CN112882392A

CN112882392A - Household appliance system, household appliance, video device, external server and display method

Info

Publication number: CN112882392A
Application number: CN202011006721.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 丸谷裕树; 中川达也; 泷川正史; 金山将也
Original assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Current assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Priority date: 2019-11-29
Filing date: 2020-09-23
Publication date: 2021-06-01
Anticipated expiration: 2040-09-23
Also published as: JP2021087182A; JP7389630B2; CN112882392B

Abstract

The invention relates to a household appliance system, a household appliance, a video device, an external server and a household appliance information display method. Provided is a technology for confirming home appliance information transmitted from a home appliance by using a video device different from a portable terminal when a user is located in a house. The home appliance system includes a home appliance and a video device capable of communicating with the home appliance, the home appliance includes a transmission unit that transmits home appliance information indicating a state of the home appliance when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and the video device includes a display; a receiving unit configured to receive the home appliance information transmitted by the transmitting unit; and a display control unit that generates a notification screen based on the home appliance information received by the receiving unit and displays the generated notification screen on the display.

Description

Household appliance system, household appliance, video device, external server and display method

Technical Field

The technology disclosed in the present specification relates to a home appliance system, a home appliance device, and a video device.

Background

In recent years, home appliances equipped with a wireless function and connectable to a Network such as the internet or a LAN (short for Local Area Network) have become widespread. Even if the user is located in a place (for example, outside the house) distant from the home electric appliance installed in the house, the user can confirm the state of the home electric appliance by using a mobile terminal (for example, a smartphone) belonging to the same network as the home electric appliance. For example, patent document 1 discloses a technique for transmitting notification information from a home appliance to a smartphone.

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2017-134448

However, a user does not always carry a portable terminal such as a smartphone. Therefore, there are cases where the user cannot confirm the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance using the portable terminal. In the present specification, a technique is provided in which, when a user is located in a house, home appliance information transmitted from a home appliance can be confirmed by a video device different from a mobile terminal.

Disclosure of Invention

The present specification discloses a home appliance system. The home appliance system includes a home appliance and a video device capable of communicating with the home appliance, the home appliance includes a transmission unit configured to transmit home appliance information indicating a state of the home appliance when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and the video device includes: a display; a receiving unit configured to receive the home appliance information transmitted by the transmitting unit; and a display control unit that generates a notification screen based on the home appliance information received by the receiving unit and displays the generated notification screen on the display.

The details and further modifications of the technology disclosed in the present specification are explained in the following "detailed description of the preferred embodiments".

Effects of the invention

According to the present invention, a user can confirm information of a home appliance even when the user is located in a place different from the home appliance in a house.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a home appliance system of the embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a home appliance system according to the embodiment.

Fig. 3A is a diagram showing a plurality of parameters associated with home appliance information.

Fig. 3B is a diagram showing a plurality of parameters associated with home appliance information.

Fig. 4 is a timing chart showing communication between the home appliance and the video device.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of notification screen display processing executed by the video apparatus.

Fig. 6 is an example of a setting screen related to display/non-display of the notification screen.

Fig. 7 is an example of a notification screen displayed on the display of the video device.

Fig. 8 is an example of the position of a notification screen displayed on the display of the video apparatus.

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of how a notification screen is displayed on the display of the video device.

Detailed Description

A home appliance system 2 according to an embodiment is explained with reference to the drawings. As shown in fig. 1, a home appliance system 2 is installed in a house 1. The environment in which the home appliance system 2 is installed is not limited to a house, and may be, for example, a shop or an office. The house 1 includes a plurality of spaces such as a living room 4, a bathroom 6, a toilet 7, a bedroom 8, and a hallway 9, which are partitioned by walls.

The home appliance system 2 includes a washing machine 10,

televisions

20 and 70, air conditioners 30(30a and 30b), a refrigerator 40, a microwave oven 50, a self-propelled cleaner 60, and a cloud server 100. Hereinafter, the home appliances 10 to 70 may be referred to as "home appliances". The home appliances included in the home appliance system 2 are not limited to the above-described home appliances. In the modification, the home appliances 10 to 70 included in the home appliance system 2 may not be installed in the same house.

The washing machine 10 is provided in the lavatory 6. The television 20, the air conditioner 30a, the refrigerator 40, and the microwave oven 50 are installed in the living room 4. The refrigerator 40 and the microwave oven 50 are disposed adjacent to each other. Air conditioner 30b and television 70 are installed in bedroom 8. The self-propelled cleaner 60 can move relative to each other in a plurality of spaces. In fig. 1, a self-propelled cleaner 60 is present in the bedroom 8. The cloud server 100 is a server provided on a communication network. Details will be described later with reference to fig. 4, but the cloud server 100 includes a washing machine server 100a and a television server 100 b. The washing machine server 100a is a server provided by a provider of the washing machine 10, and the television server 100b is a server provided by a provider of the television 20. The cloud server 100 may also include servers of

other home devices

30a, 30b, 40, 50, 60, and 70.

Next, the structures of the home appliances 10 to 70 will be described with reference to fig. 2. As shown in fig. 2, the home appliances 10 to 70 and the cloud server 100 are configured to be able to communicate with each other via the internet 200. The home appliances 10 to 70 and the cloud server 100 may be configured to be able to communicate via a specific communication line that is available to only specific users, not limited to a common communication line that is available to unspecified large numbers of users such as the internet, or may be configured to be able to communicate via a wired line such as a power line without using a wireless line in part or all of the communication lines. As in a modification described later, the home appliance system 2 may not include the cloud server 100, and in this case, the communication may be directly performed between the home appliances 10 to 70.

First, the structure of the washing machine 10 will be described. The washing machine 10 is a so-called drum-type washing and drying machine. The washing machine 10 includes an operation unit 12, a display unit 14, a control unit 16, a transmission unit 18, and a washing tub 19.

The operation unit 12 includes a plurality of buttons such as a power button. When the user operates the button, the operation unit 12 transmits a signal corresponding to the operated button to the control unit 16. The display unit 14 has a liquid crystal panel and displays an image provided to a user. In addition, the display unit 14 may be formed of a touch panel, and in this case, the display unit 14 also functions as the operation unit 12.

The control unit 16 includes a memory (not shown) such as a CPU, RAM, and ROM. The control unit 16 is connected to the

units

12, 14, 18, and 19 through unillustrated wirings so as to be controllable. The control unit 16 stores a computer program for controlling the

respective units

12, 14, 18, and 19 of the washing machine 10.

When the washing machine 10 satisfies the predetermined condition, the transmission unit 18 transmits the home appliance information corresponding to the predetermined condition to the cloud server 100 (the washing machine server 100a in the present embodiment). The home appliance information transmitted by the washing machine 10 includes information indicating that the source of the home appliance information is the washing machine 10 (corresponding to an item "home appliance" in the parameter table 116 described later), and information indicating the content of a predetermined condition (corresponding to an item "notification content" in the parameter table 116). For example, when washing performed by the washing machine 10 is completed, the transmission unit 18 transmits home appliance information indicating that the washing is completed to the cloud server 100. As in a modification described later, the transmission unit 18 may directly transmit the home appliance information to the television 20 without transmitting the home appliance information to the cloud server 100. Further, although the information indicating the predetermined state such as the operation state of the washing machine 10 is described as "home appliance information", all the information generated in the home appliances other than the washing machine 10, such as the state of the home appliances or the change in the state thereof, may be handled as "home appliance information".

The washing tub 19 has a bottomed cylindrical shape having an opening at the front. The washing tub 19 is supported to be rotatable inside of the casing of the washing machine 10 by an outer tub (not shown). The washing tub 19 is rotated by a motor (not shown) receiving a signal from the control unit 16.

The washing machine 10 is configured to be capable of performing an operation including a washing operation in which laundry put into the washing tub 19 is accommodated and a rinsing process, a washing process, a spin-drying process, and the like are performed; and a drying operation for performing a drying process for drying the laundry. The washing machine 10 can perform an operation according to an operation program in which the above-described steps are combined.

Next, the structure of the television 20 will be explained. The television 20 includes a display 22, a receiving unit 24, a control unit 26, and a display control unit 28. The display 22 is constituted by an organic EL display, a liquid crystal display, or the like. The display control unit 28 causes the display 22 to display an image based on the radio wave received by the receiving unit 24. The display control unit 28 calls up an image from a storage device such as a blu-ray recorder, for example, and can display the image on the display 22.

The receiving unit 24 can receive home appliance information from the cloud server 100 (in the present embodiment, the television server 100b) in addition to radio waves for displaying images on the display 22. In the modification, the television 20 may receive the home appliance information directly from the home appliance (for example, the washing machine 10) without passing through the cloud server 100. The display control unit 28 generates a notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information in response to the reception of the home appliance information, and displays the notification screen on the display 22. The notification screen is a screen for notifying the user of the completion of the washing when, for example, home appliance information indicating the completion of the washing performed by washing machine 10 is received. The notification screen will be described in detail later with reference to fig. 7 to 9.

The control unit 26 includes a CPU, and memories (not shown) such as RAM and ROM. The control unit 26 is connected to the

units

22, 24, and 28 in a controllable manner by unillustrated wirings. The control unit 26 stores a computer program for controlling the

respective units

22, 24, and 28 of the television 20.

The air conditioner 30, the refrigerator 40, the microwave oven 50, the self-propelled cleaner 60, and the television 70 are respectively provided with an operation unit, a display unit, and a transmission unit similar to those of the washing machine 10. The refrigerator 40, the microwave oven 50, and the self-propelled cleaner 60 each include a function executing device (the washing tub 19 in the washing machine 10) for executing a function of each home appliance. The refrigerator 40, the microwave oven 50, and the self-propelled cleaner 60 each include a control unit that is connected to the operation unit, the display unit, the transmission unit, and the function execution device in a communicable manner to control the respective units, as in the case of the control unit 16.

Next, the configuration of the cloud server 100 will be described. The cloud server 100 includes a control unit 110 and a communication unit 120.

The control unit 110 includes a CPU112 and a memory 114. The memory 114 has a parameter table 116. The parameter table 116 is a table in which home appliance information transmitted from a home appliance (for example, the washing machine 10) is associated with information related to the home appliance information. The parameter table 116 will be described later with reference to fig. 3. In the present embodiment, the cloud server 100 has the parameter table 116, but in a modification, the parameter table 116 may be provided by each home appliance device that transmits home appliance information, or may be provided by the television 20 that receives home appliance information.

The communication unit 120 performs communication with each of the home appliances 10 to 70 via the internet 200. In the present embodiment, the communication unit 120 receives the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance (for example, the washing machine 10), specifies information related to the home appliance information with reference to the parameter table 116, and transmits the home appliance information and the related information to the television 20. In the modification, the cloud server 100 may not have the parameter table 116, and in this case, if the communication unit 120 receives the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance, the communication unit may transmit the home appliance information to the television 20 as it is.

Next, the parameter table 116 will be described with reference to fig. 3. As shown in fig. 3A and 3B, the parameter table 116 is a table in which a plurality of items "home appliance", "notification content", "notification screen display flag", "processing during display stop", "notification display time", "notification standby time", and "notification detail" are associated with each other.

The item "home device" in the parameter table 116 is an item indicating a home device that transmits home information. The item "notification content" is an item indicating the content of the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance device. For example, as shown in fig. 3A, 3 notification contents "washing is completed", "filter is clogged", and "error is generated" are associated with the home appliance "washing machine". These two items "home appliance" and "notification content" are items included in home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance. The cloud server 100 refers to the parameter table 116 based on two items of the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance device, and specifies information related to the home appliance information (i.e., other items in the parameter table 116). For example, when home appliance information indicating that washing is completed is received from washing machine 10, cloud server 100 specifies the relevant information with reference to line 2 of fig. 3A, and when home appliance information indicating that the filter is clogged is received from washing machine 10, the relevant information is specified with reference to line 3 of fig. 3A.

The item "notification screen display flag" is a flag that determines whether or not to display the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information on the display 22 when the television 20 receives the home appliance information from the cloud server 100. The item "notification screen display flag" indicates either "on" for displaying the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information or "off" for not displaying the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information. The notification screen display flag can be set in accordance with an input operation from the outside (for example, an input operation from the user) (see also fig. 6). This enables only necessary notification to be displayed on the television 20 according to the user's desire, thereby improving user convenience. In the modification, the cloud server 100 may not transmit the home appliance information to the television 20 for the home appliance information whose notification screen display flag indicates "off".

The item "processing during stop of display" is an item that defines processing executed by the television set 20 when the display of the display 22 is stopped when the television set 20 receives home information from the cloud server 100. Here, the phrase "the television 20 stops the display of the display 22" means a state in which the main power supply of the television 20 is turned on but the process for causing the display 22 to display the video is not executed. Therefore, since power is supplied to the television 20 even when the television 20 stops displaying on the display 22, the home appliance information from the cloud server 100 can be received. The item "processing during display stop" indicates either "notification performed" in which the display of the notification screen is started in response to the start of the display 22, or "notification not performed" in which the display of the notification screen is not started even when the display of the display 22 is started.

The item "notification display time" indicates a time during which the display of the notification screen is continued, that is, a time from the start of the display of the notification screen to the end of the display of the notification screen. For example, home appliance information indicating the end of washing in the washing machine 10 is associated with the notification display time "10 minutes". Therefore, when the television 20 receives the home appliance information indicating the washing completion from the washing machine 10, the television 20 stops the display of the notification screen indicating the washing completion when 10 minutes have elapsed from the time when the notification screen is displayed on the display 22.

The item "notification standby time" indicates a time for which the television 20 saves home appliance information when the television 20 stops displaying the display 22 when the home appliance information is received from the cloud server 100. That is, when the television 20 stops displaying the display 22, even if the display 22 starts to display after the notification standby time elapses from the reception of the home appliance information, the television 20 does not start displaying the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information. For example, home appliance information indicating the end of washing in the washing machine 10 is associated with the notification standby time "30 minutes". Therefore, in a situation where the television 20 stops displaying the display 22, when home appliance information indicating the end of washing is received from the washing machine 10, if the display 22 of the television 20 is started within 30 minutes from the reception of the home appliance information, a notification screen indicating the end of washing is displayed on the display 22. On the other hand, even if the display on the display 22 of the television 20 is started after 30 minutes has elapsed since the reception of the home appliance information, the display 22 is not displayed with a notification screen indicating the completion of washing.

In the modification, the television 20 may continue to store the home appliance information, which is the notification standby time elapsed since the reception of the home appliance information. In this case, the television 20 stores the home appliance information, but does not display the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information on the display 22. In such a configuration, by storing the home appliance information, the user can confirm the history information of the home appliance information received by the television 20.

The item "notification standby time" is information useful only when "processing during which display is stopped" indicates "notification to be performed". Therefore, the "notification standby time" is not set for the home appliance information indicating "no notification" as "processing during display stop". For example, as shown in fig. 3A, in the home appliance information indicating that the operation has been started from the air conditioner 30, "processing during the stop of the display" indicates "no notification is performed", and "notification standby time" is associated with "-" indicating that the notification standby time is not set.

The item "notification details" represents details of the notification contents included in the home appliance information. For example, home appliance information indicating clogging of a filter of washing machine 10 is associated with information indicating the content of maintenance of the filter to be performed by the user. Further, the home appliance information indicating that the washing machine 10 has made an error is associated with information indicating that repair is required and the order of repair. Although details will be described later, the television set 20 displays a detailed screen showing detailed information related to the home appliance information corresponding to the notification screen in response to a received predetermined input operation to the notification screen by the user (see S26 and S40 in fig. 5). In other words, the notification screen is a screen indicating information of a part of the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance. Further, for example, home appliance information indicating that washing of washing machine 10 is completed is associated with "-" indicating that no detailed information is set. In this way, the home appliance information may be provided without setting the detailed information.

The items related to the parameter table 116 are not limited to the above items. For example, the parameter table 116 may include items such as "installation location", "model name", and "manufacturing number" of the home appliance. By including such items, the home appliance of the source of the home appliance information can be easily identified. For example, in the present embodiment, 2 air conditioners 30 are installed in the house 1, one air conditioner 30a is installed in the living room 4, and the other air conditioner 30b is installed in the bedroom 8. In this case, air conditioner 30a is associated with the installation location "living room", and air conditioner 30b is associated with the installation location "bedroom". This allows the user to easily determine whether the air conditioner 30 that is the source of the home appliance information is the air conditioner 30a or the air conditioner 30 b.

As another example, the parameter table 116 may include "priority" related to display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information. Thus, in a situation where the television 20 receives a plurality of pieces of home appliance information while the display on the display 22 is stopped, when the display on the display 22 is started, the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information can be displayed in the order of the priority associated with the home appliance information from high to low.

Next, communication between the

home appliances

10, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 and the television 20 will be described with reference to fig. 4. In fig. 4, the communication between the washing machine 10 and the television 20 is described, but the communication between the other home electric appliances 30 to 70 and the television 20 is also the same.

First, the washing machine 10 and the washing machine server 100a, and the television 20 and the television server 100b are independently connected, respectively. Specifically, at T5, the washing machine 10 is connected to the washing machine server 100a, and at T10, the television 20 is connected to the television server 100 b.

Next, by OAuth, the cooperation procedure between the washing machine server 100a and the television server 100b is implemented. Specifically, at T20, the television set 20 transmits an instruction signal instructing the start of OAuth approval to the television server 100b in accordance with a predetermined operation for starting OAuth approval received from the user. In response to receiving the OAuth approval start instruction signal from the television 20 at T20, the television server 100b transmits an approval request to the washing machine server 100a at T22.

In accordance with the approval request received from the television server 100b in T22, the washing machine server 100a transmits the approval screen data to the television 20 via the television server 100b in T24. The approval screen data is data for displaying an approval screen on the television 20, and the approval screen is a screen for allowing the user to input login information for allowing the washing machine server 100a to approve the login information of the television server 100 b.

Upon receiving the approval screen data from the washing machine server 100a at T24, the television 20 causes the display 22 to display an approval screen at T30. The approval screen includes, for example, an input area for inputting login information such as a password. The user performs a login operation including inputting login information according to the approval screen at T32, and transmits the input login information to the washing machine server 100a via the tv server 100b at T34.

The laundry apparatus server 100a receives the login information input in T32 in T40. In this example, since the correct login information is input by the user, the washing machine server 100a transmits an approval code indicating approval of the television server 100b in T40, and transmits to the television server 100 b. The television server 100b receives the approval code from the washing machine server 100a in T40.

Then, the television server 100b requests the access token from the washing machine server 100a at T50 using the approval code issued at T40. Upon receiving the request of the access token using the approval code at T50, the washing machine server 100a performs verification of the approval code. Since the verification of the approval code is successful in this example, the washing machine server 100a issues an access token in T52 and sends it to the television server 100 b. The television server 100b receives the access token issued in T50 from the washing machine server 100a in T52. Thereby, the cooperation between the washing machine server 100a and the tv server 100b is completed.

At T60, the television server 100b transmits a home appliance information acquisition request to the washing machine server 100a using the access token received at T52. The home appliance information acquisition request is a signal requesting that home appliance information indicating the state of the washing machine 10 be transmitted to the television server 100b when the washing machine 10 satisfies a predetermined condition (for example, when a state change occurs). Upon receiving the home appliance information acquisition request using the access token at T60, washing machine server 100a verifies the access token. Since the authentication of the access token is successful in this example, the washing machine server 100a transmits a home appliance information retrieval response to the television server 100b at T62. The home appliance information acquisition response is a signal indicating that the washing machine server 100a transmits home appliance information indicating the state of the washing machine 10 to the television server 100b when the washing machine 10 satisfies a predetermined condition thereafter. In other words, the processes of T60 and T62 are processes for performing initial settings for the television server 100b to receive home appliance information from the washing machine server 100 a. Therefore, when the washing machine 10 satisfies the predetermined condition after T62, the washing machine server 100a can transmit the home appliance information to the television server 100 b.

At T70, a state change occurs in the washing machine 10. The state change is, for example, completion of washing, clogging of a filter, occurrence of an error, or the like (see fig. 3A). When the state change occurs at T70, washing machine 10 transmits home appliance information indicating the content of the state change to washing machine server 100 a.

The washing machine server 100a determines the parameter related to the home appliance information with reference to the parameter table 116 (see fig. 3A) from the home appliance information received from the washing machine 10 at T72. In this example, since the washing machine server 100a has a portion corresponding to the home appliance "washing machine" in the parameter table 116, the washing machine server 100a can determine the parameters related to the home appliance information. In the modification, the television server 100b may have the parameter table 116, and in this case, the washing machine server 100a may transmit the home appliance information received from the washing machine 10 to the television server 100b as it is, and the television server 100b may specify the parameter related to the home appliance information with reference to the parameter table 116.

The washing machine server 100a transmits the home appliance information including the parameter determined in T74 to the tv server 100b in T76. Then, the tv server 100b transmits the home appliance information including the determined parameters received from the washing machine server 100a to the tv 20 at T78. After that, the television set 20 executes the notification screen display processing S10 based on the home appliance information.

Next, the notification screen display processing S10 will be described with reference to fig. 5. The process of fig. 5 is started when the reception unit 24 of the television 20 receives the home information.

In S12, the CPU of the television set 20 determines whether or not the notification screen display flag included in the received home appliance information is on. If the notification screen display flag indicates on, the CPU determines yes in S12 and proceeds to S14. On the other hand, when the notification screen display flag indicates off, the CPU determines in S12 as no, and ends the processing of fig. 5 without executing the processing from S14 onward.

As described above, the notification screen display flag can be set by the user. Here, an example of a method of setting the notification screen display flag will be described with reference to fig. 6. Fig. 6 shows a setting screen displayed on the display of the smartphone 300. The smartphone 300 is configured to be able to communicate with the home appliances 10 to 70 and the cloud server 100 via the internet 200. Fig. 6(a) is a setting screen of the notification screen display flag related to the home appliance information transmitted from the washing machine 10, and fig. 6(B) is a setting screen of the notification screen display flag related to the home appliance information transmitted from the air conditioner 30. The setting screen can be displayed on the smartphone 300 by using an application program provided by a vendor of each home appliance, for example.

A description will be given of a setting screen of the notification screen display flag relating to the home appliance information transmitted from washing machine 10 in fig. 6 (a). The setting screen includes: a switch for setting the notification content of the home appliance information transmitted from washing machine 10 and the on/off of the notification screen display flag associated with the home appliance information including each notification content. The user can set the notification screen display flag by operating a switch for changing the notification content of on/off of the notification screen display flag. In the modification, the notification screen display flag may be set by operating each of the home electric appliances 10 to 70, or the notification screen display flag may be set by operating the television 20.

In this way, since the notification screen display flag can be set by the user, only the notification screen corresponding to the necessary home appliance information can be displayed on the display 22 as desired by the user. Therefore, the convenience of the user is improved.

The explanation returns to fig. 5 again. In S14, the CPU of the television set 20 determines whether or not display of the display 22 is being performed. If it is determined that the display on the display 22 is being performed, the CPU determines yes in S14, skips the processing from S16 to S22, and proceeds to S24. On the other hand, if it is determined that the display on the display 22 is stopped, the CPU determines in S14 no and proceeds to S16.

In S16, the CPU of the television set 20 determines whether or not the process of stopping the display of the display included in the received home appliance information is "notification. If the processing during the stop of the display is "notify", the CPU determines yes in S16 and proceeds to S18. On the other hand, if the processing during the stop of the display is "not to be notified", the CPU determines in S16 as no, and ends the processing of fig. 5 without executing the processing of S18 and thereafter.

Thus, even if the display of the display 22 is started with respect to the home appliance information of a predetermined content, the CPU of the television 20 does not start the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information. For example, the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information may not be started for the home appliance information that is difficult to be useful information if the user cannot immediately confirm the information, such as the start/stop of the operation of the air conditioner. In this way, when the display on the display 22 is started, for example, when viewing of the television 20 by the user is started, it is possible to suppress a user from being annoyed by displaying a notification screen corresponding to home appliance information, which is difficult for the user to obtain useful information, on the display 22.

In S18, the CPU of the television set 20 determines whether or not the reception unit 24 has received the predetermined information. Predetermined information is determined in advance for the notification content of the home appliance information. If it is determined that the predetermined information has been received, the CPU determines in S18 to be yes, and ends the processing of fig. 5 without executing the processing from S20 onward. On the other hand, if it is determined that the predetermined information has not been received, the CPU determines in S18 as no and proceeds to S20. When the processing of fig. 5 is ended upon reception of the predetermined information (yes in S18), the processing of fig. 5 is restarted with reception of the predetermined information received in S18 as a trigger of the processing of fig. 5.

For example, when the reception of the home appliance information indicating the start of operation of the air conditioner is a trigger of the process of fig. 5, the CPU determines that the predetermined information is received when determining that the home appliance information indicating the stop of operation of the air conditioner is received. In this case, "home appliance information indicating the start of operation of the air conditioner" and "home appliance information indicating the stop of operation of the air conditioner" correspond to examples of "first home appliance information" and "second home appliance information", respectively. Thus, when the display of the display 22 is started, the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information indicating the start of the operation of the air conditioner is not started, but the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information indicating the stop of the operation of the air conditioner is started. In this way, when it is known that the content of the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance is already different from the current situation, the usability of the previous home appliance information for the user is reduced. Therefore, by not displaying the notification screen corresponding to the previous home appliance information on the display 22, it is possible to suppress the user from being inconvenienced.

In another example, when the reception of the home appliance information indicating that the error of the washing machine has occurred is triggered by the process of fig. 5, the CPU determines that the predetermined information has been received when it is determined that the change information transmitted because the error of the washing machine has been resolved for some reason has been received. Thus, when the display of the display 22 is started, the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information indicating that the washing machine has made an error is not started. In such a situation, since the error of the washing machine is eliminated, if a notification screen indicating that the error is being generated by the washing machine is displayed, it results in notifying the user of the error information. Therefore, when the display on the display 22 is started, for example, when the user starts viewing the television set 20, it is possible to suppress a user from being annoyed by displaying a notification screen for notifying error information on the display 22.

In S20, the CPU of the television set 20 determines whether or not the notification standby time included in the received home appliance information has elapsed since the home appliance transmitted the home appliance information. The home appliance information includes information on a time at which the home appliance has transmitted the home appliance information. If the notification standby time has elapsed since the transmission of the home appliance information, the CPU determines yes in S20 to end the processing in fig. 5 without executing the processing from S22 onward. On the other hand, if the notification standby time has not elapsed since the transmission of the home appliance information, the CPU determines in S20 no and proceeds to S22.

In this way, if the notification standby time has elapsed since the home appliance device transmitted the home appliance information, the CPU of the television set 20 ends the processing of fig. 5 without executing the display of the notification screen (yes in S20, end). That is, even if the display of the display 22 is started with respect to the home appliance information for which a predetermined time has elapsed since the home appliance information was transmitted, the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information is not started. As shown in fig. 3, the notification standby time is set for each content of the home appliance information. Therefore, for example, the home appliance information can be stored for an appropriate time in accordance with the notification content, as the standby time until the notification screen is displayed is relatively short when the laundry completion notification is made, and the standby time until the notification screen is displayed in which an error has occurred is relatively long.

In S22, the CPU of the television set 20 determines whether or not the display of the display 22 is started. If it is determined that the display on the display 22 is started, the CPU determines yes in S22 and proceeds to S24. On the other hand, if it is determined that the display on the display 22 is not started, the process returns to S18. That is, the CPU monitors the reception of the predetermined information and notifies the elapse of the standby time until the display of the display 22 is started.

In S24, the CPU of the television set 20 causes the display 22 to display a notification screen corresponding to the received home appliance information. Specifically, the CPU supplies the home appliance information received by the receiving unit 24 to the display control unit 28, and the display control unit 28 generates a notification screen based on the supplied home appliance information and displays the notification screen on the display 22.

When the display on the display 22 is being executed by the television set 20, for example, when the user is viewing the television set 20 while receiving the home appliance information, the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information is immediately started (yes in S14, S24). Accordingly, the user can know home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance device in real time.

When the display on the display 22 is stopped by the television 20 upon reception of the home appliance information, the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information is started in response to the display on the display 22 being started thereafter (no in S14, yes in S16 to S20, S22). Therefore, the user can start the display on the display 22 in response to the start of viewing of the television 20 or the like and know the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance.

Here, a notification screen displayed on the display 22 of the television 20 will be described with reference to fig. 7 to 9. The notification screen is displayed on the display 22 so as to overlap the displayed image. Fig. 7 is an example of a notification screen corresponding to two different pieces of home appliance information. Fig. 8 is an example of the position of the notification screen displayed on the display 22. Fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of how the notification screen is displayed on the display 22.

Fig. 7(a) shows the display 22 displaying the notification screen NSC1 corresponding to the home appliance information indicating the washing completion of the washing machine 10. The notification screen NSC1 includes a message indicating the end of washing and an OK button. The left side of fig. 7(B) shows the display 22 that is displaying the notification screen NSC2 corresponding to the home appliance information indicating the filter clogging of the washing machine 10. The left diagram of fig. 7(B) includes a message indicating filter clogging and a detail button. The right side of fig. 7(B) shows the display 22 which is displaying the detailed screen DSC2 corresponding to the home appliance information indicating the filter clogging of the washing machine 10. The right-hand diagram of fig. 7(B) includes a message indicating the maintenance contents of the filter and an OK button.

In fig. 7(a), the notification screen NSC1 is displayed in the lower right corner of the display area of the display 22. However, as shown in fig. 8(a) to (D), the notification screen NSC1 may be displayed in any of the 4 corner regions (i.e., lower right, upper right, lower left, and upper left) of the display region of the display 22. In this way, by displaying the notification screen NSC1 on any of the 4 corner regions of the display region of the display 22, it is possible to notify the user of the home appliance information while suppressing excessive blocking of the video that the user is viewing.

As shown in fig. 9, after the process of S24 is executed, the notification screen NSC1 is displayed not on the display 22 suddenly but on the display 22 while moving so as to appear gradually from the edge of the display 22. That is, if the process of S24 is executed in the state of fig. 9(a) in which the notification screen is not displayed on the display 22, the state transitions to the state of fig. 9(D) in which the notification screen NSC1 is displayed in the region of the lower right corner of the display 22 via the states of fig. 9(B) and 9 (C). In this way, the notification screen is displayed while moving so as to gradually appear from the edge of the display 22, and the user can easily recognize that the notification screen is information having an attribute different from that of the video being viewed by the user. The display mode of the notification screen is not limited to the mode described in fig. 9, and may be any mode as long as the user can easily recognize that the video being viewed and listened to is information having different attributes from the notification screen.

The explanation returns to fig. 5 again. In S26, the CPU of the television set 20 determines whether or not a display operation for the detailed screen of the notification screen displayed in S24 is accepted. The CPU determines that the display operation of the detailed screen has been accepted based on the acceptance of a predetermined input operation on the notification screen from the user (yes in S26), and proceeds to S40. On the other hand, if it is determined that the predetermined input operation on the notification screen has not been accepted from the user for a certain period of time, the CPU determines that the display operation on the detailed screen has not been accepted (no in S26), and proceeds to S28.

For example, as shown on the left side of fig. 7(B), the notification screen NSC2 includes a detailed button. The CPU determines in S26 that the user has accepted the selection operation of the detailed button included in NSC2, and displays the detailed screen DSC2 as shown on the right side of fig. 7(B) (S40). Further, the CPU determines in S26 that no selection operation of the detail button from the user has been accepted for a certain period of time, and proceeds to S28. As shown in fig. 7(a), the notification screen NSC1 does not include a detailed button. This is because, as shown in fig. 3A, the details of the notification are not set in the home appliance information indicating that washing is completed. In this case, the CPU determines in S26 as no according to the elapse of a certain time, and proceeds to S28.

In S28, the CPU of the television set 20 determines whether or not a display stop operation for the notification screen displayed in S24 has been accepted. The CPU determines that the display stop operation is accepted based on the acceptance of the predetermined input operation on the notification screen by the user (yes in S28), skips the process of S30, and proceeds to S32. On the other hand, if it is determined that the predetermined input operation on the notification screen has not been accepted by the user for a certain period of time, the CPU determines that the display stop operation has not been accepted (no in S28) and proceeds to S30.

For example, as shown in fig. 7(a), the notification screen NSC1 includes an OK button. The CPU determines in S28 that the operation is yes in response to the user accepting the operation of selecting the OK button included in NSC1, and proceeds to S32. In addition, the CPU determines in S28 that no selection operation from the user of the OK button has been received for a certain period of time, and proceeds to S30. As shown on the left side of fig. 7(B), the notification screen NSC2 does not include an OK button. In this case, the CPU determines in S28 as no according to the elapse of a certain time, and proceeds to S30. In the modification, the notification screen NSC2 may include both an OK button and a detail button.

In S30, the CPU of the television set 20 determines whether or not the notification display time included in the received home appliance information has elapsed since the display control unit 28 started displaying the notification screen in S24. If the notification display time has elapsed since the start of the display of the notification screen, the CPU determines yes in S30 and proceeds to S32. On the other hand, if the notification display time has not elapsed since the start of the display of the notification screen, the CPU determines in S30 no and returns to S26. That is, the CPU monitors reception of the detailed screen display operation and the display stop operation from the start of the display of the notification screen until the notification display time elapses.

In S32, the CPU of the television set 20 stops the display of the notification screen whose display was started in S24. If the process of S32 ends, the process of fig. 5 ends.

In this way, if the notification display time has elapsed since the start of the display of the notification screen in S24, the CPU of the television set 20 stops the display of the notification screen (yes in S30, S32). In other words, the CPU continues to display the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information until a time (notification display time) determined according to the contents of the home appliance information has elapsed. As shown in fig. 3, the notification display time is set for each content of the home appliance information. Therefore, for example, the notification screen can be displayed at an appropriate time according to the notification content so that the notification of the washing completion is relatively short and the notification of the error is relatively long.

When the CPU of the television set 20 receives the display stop operation for the notification screen, the CPU stops the display of the notification screen (yes in S28, S32). Therefore, if the user confirms the notification screen, the display of the notification screen can be stopped even if the notification display time has not elapsed. That is, user convenience is improved.

When the CPU of the television 20 receives the display operation of the detailed screen on the notification screen (yes in S26), the CPU starts displaying the detailed screen in S40. Specifically, the CPU supplies the notification details included in the home appliance information corresponding to the notification screen displayed in S24 to the display control unit 28, and the display control unit 28 generates a detailed screen based on the supplied notification details and causes the display 22 to display the detailed screen. For example, as shown in fig. 7B, when the user accepts an operation to select a detailed button included in the notification screen NSC2 (yes in S26), the CPU starts displaying the detailed screen DSC 2.

In general, the detailed screen has a larger amount of information than the notification screen, and therefore the detailed screen is larger than the notification screen. That is, the area of the display 22 of the television 20 occupied by the detailed screen is larger than the area of the notification screen. If the display 22 is caused to display a detailed screen from the beginning, the area that blocks the image that the user is viewing becomes larger than in the case where the display 22 is caused to display a notification screen, and there is a possibility that the user will feel uncomfortable. In this regard, in the present embodiment, the detailed screen is displayed in accordance with a case where the user selects a detailed button included in the notification screen. That is, the detailed screen having a relatively large area is started to be displayed according to the user's intention. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the discomfort given to the user. Further, the user can know the state of the home appliance, the response to the home appliance, the operation, and the like by checking the detailed screen. Therefore, the user does not need to confirm the specification of the home appliance or the like, and convenience of the user is improved.

In S42, the CPU of the television set 20 monitors reception of the display stop operation of the detailed screen. When it is determined that the display stop operation of the detailed screen has been accepted, the CPU stops the display of the detailed screen in S44, stops the display of the notification screen in S32, and ends the processing in fig. 5. In the modification, even if the operation to stop the display of the detailed screen is not received, the CPU may stop the display of the detailed screen and the notification screen when a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the display of the detailed screen.

According to the above processing, each of the home appliances 10, 30 to 70 of the home appliance system 2 transmits the home appliance information indicating the state of the home appliance to the television 20 when the predetermined condition that the state of the home appliance changes is satisfied. The television 20 generates a notification screen based on the received home appliance information, and causes the display 22 to display the generated notification screen. Thus, when the user is in the house, particularly when the user is viewing the television 20, the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance can be confirmed by the television 20.

As described above, the home appliances 10 to 70 included in the home appliance system 2 may not be installed in the same house. For example, the home appliance system 2 may include a home appliance installed in a house in which family members living separately live. With this configuration, the home appliance information of the home appliance in the house where the family living separately resides can be confirmed.

The processing of fig. 5 described above is executed based on the fact that the television 20 receives the home information. However, when the main power of the television 20 is turned off, the television 20 cannot receive the home appliance information. In this case, if the main power supply of the television 20 is switched on in a state where the home appliance information is stored in the television server 100b, the television server 100b transmits the stored home appliance information to the television 20. The process of fig. 5 is started when the television 20 receives the home appliance information.

The television set 20 is an example of "video equipment". The home appliance information whose processing during the display stop indicates "no notification" is an example of "home appliance information of a predetermined content". The operation of the switch displayed on the setting screen of the smartphone 300 is an example of "input operation from the outside". The display operation and the display stop operation of the detailed screen performed by the user are examples of "a first input operation from the outside with respect to the notification screen" and "a second input operation from the outside with respect to the notification screen", respectively. The cloud server 100 is an example of an "external server".

Specific examples of the technology disclosed in the present specification have been described above in detail, but these are only examples and do not limit the technical scope. The techniques described in the technical means include various modifications and alterations to the specific examples illustrated above. Modifications are listed below.

(modification 1) the video device is not limited to a television, and may be other home appliances such as a refrigerator and a washing machine having a display with a video function. In this case, the notification screen may be displayed in superimposition with a video image based on the function of the home appliance having a display.

(modification 2) the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance may not be information indicating the state of the home appliance.

In the case where the home appliance information is received while the display on the display 22 is being executed (modification 3), the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information may be started without receiving the home appliance information. For example, the display of the notification screen may be started in response to an operation for displaying the notification screen received from the user. In this case, the television 20 may have a configuration (for example, blinking/lighting of a lamp, etc.) that allows the user to recognize that the television 20 has received the home information.

(modification 4) in the above-described embodiment, a description has been given of a case where, when the home appliance information is received in a state where the display of the display 22 is stopped by the video device such as the television 20, the notification screen is displayed after the display of the display 22 is started. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and for example, a function of resuming display without an operation by the user from a state in which the display of the display 22 is stopped may be provided, and even when the television 20 stops the display of the display 22 and receives home appliance information including a specific content, the display of the display 22 is started without waiting for an operation from the user to start the display of the display 22, and the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information may be started. In such a configuration, the notification screen corresponding to the highly urgent home appliance information can be displayed immediately regardless of execution/stop of the display on the display 22. In the configuration of the automatic display of the display 22, it may be performed on the condition that the presence of a user who can view the television 20 is detected. The user detection may be performed by a human sensor or by a method such as analysis of a captured image in the peripheral space of the television 20. With this configuration, it is possible to suppress the start of display on the display 22 even when there is no user around the television 20.

In the case where two pieces of home appliance information related to each other are received (modification 5), the television 20 may display only the notification screen corresponding to one of the pieces of home appliance information, or may display two notification screens corresponding to the respective pieces of home appliance information in order.

In modification 6, even if the notification display time associated with the home appliance information has elapsed, the television 20 may not stop the display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information until the user accepts the operation of stopping the display of the notification screen. Alternatively, the notification screen may not have an interface for accepting a display stop operation of the notification screen, and in this case, the display of the notification screen may be stopped in response to the elapse of the notification display time.

In the modification 7, the home appliance information set with the detailed information may be displayed without displaying the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information.

The technical elements described in the present specification or drawings are elements that exhibit technical usefulness alone or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the claims at the time of filing. In addition, the techniques illustrated in the present specification or the drawings are techniques capable of achieving a plurality of objects at the same time, and techniques for achieving one of the objects themselves have technical usefulness.

Description of reference numerals:

2: a home appliance system; 10: a washing machine; 18: a transmission unit; 20. 70: a television set; 22: a display; 24: a receiving section; 28: a display control unit; 30. 30a, 30 b: an air conditioner; 40: a refrigerator; 50: a microwave oven; 60: a self-propelled cleaner; 100: a cloud server; 100 a: a washing machine server; 100 b: a television server; 200: the internet.

Claims

1. A home appliance system comprising a home appliance and a video device capable of communicating with the home appliance,

the home appliance includes a transmission unit that transmits home appliance information indicating a state of the home appliance when a predetermined condition is satisfied,

the imaging device is provided with: a display; a receiving unit configured to receive the home appliance information transmitted by the transmitting unit; and a display control unit that generates a notification screen based on the home appliance information received by the receiving unit and displays the generated notification screen on the display.

2. The home appliance system according to claim 1,

the transmitting unit transmits the home appliance information including information on a content of a state change when the state of the home appliance is changed.

3. The home appliance system according to claim 1 or 2,

when the home appliance information is received while the display of the display is being executed, the display control unit starts display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information.

4. The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

the display control unit starts display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information based on a fact that display of the display is started later with respect to the home appliance information generated when display of the display is stopped.

5. The home appliance system according to claim 4,

the display control unit does not start display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information even if display of the display starts, of the home appliance information corresponding to the notification screen not started to be displayed, the home appliance information having a predetermined content.

6. The home appliance system according to claim 4 or 5,

the display control unit does not start display of the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information even if display of the display starts, for the home appliance information for which a predetermined time has elapsed since the home appliance device transmits, among the home appliance information corresponding to the notification screen for which display has not started.

7. The home appliance system according to any one of claims 4 to 6,

the video device is configured such that, when first home appliance information corresponding to the notification screen that is not started to be displayed is stored and second home appliance information including content related to the first home appliance information is received, the display control unit displays the notification screen corresponding to the second home appliance information without displaying the notification screen corresponding to the first home appliance information.

8. The household electrical appliance system according to any one of claims 4 to 7,

the transmitting unit transmits, when the state of the home appliance indicated by the home appliance information is changed after the transmission of the home appliance information, change information indicating the change,

the display control unit may be configured to, when the change information is received for the home appliance information corresponding to the notification screen for which display has not been started, not display the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information.

9. The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 8,

the display control unit continues to display the notification screen corresponding to the home appliance information until a time determined according to the content of the home appliance information elapses.

10. The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 9,

whether or not to display the notification screen in the image device can be set according to an input operation from the outside,

whether or not to display the notification screen on the video device can be set according to the content of the home appliance information.

11. The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 10,

the notification screen is a screen indicating information of a part of the home appliance information transmitted from the home appliance device,

the display control unit displays a detailed screen showing more detailed information than the notification screen on the display in response to receiving a first input operation from the outside with respect to the notification screen.

12. The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 11,

the display control unit stops the display of the notification screen in response to receiving a second input operation from the outside with respect to the notification screen.

13. The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 12,

the notification screen is displayed in any one of 4 corner regions of the display among partial regions of the display region of the display.

14. The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 13,

the notification screen is displayed while moving so as to appear gradually from the edge of the display.

15. The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 14,

the home appliance system further includes an external server capable of communicating with the home appliance and the image device,

the home appliance information transmitted by the transmitting unit of the home appliance is transmitted to the video device via the external server.

16. An electric household appliance capable of communicating with other appliances, the electric household appliance being characterized in that,

the home appliance information transmission device is provided with a transmission unit which transmits home appliance information indicating the state of the home appliance when a predetermined condition is satisfied.

17. A video device capable of communicating with a home appliance, the video device comprising:

a display;

a receiving unit that receives home appliance information indicating a state of the home appliance, the home appliance information being transmitted from the home appliance; and

and a display control unit configured to generate a notification screen based on the home appliance information received by the receiving unit, and to display the generated notification screen on the display.

18. An external server having a communication unit for communicating with a home appliance and a video appliance, respectively, the external server being characterized in that,

the communication unit transmits the home appliance information to the video device when receiving the home appliance information indicating the state of the home appliance transmitted from the home appliance.

19. A method for displaying home appliance information using a home appliance and a video device communicable with the home appliance, the method comprising:

transmitting, by the home appliance device, home appliance information indicating a state of the home appliance device when a predetermined condition is satisfied;

the step that the image equipment receives the household appliance information; and

and displaying, by the video device, a notification screen generated based on the home appliance information on a display of the video device.