DE102012210848A1 - Communication of a household appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and a device for communicating a household appliance are specified, in which information is transmitted from the household appliance to a communication platform using a communication interface, or in which a message is transmitted to the household appliance by means of the communication platform and the communication interface.

Description

The invention relates to a method and a device for communication of a domestic appliance or with a domestic appliance.

Various social networks are known, e.g. Facebook, MySpace, SchülerVZ, StudiVZ, MeinVZ, Twitter, XING, LinkedIn or who-knows-who.

For example, Facebook's Facebook Places feature allows a user to tell other users where they are and who they are with in that location. You can also see which friends have shared their location.

The object of the invention is to extend the social networks with additional functions.

This object is achieved according to the features of the independent claims. Further developments of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims.

• – bei dem von dem Haushaltsgerät eine Information anhand einer Kommunikationsschnittstelle an eine Kommunikationsplattform übermittelt wird oder
• – bei dem eine Nachricht mittels der Kommunikationsplattform und der Kommunikationsschnittstelle an das Haushaltsgerät übermittelt wird.

To achieve the object, a method for communication of a household appliance is specified,

• - In which the household appliance information via a communication interface to a communication platform is transmitted or
• - In which a message is transmitted by means of the communication platform and the communication interface to the household appliance.

With the communications platform, including e.g. a social network that can be accessed from any device, it is possible to integrate household appliances and use them as sources of information or sinks. Thus, household appliances become part of the structures existing in the social network.

A development is that the information includes status information of the household appliance and / or an instruction for a user.

Another development is that based on the message, a predetermined action is performed or initiated by the household appliance.

The default action applies e.g. possible settings of the household appliance: For example, a cooking appliance can start, change or interrupt a cooking process, a coffee machine can e.g. be switched off or on.

In particular, it is a development that additionally a code is queried before the household appliance performs or causes the predetermined action.

The code may e.g. Be part of the message or transmitted in the form of a separate message to the household appliance. By means of the code, the security against unwanted actions or incorrect operation of the domestic appliance is increased.

It is also a development that the communication platform and the household appliance are connected to each other via the Internet.

Thus, the household appliance can have a connection to the Internet, whereby the connection to the communication platform is made via the Internet.

Furthermore, it is a development that the communication platform is a social network.

For example, the social network is a network community or Web applications that host network communities. Social networks, for example, represent a form of network communities (so-called online communities) that are technically hosted by web applications or portals. In English, the more precise term of "social network service" (SNS) exists. The German terms "community portal" or "online contact network" are also known. Well-known social networks are: Facebook, myspace, schülerVZ / studiVZ / meinVZ, Twitter, XING, Google+, LinkedIn, ResearchGate and who-knows-who.

In the context of an additional development, the communication interface comprises a wireless and / or a wired communication interface.

For example, the household appliance may have an Ethernet connection and be connected via a cable to the Internet and thus to the communication platform. The household appliance can also be connected to the communication platform via a mobile radio network, via a WLAN connection and / or via a Bluetooth connection.

A next development is that the household appliance is assigned to at least one user account of the communication platform.

The user account corresponds, for example, to the access of the user of the household appliance. The user account can manage a variety of home appliances. In particular, a Contact type "home appliance" similar to a contact type "friend" managed by the user through his user account.

One embodiment is that the assignment of the at least one user account to the household appliance comprises an authentication.

The authentication can be initiated by the home appliance or by the user account. In particular, in the context of a registration of the household appliance in the communication platform and / or in the assignment to the user account an authentication can take place. It may be agreed that the household appliance must be assigned to a user account. Optionally, the household appliance can also be assigned to multiple user accounts.

• – sich das Haushaltsgerät an der Kommunikationsplattform mit einer Identifikation anmeldet;
• – das Benutzerkonto mit der Identifikation verknüpft wird, indem eine Kennung eingegeben wird.

An alternative embodiment is that

• - the home appliance logs on to the communication platform with an identification;
• - The user account is linked to the identification by entering an identifier.

The identifier may e.g. be displayed by the household appliance or specified in the description of the household appliance. By entering the identifier, the household appliance can be linked or coupled with the user account. This ensures that this user account acts as the "owner" of the household appliance and can access it accordingly by means of the communication platform. Based on such a coupling, other rights may be assigned to other user accounts, e.g. to receive the information from the household appliance and / or to transmit messages to this household appliance.

A next embodiment is that several household appliances exchange information and / or messages via the communication platform.

It is also an embodiment that the household appliance executes a predetermined action depending on available information or provides a predetermined information.

For example, a home appliance may provide a status message in a blog or on a user's electronic bulletin board if a predetermined condition is met. Also, the home appliance (the Internet in general and / or) may examine the communication platform for particular given information or messages, and may respond accordingly. Furthermore, it is possible for the home appliance to use different sources of information, e.g. of the Internet, analyzes (interrogates and parses) and reacts according to given rules, i. e.g. provides information and / or performs a predetermined action.

• – ein Gargerät;
• – ein Wäschebehandlungsgerät;
• – ein Haushaltskleingerät;
• – eine Kaffeemaschine;
• – eine Küchenmaschine;
• – eine Reinigungsmaschine;
• – ein Geschirrbehandlungsgerät;
• – ein Kältegerät.

A development is that the household appliance is one of the following devices:

• - a cooking appliance;
• - a laundry treatment appliance;
• - a small household appliance;
• - a coffee machine;
• - a food processor;
• - a cleaning machine;
• - a dishwashing appliance;
• - a refrigeration device.

In particular, the cooking appliance may comprise a hob, an oven (oven and / or microwave oven), a steamer or a vacuum cooker. The laundry treating appliance may include a washing machine or a dryer. The household small appliance can be a coffee machine or a food processor. The utensil treatment device may be a dishwasher and / or a disinfection device. The refrigerator may include a refrigerator and / or a freezer (or a freezer).

Furthermore, combinations of the household appliances mentioned here are possible.

• – von dem Haushaltsgerät eine Information anhand einer Kommunikationsschnittstelle an eine Kommunikationsplattform übermittelbar ist oder
• – eine Nachricht mittels der Kommunikationsplattform und der Kommunikationsschnittstelle von dem Haushaltsgerät empfangbar ist.

The above object is also achieved by a household appliance with a processing unit which is set up such that

• - By the household appliance information based on a communication interface to a communication platform can be transmitted or
• - A message by means of the communication platform and the communication interface of the household appliance is receivable.

The processing unit mentioned here may in particular be embodied as a processor unit and / or an at least partially hard-wired or logical circuit arrangement, which is set up, for example, in such a way that the method can be carried out as described herein. Said processing unit may be or include any type of processor or computer or computer with correspondingly necessary peripherals (memory, input / output interfaces, input / output devices, etc.).

The above explanations regarding the method apply to the device accordingly. The device may be implemented in one component or distributed in several components.

The solution presented herein further includes a computer program product directly loadable into a memory of a digital computer comprising program code portions adapted to perform steps of the method described herein.

Furthermore, the above problem is solved by means of a computer-readable storage medium, e.g. any memory comprising computer-executable instructions (e.g., in the form of program code) adapted for the computer to perform steps of the method described herein.

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated and explained below with reference to the drawing.

It shows:

1 a schematic block diagram with several household appliances, which are connected via the Internet with a communication platform.

It is proposed to integrate household appliances into a social network. For example, profiles of household appliances of individual users can be customized and managed. The home appliance may have a communication interface to the social network and provide different information to it. The provision of the information can be automated based on predetermined rules. Furthermore, it is possible for a household appliance to transmit a message via the social network and for the household appliance to implement this message accordingly, e.g. performs a predetermined action initiated with the message. Thus, a communication with the household appliance via the social network can be done. This has u.a. the advantage that also for the household appliance, the social network can be used as a communication platform and so a simple, inexpensive and extremely flexible way is created to receive information from the home appliance and / or send messages to the home appliance.

It should be noted that it is preferable to provide appropriate security and authentication measures, e.g. only allow authorized users to access a household appliance. In particular, the information provided by the home appliance may be displayed only to authorized or approved users.

For example, the home appliance has a way to connect to the Internet. This can e.g. via a wired or a wireless connection. The household appliance may e.g. be connected to a wireless router. One possibility is that the home appliance with the confirmation of the responsible user (eg the purchaser of the household appliance or the tenant of a flat) connects to a predetermined social network and a user account under an identification number of the household appliance (eg the serial number ) applies. The user can log in to the social network himself and search for the household appliance identification number. For example, after entering a personal identification number (PIN) on the home appliance, he may add the home appliance to his profile in the social network and then access the home appliance via the social network (possibly with or without the PIN), e.g. Make settings, query information, etc. For example, the user can include the household appliance in the list of his friends.

• – "Ich koche/backe gerade."
• – "Meine Pizza/Braten/Kuchen/etc. ist gleich fertig."
• – "Ich lade zu einer spontanen Party ein."
• – "Ihr Gericht ist fertig."
• – "Bitte kommen Sie zum Küchengerät und führen Sie dort die angegebenen Schritte durch."

The household appliance offers (eg after successful configuration) the opportunity to receive information or messages from the user or from (authorized) friends and, if necessary, to perform predetermined actions in accordance with the information. Alternatively or additionally, the household appliance can provide information, for example in the form of sending messages. Such messages can be information to different addressees, eg the friends of the user of the household appliance or (only) the user of the household appliance: For example, the following messages can be sent by the household appliance:

• - "I'm cooking / baking right now."
• - "My pizza / roast / cake / etc is ready soon."
• - "I invite you to a spontaneous party."
• - "Your dish is ready."
• - "Please come to the kitchen appliance and carry out the specified steps there."

The user of the household appliance can receive the message e.g. receive on his smartphone and respond accordingly (quickly). In particular, this increases the flexibility of the user who does not need to be near the household appliance, even the home, to be informed of the condition of the household appliances (e.g., washing machine, refrigerator, freezer, stove, etc.). For example, the user can initiate repair measures for a defective household appliance, even if he is on his own.

Another option is that the household appliances communicate with each other via the social network, i. For example, exchange messages (networking of household appliances). For example, users of several household appliances can add them to their profile. Status messages of the household appliances can be published via a pinboard or blog function of the social network, according to certain rules, the household appliances themselves investigate the pin board and the blog and possibly perform predetermined actions. Thus, a state machine can be realized for a plurality of interacting household appliances whose messaging interface is the social network.

Accordingly, remote control and / or monitoring of the household appliance can take place by means of the social network. For example, control functions or monitoring instructions (parameters to be monitored) can be transmitted via the social network to the household appliance, which then provides the requested information via the social network. Thus, a user could query the status of a cooking appliance and receives in response a text message "cooking place one is at level three". Also, the user could instruct the cooking appliance to completely switch off the hob.

1 shows a schematic block diagram with several household appliances 102 to 105 that over the internet 101 with a communication platform 106 are connected. For this purpose, the household appliances 102 to 105 wireless or wired communication links, wherein the communication platform 106 information 109 are available and via the communication platform 106 news 108 to the household appliances 102 to 105 can be transmitted. The news 108 can in given actions in the home appliances 102 to 105 be implemented.

A smartphone 107 can also be over the internet 101 on the communication platform 106 access and if necessary information 111 from the household appliances 102 to 105 received or messages 110 to these household appliances 102 to 105 to ship. Here is the information 111 from the communication platform 106 provided and the news 110 from the smartphone 107 to the communication platform 106 transmitted. The communication platform sets the information accordingly 109 in information 111 around or the news 110 in messages 108 around. In other words, the communication between the smartphone 107 and the household appliances 102 to 105 takes place via the communication platform 106 , At the smartphone 107 It can be any device with an appropriate ability to connect to the Internet 101 act.

For example, the in 1 shown household appliances 102 to 105 : A fridge 102 , a washing machine 103 , a coffee machine 104 and a cooking appliance 105 ,

An advantage of this approach is to use an existing server infrastructure to integrate home appliances and possibly network with users or with each other. The control of the household appliances and / or the information provided by the household appliances results in a multiplicity of application scenarios.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

101

 Internet

102

 household appliance

103

 household appliance

104

 household appliance

105

 household appliance

106

 communication platform

107

 Smartphone

108

Message (from communication platform 106 to household appliance 102 to 105 )

109

Information (from household appliance 102 to 105 to communication platform 106 )

110

Message (from smartphone 107 to communication platform 106 )

111

Information (from communication platform 106 to smartphone 107 )

Claims (14)

Method for communicating a household appliance ( 102 - 105 ), - that of the household appliance ( 102 - 105 ) an information ( 109 ) based on a communication interface to a communication platform ( 106 ) or - in which a message ( 108 ) by means of the communication platform ( 106 ) and the communication interface to the household appliance ( 102 - 105 ) is transmitted. The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises status information or an instruction for a user. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which a predetermined action is executed or initiated by the household appliance on the basis of the message. The method of claim 3, wherein additionally a code is queried before the home appliance performs or causes the predetermined action. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the communication platform and the household appliance are connected to one another via the Internet. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the communication platform is a social network. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the communication interface comprises a wireless or a wired communication interface. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the household appliance is assigned to at least one user account of the communication platform. The method of claim 8, wherein the assignment of the at least one user account to the household appliance comprises an authentication. Method according to one of claims 8 or 9, - in which the household appliance logs on to the communication platform with an identification; - In which the user account is linked to the identification by an ID is entered. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which several household appliances exchange information and / or messages via the communication platform. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the household appliance executes a predetermined action depending on available information or provides a predetermined information. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the domestic appliance is one of the following appliances: - a cooking appliance; - a laundry treatment appliance; - a small household appliance; - a coffee machine; - a food processor; - a cleaning machine; - a dishwashing appliance; - a refrigeration device. Household appliance with a processing unit that is set up so that - By the household appliance information based on a communication interface to a communication platform can be transmitted or - A message by means of the communication platform and the communication interface of the household appliance is receivable.

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