EP4206377A1 - Control method for clothes treatment apparatus, and server - Google Patents

Control method for clothes treatment apparatus, and server Download PDF

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Publication number
EP4206377A1
EP4206377A1 EP21860300.9A EP21860300A EP4206377A1 EP 4206377 A1 EP4206377 A1 EP 4206377A1 EP 21860300 A EP21860300 A EP 21860300A EP 4206377 A1 EP4206377 A1 EP 4206377A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
clothing treatment
treatment unit
running
clothing
controlled
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP21860300.9A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP4206377A4 (en
Inventor
Kunkun GE
Sheng Xu
Peishi Lv
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Chongqing Haier Washing Machine Co Ltd
Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Chongqing Haier Washing Machine Co Ltd
Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Chongqing Haier Washing Machine Co Ltd, Haier Smart Home Co Ltd filed Critical Chongqing Haier Washing Machine Co Ltd
Publication of EP4206377A1 publication Critical patent/EP4206377A1/en
Publication of EP4206377A4 publication Critical patent/EP4206377A4/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F34/00Details of control systems for washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F34/04Signal transfer or data transmission arrangements
    • D06F34/05Signal transfer or data transmission arrangements for wireless communication between components, e.g. for remote monitoring or control
    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F33/00Control of operations performed in washing machines or washer-dryers 
    • D06F33/30Control of washing machines characterised by the purpose or target of the control 
    • D06F33/32Control of operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry
    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F33/00Control of operations performed in washing machines or washer-dryers 
    • D06F33/30Control of washing machines characterised by the purpose or target of the control 
    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F34/00Details of control systems for washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F34/04Signal transfer or data transmission arrangements
    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2103/00Parameters monitored or detected for the control of domestic laundry washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2103/68Operation mode; Program phase
    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2105/00Systems or parameters controlled or affected by the control systems of washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2105/50Starting machine operation, e.g. delayed start or re-start after power cut
    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2105/00Systems or parameters controlled or affected by the control systems of washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2105/52Changing sequence of operational steps; Carrying out additional operational steps; Modifying operational steps, e.g. by extending duration of steps
    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2105/00Systems or parameters controlled or affected by the control systems of washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2105/58Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user
    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2105/00Systems or parameters controlled or affected by the control systems of washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2105/58Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user
    • D06F2105/60Audible signals
    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2105/00Systems or parameters controlled or affected by the control systems of washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2105/62Stopping or disabling machine operation
    • DTEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06FLAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F34/00Details of control systems for washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F34/28Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to the field of smart home, and in particular to a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus, and a server.
  • Some clothing treatment apparatuses include two clothing treatment units (for example, tubs) which are generally placed above and below each other, and people may use the upper and lower clothing treatment units to wash clothing.
  • a clothing treatment apparatus including two clothing treatment units is controlled (for example, a specific clothing treatment unit is controlled to stop washing clothing) by a user
  • the user For controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, it is necessary for the user to select the clothing treatment unit, and also necessary to determine whether the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is correct.
  • the selected clothing treatment unit only when determined to be correct, is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled on which corresponding control operation is then performed, which results in cumbersome steps for determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and thus causes cumbersome steps for controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and has low control efficiency.
  • an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus which includes at least two clothing treatment units, and the method includes:
  • control instruction includes a first control instruction
  • first control instruction includes a start instruction
  • method further includes:
  • control instruction includes a first control instruction
  • determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled includes: determining, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is not running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is not running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • control instruction includes a second control instruction
  • second control instruction includes one or more of an instruction to suspend running, an instruction to stop running, and an instruction to cancel a reservation
  • method further includes:
  • control instruction includes a second control instruction
  • determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled includes: determining, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is not running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the sending, to the user, the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start includes: sending, to a voice device, the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start, so that the voice device plays the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start to the user.
  • the method also includes:
  • the performing, according to the control instruction, the corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled includes: performing, according to the control instruction, the corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, where the operation includes one or more of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and cancelling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a device for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus including at least two clothing treatment units, and the device includes:
  • control instruction includes a first control instruction
  • first control instruction includes a start instruction
  • processing module is further configured to:
  • control instruction includes a first control instruction
  • processing module is further configured to: determine, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is not running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is not running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • control instruction includes a second control instruction
  • second control instruction includes one or more of an instruction to suspend running, an instruction to stop running, and an instruction to cancel a reservation
  • processing module is further configured to:
  • control instruction includes a second control instruction
  • processing module is further configured to: determine, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is not running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the processing module is further configured to: send, to a voice device, the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start, so that the voice device plays the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start to the user.
  • the processing module is further configured to:
  • the processing module is further configured to: perform, according to the control instruction, the corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, where the operation includes one or more of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and cancelling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a server including: at least one processor and a memory;
  • an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-executed instruction, where when the computer-executed instruction is executed by a processor, the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus described above in the first aspect and various possible designs of the first aspect is implemented.
  • the present disclosure provides a computer program product including a computer program, where when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus described above in the first aspect and various possible designs of the first aspect is implemented.
  • Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus, and a server. By obtaining a control instruction and obtaining running status of each of the clothing treatment units; determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and performing, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the control instruction when the control instruction is obtained, the running status of each of all clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus is obtained, and then the clothing treatment unit that needs to be controlled is directly determined according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, that is, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is determined, and an operation corresponding to the control instruction is performed on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, which realizes automatic determination and control of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, improves cumbersomeness of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and in turn improves cumbersomeness of controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, thus improves control efficiency and avoids a problem of low control efficiency of controlling a clothing treatment unit.
  • the term “include/comprise” and its variations indicate openended inclusions, i.e., “includes but not limited to”.
  • the term “based on” refers to "at least partially based on”.
  • the term “one embodiment” means “at least one embodiment”; the term “another embodiment” means “at least one further embodiment”; the term “some embodiments” means “at least some embodiments.” Relevant definitions of other terms will be given in the description below.
  • a control instruction when a control instruction is input by a user to control a clothing treatment apparatus including two clothing treatment units, firstly an inquiry to the user about which clothing treatment unit is to be controlled needs to be made by a voice device.
  • the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is determined as a clothing treatment unit to be controlled only when it is determined that the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is correct, that is, when it is determined that running status of the clothing treatment unit matches the control instruction (for example, when the control instruction is a start instruction and the running status of the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is not running, the running status of the selected clothing treatment unit matches the control instruction). After that, a corresponding operation is performed on the clothing treatment unit.
  • the user For controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, it is necessary for the user to select the clothing treatment unit, and also necessary to determine whether the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is correct.
  • the selected clothing treatment unit only when determined to be correct, is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled on which a corresponding control operation is then performed, which results in cumbersome steps for determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and thus causes cumbersome steps for controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and has low control efficiency.
  • the present disclosure provides a technical concept: obtaining running status of the two clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus, i.e., running status of a first clothing treatment unit and running status of a second clothing treatment unit, when it is determined that the user wants to control the clothing treatment apparatus, that is, when the control instruction is obtained; in the case that the running status of one of the first clothing treatment unit and the second clothing treatment unit is determined to be not running and the running status of the other unit is running, if the control instruction is a start instruction, determining the clothing treatment unit of which running status is not running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and starting this clothing treatment unit of which running status is not running; if the control instruction is an instruction to suspend running or an instruction to stop running or an instruction to cancel a reservation, determining the clothing treatment unit of which running status is running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and performing a corresponding operation on this clothing treatment unit according to the control instruction, which realizes automatic determination and control of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled without user selecting a clothing treatment
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • a voice device 101 is configured to collect a user's voice to obtain the user's voice message which is sent to a server 102.
  • the server 102 When determining according to the user's voice message that the user wants to control a clothing treatment unit of a clothing treatment apparatus, the server 102 generates a corresponding control instruction, obtains running status of each of the clothing treatment units of a clothing treatment apparatus 103, and determines, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled and performs a corresponding control operation on the clothing treatment unit according to the control instruction.
  • the clothing treatment apparatus is one including at least two clothing treatment units, such as a twin-tub washing machine.
  • Individual clothing treatment units are tubs, i.e., washing tubs, of a washing machine and are capable of washing clothing.
  • the voice device may be a smart speaker, or other devices that can collect a user's voice and/or play voice.
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart I of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • the clothing treatment apparatus includes at least two clothing treatment units.
  • Executor of this embodiment may be the server in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , which is not particularly limited in this embodiment.
  • the method includes: S201, obtaining a control instruction and obtaining running status of each of the clothing treatment units.
  • control instruction includes a first control instruction and a second control instruction.
  • the first control instruction includes a start instruction.
  • the control instruction includes a second control instruction, and the second control instruction includes one or more of an instruction to suspend running, an instruction to stop running, and an instruction to cancel a reservation.
  • the control instruction which means that a user wants to control a clothing treatment unit of the clothing treatment apparatus
  • the running status of each of the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus is obtained.
  • Running status includes running and not running. Running means that a clothing treatment unit is in running status, that is, the clothing treatment unit is washing clothing or is waiting until the scheduled time set by the user is up. Not running means that the clothing treatment unit is in idle status and can be used to wash clothing to be washed.
  • the clothing to be washed includes clothes, shoes, hats and the like.
  • a clothing treatment process includes one or more of a washing process, a rinsing process, a spinning process and a drying process.
  • the server may send a status obtaining request to the clothing treatment apparatus, so that the clothing treatment apparatus obtains running status of its own clothing treatment units when receiving the status obtaining request and returns the running status to the server.
  • the clothing treatment apparatus may also obtain the running status of its own clothing treatment units, i.e., running status of all the clothing treatment units included therein, at intervals of a preset time, and send the running status to the server.
  • the clothing treatment apparatus is a twin-tub washing machine
  • clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus include two upper and lower clothing treatment units, that is, tubs of the twin-tub washing machine include two upper and lower tubs.
  • the clothing treatment unit to be controlled on which an operation corresponding to the control instruction is to be performed, is determined from all the clothing treatment units according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, and then the operation is automatically performed on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, which realizes a control of running status of a clothing treatment unit.
  • the operation includes one or more of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and canceling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart II of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • the control instruction is a first control instruction
  • a specific implementation process of how to determine, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is described in detail in this embodiment.
  • the method includes: S301, obtaining a control instruction and obtaining running status of each of the clothing treatment units.
  • a user may further control a clothing treatment unit of the clothing treatment apparatus by voice, that is, when the user wants to control a clothing treatment unit of the clothing treatment apparatus, he/she may speak with a preset control keyword included in a voice, and after the voice device collects the user's voice, corresponding user voice information is generated in a preset format and sent to the server.
  • the server obtains the user voice information sent by the voice device. That is, after the user voice information sent by the voice device is received, the server determines whether there exists in the user voice information a keyword matching a preset control keyword. If there exists, it means that the user has input a voice for controlling a clothing treatment unit of the clothing treatment apparatus, a control instruction corresponding to the keyword is generated. For example, when the keyword is "start”, the generated control instruction is the start instruction; as another example, when the keyword is "suspend running", the generated control instruction is the instruction to suspend running.
  • whether there exists the preset control keyword in the user voice information may also be determined by the voice device, and when it is determined that there exists the preset control keyword, a corresponding control instruction is generated and sent to the server, so that the server obtains the running status of the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus and determines the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the clothing treatment unit that has not been started can be started. That is, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is not running is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled which is to be started to wash the clothing to be washed.
  • the clothing treatment apparatus includes a first clothing treatment unit and a second clothing treatment unit
  • running status of the first clothing treatment unit is not running, and running status of the second clothing treatment unit is running
  • the running status of one of the first and second clothing treatment units is not running
  • the running status of the other clothing treatment unit is running
  • the first clothing treatment unit in the idle status is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is determined, that is, after the clothing treatment unit to be started is determined, if the user does not set a washing mode, whether there exists attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed is determined. If there exists attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, a recommended washing mode is determined according to the attribute information, and starting is performed according to the recommended washing mode, so that the clothing to be washed is washed in the recommended washing mode. If there exists no attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, a target frequently-used washing mode is obtained from washing modes corresponding to the target clothing treatment unit, and starting is performed according to the target frequently-used washing mode, so that the clothing to be washed is washed in the target frequently-used washing mode.
  • a washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed is determined according to the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, so as to obtain a recommended washing mode. Starting is performed according to the recommended washing mode, and thus the clothing to be washed can be washed efficiently, which ensures the clothing washing effect.
  • a washing mode recommended to the user may be determined according to the user's washing habits, so a washing mode frequently used by the user is searched from the washing modes corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled to obtain the target frequently-used washing mode.
  • the frequently-used washing mode is a washing mode used most frequently by the user.
  • the clothing treatment apparatus After washing clothing, the clothing treatment apparatus sends a washing mode and a clothing treatment unit used for washing the clothing to the server, so that the server can record them.
  • determining whether there exists the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed is actually performed according to the user voice information sent by the voice device, that is, voice recognition is performed on the user voice information to obtain corresponding recognized text. Whether the recognized text includes the attribute information about the clothing to be washed is then determined.
  • the attribute information includes information such as clothing material, clothing type (upper garments, trousers, coats, etc.), and the quantity of the clothing to be washed.
  • the recognized text obtained by recognizing the user voice information is washing two woolen sweaters, indicating that the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed is told by the user, and then it is determined that there exists the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed.
  • the corresponding control operation is performed on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled according to the first control instruction, that is, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is started, so as to wash clothing to be washed in the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the running status of all the clothing treatment units when the running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, it means that each of the clothing treatment units is in idle status, and the clothing treatment unit to be controlled cannot be directly determined, so the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start is sent to the user, so that the user selects the clothing treatment unit which needs to be started.
  • the clothing treatment unit selected by the user After the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is obtained, the clothing treatment unit is directly determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is started, in which it is not necessary to determine, after the clothing treatment unit is selected by the user, whether the clothing treatment unit is correct, thus improving the cumbersomeness of the steps of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the sending to the user the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start includes: sending to the voice device the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start, so that the voice device plays to the user the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start.
  • the server may send it through the voice device. That is, the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start is sent to the voice device, and is then played by the voice device after it is received by the voice device.
  • the voice device sends the clothing treatment unit to the server, and the server determines the clothing treatment unit as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, so as to start the clothing treatment unit to be controlled according to the first control instruction, which realizes voice control.
  • control instruction is a start instruction, it means that the user wants to wash the clothing to be washed.
  • a clothing treatment unit suitable for washing the clothing to be washed i.e., a clothing treatment unit suitable for starting, may be recommended to the user.
  • the recommended clothing treatment unit is determined as a target clothing treatment unit and is pushed to the user, so that the user chooses whether to start the target clothing treatment unit.
  • the target clothing treatment unit is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and the specific process includes: if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, whether there exists attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed is determined.
  • a recommended washing mode is determined according to the attribute information, and a target clothing treatment unit is determined according to the recommended washing mode. If there exists no attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, a frequently-used washing mode corresponding to the clothing treatment apparatus is obtained, and a target clothing treatment unit is determined according to the frequently-used washing mode. The target clothing treatment unit is pushed to the user as the clothing treatment unit used to wash the clothing to be washed. When the start instruction is obtained, the target clothing treatment unit is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and is started according to the corresponding recommended washing mode or frequently-used washing mode, so as to wash the clothing to be washed.
  • attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed may be determined, so that the attribute information may be used to determine a washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed. Since different clothing treatment units correspond to different washing modes, a clothing treatment unit corresponding to the washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed may be determined as the target clothing treatment unit.
  • a recommended washing mode matching the attribute information is determined, that is, a washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed is determined.
  • a clothing treatment unit suitable for washing the clothing to be washed is determined as the target clothing treatment unit according to the recommended washing mode.
  • a process of determining, according to the attribute information corresponding to the clothing, the washing mode matching the attribute information is an existing process.
  • the washing mode corresponding to the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed may be searched from a preset attribute mode mapping table.
  • the washing mode is a washing mode matching the attribute information, and is determined as the recommended washing mode.
  • the number of clothing treatment units included in the clothing treatment apparatus is set to 2. That is, taking the clothing treatment apparatus including a first clothing treatment unit and a second clothing treatment unit as an example, the process of determining the target clothing treatment unit according to the recommended washing mode is described.
  • determining the target clothing treatment unit according to the recommended washing mode includes: obtaining first washing mode(s) corresponding to the first clothing treatment unit and second washing mode(s) corresponding to the second clothing treatment unit; if there exists, in the first washing mode(s), a first washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode, determining the first clothing treatment unit as the target clothing treatment unit; if there exists, in the second washing mode(s), a second washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode, determining the second clothing treatment unit as the target clothing treatment unit.
  • the two clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus generally wash different types of clothing.
  • an upper clothing treatment unit i.e., a clothing treatment unit at an upper location
  • a lower clothing treatment unit i.e., a clothing treatment unit at a lower location
  • washing modes corresponding to the two clothing treatment units are different. That is, when a certain clothing treatment unit is used to wash clothing, the clothing may be washed only in a washing mode corresponding to the clothing treatment unit.
  • washing modes corresponding to the first clothing treatment unit are obtained as the first washing modes
  • washing modes corresponding to the second clothing treatment unit are obtained as the second clothing treatment units.
  • Whether there exists a first washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode among all the first washing modes corresponding to the first clothing treatment unit and whether there exists a second washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode among all the second washing modes corresponding to the second clothing treatment unit are judged. If there exists a first washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode, the first clothing treatment unit is determined as the target clothing treatment unit, and if there exists a second washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode, the second clothing treatment unit is determined as the target clothing treatment unit.
  • a recommended washing mode in the washing modes corresponding to the target clothing treatment unit that is, there exists a washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed, so when the user uses the target clothing treatment unit to wash the clothing to be washed, the recommended washing mode may be used to wash the clothing, thus improving the cleanliness of the clothing and ensuring the washing effect.
  • the target clothing treatment unit when pushed to the user to inform the user of a clothing treatment unit currently available for washing the clothing to be washed, may be pushed through the voice device. That is, the target clothing treatment unit is sent to the voice device, so that the voice device plays the target clothing treatment unit to the user. For example, the voice device plays that the upper clothing treatment unit is available for washing at present, thereby improving the convenience for the user to obtain information sent by the server.
  • the washing mode when it is necessary to push a washing mode (i.e., the frequently-used washing mode, the recommended washing mode or the target frequently-used washing mode) to the user, the washing mode may be pushed together with the target clothing treatment unit to improve pushing efficiency, and such pushing to the user may be performed through voice recognition.
  • a washing mode i.e., the frequently-used washing mode, the recommended washing mode or the target frequently-used washing mode
  • the target clothing treatment unit and the washing mode are pushed to the user, if it is determined that the user re-inputs the start instruction, it means that the user has placed the clothing to be washed in the target clothing treatment unit, so the target clothing treatment unit is determined to be the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and is directly controlled to wash according to the corresponding washing mode (i.e., the frequently-used washing mode or the recommended washing mode).
  • the corresponding washing mode i.e., the frequently-used washing mode or the recommended washing mode.
  • Determining whether the user re-inputs the start instruction may be performed through the user's voice sent by the voice device after the server pushes the target clothing treatment unit and the washing mode to the user. That is, voice recognition is performed on the user's invoice to determine whether a preset start keyword is included therein. If it is included, it is determined that the user has input the start instruction; otherwise, it is determined that the user has not input the start instruction.
  • the voice device may also perform voice recognition on the user's voice to determine whether the preset start keyword is included therein. If it is included, it is determined that the user has input the start instruction, and otherwise, it is determined that the user has not input the start instruction. After it is determined that the user has input the start instruction, the target clothing treatment unit is directly controlled to perform washing according to a corresponding washing mode (for example, the frequently-used washing mode).
  • a corresponding washing mode for example, the frequently-used washing mode
  • the user speaks with a voice including the clothing treatment unit and the washing mode, so that the server or the voice device controls the clothing treatment apparatus according to the voice.
  • the washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed is determined as the recommended washing mode according to the attribute information of the clothing to be washed.
  • the clothing treatment unit corresponding to the washing mode is determined as the target clothing treatment unit, i.e., the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the target clothing treatment unit and the recommended washing mode is pushed to the user, so that the user may place the clothing to be washed in the target clothing treatment unit, and washing is performed according to the recommended washing mode to ensure the washing effect.
  • the running status of all the clothing treatment units when it is determined that the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, it means that all the clothing treatment units are in the running status, i.e., are already started, and there is no need to start them again, so the prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are running is sent to the user, to inform the user that all the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus are running and there is no need to start them again.
  • a process of sending to the user the prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are running is similar to the above-mentioned process of sending to the voice device the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start, and will not be repeated here.
  • the clothing treatment unit of which running status is running when it is determined that running status of one of all the clothing treatment units in the clothing treatment apparatus is not running and running status of other clothing treatment units is running, it means that the clothing treatment units of which running status is running are already started and there is no need to start these clothing treatment units again, so the not-started clothing treatment unit, i.e., the clothing treatment unit of which running status is not running is directly determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and is directly started without requiring the user to make a selection, thus simplifying the process of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and thereby simplifying the process of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and effectively improving the control efficiency.
  • FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart II of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. On the basis of the embodiment in FIG. 2 , a specific implementation process of how to determine, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is described in detail in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4 , the method includes:
  • the running status of all the clothing treatment units when the running status of all the clothing treatment units is determined to be running for only one clothing treatment unit and not running for the other clothing treatment units, it means that only one clothing treatment unit among all the clothing treatment units in the clothing treatment apparatus is running, i.e., already started, and the other clothing treatment units are idle, i.e., not started yet. Since the control operation corresponding to the second control instruction needs to be executed on a clothing treatment unit that is already started, the started clothing treatment unit, i.e., the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is running is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the clothing treatment apparatus includes a first clothing treatment unit and a second clothing treatment unit
  • running status of the first clothing treatment unit is not running
  • running status of the second clothing treatment unit is running
  • the second clothing treatment unit that is running is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the running status of the first clothing treatment unit is running and the running status of the second clothing treatment unit is not running, it is determined that the running status of one of the first and second clothing treatment units is not running and the running status of the other clothing treatment unit is running, and the first clothing treatment unit that is running is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled or cancelling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is performed according to the second control instruction.
  • the second control instruction is an instruction to suspend running, running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is suspended, that is, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled which is washing clothing is controlled to suspend washing;
  • the second control instruction is an instruction to stop running, running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is controlled to be stopped, that is, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is powered off;
  • the second control instruction is an instruction to cancel a reservation, it means that reservation information set by the user needs to be canceled, so the reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is cancelled, that is, the reservation information set by the user on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is cancelled.
  • the reservation information includes reservation time and a reservation washing mode.
  • the running status of all the clothing treatment units when the running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, it means that each of the clothing treatment units is in idle status, and there is no need to suspend running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, or stop running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled or cancel the reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, so the prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are not running is sent to the user, to inform the user that all the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus are not running and there is no need to perform operations of suspending running, stopping running or cancelling reservation information etc.
  • a process of sending to the user the prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are not running is similar to the above-mentioned process of sending to the voice device the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start, and will not be repeated here.
  • the clothing treatment unit to be controlled when all the clothing treatment units are running, it means that each of the clothing treatment units is in running status, that is, an operation corresponding to the second control instruction can be performed thereon, and the clothing treatment unit to be controlled cannot be directly determined, so the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to stop is sent to the user, so that the user can select which clothing treatment unit to operate.
  • the clothing treatment unit selected by the user After the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is obtained, the clothing treatment unit is directly determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is controlled, in which it is not necessary to determine, after the clothing treatment unit is selected by the user, whether the clothing treatment unit is correct, thus improving the cumbersomeness of the steps of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the running status of all the clothing treatment units when the running status of all the clothing treatment units is determined to be running for only one clothing treatment unit and not running for the other clothing treatment units, it means that the running clothing treatment units of which the running status is not running are idle, i.e., not running yet, and there is no need to redundantly perform operations related to stopping running on the clothing treatment units, so the clothing treatment unit that is already started, i.e., the clothing treatment unit of which running status is running is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and related operations are directly performed on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled according to the second control instruction, without requiring the user to make a selection, thus simplifying the process of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and thereby simplifying the process of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and effectively improving the control efficiency.
  • FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • the clothing treatment apparatus includes at least two clothing treatment units.
  • a device 50 for controlling the clothing treatment apparatus may include: an information obtaining module 501 and a processing module 502.
  • the information obtaining module 501 is configured to obtain a control instruction and running status of each of the clothing treatment units.
  • the processing module 502 is configured to determine, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled and perform, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the control instruction includes a first control instruction and a second control instruction.
  • the first control instruction includes a start instruction
  • the second control instruction includes one or more of an instruction to suspend running, an instruction to stop running, and an instruction to cancel a reservation.
  • the processing module 502 is further configured to: perform, according to the control instruction, the corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, where the operation includes one or more of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and cancelling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • the processing module 502 is further configured to:
  • the processing module 502 is further configured to: send to a voice device the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start, so that the voice device plays to the user the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start.
  • the processing module 502 is further configured to:
  • processing module 502 is further configured to:
  • FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of a server provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • a server 60 provided in this embodiment includes: at least one processor 601 and a memory 602.
  • the server 60 also includes a communication component 603.
  • the processor 601, the memory 602 and the communication component 603 are connected through a bus 604.
  • the at least one processor 601 executes a computer-executed instruction stored in the memory 602, so that the at least one processor 601 executes the method for controlling the clothing treatment apparatus as performed by the above washing device.
  • the communication component 603 can realize the communication between the server and other devices (for example, the voice device, the clothing treatment apparatus, etc.).
  • the processor may be a central processing unit (English: Central Processing Unit, referred to as: CPU), and may also be other general-purpose processors, a digital signal processor (English: Digital Signal Processor, referred to as: DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (English: Application Specific Integrated Circuit, referred to as: ASIC), etc.
  • a general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may be any conventional processor, or the like. The steps combined with the disclosed method can be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.
  • the memory may include a high-speed RAM memory, and may also include a non-volatile storage NVM, such as at least one disk memory.
  • NVM non-volatile storage
  • the bus may be an industry standard architecture (Industry Standard Architecture, ISA) bus, a peripheral component interconnect (Peripheral Component, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, etc.
  • ISA Industry Standard Architecture
  • PCI peripheral component interconnect
  • EISA Extended Industry Standard Architecture
  • the bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus and so on.
  • the buses in the drawings of the present disclosure are not limited to only one bus or one type of bus.
  • Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-executed instruction, when the computer-executed instruction is executed by a processor, the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus in the above method embodiments is implemented.
  • An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer program product including a computer program, when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus in the above method embodiments is implemented.
  • the above-mentioned computer-readable storage medium can be realized by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or their combination, such as a static random access memory (SRAM), an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), a programmable read only memory (PROM), a read only memory (ROM), a magnetic memory, a flash memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk.
  • SRAM static random access memory
  • EEPROM electrically erasable programmable read only memory
  • EPROM erasable programmable read only memory
  • PROM programmable read only memory
  • ROM read only memory
  • magnetic memory a magnetic memory
  • flash memory a magnetic disk or an optical disk.
  • An exemplary readable storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the readable storage medium.
  • the readable storage medium can also be a component of the processor.
  • the processor and the readable storage medium may be located in an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuits, ASIC for short).
  • ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuits
  • the processor and the readable storage medium can also exist in the device as discrete components.
  • the aforementioned program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium.
  • the steps including the above-mentioned method embodiments are executed; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk or an optical disk and other various media that can store a program code.

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Abstract

A method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus, and a server. The method includes: obtaining a control instruction and obtaining running status of clothing treatment units; determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and performing, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, thus realizing automatic determination and control of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, improving cumbersomeness of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and in turn improving cumbersomeness of controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, thereby improving control efficiency and avoiding a problem of low control efficiency of controlling a clothing treatment unit.

Description

  • The present disclosure claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010883182.7, titled "Method for Controlling Clothing Treatment Apparatus, and Server" and filed with the China Patent Office on August 28, 2020 , which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
  • TECHNICAL FIELD
  • The present disclosure relates to the field of smart home, and in particular to a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus, and a server.
  • BACKGROUND
  • With the development of technologies and the social progress, penetration of clothing treatment apparatuses (for example, washing machines) is getting higher and higher. Some clothing treatment apparatuses include two clothing treatment units (for example, tubs) which are generally placed above and below each other, and people may use the upper and lower clothing treatment units to wash clothing.
  • At present, when a clothing treatment apparatus including two clothing treatment units is controlled (for example, a specific clothing treatment unit is controlled to stop washing clothing) by a user, firstly an inquiry to the user about which clothing treatment unit is to be controlled needs to be made by a voice device, and a clothing treatment unit selected by the user is determined as a clothing treatment unit to be controlled only when the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is determined to be correct. After that, a corresponding control operation is performed on that clothing treatment unit.
  • However, for controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, it is necessary for the user to select the clothing treatment unit, and also necessary to determine whether the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is correct. The selected clothing treatment unit, only when determined to be correct, is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled on which corresponding control operation is then performed, which results in cumbersome steps for determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and thus causes cumbersome steps for controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and has low control efficiency.
  • SUMMARY
  • This summary is provided to introduce a simplified form of concepts that are described in detail in following description of embodiments. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed technical solutions, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the claimed technical solutions.
  • In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus which includes at least two clothing treatment units, and the method includes:
    • obtaining a control instruction and obtaining running status of each of the clothing treatment units; and
    • determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and performing, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In a possible design, the control instruction includes a first control instruction, the first control instruction includes a start instruction, and the method further includes:
    • sending to a user, if running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start; and
    • sending to the user, if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are running.
  • In a possible design, the control instruction includes a first control instruction, and the determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled includes:
    determining, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is not running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is not running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In a possible design, the control instruction includes a second control instruction, the second control instruction includes one or more of an instruction to suspend running, an instruction to stop running, and an instruction to cancel a reservation, and the method further includes:
    • sending to a user, if running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are not running; and
    • sending to the user, if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to stop.
  • In a possible design, the control instruction includes a second control instruction, and the determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled includes:
    determining, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is not running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In a possible design, the sending, to the user, the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start includes:
    sending, to a voice device, the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start, so that the voice device plays the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start to the user.
  • In a possible design, the method also includes:
    • obtaining user voice information sent by a voice device;
    • judging whether there exists in the user voice information a keyword matching a preset control keyword; and
    • generating, if there exists, a control instruction corresponding to the keyword.
  • In a possible design, the performing, according to the control instruction, the corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled includes:
    performing, according to the control instruction, the corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, where the operation includes one or more of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and cancelling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a device for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus including at least two clothing treatment units, and the device includes:
    • an information obtaining module configured to obtain a control instruction and running status of each of the clothing treatment units; and
    • a processing module configured to determine, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled and perform, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In a possible design, the control instruction includes a first control instruction, the first control instruction includes a start instruction, and the processing module is further configured to:
    • send to a user, if running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start; and
    • send to the user, if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are running.
  • In a possible design, the control instruction includes a first control instruction, and the processing module is further configured to:
    determine, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is not running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is not running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In a possible design, the control instruction includes a second control instruction, the second control instruction includes one or more of an instruction to suspend running, an instruction to stop running, and an instruction to cancel a reservation, and the processing module is further configured to:
    • send to a user, if running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are not running; and
    • send to the user, if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to stop.
  • In a possible design, the control instruction includes a second control instruction, and the processing module is further configured to:
    determine, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is not running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In a possible design, the processing module is further configured to:
    send, to a voice device, the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start, so that the voice device plays the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start to the user.
  • In a possible design, the processing module is further configured to:
    • obtain user voice information sent by a voice device;
    • judge whether there exists in the user voice information a keyword matching a preset control keyword; and
    • generate, if there exists, a control instruction corresponding to the keyword.
  • In a possible design, the processing module is further configured to:
    perform, according to the control instruction, the corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, where the operation includes one or more of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and cancelling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a server including: at least one processor and a memory;
    • the memory stores a computer-executed instruction; and
    • the at least one processor executes the computer-executed instruction stored in the memory, to cause the at least one processor to execute the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus described above in the first aspect and various possible designs of the first aspect.
  • In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-executed instruction, where when the computer-executed instruction is executed by a processor, the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus described above in the first aspect and various possible designs of the first aspect is implemented.
  • In a fifth aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer program product including a computer program, where when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus described above in the first aspect and various possible designs of the first aspect is implemented.
  • Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus, and a server. By obtaining a control instruction and obtaining running status of each of the clothing treatment units; determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and performing, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, when the control instruction is obtained, the running status of each of all clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus is obtained, and then the clothing treatment unit that needs to be controlled is directly determined according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, that is, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is determined, and an operation corresponding to the control instruction is performed on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, which realizes automatic determination and control of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, improves cumbersomeness of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and in turn improves cumbersomeness of controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, thus improves control efficiency and avoids a problem of low control efficiency of controlling a clothing treatment unit.
  • Above description is only an overview of technical solutions of the present disclosure. In order to better understand technical means of the present disclosure, to enable implementation according to the contents of the specification, and further to make the above and other purposes, features and advantages of the present disclosure more obvious and understandable, preferred embodiments are specifically provided and described in detail as follows with reference to the accompanying drawings.
  • BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S)
  • Above and other features, advantages and aspects of various embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings. Throughout the accompanying drawings, same or similar reference numerals denote same or similar elements. It should be understood that the drawings are illustrative and that components and elements are not necessarily drawn to scale.
    • FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
    • FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart I of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
    • FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart II of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
    • FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart III of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
    • FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
    • FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of a server provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
    DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
  • Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although some embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; and on the contrary, these embodiments are provided to facilitate a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the accompanying drawings and embodiments of the present disclosure are for exemplary purposes only, rather than to limit the protection scope of the present disclosure.
  • It should be understood that the steps described in the method implementations of the present disclosure may be executed in different orders and/or in parallel. Additionally, method implementations may include additional steps and/or omit executions of illustrated steps. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.
  • As used herein, the term "include/comprise" and its variations indicate openended inclusions, i.e., "includes but not limited to". The term "based on" refers to "at least partially based on". The term "one embodiment" means "at least one embodiment"; the term "another embodiment" means "at least one further embodiment"; the term "some embodiments" means "at least some embodiments." Relevant definitions of other terms will be given in the description below.
  • It should be noted that concepts such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the present disclosure are only used to distinguish different apparatus, modules or units, and are not used to limit the sequence or interdependence of functions performed by these apparatus, modules or units.
  • It should be noted that modifications such as "a" and "plurality of" mentioned in the present disclosure are illustrative instead of restrictive, and should be construed as "one or more" by those skilled in the art, unless otherwise clearly indicated in the context.
  • Names of messages or information exchanged between multiple apparatuses in the embodiments of the present disclosure are used for illustrative purposes only, and are not intended to limit the scope of these messages or information.
  • In the prior art, when a control instruction is input by a user to control a clothing treatment apparatus including two clothing treatment units, firstly an inquiry to the user about which clothing treatment unit is to be controlled needs to be made by a voice device. The clothing treatment unit selected by the user is determined as a clothing treatment unit to be controlled only when it is determined that the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is correct, that is, when it is determined that running status of the clothing treatment unit matches the control instruction (for example, when the control instruction is a start instruction and the running status of the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is not running, the running status of the selected clothing treatment unit matches the control instruction). After that, a corresponding operation is performed on the clothing treatment unit. However, for controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, it is necessary for the user to select the clothing treatment unit, and also necessary to determine whether the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is correct. The selected clothing treatment unit, only when determined to be correct, is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled on which a corresponding control operation is then performed, which results in cumbersome steps for determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and thus causes cumbersome steps for controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and has low control efficiency.
  • Therefore, in view of the above problem, the present disclosure provides a technical concept: obtaining running status of the two clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus, i.e., running status of a first clothing treatment unit and running status of a second clothing treatment unit, when it is determined that the user wants to control the clothing treatment apparatus, that is, when the control instruction is obtained; in the case that the running status of one of the first clothing treatment unit and the second clothing treatment unit is determined to be not running and the running status of the other unit is running, if the control instruction is a start instruction, determining the clothing treatment unit of which running status is not running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and starting this clothing treatment unit of which running status is not running; if the control instruction is an instruction to suspend running or an instruction to stop running or an instruction to cancel a reservation, determining the clothing treatment unit of which running status is running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and performing a corresponding operation on this clothing treatment unit according to the control instruction, which realizes automatic determination and control of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled without user selecting a clothing treatment unit, improves cumbersomeness of controlling a clothing treatment unit, and thereby improves control efficiency.
  • Preferred technical solutions of the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus and the server of the present disclosure will be described below in conjunction with the above-mentioned drawings.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, a voice device 101 is configured to collect a user's voice to obtain the user's voice message which is sent to a server 102. When determining according to the user's voice message that the user wants to control a clothing treatment unit of a clothing treatment apparatus, the server 102 generates a corresponding control instruction, obtains running status of each of the clothing treatment units of a clothing treatment apparatus 103, and determines, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled and performs a corresponding control operation on the clothing treatment unit according to the control instruction.
  • Optionally, the clothing treatment apparatus is one including at least two clothing treatment units, such as a twin-tub washing machine. Individual clothing treatment units are tubs, i.e., washing tubs, of a washing machine and are capable of washing clothing. The voice device may be a smart speaker, or other devices that can collect a user's voice and/or play voice.
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart I of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. The clothing treatment apparatus includes at least two clothing treatment units. Executor of this embodiment may be the server in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, which is not particularly limited in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the method includes:
    S201, obtaining a control instruction and obtaining running status of each of the clothing treatment units.
  • Optionally, the control instruction includes a first control instruction and a second control instruction. The first control instruction includes a start instruction. The control instruction includes a second control instruction, and the second control instruction includes one or more of an instruction to suspend running, an instruction to stop running, and an instruction to cancel a reservation.
  • In this embodiment, after the control instruction is obtained, which means that a user wants to control a clothing treatment unit of the clothing treatment apparatus, the running status of each of the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus is obtained.
  • Running status includes running and not running. Running means that a clothing treatment unit is in running status, that is, the clothing treatment unit is washing clothing or is waiting until the scheduled time set by the user is up. Not running means that the clothing treatment unit is in idle status and can be used to wash clothing to be washed.
  • The clothing to be washed includes clothes, shoes, hats and the like. For washing the clothing to be washed, a clothing treatment process includes one or more of a washing process, a rinsing process, a spinning process and a drying process.
  • In addition, optionally, when obtaining running status of the two clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus, the server may send a status obtaining request to the clothing treatment apparatus, so that the clothing treatment apparatus obtains running status of its own clothing treatment units when receiving the status obtaining request and returns the running status to the server.
  • Further, the clothing treatment apparatus may also obtain the running status of its own clothing treatment units, i.e., running status of all the clothing treatment units included therein, at intervals of a preset time, and send the running status to the server. For example, when the clothing treatment apparatus is a twin-tub washing machine, clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus include two upper and lower clothing treatment units, that is, tubs of the twin-tub washing machine include two upper and lower tubs.
  • S202, determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled and performing, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In this embodiment, after the running status of each of the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus is obtained, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, on which an operation corresponding to the control instruction is to be performed, is determined from all the clothing treatment units according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, and then the operation is automatically performed on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, which realizes a control of running status of a clothing treatment unit.
  • The operation includes one or more of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and canceling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • It can be seen from the above description that by obtaining the running status of each of all the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus upon receiving the control instruction, and then directly determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit that needs to be controlled, i.e., the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and performing an operation corresponding to the control instruction on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, automatic determination and control of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is realized, cumbersomeness of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is improved, cumbersomeness of controlling the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is thereby improved, thus control efficiency is improved, and the problem of low control efficiency of controlling the clothing treatment unit is avoided.
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart II of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. On the basis of the embodiment in FIG. 2, when the control instruction is a first control instruction, a specific implementation process of how to determine, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is described in detail in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the method includes:
    S301, obtaining a control instruction and obtaining running status of each of the clothing treatment units.
  • In this embodiment, a user may further control a clothing treatment unit of the clothing treatment apparatus by voice, that is, when the user wants to control a clothing treatment unit of the clothing treatment apparatus, he/she may speak with a preset control keyword included in a voice, and after the voice device collects the user's voice, corresponding user voice information is generated in a preset format and sent to the server.
  • The server obtains the user voice information sent by the voice device. That is, after the user voice information sent by the voice device is received, the server determines whether there exists in the user voice information a keyword matching a preset control keyword. If there exists, it means that the user has input a voice for controlling a clothing treatment unit of the clothing treatment apparatus, a control instruction corresponding to the keyword is generated. For example, when the keyword is "start", the generated control instruction is the start instruction; as another example, when the keyword is "suspend running", the generated control instruction is the instruction to suspend running.
  • In addition, optionally, whether there exists the preset control keyword in the user voice information may also be determined by the voice device, and when it is determined that there exists the preset control keyword, a corresponding control instruction is generated and sent to the server, so that the server obtains the running status of the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus and determines the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • S302, determining, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is not running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is not running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In this embodiment, when it is determined that the running status of one of all the clothing treatment units included in the clothing treatment apparatus is not running, and the running status of other clothing treatment units is running, it means that only one clothing treatment unit among all the clothing treatment units in the clothing treatment apparatus is idle, i.e., not started, and the running status of the other clothing treatment units is running, i.e., already started. Therefore, the clothing treatment unit that has not been started can be started. That is, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is not running is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled which is to be started to wash the clothing to be washed.
  • For example, in the case that the number of the clothing treatment units included in the clothing treatment apparatus is 2, that is, the clothing treatment apparatus includes a first clothing treatment unit and a second clothing treatment unit, when running status of the first clothing treatment unit is not running, and running status of the second clothing treatment unit is running, it is determined that the running status of one of the first and second clothing treatment units is not running, and the running status of the other clothing treatment unit is running, and the first clothing treatment unit in the idle status is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled. Or, when the running status of the first clothing treatment unit is running and the running status of the second clothing treatment unit is not running, it is determined that the running status of one of the first and second clothing treatment units is not running, and the running status of the other clothing treatment unit is running, and the second clothing treatment unit in the idle status is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In addition, after the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is determined, that is, after the clothing treatment unit to be started is determined, if the user does not set a washing mode, whether there exists attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed is determined. If there exists attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, a recommended washing mode is determined according to the attribute information, and starting is performed according to the recommended washing mode, so that the clothing to be washed is washed in the recommended washing mode. If there exists no attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, a target frequently-used washing mode is obtained from washing modes corresponding to the target clothing treatment unit, and starting is performed according to the target frequently-used washing mode, so that the clothing to be washed is washed in the target frequently-used washing mode.
  • Specifically, to ensure the washing effect, after the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is determined, whether there exists attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed is judged. If there exists the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, a washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed is determined according to the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, so as to obtain a recommended washing mode. Starting is performed according to the recommended washing mode, and thus the clothing to be washed can be washed efficiently, which ensures the clothing washing effect.
  • If there exists no attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, it means that a washing mode recommended to the user may be determined according to the user's washing habits, so a washing mode frequently used by the user is searched from the washing modes corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled to obtain the target frequently-used washing mode.
  • The frequently-used washing mode is a washing mode used most frequently by the user. After washing clothing, the clothing treatment apparatus sends a washing mode and a clothing treatment unit used for washing the clothing to the server, so that the server can record them.
  • In this embodiment, optionally, determining whether there exists the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed is actually performed according to the user voice information sent by the voice device, that is, voice recognition is performed on the user voice information to obtain corresponding recognized text. Whether the recognized text includes the attribute information about the clothing to be washed is then determined. The attribute information includes information such as clothing material, clothing type (upper garments, trousers, coats, etc.), and the quantity of the clothing to be washed. For example, the recognized text obtained by recognizing the user voice information is washing two woolen sweaters, indicating that the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed is told by the user, and then it is determined that there exists the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed.
  • S303, performing, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In this embodiment, after the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is determined, the corresponding control operation is performed on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled according to the first control instruction, that is, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is started, so as to wash clothing to be washed in the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • S304, sending to a user, if running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start.
  • In this embodiment, when the running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, it means that each of the clothing treatment units is in idle status, and the clothing treatment unit to be controlled cannot be directly determined, so the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start is sent to the user, so that the user selects the clothing treatment unit which needs to be started. After the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is obtained, the clothing treatment unit is directly determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is started, in which it is not necessary to determine, after the clothing treatment unit is selected by the user, whether the clothing treatment unit is correct, thus improving the cumbersomeness of the steps of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • Optionally, the sending to the user the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start includes:
    sending to the voice device the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start, so that the voice device plays to the user the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start.
  • Specifically, when sending to the user the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start to prompt the user to select the clothing treatment unit, the server may send it through the voice device. That is, the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start is sent to the voice device, and is then played by the voice device after it is received by the voice device. When hearing the prompt information, the user speaks out the clothing treatment unit to be selected. After obtaining the clothing treatment unit selected by the user, the voice device sends the clothing treatment unit to the server, and the server determines the clothing treatment unit as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, so as to start the clothing treatment unit to be controlled according to the first control instruction, which realizes voice control.
  • In addition, when the control instruction is a start instruction, it means that the user wants to wash the clothing to be washed. When it is determined that the running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, a clothing treatment unit suitable for washing the clothing to be washed, i.e., a clothing treatment unit suitable for starting, may be recommended to the user. The recommended clothing treatment unit is determined as a target clothing treatment unit and is pushed to the user, so that the user chooses whether to start the target clothing treatment unit. When it is determined that the user starts the target clothing treatment unit, the target clothing treatment unit is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and the specific process includes:
    if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, whether there exists attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed is determined. If there exists attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, a recommended washing mode is determined according to the attribute information, and a target clothing treatment unit is determined according to the recommended washing mode. If there exists no attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, a frequently-used washing mode corresponding to the clothing treatment apparatus is obtained, and a target clothing treatment unit is determined according to the frequently-used washing mode. The target clothing treatment unit is pushed to the user as the clothing treatment unit used to wash the clothing to be washed. When the start instruction is obtained, the target clothing treatment unit is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and is started according to the corresponding recommended washing mode or frequently-used washing mode, so as to wash the clothing to be washed.
  • To ensure the washing effect, when it is determined that the two clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus are both in idle status, whether there exists attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed may be determined, so that the attribute information may be used to determine a washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed. Since different clothing treatment units correspond to different washing modes, a clothing treatment unit corresponding to the washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed may be determined as the target clothing treatment unit.
  • After it is determined that there exists the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed, a recommended washing mode matching the attribute information is determined, that is, a washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed is determined. A clothing treatment unit suitable for washing the clothing to be washed is determined as the target clothing treatment unit according to the recommended washing mode.
  • It should be noted that a process of determining, according to the attribute information corresponding to the clothing, the washing mode matching the attribute information is an existing process. For example, the washing mode corresponding to the attribute information corresponding to the clothing to be washed may be searched from a preset attribute mode mapping table. The washing mode is a washing mode matching the attribute information, and is determined as the recommended washing mode.
  • For the convenience of description, the number of clothing treatment units included in the clothing treatment apparatus is set to 2. That is, taking the clothing treatment apparatus including a first clothing treatment unit and a second clothing treatment unit as an example, the process of determining the target clothing treatment unit according to the recommended washing mode is described.
  • In this embodiment, optionally, determining the target clothing treatment unit according to the recommended washing mode includes: obtaining first washing mode(s) corresponding to the first clothing treatment unit and second washing mode(s) corresponding to the second clothing treatment unit; if there exists, in the first washing mode(s), a first washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode, determining the first clothing treatment unit as the target clothing treatment unit; if there exists, in the second washing mode(s), a second washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode, determining the second clothing treatment unit as the target clothing treatment unit.
  • In this embodiment, the two clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus generally wash different types of clothing. For example, an upper clothing treatment unit (i.e., a clothing treatment unit at an upper location) generally washes small and light-weight clothing, and a lower clothing treatment unit (i.e., a clothing treatment unit at a lower location) generally washes large and heavy-weight clothing. Therefore, washing modes corresponding to the two clothing treatment units are different. That is, when a certain clothing treatment unit is used to wash clothing, the clothing may be washed only in a washing mode corresponding to the clothing treatment unit. Therefore, for determining the target clothing treatment unit according to the recommended washing mode, washing modes corresponding to the first clothing treatment unit are obtained as the first washing modes, and washing modes corresponding to the second clothing treatment unit are obtained as the second clothing treatment units. Whether there exists a first washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode among all the first washing modes corresponding to the first clothing treatment unit and whether there exists a second washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode among all the second washing modes corresponding to the second clothing treatment unit are judged. If there exists a first washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode, the first clothing treatment unit is determined as the target clothing treatment unit, and if there exists a second washing mode that is the same as the recommended washing mode, the second clothing treatment unit is determined as the target clothing treatment unit. There exists a recommended washing mode in the washing modes corresponding to the target clothing treatment unit, that is, there exists a washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed, so when the user uses the target clothing treatment unit to wash the clothing to be washed, the recommended washing mode may be used to wash the clothing, thus improving the cleanliness of the clothing and ensuring the washing effect.
  • In this embodiment, the target clothing treatment unit, when pushed to the user to inform the user of a clothing treatment unit currently available for washing the clothing to be washed, may be pushed through the voice device. That is, the target clothing treatment unit is sent to the voice device, so that the voice device plays the target clothing treatment unit to the user. For example, the voice device plays that the upper clothing treatment unit is available for washing at present, thereby improving the convenience for the user to obtain information sent by the server.
  • In addition, optionally, when it is necessary to push a washing mode (i.e., the frequently-used washing mode, the recommended washing mode or the target frequently-used washing mode) to the user, the washing mode may be pushed together with the target clothing treatment unit to improve pushing efficiency, and such pushing to the user may be performed through voice recognition.
  • Further, after the target clothing treatment unit and the washing mode are pushed to the user, if it is determined that the user re-inputs the start instruction, it means that the user has placed the clothing to be washed in the target clothing treatment unit, so the target clothing treatment unit is determined to be the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and is directly controlled to wash according to the corresponding washing mode (i.e., the frequently-used washing mode or the recommended washing mode).
  • Determining whether the user re-inputs the start instruction may be performed through the user's voice sent by the voice device after the server pushes the target clothing treatment unit and the washing mode to the user. That is, voice recognition is performed on the user's invoice to determine whether a preset start keyword is included therein. If it is included, it is determined that the user has input the start instruction; otherwise, it is determined that the user has not input the start instruction.
  • Optionally, after collecting the user's voice, the voice device may also perform voice recognition on the user's voice to determine whether the preset start keyword is included therein. If it is included, it is determined that the user has input the start instruction, and otherwise, it is determined that the user has not input the start instruction. After it is determined that the user has input the start instruction, the target clothing treatment unit is directly controlled to perform washing according to a corresponding washing mode (for example, the frequently-used washing mode).
  • In addition, optionally, when wanting to use other clothing treatment units or other washing modes to wash the clothing to be washed, the user speaks with a voice including the clothing treatment unit and the washing mode, so that the server or the voice device controls the clothing treatment apparatus according to the voice.
  • In this embodiment, when it is determined that the running status of all the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus is not running, it means that all the clothing treatment units are idle and available for washing clothing, so the washing mode suitable for washing the clothing to be washed is determined as the recommended washing mode according to the attribute information of the clothing to be washed. The clothing treatment unit corresponding to the washing mode is determined as the target clothing treatment unit, i.e., the clothing treatment unit to be controlled. The target clothing treatment unit and the recommended washing mode is pushed to the user, so that the user may place the clothing to be washed in the target clothing treatment unit, and washing is performed according to the recommended washing mode to ensure the washing effect.
  • S305, sending to the user, if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are running.
  • In this embodiment, when it is determined that the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, it means that all the clothing treatment units are in the running status, i.e., are already started, and there is no need to start them again, so the prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are running is sent to the user, to inform the user that all the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus are running and there is no need to start them again.
  • A process of sending to the user the prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are running is similar to the above-mentioned process of sending to the voice device the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start, and will not be repeated here.
  • In this embodiment, when it is determined that running status of one of all the clothing treatment units in the clothing treatment apparatus is not running and running status of other clothing treatment units is running, it means that the clothing treatment units of which running status is running are already started and there is no need to start these clothing treatment units again, so the not-started clothing treatment unit, i.e., the clothing treatment unit of which running status is not running is directly determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and is directly started without requiring the user to make a selection, thus simplifying the process of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and thereby simplifying the process of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and effectively improving the control efficiency.
  • FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart II of a method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. On the basis of the embodiment in FIG. 2, a specific implementation process of how to determine, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is described in detail in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the method includes:
    • S401, obtaining a control instruction and obtaining each of the clothing treatment units;
    • S402, determining, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is not running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In this embodiment, when the running status of all the clothing treatment units is determined to be running for only one clothing treatment unit and not running for the other clothing treatment units, it means that only one clothing treatment unit among all the clothing treatment units in the clothing treatment apparatus is running, i.e., already started, and the other clothing treatment units are idle, i.e., not started yet. Since the control operation corresponding to the second control instruction needs to be executed on a clothing treatment unit that is already started, the started clothing treatment unit, i.e., the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is running is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • For example, in the case that the number of the clothing treatment units included in the clothing treatment apparatus is 2, that is, the clothing treatment apparatus includes a first clothing treatment unit and a second clothing treatment unit, when running status of the first clothing treatment unit is not running, and running status of the second clothing treatment unit is running, it is determined that the running status of one of the first and second clothing treatment units is not running, and the running status of the other clothing treatment unit is running. The second clothing treatment unit that is running is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled. Or, when the running status of the first clothing treatment unit is running and the running status of the second clothing treatment unit is not running, it is determined that the running status of one of the first and second clothing treatment units is not running and the running status of the other clothing treatment unit is running, and the first clothing treatment unit that is running is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • S403, performing, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In this embodiment, after the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is determined, suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled or cancelling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is performed according to the second control instruction. For example, when the second control instruction is an instruction to suspend running, running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is suspended, that is, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled which is washing clothing is controlled to suspend washing; as another example, when the second control instruction is an instruction to stop running, running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is controlled to be stopped, that is, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is powered off; as another example, when the second control instruction is an instruction to cancel a reservation, it means that reservation information set by the user needs to be canceled, so the reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is cancelled, that is, the reservation information set by the user on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is cancelled.
  • The reservation information includes reservation time and a reservation washing mode.
  • S404, sending to a user, if running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are not running.
  • In this embodiment, when the running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, it means that each of the clothing treatment units is in idle status, and there is no need to suspend running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, or stop running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled or cancel the reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, so the prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are not running is sent to the user, to inform the user that all the clothing treatment units of the clothing treatment apparatus are not running and there is no need to perform operations of suspending running, stopping running or cancelling reservation information etc.
  • A process of sending to the user the prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are not running is similar to the above-mentioned process of sending to the voice device the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start, and will not be repeated here.
  • S405, sending to the user, if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to stop.
  • In this embodiment, when all the clothing treatment units are running, it means that each of the clothing treatment units is in running status, that is, an operation corresponding to the second control instruction can be performed thereon, and the clothing treatment unit to be controlled cannot be directly determined, so the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to stop is sent to the user, so that the user can select which clothing treatment unit to operate. After the clothing treatment unit selected by the user is obtained, the clothing treatment unit is directly determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and the clothing treatment unit to be controlled is controlled, in which it is not necessary to determine, after the clothing treatment unit is selected by the user, whether the clothing treatment unit is correct, thus improving the cumbersomeness of the steps of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In this embodiment, when the running status of all the clothing treatment units is determined to be running for only one clothing treatment unit and not running for the other clothing treatment units, it means that the running clothing treatment units of which the running status is not running are idle, i.e., not running yet, and there is no need to redundantly perform operations related to stopping running on the clothing treatment units, so the clothing treatment unit that is already started, i.e., the clothing treatment unit of which running status is running is determined as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and related operations are directly performed on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled according to the second control instruction, without requiring the user to make a selection, thus simplifying the process of determining the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and thereby simplifying the process of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and effectively improving the control efficiency.
  • FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. The clothing treatment apparatus includes at least two clothing treatment units. As shown in FIG. 5, a device 50 for controlling the clothing treatment apparatus may include: an information obtaining module 501 and a processing module 502.
  • The information obtaining module 501 is configured to obtain a control instruction and running status of each of the clothing treatment units.
  • The processing module 502 is configured to determine, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled and perform, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • The control instruction includes a first control instruction and a second control instruction. The first control instruction includes a start instruction, and the second control instruction includes one or more of an instruction to suspend running, an instruction to stop running, and an instruction to cancel a reservation.
  • In a possible design, the processing module 502 is further configured to:
    perform, according to the control instruction, the corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, where the operation includes one or more of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and cancelling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In another embodiment of the present disclosure, on the basis of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 above, when the control instruction includes the first control instruction, the processing module 502 is further configured to:
    • send to a user, if running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start;
    • send to the user, if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are running; and
    • determine, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is not running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is not running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In a possible design, the processing module 502 is further configured to:
    send to a voice device the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start, so that the voice device plays to the user the prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start.
  • In another embodiment of the present disclosure, on the basis of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 above, when the control instruction includes the second control instruction, the processing module 502 is further configured to:
    • send to a user, if running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are not running;
    • send, to the user, if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to stop; and
    • determine, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is not running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  • In a possible design, the processing module 502 is further configured to:
    • obtain user voice information sent by a voice device;
    • judge whether there exists in the user voice information a keyword matching a preset control keyword; and
    • generate, if there exists, a control instruction corresponding to the keyword.
  • For a detailed functional description of each module in this embodiment, reference may be made to the description in the embodiments of the method, and no detailed description is given here.
  • FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of a server provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, a server 60 provided in this embodiment includes: at least one processor 601 and a memory 602. The server 60 also includes a communication component 603. The processor 601, the memory 602 and the communication component 603 are connected through a bus 604.
  • In a specific implementation process, the at least one processor 601 executes a computer-executed instruction stored in the memory 602, so that the at least one processor 601 executes the method for controlling the clothing treatment apparatus as performed by the above washing device.
  • The communication component 603 can realize the communication between the server and other devices (for example, the voice device, the clothing treatment apparatus, etc.).
  • For a specific implementation process of the processor 601, reference may be made to the foregoing method embodiments, and the implementation principles and technical effects thereof are similar, and details are not repeated here in this embodiment.
  • In the above-mentioned embodiment shown in FIG. 6, it should be understood that the processor may be a central processing unit (English: Central Processing Unit, referred to as: CPU), and may also be other general-purpose processors, a digital signal processor (English: Digital Signal Processor, referred to as: DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (English: Application Specific Integrated Circuit, referred to as: ASIC), etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may be any conventional processor, or the like. The steps combined with the disclosed method can be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.
  • The memory may include a high-speed RAM memory, and may also include a non-volatile storage NVM, such as at least one disk memory.
  • The bus may be an industry standard architecture (Industry Standard Architecture, ISA) bus, a peripheral component interconnect (Peripheral Component, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus and so on. For ease of representation, the buses in the drawings of the present disclosure are not limited to only one bus or one type of bus.
  • Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-executed instruction, when the computer-executed instruction is executed by a processor, the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus in the above method embodiments is implemented.
  • An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer program product including a computer program, when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus in the above method embodiments is implemented.
  • The above-mentioned computer-readable storage medium, the above-mentioned readable storage medium can be realized by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or their combination, such as a static random access memory (SRAM), an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), a programmable read only memory (PROM), a read only memory (ROM), a magnetic memory, a flash memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk. The readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.
  • An exemplary readable storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the readable storage medium. Of course, the readable storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and the readable storage medium may be located in an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuits, ASIC for short). Of course, the processor and the readable storage medium can also exist in the device as discrete components.
  • Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that all or part of the steps for implementing the above method embodiments can be completed by program instructions and related hardware. The aforementioned program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, the steps including the above-mentioned method embodiments are executed; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk or an optical disk and other various media that can store a program code.
  • Technical solutions of the present disclosure have thus been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings, but those skilled in the art will easily understand that the protection scope of the present disclosure is obviously not limited to these specific embodiments. Without departing from the principles of the present disclosure, those skilled in the art can make equivalent changes or substitutions to related technical features, and the technical solutions after these changes or substitutions all fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims (11)

  1. A method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus, wherein the clothing treatment apparatus comprises at least two clothing treatment units and the method comprises:
    obtaining a control instruction and obtaining running status of each of the clothing treatment units; and
    determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, a clothing treatment unit to be controlled, and performing, according to the control instruction, a corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control instruction comprises a first control instruction, the first control instruction comprises a start instruction, and the method further comprises:
    sending to a user, if running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to start; and
    sending to the user, if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are running.
  3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control instruction comprises a first control instruction, and the determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled comprises:
    determining, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is not running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is not running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control instruction comprises a second control instruction, the second control instruction comprises one or more of an instruction to suspend running, an instruction to stop running, and an instruction to cancel a reservation, the method further comprises:
    sending to a user, if running status of all the clothing treatment units is not running, prompt information that all the clothing treatment units are not running; and
    sending to the user, if the running status of all the clothing treatment units is running, prompt information for selecting a clothing treatment unit to stop.
  5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control instruction comprises a second control instruction, and the determining, according to the running status of each of the clothing treatment units, the clothing treatment unit to be controlled comprises:
    determining, if running status of one of all the clothing treatment units is running and running status of remaining of all the clothing treatment units is not running, the clothing treatment unit of which the running status is running as the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the sending, to the user, the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start comprises:
    sending, to a voice device, the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start, so that the voice device plays the prompt information for selecting the clothing treatment unit to start to the user.
  7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the method further comprises:
    obtaining user voice information sent by a voice device;
    judging whether there exists in the user voice information a keyword matching a preset control keyword; and
    generating, if there exists, a control instruction corresponding to the keyword.
  8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the performing, according to the control instruction, the corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled comprises:
    performing, according to the control instruction, the corresponding operation on the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, wherein the operation comprises one or more of starting the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, suspending running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled, stopping running of the clothing treatment unit to be controlled and cancelling reservation information corresponding to the clothing treatment unit to be controlled.
  9. A server, comprising: at least one processor and a memory;
    wherein the memory stores a computer-executed instruction; and
    the at least one processor executes the computer-executed instruction stored in the memory, to cause the at least one processor to execute the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
  10. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-executed instruction, wherein when the computer-executed instruction is executed by a processor, the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8 is implemented.
  11. A computer program product, comprising a computer program, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method for controlling a clothing treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8 is implemented.
EP21860300.9A 2020-08-28 2021-08-23 CONTROL METHOD FOR A LAUNDRY TREATMENT APPARATUS AND SERVER Withdrawn EP4206377A4 (en)

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