CN111401574A

CN111401574A - Household appliance, accessory management method and readable medium

Info

Publication number: CN111401574A
Application number: CN201811621532.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 鹿由成
Original assignee: Beijing Rockrobo Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Rockrobo Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-12-28
Filing date: 2018-12-28
Publication date: 2020-07-10

Abstract

The invention provides household electrical appliance equipment, accessories, an accessory management method and a readable medium. The accessory management method comprises the following steps: obtaining identification information of the accessory stored in an electronic tag on the accessory; acquiring an expected use condition of the accessory based on the identification information; determining a used condition of the accessory; and in response to the used condition approaching or reaching the expected use condition, notifying a user of the home appliance that the accessory needs replacement. According to the accessory management method, the information that the accessories need to be replaced can be timely reminded to the user, so that the influence on the use effect of the household appliance due to the fact that the accessories are overdue can be avoided.

Description

Household appliance, accessory management method and readable medium

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of household appliances, in particular to a household appliance, an accessory management method and a readable medium.

Background

With the development of science and technology, intelligent household appliances such as sweeping robots, air purifiers, dust collectors and the like are increasingly popularized. These smart home devices are often equipped with replaceable consumable type components. For example, the sweeping robot generally includes a filter screen, a water tank, a main brush, and an edge brush. These components are worn down as the home appliance is used. When the parts are worn to a certain extent, if the parts are continuously used, the use effect of the household appliance can be seriously influenced. Therefore, when the parts approach or exceed the expected service life, the user needs to be reminded to replace the parts in time.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a home appliance, an accessory, and an accessory management method and readable medium to at least partially solve the above-mentioned problems.

Disclosure of Invention

In this summary, concepts in a simplified form are introduced that are further described in the detailed description. This summary of the invention is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

To at least partially solve the technical problem, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an accessory management method for a home appliance, the method including: obtaining identification information of the accessory stored in an electronic tag on the accessory; acquiring an expected use condition of the accessory based on the identification information; determining a used condition of the accessory; and in response to the used condition approaching or reaching the expected use condition, notifying a user of the home appliance that the accessory needs replacement.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is also disclosed a home appliance, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the home device to perform the method according to the first aspect.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is also disclosed a readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to perform the method according to the first aspect.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is also disclosed a home appliance, comprising: the accessory is provided with an electronic tag, and the electronic tag stores identification information of the accessory; an electronic tag reader that reads identification information of the accessory; and a controller configured to perform the method according to the first aspect.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is further disclosed an accessory for the household electrical appliance according to the fourth aspect, wherein an electronic tag is disposed on the accessory, and the electronic tag stores identification information of the accessory.

According to the invention, the expected use condition and the used condition of the accessory can be obtained at any time, and the information that the accessory needs to be replaced can be reminded to the user when the used condition is close to or reaches the expected use condition, so that the use effect of the household appliance can be prevented from being influenced by the overdue accessory.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the embodiments of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention and not to limit the invention. In the drawings, the same reference numbers generally represent the same or similar parts or steps.

Fig. 1-2 are schematic structural diagrams of the sweeping robot.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of an operating environment for various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a storage format for identifying information of a screen and other information of the screen;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of an accessory management method of a home appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram of a home device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order that the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely a subset of embodiments of the invention and not all embodiments of the invention, with the understanding that the invention is not limited to the example embodiments described herein. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments of the invention described herein without inventive step, shall fall within the scope of protection of the invention.

As described above, when the consumable type component of the household electrical appliance approaches or reaches the expected service life, the user needs to be reminded to replace the component in time so as not to affect the use of the household electrical appliance. The following will describe the solution of the present disclosure with a sweeping robot as an example of a home appliance. It should be understood that the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to a sweeping robot, but may also be an air cleaner, an air conditioner, a dust collector, or other home appliances to which accessories are applied.

Fig. 1-2 show schematic structural diagrams of a sweeping robot 100 according to an exemplary embodiment, as shown in fig. 1-2, the robot 100 may include a robot body 110, a sensing system 120, a control system 130, a driving system 140, a cleaning system 150, and a human-machine interaction system 170. The machine body 110 includes a forward portion 111 and a rearward portion 112 having an approximately circular shape (circular front to rear), and may have other shapes including, but not limited to, an approximately D-shape with a front to rear circle.

The sensing system 120 includes a position determining device 121 located above the machine body 110, a bumper 122 located at the forward portion 111 of the machine body 110, cliff sensors (not shown) and ultrasonic sensors (not shown), infrared sensors (not shown), magnetometers (not shown), accelerometers (not shown), gyroscopes (not shown), odometers (not shown), and like sensing devices that provide various position and motion status information of the machine to the control system 130. the position determining device 121 includes, but is not limited to, a camera, a laser ranging device (L DS).

The drive system 140 may steer the robot 100 over the ground based on the drive commands with distance and angle information. The drive system 140 includes a drive wheel module 141, and the drive wheel module 141 can control both the left and right wheels. To more precisely control the motion of the robot 100, the driving wheel module 141 includes a left driving wheel module and a right driving wheel module. The left and right drive wheel modules are opposed along a transverse axis defined by the body 110. In order for the robot 100 to be able to move more stably or have greater mobility on the ground, the robot 100 may include one or more driven wheels 142, including but not limited to universal wheels. The driving wheel module 141 includes a road wheel and a driving motor and a control circuit for controlling the driving motor, and the driving wheel module 141 may further be connected with a circuit for measuring a driving current and an odometer. The driving wheel module 141 may be detachably coupled to the main body 110 to facilitate disassembly and maintenance. The drive wheel may have a biased drop-type suspension system, be movably secured (e.g., rotatably attached) to the robot body 110, and receive a spring bias that is biased downward and away from the robot body 110. The spring bias allows the drive wheels to maintain contact and traction with the floor with a certain landing force while the cleaning elements of the robot 100 also contact the floor with a certain pressure.

The forward portion 111 of the machine body 110 may carry a bumper 122, the bumper 122 detecting one or more objects in the travel path of the robot 100 via a sensor system, such as an infrared sensor, as the drive wheel module 141 propels the robot 110 over the ground. The robot 100 may control the driving wheel module 141 by an object (e.g., an obstacle, a wall) detected by the buffer 122, so that the robot 100 responds to the object, for example, to get away from the obstacle.

The control system 130 is disposed on a circuit board in the machine body 110, and includes a processor, such as a central processing unit, an application processor, which is in communication with a non-transitory memory (e.g., a hard disk, a flash memory, a random access memory), a positioning algorithm (e.g., S L AM) is used by the processor to map an instant environment where the robot 100 is located according to obstacle information fed back by the laser distance measuring device, and the processor may comprehensively determine which working state the sweeper 100 is currently in, such as passing a threshold, putting a carpet on a carpet, being located at a cliff, being stuck above or below, being full of a dust box, being lifted up, and the like, by combining distance information and speed information fed back by sensing devices, such as a buffer 122, a cliff sensor and an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor, a magnetometer, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an odometer, and the like, and give specific next-step action strategies for different situations, so that the robot 100 can work more appropriately according to the requirements of the user, and the control system 130 may plan a most efficient and a most reasonable instant path and cleaning mode based on the map information, thereby greatly improving.

The human-computer interaction system 170 comprises keys on a panel of the host computer, and the keys are used for a user to select functions; a display screen, indicator lights, speakers, microphone, etc. may also be included. The display screen, the indicator lights and the loudspeaker show the current state or function selection item of the robot 100 to a user; the microphone may capture the user's voice for controlling the functions of the robot 100. The human-computer interaction system 170 may also include a cell phone client application. For the path navigation type cleaning device, a map of the environment where the robot 100 is located and the position of the machine can be displayed to the user at the mobile phone client, so that richer and personalized function items can be provided for the user.

The cleaning system 150 may be a dry cleaning system and/or a wet cleaning system. As a dry cleaning system, the cleaning function is derived from the sweeping system 151 constituted by the rolling brush structure, the dust box structure, the fan structure, the air outlet, and the connecting members therebetween. The rolling brush structure with certain interference with the ground sweeps the garbage on the ground and winds the garbage to the front of a dust suction opening between the rolling brush structure and the dust box structure, and then the garbage is sucked into the dust box structure by the air with suction generated by the fan structure and passing through the dust box structure. The dust box structure is also provided with a filter screen for filtering the garbage into the dust box and simultaneously enabling the gas to pass through and be discharged through the air outlet. The dry cleaning system 151 may also include an edge brush 152 having an axis of rotation that is angled relative to the floor for moving debris into the roller brush area of the cleaning system 150. The rolling brush, the filter screen, and the side brush 152 (and the water tank and the rag of the sweeper with the mopping function) are replaceable consumable parts, and when the consumable parts are worn to a certain extent (for example, to reach a predetermined service life), the cleaning effect of the robot 100 is affected.

To this end, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, an accessory management scheme for an electric home appliance (e.g., the sweeping robot 100) is provided. In this scheme, an electronic tag is provided on the accessory, which stores identification information identifying the accessory, and information (e.g., the number of expected uses or time) relating to the accessory and the identification information are stored in association in the server. When the accessory is mounted to the home appliance, the home appliance may acquire identification information of the accessory and acquire life information of the accessory from the server using the identification information. Whether to notify the user that the accessory needs to be replaced is determined by determining whether the accessory has reached the end of life during use of the home appliance. In this way, when the accessories are worn to a certain degree, the user can be timely informed to replace the accessories, and therefore the using effect of the household appliance is ensured. In addition, since only the identification information of the accessory is stored in the electronic tag, other information associated with the accessory is stored on the server, whereby the manufacturing cost of the accessory can be saved.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below in conjunction with fig. 3-6. FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of an operating environment for various embodiments of the disclosure. As shown, the sweeping robot 100 has an accommodating space 12 for accommodating a detachable dust box 13. The filter net 15 is detachably mounted on the dust box 13, and an electronic tag (not shown) storing identification information of the filter net 15 for uniquely identifying the filter net 15 is provided on the filter net 15. Illustratively, the electronic tag may be a near field communication NFC tag, a two-dimensional code, a barcode, or the like. Taking the NFC tag as an example, a manufacturer of the filter screen 15 may write the identification information of the filter screen 15 into the NFC tag by using an NFC reader.

On the other hand, the manufacturer of the filter screen 15 may store other information relating to the filter screen 15 in the server 14 in association with the identification information of the filter screen 15. Fig. 4 shows a storage form of identification information of the filter mesh 15 and other information of the filter mesh 15. Other information related to screen 15 may include the manufacturer of screen 15, the date screen 15 was manufactured, the place of manufacture, the materials used, the expected usage of screen 15 (e.g., the number of expected uses or the expected time of use), and the like. Storing only identification information in the electronic tag of the screen 15 and other information in the server 14 saves the manufacturing cost of the screen 15 while ensuring that such information is available from the server 14 when needed. In addition, only legal manufacturers can store the information related to the manufactured filter screens in the server 14, and illegal manufacturers cannot store the information of forged filter screens in the server 14, so that the anti-counterfeiting function can be achieved.

The sweeping robot 10 is provided with an electronic tag reader (not shown in fig. 3) corresponding to the electronic tag. The electronic tag reader may be installed in the accommodating space 12 so that when the dust box 13 configured with the filter screen 15 is installed in the accommodating space 12, the electronic tag reader can read identification information stored in the electronic tag on the filter screen 15. Depending on the type of electronic label, the electronic label reader may be an NFC reader, a two-dimensional code scanner or a bar code scanner, etc. Specifically, when the electronic tag is an NFC tag, the electronic tag reader is correspondingly an NFC reader, and when the electronic tag is a two-dimensional code or a barcode, the electronic tag reader may be correspondingly a two-dimensional code or a barcode scanner. It will be appreciated that when the electronic tag is of another type, other corresponding electronic tag readers may be employed.

While or after the screen 15 is installed in the cleaning robot 100, an electronic tag reader on the cleaning robot 100 may read the identification information of the screen 15 from the electronic tag of the screen 15 and send the identification information to the control system 130. The control system 130 may obtain other information about the screen 15 based on the identification information, such as expected usage, manufacturer, date of manufacture, place of manufacture, etc. For example, the control system 130 may send the identification information of the screen 15 read by the electronic tag reader to the server 14 when the screen 15 is first installed to the sweeping robot 100. The server 14 may retrieve information associated with the screen 15 based on the identification information and send the information to the sweeping robot 100. In some embodiments, if the identification information and associated information is not stored on server 14, it may be determined that screen 15 is an illegitimate screen (i.e., a counterfeit screen). In the case that the filter screen 15 is an illegal filter screen, the user of the sweeping robot 100 may be notified of the illegal filter screen, and the user is notified that the continuous use of the filter screen may affect the sweeping effect or directly cause the sweeping robot 100 to fail to perform the sweeping task. In some embodiments, server 14 may record the use of an illegal filter by the user, such as the time of use of the illegal filter.

In some embodiments, the control system 130 may store the identification information of the screen 15 and other information related to the screen 15 received from the server 14 on the local memory of the sweeping robot 100 for later use. In some embodiments, the control system 130 may also obtain such other information from the server 14 each time it is needed.

In some embodiments, to determine whether the screen 15 needs to be replaced, the control system 130 of the sweeping robot 100 may determine the used condition of the screen 15 each time a cleaning task is started or completed. If the used condition of the screen 15 approaches or reaches the expected use condition of the screen 15, the user of the sweeping robot 100 is notified that the screen 15 needs to be replaced. For example, a voice that the filter screen 15 needs to be replaced may be output through a speaker on the sweeping robot 100, or an indicator light on the sweeping robot 100 may indicate to the user that the filter screen 15 needs to be replaced (e.g., the indicator light flashes). In some embodiments, a message (e.g., a text message) may also be sent to the mobile terminal of the user to indicate that the filter screen 15 needs to be replaced, thereby ensuring that the user knows that the filter screen 15 needs to be replaced when the user is not in the same location as the sweeping robot 100.

In some embodiments, the expected usage of the screen 15 is an expected number of uses and the used usage of the screen 15 is a used number. When the filter screen 15 is first installed on the cleaning robot 100, the cleaning robot 100 may obtain the identification information stored in the electronic tag of the filter screen 15 through the electronic tag reader thereon, record the identification information, and initialize the accumulated number of times of use of the filter screen 15 to zero. The identification information of the filter screen 15 and the cumulative number of uses are recorded in the sweeping robot 100 in a correlated manner, in such a way that the sweeping robot 100 can use a plurality of filter screens within a period of time (for example, 3 months) without confusing the cumulative number of uses of each filter screen. Thereafter, each time the cleaning robot 100 starts or finishes performing the cleaning task, the cleaning robot 100 increments the accumulated number of times of using the filter screen 15 used for performing the cleaning task by 1. The accumulated number of times of use of the screen 15 is used as the number of times of use.

In one embodiment, the expected usage of the screen 15 is an expected usage time, and the used usage of the screen 15 is an used usage time. When the filter screen 15 is first installed on the sweeping robot 100, the sweeping robot 100 may obtain the identification information stored in the electronic tag of the filter screen 15 through the electronic tag reader thereon, record the identification information, and initialize the accumulated usage time of the filter screen 15 to zero. The identification information and the cumulative use time of the filter screen 15 are recorded in the sweeping robot 100 in a correlated manner, in such a way that the sweeping robot 100 can use a plurality of filter screens within a period of time (for example, 3 months) without confusing the cumulative use time of each filter screen. Later, every time the sweeping robot 100 finishes executing the cleaning task, the sweeping robot 100 increases the accumulated use time of the filter screen 15 used for executing the cleaning task by the time spent for the cleaning task. The accumulated usage time of the filter screen 15 is the used time of the filter screen 15.

In some embodiments, the sweeping robot 100 may also calculate the current remaining usage times or remaining usage time of the filter screen 15 based on the current usage times or usage time of the filter screen 15 and the expected usage times or usage time. When the remaining number of uses is lower than the threshold number of times or negative, or the remaining use time is lower than the threshold time or negative, the sweeping robot 100 may determine that the filter screen 15 needs to be replaced, and notify the user. In some embodiments, the sweeping robot 100 may send a message to the user's mobile terminal to indicate a) the expected number or time of uses and the number or time of uses already; (b) the number of remaining uses or the remaining use time.

In one embodiment, the sweeping robot 100 may locally record the number of used times or used time and the remaining number of used times or remaining used time, and may send the information to the server 14 so as to facilitate the user to query at any time.

In some embodiments, the user may input a query request for the filter screen 15 through the mobile terminal, and after receiving the query request, the sweeping robot 100 may display to the user through the mobile terminal: the used condition of the screen 15, the intended use condition of the screen 15, the manufacturer of the screen 15, the date of manufacture of the screen 15, the place of manufacture of the screen 15, the material of the screen 15, etc.

It will be appreciated that embodiments of the present disclosure are described in fig. 3 with the sweeper robot 100 and the screen 15 being taken as examples. The embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the sweeping robot 100 and the screen 15, but may be applied to any home appliance and its replaceable accessories.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of an accessory management method for a home appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention. The accessory management method may be performed by a controller of the home appliance (e.g., the control system 130 of the sweeping robot 100).

As shown in the figure, in step S1, the controller acquires identification information of the accessory stored in the electronic tag of the accessory. In some embodiments, the controller may read the identification information via an electronic tag reader on the home device. The identification information may uniquely identify the accessory. In some embodiments, the electronic tag comprises one of a near field communication, NFC, tag, a two-dimensional code, and a barcode.

In step S2, the controller acquires the expected use condition of the accessory based on the identification information. In some embodiments, the home device may send identification information of the accessory to the server 14 in communication with the home device when the accessory is first installed in the home device. Server 14 may retrieve expected usage information for the accessory based on the identification information and transmit the expected usage to the home device. The home device, upon receiving the expected usage condition, may store the expected usage condition in association with the identification information in a local memory of the home device for subsequent use. In some embodiments, the expected usage condition may include one of an expected number of uses and an expected time of use.

In step S3, the controller determines the used condition of the accessory. In some embodiments, the used status includes a number of used times, and the controller may initialize the cumulative number of uses of the accessory to zero when the accessory is first installed on the home device. The controller may update the cumulative number of uses, for example, by incrementing the cumulative number of uses by 1 as the number of uses of the accessory, when the home appliance begins to perform the predetermined task or completes the predetermined task.

In one embodiment, the used status includes a used time, and the controller may initialize the cumulative use time of the accessory to zero when the accessory is first installed on the home device. After the home appliance completes the predetermined task, the controller may update the cumulative usage time based on the time taken to complete the predetermined task, e.g., increase the cumulative usage time by the time taken to complete the predetermined task as the elapsed usage time of the accessory.

In step S4, the controller notifies a user of the home appliance that the accessory needs to be replaced in response to the used condition approaching or reaching the expected use condition. In some embodiments, the controller can use voice to notify the user that the accessory needs to be replaced. For example, the controller may play a voice message through a speaker on the home device to indicate that the accessory needs to be replaced. In some embodiments, the controller may utilize a signal light to notify the user that the accessory needs to be replaced, for example, the controller may flash a signal light to indicate that the accessory needs to be replaced. In some implementations, the controller can send a message to the user's mobile terminal indicating that the accessory needs to be replaced. For example, the message may indicate (a) an expected usage condition and a used condition; and (b) the difference between the expected usage and the used usage.

In some embodiments, the controller may also display to the user, in response to receiving a user query request for the accessory, at least one of: the used condition of the fitting, the expected use condition of the fitting, the manufacturer of the fitting, the date of manufacture of the fitting, the place of manufacture of the fitting, the material of the fitting. In some embodiments, the controller can also determine whether the accessory is legitimate based on the identification information. In the event that the accessory is determined to be illegal, the controller may also notify the user that the accessory is an illegal accessory.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of a home device 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, the home appliance 200 includes: an accessory 210, which accessory 210 may be, for example, a screen 15 as described above, having an electronic tag disposed thereon, the electronic tag storing identification information of the accessory; an electronic tag reader 220, the electronic tag reader 220 reading the identification information of the accessory 210; and a controller 230, the controller 230 configured to: based on the identification information, obtaining an expected use condition of the accessory 210; determining a used condition of accessory 210; and in response to the used condition approaching or reaching the expected use condition, notifying the user of home appliance 200 that accessory 210 needs to be replaced.

In some embodiments, the controller 230 is further configured to: transmitting the identification information to a server in communication with the electric home appliance 200; and obtaining an expected usage condition from the server, the expected usage condition being stored in association with the identification information in the server.

In some embodiments, the expected usage condition comprises an expected usage time, the used condition comprises a used time, and the controller 230 is further configured to: initializing a cumulative time of use of accessory 210 to zero in response to accessory 210 being first installed on home device 200; and updating the accumulated usage time as the used time based on the time taken to complete the predetermined task in response to the home appliance 200 completing the predetermined task.

In some embodiments, the expected usage condition comprises an expected number of uses, the used condition comprises a used number, and the controller 230 is configured to: initializing a cumulative number of uses of accessory 210 to zero in response to accessory 210 being installed on home device 200 for the first time; the accumulated number of times is updated as the number of used times in response to the home appliance 200 starting to perform a predetermined task or completing the predetermined task.

In some embodiments, controller 230 is further configured to notify a user of home device 200 that accessory 210 needs to be replaced by at least one of: notify the user with voice that accessory 210 needs to be replaced; notifying the user with a signal light that the fitting 210 needs to be replaced; and sending a message to the user's mobile terminal indicating that the accessory 210 needs to be replaced.

In some embodiments, the controller 230 is further configured to: sending a message to a mobile terminal of a user, the message indicating at least one of: (a) expected usage and used usage; (b) the difference between the expected usage and the used usage.

In some embodiments, the controller 230 is further configured to: in response to receiving a user query request for accessory 210, at least one of the following is sent to the user's mobile terminal for display: the used condition of the fitting 210, the expected use condition of the fitting 210, the manufacturer of the fitting 210, the date of manufacture of the fitting 210, the place of manufacture of the fitting 210, the material of the fitting 210.

In some embodiments, the controller 230 is further configured to: determining whether the accessory 210 is legitimate based on the identification information; and in response to accessory 210 being illegal, notifying the user that accessory 210 is an illegal accessory.

Therefore, according to the invention, the expected use condition and the used condition of the accessory can be obtained at any time, and the information that the accessory needs to be replaced can be reminded to the user when the used condition is close to or reaches the expected use condition, so that the use effect of the household appliance can be prevented from being influenced by the overdue accessory.

In some embodiments, the accessory management method illustrated in fig. 5 can be implemented as a software program (i.e., instructions) that is stored in or downloaded to a memory component of the home appliance device. The instructions, when executed by a processor on the home device, cause the home device to perform the accessory management method illustrated in fig. 5.

In some embodiments, the accessory management method illustrated in FIG. 5 can be implemented as a software program tangibly embodied in a machine-readable medium. The software program, when executed by a processor on the home device, causes the accessory management method illustrated in fig. 5 to be performed.

For example, without limitation, exemplary types of hardware logic that may be used include Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Application Specific Standard Products (ASSPs), system on a chip (SOC), load programmable logic devices (CP L D), and so forth.

Program code for implementing the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be performed. The program code may execute entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

Although the illustrative embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the foregoing illustrative embodiments are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention thereto. Various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. All such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. It is understood, however, that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.

Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that while some embodiments described herein include some features included in other embodiments, rather than other features, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention and form different embodiments. For example, in the claims, any of the claimed embodiments may be used in any combination.

The above description is only for the specific embodiment of the present invention or the description thereof, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and the changes or substitutions should be covered within the protection scope of the present invention. The protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An accessory management method for a home device, the method comprising:

obtaining identification information of the accessory stored in an electronic tag on the accessory;

acquiring an expected use condition of the accessory based on the identification information;

determining a used condition of the accessory; and

in response to the used condition approaching or reaching the expected use condition, notifying a user of the home device that the accessory needs replacement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic tag comprises one of a Near Field Communication (NFC) tag, a two-dimensional code, and a barcode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the household appliance comprises a sweeping robot and the accessory comprises at least one of a screen, a water tank, a side brush, and a main brush.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the expected use condition of the accessory comprises:

sending the identification information to a server in communication with the home appliance; and

obtaining the expected usage condition from the server, the expected usage condition being stored in association with the identification information in the server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the expected usage condition comprises an expected time of use, the used condition comprises a used time, and determining a used condition of the accessory comprises:

initializing a cumulative time of use of the accessory to zero in response to the accessory being installed on the home device for the first time; and

in response to the home device completing a predetermined task, updating the accumulated usage time as the used time based on a time taken to complete the predetermined task.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the expected usage condition comprises an expected number of uses, the used condition comprises a used number, and determining a used condition of the accessory comprises:

initializing a cumulative number of uses of the accessory to zero in response to the accessory being installed on the home device for a first time;

updating the accumulated number of times as the used number of times in response to the home appliance starting to perform a predetermined task or completing the predetermined task.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein notifying a user of the home device that the accessory needs to be replaced comprises at least one of:

notifying the user with speech that the accessory needs to be replaced;

notifying the user with a signal light that the accessory needs to be replaced; and

sending a message to the user's mobile terminal indicating that the accessory needs to be replaced.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein notifying a user of the home device that the accessory needs to be replaced comprises:

sending a message to a mobile terminal of the user, the message indicating at least one of: (a) the expected usage condition and the used condition; (b) a difference between the expected usage condition and the used condition.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the user query request for the accessory, sending for display to a mobile terminal of the user at least one of: a used condition of the accessory, an expected use condition of the accessory, a manufacturer of the accessory, a date of manufacture of the accessory, a place of manufacture of the accessory, a material of the accessory.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the accessory is legitimate based on the identification information; and

in response to the accessory being illegal, notifying the user that the accessory is an illegal accessory.

11. An appliance device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the home device to perform the method of any of claims 1-10.

12. A readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to perform the method of any of claims 1-10.

13. An appliance device, the appliance device comprising:

the accessory is provided with an electronic tag, and the electronic tag stores identification information of the accessory;

an electronic tag reader that reads identification information of the accessory; and

a controller configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1-10.

14. An accessory for a home appliance according to claim 13, the accessory having an electronic tag disposed thereon, the electronic tag storing identification information of the accessory.