, the method for controlling an electronic device according to the present invention can also be applied to a medical equipment system, a security control system, a fire protection security control system, or a transportation system.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the claims, therefore, other equivalent changes and modifications should be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for controlling at least one electronic device, the method comprising:

providing a projectable space entity for building a workspace to each of the at least one control machine, wherein at least one unifying tool for driving the at least one electronic device is selectively added to the projectable space entity; and

the corresponding control machine utilizes a projection means to interpret the projectable space entity, so that a projected working space corresponding to the working space established through the projectable space entity is automatically established on the control machine; wherein the at least one unification tool is to drive the at least one electronic device to perform at least one task in response to an operation of the at least one unification tool on the corresponding control machine, wherein the at least one unification tool is unified from raw tools obtained from at least one of the plurality of information sources, and the unification includes: the raw tool retrieved from at least one of the plurality of information sources is reformed based on the unified data structure, thereby modeling the raw tool as a unified tool.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one unification tool comprises at least one unified driver formed by unifying at least one driver.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one driver is developed from a software development kit corresponding to the at least one electronic device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one unifying tool comprises a plurality of unified drivers respectively formed by unifying a plurality of drivers for driving a plurality of electronic devices; the plurality of drivers are arranged in the projected working space after being unified so as to be compatible with each other.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to control a home appliance system, a medical device system, a security control system, a fire safety control system, or a transportation system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the projectable spatial entities are loaded into the corresponding control machines via a path link message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one control machine is selected from a computer, a household appliance, a handheld electronic device, a wearable electronic device, or a combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the at least one control machine manages at least two different types of electronic devices.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least two different types of electronic devices are manufactured by different manufacturers, or provide different functions, or are manufactured by different manufacturers and provide different functions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the projectable spatial entity is an object, an extensible markup language, or an entity generated in a structured language or a structured protocol.

11. A control system, comprising:

at least one electronic device; and

at least one control machine, each of the control machines interpreting a projectable spatial entity by a projection means, so that a projected workspace corresponding to a workspace established through the projectable spatial entity is established, wherein at least one unification tool for driving the at least one electronic device is selectively added to the projectable spatial entity, and the at least one unification tool drives the at least one electronic device to perform at least one task in response to an operation of the at least one unification tool on the corresponding control machine, wherein the at least one unification tool is obtained from unification of original tools obtained from at least one of a plurality of information sources, and the unification includes: the raw tool retrieved from at least one of the plurality of information sources is reformed based on the unified data structure, thereby modeling the raw tool as a unified tool.

12. The control system of claim 11, wherein the at least one unification tool comprises at least one unified driver.

13. The control system of claim 12, wherein the at least one driver is developed by a software development kit.

14. The control system of claim 12, wherein the at least one unification tool comprises a plurality of unified drivers respectively formed by unifying a plurality of drivers for driving a plurality of electronic devices; the plurality of drivers are arranged in the projected working space after being unified so as to be compatible with each other.

15. The control system of claim 11, wherein the system is used to control a home appliance system, a medical equipment system, a security control system, a fire safety control system, or a transportation system.

16. The control system of claim 11, wherein the projectable spatial entities are loaded into the corresponding control machines via a path link message.

17. The control system of claim 11, wherein the at least one control machine is selected from a computer, a household appliance, a handheld electronic device, a wearable electronic device, or a combination thereof.

18. The control system of claim 11, wherein one of the at least one control machine controls at least one different type of electronic device.

19. The control system of claim 11, wherein the projection means is built into the corresponding control machine or the projection means is loaded into the corresponding control machine.

20. The control system of claim 11 wherein the projectable spatial entity is an object, an extensible markup language, or an entity generated in a structured language or a structured protocol.