EP4309388A1

EP4309388A1 - A home appliance product

Info

Publication number: EP4309388A1
Application number: EP21758776.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Zuoqiang ZHANG
Original assignee: Zhejiang Shaoxing Supor Domestic Electrical Appliance Co Ltd
Current assignee: Zhejiang Shaoxing Supor Domestic Electrical Appliance Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-03-16
Filing date: 2021-08-13
Publication date: 2024-01-24

Abstract

The present description proposes a home appliance product. A communication module integrates a NFC chip, a NFC antenna, a Wi-Fi chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna, which is equivalent to equipping the Wi-Fi chip with a NFC function. The Wi-Fi chip is able to directly obtain network configuration information from the NFC chip instead of having a home appliance control module transmitting the network configuration information received by the NFC to the Wi-Fi chip, improving the efficiency and reliability of network configuration information transmission. In addition, a user uses the NFC function of a user mobile device to establish a NFC connection with the NFC chip of the home appliance product, and the user can write the network configuration information into the NFC chip only when a product application installed on the mobile device has been launched and determined that the user mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own Wi-Fi module.

Description

A Home Appliance Product

Field of the Invention

The present description relates to the technical field of intelligent home appliances, and relates in particular to a home appliance product.

Background of the Invention

Currently, some home appliance products on the market can connect to a network by means of an embedded wireless communication module. When using a home appliance product that has a network connection function for the first time, a user usually needs to transmit network configuration information used for connecting to the network to a wireless communication module of the home appliance product to complete network configuration.

Existing approach for network configuration is: a user triggers a home appliance product to switch an embedded wireless communication module from a Station mode to an Access Point (AP) mode; under the Access Point mode, the wireless communication module receives network configuration information transmitted by the user. After the user has completed network configuration, the wireless communication module needs to be switched back to the Station mode and connects to a network according to the network configuration information under the Station mode.

However, the process from the user starting the network configuration to the home appliance product being connected to the network takes a relatively long time, providing poor user experience.

Summary of the Invention

In view of the above-described technical problem, the present description proposes the following technical solutions:

A first aspect provides a home appliance product having a home appliance control module and a communication module, a same circuit board of the communication module integrating a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, a NFC antenna, a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface; the communication module establishes a NFC connection between the NFC chip and a NFC module of a user mobile device by means of the NFC antenna, so that a product application installed on the user mobile device, when it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own Wi-Fi module, writes network configuration information used by the user mobile device into the NFC chip; the Wi-Fi chip reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip so as to connect to the network by means of the Wi-Fi antenna in a Station mode.

By means of the technical solution of the first aspect, wherein the communication module integrates the NFC chip, the NFC antenna, the Wi-Fi chip, and the Wi-Fi antenna, which is equivalent to equipping the Wi-Fi chip with a NFC function, the Wi-Fi chip is able to directly obtain network configuration information from the NFC chip instead of having the home appliance control module transmitting the network configuration information received by the NFC to the Wi-Fi chip, improving the efficiency and reliability of network configuration information transmission.

In addition, the user uses the NFC function of the user mobile device to establish a NFC connection with the NFC chip of the home appliance product, and the user can write the network configuration information into the NFC chip only when the product application installed on the mobile device has been launched and determined that the user mobile device has connected to the network by means of its own Wi-Fi module.

The user mobile device providing the network configuration information to the home appliance product via the NFC connection means that the home appliance product and the user mobile device are in the same home environment; the mobile device having connected to the network by means of its own Wi-Fi module means that the user mobile device currently has connected to a router in the home environment, which necessarily means that the home appliance product is certainly able to access the router. Therefore, in this situation, the network configuration information transmitted by the user mobile device to the home appliance product does not need to be verified, which means that the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance product does not need to switch to the AP mode and can always be maintained in the Station mode.

In the entire network configuration process, the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance product does not need to switch modes, and the network configuration information does not need to go through the home appliance control module in order to be transmitted to the Wi-Fi chip. To the user, the waiting time during the entire network configuration process is relatively short, providing good user experience.

Further:

The home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) serial port. The interface between the modules can be a UART serial port, a serial port of other protocols, or a parallel port.

Further:

The network configuration information comprises: a wireless network identifier and a wireless network password. When the home appliance product needs to connect to the router and thus to the network via the router, the network configuration network can be a wireless network identifier and a wireless network password.

Further:

A data field of the NFC chip comprises a first NFC record having a URL-type NFC Data Exchange Format; an operating system of the user mobile device reads all the data in the data field of the NFC chip before the product application writes the network configuration information into the NFC chip; the product application comprises: a product client program or a product light application; the first NFC record comprises a URL used for triggering the operating system of the mobile device to execute: when a product client program has been installed, opening the product client program; when no product client program has been installed, opening a product light application.

Here is a way of launch the product application, the user can launch the product application by making the mobile device come into contact with a NFC sensing area of the home appliance product, instead of manually searching for the product application in an application list and opening it.

Further:

The first NFC record further comprises at least one of the following information: an anti-channel conflict code corresponding to the home appliance product; a unique identifier corresponding to the Wi-Fi chip; a communication malfunction flag; wherein, the home appliance control module modifies the communication malfunction flag to represent a malfunction when detecting that the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance product is malfunctioning and modifies the communication malfunction flag to represent no malfunction when detecting that the malfunction of the Wi-Fi chip has been repaired; an accumulated number of triggering the NFC chip; wherein, whenever detecting that the NFC chip has established a NFC connection, the Wi-Fi chip increases the accumulated number by 1 ; a flag related to network connection; wherein, the W-Fi chip sets the network connection flag for representing a state of being connected to a network whenever being connected to a network and sets the network connection flag to be a flag for representing a state of not being connected to a network whenever being disconnected from a network.

The first NFC record can further carry some information related to the product, which can be transmitted to the product application for the product application to further upload it to a product service end.

In this solution, regarding the anti-channel conflict code of the home appliance product, the product service end can count fleeing goods of the home appliance product on the market.

Regarding the unique identifier of the W-Fi chip, it can perform the function of uniquely identifying the home appliance product. The product service end can determine a user identifier bound to the product application of the uploaded unique identifier and thus determine the identity of the user currently using the home appliance product corresponding to the unique identifier.

Regarding the communication malfunction flag, the product application can determine whether the home appliance product is currently able to proceed with network configuration based on the communication malfunction flag read.

Regarding the accumulated number of triggering the NFC chip, the product service end can analyze the utilization of the NFC function of the home appliance product based on the accumulated number.

Regarding the flag related to network connection, the product application can determine whether to proceed with network configuration on the home appliance product based on the communication malfunction flag read.

Further:

The data field of the NFC chip further comprises a second NFC record; the second NFC record uses an Android application-type NFC Data Exchange Format; the second NFC record includes an Android application identifier used for, when the operating system of the mobile device is an Android system, triggering the operating system to execute: when no product client program has been installed, entering a download path associated with the Android system and downloading a product client program, or, opening a product light application supported by the Android system.

When the product application has not been installed on the Android system, the second NFC record can be used to trigger the Android system to open a download path of a product client program or to open a product light application.

Further:

The NFC chip further includes a write control flag configured to be set to a first flag or a second flag; the communication module establishes the NFC connection between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user mobile device by means of the NFC antenna, so that the product application installed on the user mobile device writes the network configuration information used by the user mobile device into the NFC chip only when it determines that a write condition is met; the write condition comprises: the write control flag is a second flag; the Wi-Fi chip being connected with the NFC chip and capable of reading and writing information from/to the NFC chip, and is used for: obtaining from the NFC chip: a NFC sensing signal between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user mobile device; when detecting that the sensing signal obtained changes from a high level to a low level for the first time, setting the write control flag in the NFC chip to a first flag; after a first specified duration has elapsed since the time point of detecting that the sensing signal changes from a high level to a low level for the first time, modifying the write control flag in the NFC chip to the second flag; reading the network configuration information from the NFC chip to connect to a network in a Station mode.

In order to prevent the problem that writing network configuration information fails due to unstable sensing signals after the NFC module of some user mobile devices establishes a connection with the NFC of a home appliance product, the following technical means is adopted: the Wi-Fi chip on the home appliance product side can modify a write control flag in the NFC chip, and sets the write control flag to a first flag when detecting that a user mobile device has entered the field (when a sensing signal obtained changes from a high level to a low level for the first time), so that when the product application reads the first flag, it temporarily does not write network configuration information; the Wi-Fi chip modifies it to a second flag after a delay of a first specified duration, so that when the product application reads the second flag, it will start writing the network configuration information. Thus, a delay in the timing of writing network configuration information by the product application is achieved. Writing is executed when the level is more stable, improving writing success rate and making it less bothersome for the user.

Further:

The first specified duration is N^*10 milliseconds, N being an integer, 2<N<5.

It has been shown experimentally that although the NFC modules of various types of different mobile devices have different specifications, the time it takes from entering the field to having a stable level is generally between 20 milliseconds and 50 milliseconds, and does not exceed 40 milliseconds in many cases.

Further:

The Wi-Fi chip obtains network configuration information from the NFC chip after a second specified duration has elapsed since the time point when the write control flag is modified to the second flag.

The Wi-Fi chip can wait for the second specified duration from the time point when the product application writes the network configuration information before reading the network configuration information from the NFC chip, which improves reading success rate.

Further:

The second specified duration is an estimated value of the time needed for the product application to write network configuration information into the NFC chip via a NFC connection.

Thus, the Wi-Fi chip can judge the moment when the product application completes writing network configuration information based on an estimated duration of writing the network configuration information and thereafter read the network configuration information from the NFC.

Further: After modifying the write control flag to the second flag, the Wi-Fi chip can obtain the network configuration information from the NFC chip when detecting that the sensing signal obtained changes from a low level to a high level.

The network configuration information can be obtained only after it is determined that the user mobile device has left the field (which shows that writing is completed).

A second aspect provides a method of connecting a home appliance product to a network that is applied to a system comprising a user mobile device including a NFC module and the home appliance product; the user mobile device is installed with a product application; the home appliance product has a home appliance control module and a communication module, a same circuit board of the communication module integrating a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, a NFC antenna, a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface; the method comprises: the user mobile device establishes a NFC connection with the NFC chip by means of its own NFC module; the product application, after being launched, when it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own W-Fi module, determines network configuration information used by the user mobile device; the product application writes the network configuration information determined into the NFC chip via the NFC connection; the W-Fi chip of the home appliance product reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip and connects to the network based on the network configuration information in a Station mode.

Further:

The product application determining the network configuration information used by the user mobile device comprises: the product application obtains the wireless network identifier of the wireless network to which the user mobile device is connected from the operating system, receives the wireless network password input by the user, and combines the wireless network identifier obtained with the wireless network password received as the network configuration information.

Further:

A data field of the NFC chip comprises a first NFC record having a URL-type NFC Data Exchange Format; the product application includes: a product client program or a product light application; the first NFC record comprises a URL used for triggering an operating system of the mobile device to execute: when a product client program has been installed, opening the product client program, when no product client program has been installed, opening a product light application the method further comprises: after the NFC connection is established, the operating system of the user mobile device reads all the data in the data field of the NFC chip via the NFC connection so as to launch the product application.

Further: the NFC chip further includes a write control flag configured to be set to a first flag or a second flag; the Wi-Fi chip is connected with the NFC chip and capable of reading and writing information from/to the NFC chip; the method further comprises: the product application writes the network configuration information determined into the NFC chip via the NFC connection only when it determines that a write condition is met; the write condition comprises: the write control flag is a second flag; the Wi-Fi chip obtains a NFC sensing signal between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user mobile device; when detecting that the sensing signal obtained changes from a high level to a low level for the first time, sets the write control flag in the NFC chip to a first flag; after a first specified duration has elapsed since the time point of detecting that the sensing signal changes from a high level to a low level for the first time, modifies the write control flag in the NFC chip to a second flag.

In addition, the present description further provides other technical solutions: A third aspect provides a method of connecting a home appliance product to a network that is applied to a product application installed on a user mobile device included in a system, the system further comprising a home appliance product; the home appliance product has a home appliance control module and a communication module, a same circuit board of the communication module integrating a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, a NFC antenna, a Wireless-Fidelity (W-Fi) chip, and a W-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface; the user mobile device includes a NFC module and establishes a NFC connection with the NFC chip by means of the NFC module; the method further comprises: the product application, after being launched, when it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own W-Fi module, determines network configuration information used by the user mobile device and, via the NFC connection, writes the network configuration information determined into the NFC chip; so that the W-Fi chip of the home appliance product reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip and connects to the network based on the network configuration information in a Station mode.

Further: the NFC chip further includes a write control flag configured to be set to a first flag or a second flag; the W-Fi chip is connected with the NFC chip and capable of reading and writing information from/to the NFC chip; the method further comprises: the product application writes the network configuration information determined into the NFC chip via the NFC connection only when it determines that a write condition is met; the write condition comprises: the write control flag is a second flag.

A fourth aspect provides a product application for connecting a home appliance product to a network that is applied to a product application installed on a user mobile device included in a system, the system further comprising the home appliance product; the home appliance product has a home appliance control module and a communication module, a same circuit board of the communication module integrating a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, a NFC antenna, a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface; the user mobile device establishes a NFC connection with the NFC chip by means of its own NFC module and the NFC antenna; the product application comprises: a determining module that, after the product application is launched, when it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own Wi-Fi module, determines network configuration information used by the user mobile device and, via the NFC connection, writes the network configuration information determined into the NFC chip; so that the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance product reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip and connects to the network based on the network configuration information in a Station mode.

A fifth aspect provides a system for connecting a home appliance product to a network, the system comprises a user mobile device including a NFC module, a product application installed on the user mobile device and the home appliance product; the home appliance product has a home appliance control module and a communication module, a same circuit board of the communication module integrating a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, a NFC antenna, a Wreless-Fidelity (W-Fi) chip, and a W-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface; the communication module establishes a NFC connection between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user mobile device by means of the NFC antenna, so that the product application, when it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to the network by means of its own W-Fi module, writes network configuration information used by the user mobile device into the NFC chip; the W-Fi chip reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip so as to connect to the network by means of the W-Fi antenna in a Station mode.

A sixth aspect provides a computer device comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, wherein, the processor, when executing the computer program, realizes the method of connecting a home appliance product to a network of the above-described third aspect.

It should be understood that the general description above and the following detailed description are merely illustrative and made by way of example and shall not limit the present description.

Description of the Drawings

To more clearly describe the technical solutions of the prior art or embodiments of the present description, the accompanying drawings to be used in describing the prior art or the embodiments are described briefly below. Evidently, the accompanying drawings described below are merely some embodiments set forth in the embodiments of the present description. To an ordinary person skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on those accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a schematic flow chart of a current method of network configuration provided by the present description;

Figure 2 is a schematic structural view of an A-type home appliance product provided by the present description;

Figure 3 is a schematic flow chart of a method of network configuration provided by the present description;

Figure 4 is a schematic structural view of a B-type home appliance product provided by the present description;

Figure 5 is a schematic flow chart of a method of connecting a B-type home appliance product to a network provided by the present description;

Figure 6 is a schematic structural view of a NFC data field;

Figure 7 is a schematic structural view of a more specific NFC data field provided by the present description;

Figure 8 is a schematic view of level changes of sensing signals of NFC modules of different specifications provided by the present description;

Figure 9 is a schematic structural view of a computer device proposed in the present description.

Detailed Description of the Invention

In the present description, technical solutions of several different conceptions are set forth. There exists one or more embodiments in the technical solution of each conception, and technical solutions of different conceptions can also be combined with each other to form more embodiments. A person skilled in the art, after reading the present description, can combine technical solutions of different conceptions to obtain new technical solutions, which should also fall within the scope of the present description.

Those technical solutions of different conceptions are described below one by one. In the description, some notions may appear in the technical solutions of several different conceptions. For these notions, they are explained and described when appearing for the first time herein and are not repeatedly described thereafter.

The home appliance product described herein generally refers to products of the type of electric devices of various uses that are applied in a home environment, and specially can be an electric cooking device having a certain cooking function, such as an electric pressure cooker or an electric frying pan. In addition, the electric cooking device can also be a multi-function electric cooking device that has various cooking functions.

The home appliance product described in the present description has the conventional structure and functions of a home appliance product currently on the market (such as product housing, power connector, and basic home appliance functions), which are not specifically described herein.

Some home appliance products currently on the market can connect to a network by means of an embedded Wi-Fi module. When using a home appliance product that has a network connection function for the first time, a user usually needs to transmit network configuration information used for connecting to a network to a Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product to complete network configuration. The network configuration information described herein generally refers to authentication information used to connect the Wi-Fi module to a router, which is usually a wireless network identifier SSID and a wireless network password corresponding to the router.

As shown in Figure 1 , a current method of network configuration is as follows: when a user needs to perform network configuration on a home appliance product, the user first switches a W-Fi module of the home appliance product from a Station mode by factory default to an AP mode. When the home appliance product is set in the AP mode, the user can use the user’s own mobile device, such as a cellphone, to search for and find a hot spot of the W-Fi module of the home appliance product and then connect the user’s own mobile device to the hot spot of the W-Fi module of the home appliance product. Thus, it is equivalent to establishing an information transmission channel between the user mobile device and the W-Fi module of the home appliance product. The user mobile device can transmit network configuration information to the W-Fi module of the home appliance product.

Here, it should be noted that the way the user mobile device obtains the network configuration information can be provided by the user to the user mobile device. For example, the user can enter the network configuration information in an interface of a product application corresponding to the home appliance product installed on the user mobile device. In addition, in actual applications, the user mobile device often has undergone network configuration by the user, i.e., the user mobile device has already connected to a router in the home of the user. In this situation, the user mobile device actually has obtained network configuration information corresponding to the router. If the operating system of the user mobile device grants permission to the product application to obtain the network configuration information, then the product application may not need the user to enter the network configuration information and instead may directly obtain the network configuration information from the operating system.

Still in reference to Figure 1 , the Wi-Fi module, after receiving the network configuration information, needs to verify the network configuration information while being maintained in the AP mode, i.e., to detect an identifier list of hot spots present in the surrounding environment and determine whether the wireless network identifier contained in the received network configuration information is in the list of hot spots, in order to ensure that the network configuration information received is the network configuration information corresponding to the hot spot of the router present in the surrounding environment. Only if it is present will the Wi-Fi module switch back to the Station mode and serve as a Station and connect to the router based on the network configuration information. If it is not present, then it means that network configuration fails.

Still in reference to Figure 1 , after the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product has connected to the router, the router will assign a LAN IP address to the home appliance product. The home appliance product can use the assigned LAN IP address to connect to an external network via the router. Generally, a purpose of the home appliance product connecting to an external network is to communicate with a product service end of the home appliance product, so as to upload some data of the home appliance product (such as product utilization records) to the product service end and to receive some data (such as control commands) issued from the product service end.

In the above-described process, to transmit the network configuration information to the home appliance product, the user needs to trigger the home appliance product to launch the AP mode. After the transmission is completed, in order to connect to a network based on the network configuration information, the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product needs to be reset to switch from the AP mode to the Station mode. The entire process takes a certain amount of time, with the need for the user to first manually switch the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product from the Station mode to the AP mode and then, after the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product has obtained the network configuration information, perform another mode switch (from the AP mode back to Station). To the user, the time while waiting for the network configuration to be completed is relatively long. And, in the above-described process, the user often also has to operate the user’s own mobile device to temporarily disconnect from the hot spot of the router and to temporarily connect with the hot spot of the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product (so as to transmit network configuration information), which is also relatively burdensome to the user.

In order to improve user experience, the present description provides a method of network configuration that is applied to an improved home appliance product. For ease of description, this type of home appliance product is referred to as an A-type home appliance product. An A-type home appliance product has a home appliance control module, a Near Field Communication (NFC) module, and a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) module; the home appliance control module is connected with the NFC module via an interface, and the home appliance control module is connected with the Wi-Fi module via an interface.

It should be noted that the home appliance control module can be connected with the NFC module (Wi-Fi module) via a serial interface. They can also be connected via a parallel interface. On the one hand, the home appliance control module supplies power to the NFC module and the Wi-Fi module via the interface; on the other hand, the modules can also exchange data via the interface.

Figure 2 is a schematic structural view of an A-type home appliance product provided by the present description. As shown in Figure 1 , a home appliance control module can be constructed based on an electric control board and a control chip on the electric control board, and the NFC module (Wi-Fi module) can be connected with the electric control board via a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) serial port.

A method of network configuration based on an A-type home appliance product can be as shown in Figure 3. First, when a user needs to perform network configuration on the home appliance product, the user first switches the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product from a Station mode by factory default to an AP mode. Specifically, the user can make a mobile device that has a NFC function approach the NFC module of the home appliance device, then send a control command that triggers the Wi-Fi module to enter a network configuration state to the NFC module. After receiving the command, the NFC module transmits it to the electric control board via the UART serial port, and the electric control board in turn transmits it to the Wi-Fi module via the UART serial port. Thus, the Wi-Fi module can enter into a network configuration state, i.e., switch from the Station mode to the AP mode, and feed the result back to the electric control board. The feedback result is then sent to the mobile device.

Still in reference to Figure 3, after the user has determined that the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product has switched to the AP mode, the user can transmit the network configuration information to the NFC module of the home appliance product by means of the mobile device. The NFC module transmits the network configuration information to the electric control board MCU via the UART serial port and the electric control board MCU transmits the network configuration information to the Wi-Fi module via the UART serial port. The Wi-Fi module, after receiving the network configuration information and while being maintained in the AP mode, verifies the network configuration information (which is the same as the method of verification in the process shown in Figure 1 and is not described again). Thus, if it passes the verification, the Wi-Fi module connects to the router.

The method shown in Figure 3 can avoid the user manually switching the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product from the Station mode by default to the AP mode and can also avoid the user operating the mobile device to temporarily disconnect from the router and temporarily establish a connection with the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product to transmit network configuration information. The user can use the mobile device to sense the NFC module of the home appliance product (one-touch approach), trigger the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product to switch from the default Station mode to the AP mode, and transmit the network configuration information to the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product through the NFC channel. However, in the method shown in Figure 3, the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product still needs to verify the network configuration information in the AP mode. This means that it still needs to switch modes and the user still need to wait a relatively long time in the network configuration process.

In addition, in the method of network configuration shown in Figure 3, the path from the NFC module of the home appliance product to the electric control board MCU to the Wi-Fi module is used to transmit the network configuration information, which is too long and has the problems that the time of transmission is too long and the transmission is not reliable (for example, the MCU may transmit erroneous network configuration information to the Wi-Fi module).

In summary, whether it is the method of network configuration shown in Figure 1 or the method of network configuration shown in Figure 3, one needs to switches modes of the home appliance product. The reason why the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance product needs to switch modes in the network configuration process is that, in order to meet reliability requirements of the product’s functions, it is necessary to ensure that the Wi-Fi module is within the coverage of the router’s hotspot in order to ensure that the Wi-Fi module can successfully connect to the router based on the network configuration information corresponding to the router (otherwise, the connection will fail and the product’s functions are unreliable). This requires the Wi-Fi module, before connecting to the router, to first switch to the AP mode to detect a list of hot spots connectable in the surrounding environment. Only if the hot spot of the router corresponding to the network configuration information is in the list of hot spots can it be ensured that the connection will be successful. Only in this situation will it switch to the Station mode to connect. Therefore, the network connection logic of an existing Wi-Fi module is generally configured to necessarily undergo mode switching and network configuration information verification.

In order to solve the technical problems of the method of network configuration shown in Figure 1 and the method of network configuratin shown in Figure 3, the present description further proposes a method of network configuration that is applied to another type of improved home appliance product referred to as a B-type home appliance product. The B-type home appliance product is further improved on the basis of the A-type home appliance product.

A B-type home appliance product has a home appliance control module and a communication module that integrates a NFC chip, a NFC antenna, a Wi-Fi chip, and a W-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface.

It should be noted that the home appliance control module can be connected with the communication module via a serial interface (port). They can also be connected via a parallel interface (port). On the one hand, the home appliance control module supplies power to the communication module via the interface, and on the other hand, the modules can also exchange data with each other via the interface.

The communication module that integrates a NFC chip, a NFC antenna, a W-Fi chip, and a W-Fi antenna can be understood as integrating the NFC chip, the NFC antenna, the W-Fi chip, and the W-Fi antenna on one circuit board. The Wi-Fi antenna can adopt a board-embedded design, or can also adopt an external design. The circuit board is used as the communication module with a port exposed to a home appliance control board. In the layout design of the circuit board, it should be ensured as much as possible that the NFC antenna and the Wi-Fi antenna do not interfere with each other and that the performance of the NFC antenna and the W-Fi antenna is optimal given the dimensions and specifications of the circuit board.

For the NFC chip in the communication module, an active NFC chip can be used. A dual-interface passive NFC chip can also be used.

Figure 4 is a schematic structural view of a B-type home appliance product provided by the present description. As shown in Figure 2, in terms of structure, the home appliance control module of an A-type home appliance product is retained, and the communication module is connected with an electric control board via a UART serial port.

In addition, it should be emphasized that a NFC module can refer to a module mainly consisting of a NFC chip and a NFC antenna, and a Wi-Fi module can refer to a module mainly consisting of a W-Fi chip and a W-Fi antenna. In the description herein, reading and writing the NFC module of a home appliance product actually refers to reading and writing the NFC chip in the NFC module of the home appliance product. For ease of description, references to the “NFC of a home appliance product” do not distinguish between A-type home appliance products and B-type home appliance products; references to the “NFC module of a home appliance product” refer to A-type home appliance products; references to the “NFC chip of a communication module” or separately to a “NFC chip” refer to B-type home appliance products.

For a B-type home appliance product, the reason why the NFC function and the W-Fi function of the home appliance product need to be integrated in the same module is to enable the W-Fi chip to obtain network configuration information directly from the NFC chip of the same module, which avoids an intermediate path, shortens the time of transmitting network configuration information to the W-Fi chip, and improves the reliability of transmitting network configuration information to the W-Fi chip.

Figure 5 is a schematic flow chart of the process of connecting a B-type home appliance product to a network provided by an embodiment of the present description. The method shown in Figure 5 is applied to a system comprising a user mobile device and a home appliance product; the user mobile device has been installed with a product application.

The process shown in Figure 5 comprises the following steps:

S500: the product application, after being launched, when it is determined that the mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own W-Fi module, determines network configuration information used by the user mobile device.

The user mobile device used in various embodiments provided by the present description needs to have a NFC module. The NFC module of a user is generally controlled by the operating system of the user mobile device. The user makes the user mobile device approach a NFC sensing area of the home appliance product (i.e. , an area that can be sensed by the NFC chip in the home appliance product), which can trigger the NFC module of the user mobile device to establish a NFC connection with the NFC chip of the home appliance product. After the NFC connection has been established, the operating system of the user mobile device can control the NFC module of the user mobile device as a card reader to read and write a data field of the NFC chip of the home appliance product. It should be noted that, after the NFC connection has been established, the operating system of the user mobile device usually will first read all the data in the data field of the NFC chip of the home appliance product. As to whether to write data into the NFC chip later, it depends on whether the operating system executes a preset writing logic or whether the operating system has received a writing command sent by a certain installed application.

The application described herein is installed in the operating system of the user mobile device (when described as an application installed on the user mobile device, it means the same thing). The application can be a client program (for example, an APP installed on a cellphone). It can also be a light application (for example, a web application, an Android Quick App, etc.). A light application can be understood as a light program that does not require downloading of a client.

The product application described herein refers to an application developed by the manufacturer of a home appliance product and used for providing a user with services related to the home appliance product on the user mobile device side.

The product service end described herein refers to a service end maintained by the manufacturer of a home appliance product. On the one hand, the product application can interact via a network with the product service end. For example, after a user operates a mobile device to launch the product application, the user can log in to the product service end via the product application. In this case, it is equivalent to having a binding relationship between the product application and a user identifier of the user. On the other hand, when the home appliance product is connected to a network, the product service end can interact with the home appliance product. The product service end can monitor the operation status of the home appliance product by obtaining operating parameters uploaded by the home appliance product. It can also issue control commands to the home appliance product to control the home appliance product to execute corresponding operations.

The product service end can be a server or a server group. In addition, the product service end can be classified functionally into a service end used for monitoring the operation status of a product and a service end on a business level. For example, a service end used for monitoring the operation status of a product can be a M2M platform, which needs to maintain a long connection with the home appliance product. The home appliance product reports status changes of the home appliance product to the M2M platform. As to a service end on a business level, it can be an IOT platform that communicates with the home appliance product via a short connection and is in charge of account management, account binding, command issuance, and push message issuance. In some embodiments, a user can manually open the product application installed in the operating system of the user mobile device. Specifically, if the user mobile device has been installed with a product client program, then the user generally manually opens the product client program. In the event that no product application has been installed, the user can choose to manually download and install a product client program, or manually open a product light application.

The product application, after being launched, needs to determine whether the user mobile device has been connected to a network by means of its own Wi-Fi module. Specifically, the product application can determine whether the W-Fi module of the user mobile device has been launched, whether the W-Fi module of the user mobile device is connected to a router, and whether the router is connected to the Internet.

In some embodiments, the product application, after being launched, needs to determine whether the W-Fi module of the user mobile device has been launched and whether the W-Fi module of the user mobile device is connected to a router. If the result of the determination is positive, then a request is made to connect to the product service end by using the network capability of the user mobile device. If the product application connects successfully to the product service end, then it means that the router to which user mobile device is connected has been connected to the Internet. When it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own W-Fi module, network configuration information used by the user mobile device can be obtained.

If the product application detects that the user mobile device is connected to a network via a base station of an operator, then the product application can notify the user to connect the user mobile device to a router.

In one or more embodiments, the product application can obtain a wireless network identifier of the wireless network to which the user mobile device is connected from the operating system, receive a wireless network password entered by the user, and use the wireless network identifier obtained and the wireless network password received as network configuration information.

S502: the user mobile device establishes a NFC connection with the NFC chip by means of its own NFC module.

S504: the product application writes the determined network configuration information into the NFC chip via the NFC connection.

In order to be compatible with the specifications of the NFC modules of different mobile devices, the write control flag is deployed in the NFC of the product. At the same time, the following logic is deployed in the product application: if the write control flag is the first flag, the writing is disabled; if the write control flag is the second flag, the writing is enabled.

After the Wi-Fi chip detects that the mobile device enters the sensing field, it determines the writing control flag as the first flag. In this way, the product application will not execute information writing, and will not fail to write. The W-Fi chip starts to delays after the mobile device enters the field, the delay time can be the first specified duration. After the delay, the write control flag is modified to be the second flag, so that the product application will read the second flag through the NFC module of the mobile device and start writing information into the NFC of the product.

Wherein, the first specified duration is N^*10 milliseconds, N being an integer, 2<N£5.lt has been shown experimentally that although the NFC modules of various types of different mobile devices have different specifications, the time it takes from entering the field to having a stable level is generally between 20 milliseconds and 50 milliseconds, and does not exceed 40 milliseconds in many cases.

S506: the W-Fi chip of the home appliance product reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip and connects to the network based on the network configuration information in the Station mode.

The W-Fi chip obtains network configuration information from the NFC chip after a second specified duration has elapsed since the time point when the write control flag is modified to the second flag, thereby improving reading success rate.

Further, the second specified duration is an estimated value of the time needed for the product application to write network configuration information into the NFC chip via a NFC connection.

Besides, after modifying the write control flag to the second flag, the W-Fi chip can obtain the network configuration information from the NFC chip when detecting that the sensing signal obtained changes from a low level to a high level, in other words, the network configuration information can be read only after it is determined that the user mobile device has left the field (which shows that writing is completed).

By means of the technical solution of the first aspect, the communication module integrates the Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, the NFC antenna, the Wreless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip and the W-Fi antenna, which is equivalent to equipping the W-Fi chip with a NFC function, the Wi-Fi chip is able to directly obtain network configuration information from the NFC chip instead of having the home appliance control module transmit network configuration information received by the NFC to the Wi-Fi chip, which improves the efficiency and reliability of network configuration information transmission.

In addition, the user uses the NFC function of the user mobile device to establish the NFC connection with the NFC chip of the home appliance product, and the user can write the network configuration information into the NFC chip only when the product application installed on the mobile device has been launched and it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to the network by means of its own Wi-Fi module.

The user mobile device providing the network configuration information to the home appliance product via the NFC connection means that the home appliance product and the user mobile device are located in the same home environment. When the product application installed on the mobile device has been launched and it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to the network by means of its own W-Fi module, it means that the user mobile device currently has connected to a router in this environment. It necessarily means that the home appliance product is also able to connect to this router. Therefore, in this situation, the network configuration information transmitted by the user mobile device to the home appliance does not need to be verified, which means that the W-Fi chip of the home appliance product does not need to switch to the AP mode and can always be maintained in the Station mode.

In the entire network configuration process, the W-Fi chip of the home appliance product does not need to switch modes, and the network configuration information does not need to go through the home appliance control module in order to be transmitted to the Wi-Fi chip. To a user, the wait time in the entire network configuration process is relatively short, providing good user experience.

In some embodiments, the product application can also write an IP address of the product service end into the NFC, and the W-Fi chip can read the network configuration information and the IP address from the NFC and, after network configuration is successful, access the product service end via the network.

Here, it should be noted that, because in actual applications, the corresponding relationship between the domain name of the product service end and the IP address is not fixed, a DNS server may update the domain name of the product service end to a new IP address. Therefore, in practice, it is very difficult to preset a home appliance product in factory with the IP address of the product service end. In the above-described embodiment, the product application can obtain the current IP address of the product service end when performing network configuration on the home appliance product and thus can write the IP address into the NFC of the product so that the product, after network configuration is successful, is able to directly connect to the product service end without going through DNS resolution.

In summary, in the entire flow process of applying this solution to connect the home appliance product to the product service end, regarding user experience, the reduced waiting time is described. This solution can, on the one hand, save the time of switching modes of the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product in the process of network configuration and, on the other hand, save the time needed for going through DNS resolution when the home appliance product accesses the product service end after the network configuration is successful.

In practical applications, the NFC of the home appliance product is generally set to a card mode. The NFC of a home appliance product can establish a NFC connection with any user mobile device having a NFC module. Permission corresponding to the NFC of the home appliance product is generally set to allow data reading and writing on the home appliance product side.

In some embodiments, if the security of data in the NFC of a home appliance product is not considered, then permission corresponding to the NFC of the home appliance product can generally also be set to allow data reading and writing on the user mobile device side (on a software level, is an operating system of the user mobile device). The any user mobile device can write a user identifier into a data field of the NFC of the home appliance product. In this situation, the user mobile device can have no product application installed and it suffices when the any user mobile device is able to obtain the user identifier of the user holding the user mobile device.

In addition, it should be noted that, an existing NFC data field generally comprises several NFC records. A NFC record is a data structure specified by the NFC protocol and uses a NFC Data Exchange Format (i.e., NDEF). The existing NFC protocol specifies several general NFC Data Exchange Formats (such as URL and images) and also permits device manufacturers to define other types of NFC Data Exchange Formats.

In general, a device that has a NFC function will support the NFC protocol by default and is able to recognize NFC records in a general NFC Data Exchange Format in a NFC data field. If a device manufacturer has defined another type of NFC Data Exchange Format, then the logic used for recognizing NFC records in this other type of NFC Data Exchange Format will be embedded in the operating system of a device in factory.

However, in practical applications, some important business data may need to be stored in the NFC of a home appliance product. The manufacturer of the home appliance product sometimes wishes the operation system of a user mobile device (maintained by the manufacturer of the user mobile device) can only read, but not write, data in the NFC without permission due to concerns for the security of important business data. In other words, it’s required that the operating system of the user mobile device cannot rewrite data in the NFC of the home appliance product by default, and at the same time the operating system of the user mobile device can write data, such as a user identifier and network configuration information provided by a user, into the NFC of the home appliance product, when required or needed by the manufacturer of the home appliance product.

In view of this, a data field that cannot be recognized by the operating system of the user mobile device can be added to the data field of the NFC of the home appliance product. For ease of description, this added data field is referred to as a customized data field (of the manufacturer of the home appliance product). The customized data field uses a non-NFC data exchange format (a data exchange format specified by a private protocol of the manufacturer of the home appliance product, which can also constitute a private data exchange format). In addition, the data field other than the customized data field in the data field of the NFC of the home appliance product is referred to as a standard data field. As described above, the standard data field comprises at least one NFC record.

At the same time, the standard data field can be only read, not written, by an operating system of a user mobile device; the customized data field is set to be able to be read and written by an operating system of a user mobile device. Because the data exchange format used by the customized data field is not a NFC Data Exchange Format specified by the NFC protocol, the operating system of a user mobile device, even if able to read the data in the customized data by means of the NFC module of the user mobile device, still cannot recognize the data in the customized data field.

Correspondingly, important business data in the customized data field can be recognized only by means of a software developed by the product developer (product service end system, product application, or firmware in a home appliance product). Therefore, when the NFC of a home appliance product has a customized data field, the user mobile device needs to be installed with a product application, which, after it is launched, recognizes the data in the customized data field read by the NFC module of the user mobile device. In addition, the operating system of the user mobile device can be commanded by the product application to write data into the customized data field.

Thus, by the above set of technical settings, the data that the user mobile device needs to write into the NFC of the product is all written in the customized data field. It achieves that the operating system of the user mobile device is unable to rewrite data in the NFC of the home appliance product by default, but is able to write data into the NFC of the home appliance product under the control of the installed product application. For example, in the method shown in Figure 5, network configuration information can be written into the customized data field of the NFC of the product.

In some embodiments, the data field of the NFC chip can comprises a first NFC record that has a URL-type NFC Data Exchange Format. Before the product application writes network configuration information into the NFC chip, the operating system of the user mobile device reads all the data in the data field of the NFC chip. The first NFC record contains a URL used for triggering the operating system of the mobile device to execute: when a product client program has been installed, opening the product client program; when no product client program has been installed, opening a product light application.

Further, the data field of the NFC chip further comprises a second NFC record that uses an Android application type (Android PKG) NFC Data Exchange Format. The second NFC record contains an Android application identifier used for, when the operating system of the mobile device is an Android system, triggering the operating system to execute: when no product client program has been installed, entering a download path associated with the Android system and downloading a product client program; or, opening a product light application supported by the Android system.

In other words, in this embodiment, before the step S500, when the product application has not been launched, the user can first make the user mobile device approach a NFC sensing area of the home appliance product and read all the data in the data field of the NFC of the home appliance product, including the first NFC record. Thus, the launching of the product application can be triggered. It should be noted that, when the data field of the NFC chip does not comprise a customized data field, it can still comprise the first NFC record, the second NFC record, and more NFC records.

It should also be noted that, for ease of description, when the data field of the NFC chip does not comprise a customized data field, the data field containing several NFC records is referred to as a standard data field.

In addition, if the user has triggered the launching of the product application by the NFC before the step S500, then, there are two situations:

1. The step S502 is executed before the step S500. After the user mobile device establishes a NFC connection with the home appliance product, it first reads data from the NFC of the home appliance product. After the launching of the product application is triggered, the product application writes network configuration information into the NFC. In this process, the user mobile device cannot leave the NFC sensing area of the home appliance product, or else the connection will be interrupted. 2. In the step S502, it is actually the second time that the user makes the user mobile device approach the NFC sensing area of the product. For the first time, the user makes the user mobile device approach the NFC sensing area of the product, it reads data in the NFC. Then, the user mobile device leaves the sensing area. After the product application is launched and it is determined that network configuration information has been obtained, the user makes the user mobile device approach the NFC sensing area of the home appliance product again so as to realize the step S502.

In addition, in some embodiments, the first NFC record further contains at least one of the following information: an anti-channel conflict code corresponding to the home appliance product; a unique identifier corresponding to the Wi-Fi chip; a communication malfunction flag; wherein the home appliance control module modifies the communication malfunction flag to represent a malfunction when detecting that the W-Fi chip of the home appliance product is malfunctioning and modifies the communication malfunction flag to represent no malfunction when detecting that the malfunction of the W-Fi chip has been repaired; an accumulated number of triggering the NFC chip; wherein, whenever detecting that the NFC chip has established a NFC connection, the W-Fi chip increases the accumulated number by 1 ; a flag related to network connection; wherein the W-Fi chip sets the network connection flag for representing a state of being connected to a network whenever being connected to a network, and sets the network connection flag for representing a state of not being connected to a network whenever being disconnected from a network.

The first NFC record can further carry some information related to the product, which can be transmitted to the product application for the product application to further upload to the product service end.

In this embodiment, regarding the anti-channel conflict code of the home appliance product, the product service end can count fleeing goods (cross channel) of the home appliance product on the market.

Regarding the unique identifier of the W-Fi chip, it can perform the function of uniquely identifying the home appliance product. The product service end can determine a user identifier bound to the product application uploadding the unique identifier, and thus determine the identity of the user currently using the home appliance product corresponding to the unique identifier. Regarding the communication malfunction flag, the product application can determine whether the home appliance product is currently able to proceed with network configuration based on the communication malfunction flag read.

Regarding the flag related to network connection, the product application can determine whether to proceed with network configuration on the home appliance product based on the communication fault flag read.

In addition, it should be noted that, the technical means of “the product application, after being launched, when it is determined that the user mobile device has been connected to a network by means of its own Wi-Fi module, determining network configuration information used by the user mobile device and writing the network configuration information into the NFC of the home appliance product via the NFC connection between the user mobile device and the home appliance product” can be applied to an A-type home appliance product. Thus, the Wi-Fi module of the A-type home appliance product does not need to switch modes either during the network configuration process.

Here, the structure of a data field of the NFC is described in further details. Figure 6 is a schematic structural view of a NFC data field.

As shown in Figure 6, the data field of the NFC comprises a NFC head data field, a standard data field, and a customized data field, wherein, the standard data field can comprise a plurality of NFC records (record1-N). It should be noted that, in some embodiments, if the needs of data security of a product manufacturer are not considered, the NFC data field may not comprise a customized data field.

Generally, in the NFC head data field is stored identifying information of the NFC chip and data locking flag information. Data locking flag information is classified into static locking and dynamic locking. The function of locking flag information is to lock data in the standard data field so as to ensure that the user mobile device side can only read, not write, ensuring data security, and to grant access to the user mobile device side to the customized data field, allowing the user mobile device side to read and write. In addition, it should be noted that, the home appliance product side (the home appliance control module and the Wi-Fi chip of a B-type home appliance product) can have permission to read and write the NFC data field.

A standard data field refers to a data field in a data exchange format specified by the NFC protocol (NDEF). Because the operating system of a user mobile device that has a NFC function is generally embedded with the NFC protocol, it can recognize data in the standard data field. Therefore, for data security, permission to write the standard data field needs to be denied for the user mobile device side.

The standard data field comprises one or more NFC records. For ease of description, the NFC records in the standard data field are referred herein sequentially as a first NFC record and a second NFC record. Other than the first NFC record and the second NFC record, if the standard data field further contains more NFC records, they are referred to as other NFC records. The standard data field can contain the first NFC record, the second NFC record, and at least one other NFC record.

A customized data field is a data field in a non-NDEF format and specifically, uses a private protocol of the manufacturer of the home appliance product. Because the operating system of a user mobile device that has a NFC function will not be embedded with the private protocol of the manufacturer of a home appliance product, the operating system of the user mobile device, even if it has permission to write data into the customized data field, is actually unable to write data in the customized data field. The product application installed on the user mobile device is developed by the manufacturer of a home appliance product and therefore can be embedded with the private protocol and able to recognize the customized data field, i.e., able to execute writing operations. The data in the customized data filed can be stored in plain text. They can also be stored in an encrypted way.

Figure 7 is a schematic structural view of a more specific NFC data field provided by the present description.

In addition, Table 1 below provides by way of example an internal structure of a customized data field.

Table 1

In this embodiment, SSID and PWD are respectively wireless network identifier and wireless network password. The two constitute network configuration information. The function of the network configuration flag is to indicate whether the network configuration information in the customized data field has been read by the Wi-Fi chip. The network configuration flag can specifically be a first flag (for example 0) or a second flag (for example 1). The product application, after having written the network configuration information into the customized data field, modifies the first flag to the second flag; the Wi-Fi chip, after having read the network configuration information from the NFC chip, modifies the second flag to the first flag. The Wi-Fi chip will read the network configuration information from the customized data field only in the case of the second flag. Thus, reading dirty data can be avoided.

In addition, IP is the IP address of the home appliance product service end. The product application writes the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the product service end into the customized data field; the Wi-Fi chip obtains the IP address of the product service end from the customized data field and, after having connected to a network, sends a connection request to the product service end based on the IP address obtained.

In this embodiment, SSID, PWD, and IP are all operated according to KLV, K (key) being key, L being byte length (total length of the key and the value), and V being value. In this example, Ni and N₂ can be set according to actual needs.

In other embodiments, in reference to Table 2, the product application can write into the above-described customized data field a user identifier bound to the product application (the user identifier most recently written into the customized data field represents the main user currently using the product) and the product application can also write into the customized data field the BSSID of the 5 GHz access point to which the user mobile device corresponding to the product application is connected.

Table 2

In this embodiment, N₃ and N₄ can be set according to actual needs.

Here, a method of launching a product application that is relatively convenient to a user is described. This method of launching a product application can be implemented in connection with an A-type home appliance device and a B-type home appliance product described in the present description. It can also be implemented in connection with another home appliance product that has NFC.

Specifically, the home appliance product has a NFC module. The data field of the NFC module of the home appliance product comprises a first NFC record and at least one other NFC record. The first NFC record has a URL-type NFC Data Exchange Format. Different other NFC records have different NFC Data Exchange Formats specific to the operating systems of different mobile devices.

Each other NFC record corresponds respectively to a different first-type product light application. For each other NFC record, the record contains an identification mark corresponding to the first-type product light application; the first NFC record contains a URL.

When one needs to launch a product application installed on a user mobile device, one makes the NFC module of the user mobile device approach the NFC module of the home appliance product so that the NFC module of the user mobile device establishes a NFC connection with the NFC module of the home appliance product.

Thus, the operating system of the user mobile device can execute the following steps:

1. reading all the data in the data field of the NFC module of the home appliance product via the NFC connection;

2. for each other NFC record, when it is determined that no product client program has been installed, for each other NFC record, determine whether the identification mark in the record has a NFC Data Exchange Format specific to the operating system and if it does, then launch the corresponding first-type product light application;

3. based on the URL in the first NFC record, when it is determined that a product client program has been installed, launch the product client program; when no product client program has been installed and no identification mark of a NFC Data Exchange Format specific to the operating system has been recognized in the at least one other NFC record, launch a second-type product light application developed based on a general development protocol.

Given that in practical applications, different mobile device manufacturers have developed their own light application (first-type product light application) and defined a NFC Data Exchange Format specific to their own operating system for the launching operation of their own light application, in the NFC data field of the home appliance product, in addition to the first NFC record that stores a product light application used for launching a product client program and launching a general product light application (second-type product light application), at least one other NFC record is stored. Different NFC records correspond to NFC Data Exchange Formats specific to different mobile device operating systems and therefore correspond to different first-type product light applications.

Thus, when the operating system has a dedicated NFC Data Exchange Format, it can give priority to launch the dedicated first-type product light application developed by the manufacturer of the mobile device for itself (which often can provide a better user experience).

In addition, the home appliance product can be specifically an A-type home appliance product. In this situation, each other NFC record is initialized to contain noise information such that an operating system that uses the data exchange format of the identification mark contained by the record as a dedicated data exchange format is unable to recognize this identification mark. The Wi-Fi module can receive a first configuration command from the product service end and send it to the home appliance control module. The home appliance control module can delete the noise information in at least one other NFC record in the NFC module based on the first configuration command.

Given that some users may prefer to use general product applications, i.e. second-type product light applications, when a home appliance product is in factory, noise can be added to the identification mark in each other NFC record so that an operating system is unable to recognize the identification mark specific to it.

Further, the Wi-Fi module can receive a second configuration command from the product service end and send it to the home appliance control module. The home appliance control module can add noise information to at least one other NFC record in the NFC module based on the second configuration command.

If a user wants to use the first-type product light application developed by the manufacturer of the user’s own mobile device, then the user can request the product service end to delete the noise information added to a certain other NFC record.

In addition, the data field of the NFC module of the home appliance product further comprises a second NFC record; the second NFC record can contain an Android identification mark used for, when the operating system of the mobile device is an Android system, triggering the operating system to execute: when no product client program has been installed, entering a download path associated with the Android system and downloading the product client program; or, opening a product light application supported by the Android system.

The NFC data field can further comprise a second NFC record used for, for an Android operating system, providing an official download path for the Android operating system, or opening a general product light application of the Android operating system.

Embodiments in which the above-described method of launching a product application is applied to a B-type home appliance product also follow the above-described technical principle and are not described again.

Here, the present description provides a method of writing information into the NFC of a product by a product application that has a higher success rate.

Currently, the specifications of the NFC modules of various types of user mobile devices on the market are not uniform. Wth mobile devices that have a NFC module of some specifications, after having established a NFC connection with a home appliance product, there are differences in the fluctuations of levels of the sensing signals. On the other hand, if the mobile device side wants to write information into the NFC of a home appliance product, the writing needs to be done when the sensing signal is stable, or else the writing may easily fail, bothering the user and forcing the user to take the mobile device out of the NFC sensing area of the product and then retry establishing a NFC connection.

This means that, if the mobile device starts to write information into the NFC of the product soon after establishing a NFC connection, the level of the sensing signal at this moment may be unstable and the writing may easily fail.

Specifically, in order to prevent the problem that writing network configuration information fails due to unstable sensing signals after the NFC module of some user mobile devices establishes a connection with the NFC of a home appliance product, the following technical means is adopted: the Wi-Fi chip on the home appliance product side can modify a write control flag in the NFC chip, and sets the write control flag to a first flag when detecting that a user mobile device has entered the field (when a sensing signal obtained changes from a high level to a low level for the first time), so that when the product application reads the first flag, it will not write network configuration information for the moment; the W-Fi chip modifies it to a second flag after a delay of a first specified duration, so that when the product application reads the second flag, it will start writing the network configuration information. Thus, a delay of the moment of writing network configuration information by the product application is achieved. Writing is executed when the level is more stable, improving writing success rate and making it less bothersome for the user.

Figure 8 is a schematic view of the sensing signal level changes of NFC modules of different specifications provided by the present description. As shown in Figure 8, when the NFC module of an IPhone enters the field (establishing a NFC connection with the NFC of a product), the level, after changing from high to low once, will be stable for a relatively long time. Therefore, for an IPhone, if after establishing a NFC connection, a product application writes information into the NFC of the product right away, the success rate will be very high. As for other two types of Android cellphones, starting from entering the field, they will undergo a fluctuation period in which the level repeatedly changes between high and low and the level will only remain stable after this fluctuation period, especially for the last type of Android cellphones. If after establishing a NFC connection, a product application writes information into the NFC of a product right way, the success rate will be very low.

In view of this, in order to be compatible with the specifications of the NFC modules of different mobile devices, a write control flag is deployed in the NFC of a product. At the same time, a logic is deployed in a product application: when the write control flag is a first flag, writing is disabled; when the write control flag is a second flag, writing is enabled.

After the product side detects that a mobile device has entered the field, the write control flag is determined to be the first flag. Thus, the product application will not execute information writing and will not experience failed writing. The product side implements a delay after the mobile device has entered the field. The duration of the delay can be a first specified duration. After the delay, the write control flag is modified to the second flag. Thus, the product application will read the second flag by means of the NFC module of the mobile device and start writing information into the NFC of the product.

In this embodiment, the first specified duration is N^*10 milliseconds, N being an integer, 2 <N<5. It has been shown experimentally that while the NFC modules of various types of different mobile devices have different specifications, the time it takes from entering the field to having a stable level is generally between 20 milliseconds and 50 milliseconds, and does not exceed 40 milliseconds in many cases.

Further, if the product side needs to obtain information written by the product application into the NFC, then it can obtain network configuration information from the NFC chip after a second specified duration has elapsed since the time point when the write control flag is modified to the second flag.

The product side can wait for the second specified duration from the time point when the product application writes the network configuration information before reading the network configuration information from the NFC chip, which improves reading success rate.

Further, the second specified duration is an estimated value of the time needed for the product application to write network configuration information in the NFC chip via a NFC connection.

In addition, after modifying the write control flag to the second flag, the product side can also obtain the network configuration information from the NFC chip when detecting that the sensing signal obtained changes from a low level to a high level.

In other words, the product side can read the network configuration information after it is determined that the user mobile device has left the field (which shows that writing is completed).

It should be noted that the above-described method of writing information into the NFC of a product by a product application can be specifically applied to an A-type home appliance product or a B-type home appliance product. When it is applied to an A-type home appliance product, it is implemented with the participation of the home appliance control module. When it is applied to a B-type home appliance product, it can be implemented with the participation of the home appliance control module or the Wi-Fi chip.

In addition, in real life, the user’s home appliance product may be malfunctioning. In this situation, the home appliance control module of the home appliance product usually will alert the user with a malfunction type identifier corresponding to the malfunction detected. The user can consult a product manual to learn details about the malfunction according to the malfunction type identifier.

However, this method of learning details regarding a malfunction of the home appliance product is relatively burdensome to the user.

Here, the present description proposes a method of obtaining detailed malfunction information of a home appliance product. This method is applied to a product application installed on a user mobile device. The home appliance product in this method can be a home appliance product that has a home appliance control module and a NFC module. It can also be an A-type home appliance product or a B-type home appliance product.

Specifically, when detecting that the home appliance product is malfunctioning, the home appliance control module obtains a corresponding malfunction type identifier and writes the malfunction type identifier into the NFC chip via the interface. Further, it can be written into a customized data field of the NFC chip.

The product application can: read the malfunction type identifier from the NFC of the home appliance product by means of the NFC module of the user mobile device; upload the malfunction type identifier read to a product service end and receive detailed malfunction information corresponding to the malfunction type identifier issued from the product service end.

The above-described method of obtaining detailed malfunction information, by using NFC, enables the home appliance product to send a malfunction type identifier to the product application on the user mobile device and obtains and displays detailed malfunction information by means of the product application of the user mobile device, without the need for the user to consult a product manual based on the malfunction type identifier, improving user experience. In addition, this technical solution can also be applied to a home appliance product that does not have a network connection function or has a network connection function but is not connected to a network. It can also be applied to a home appliance product that has a relatively simple display function.

In some embodiments, the detailed malfunction information comprises: information used for describing a cause of a malfunction; and/or, information used for describing a solution of a malfunction.

In some embodiments, the detailed malfunction information comprises: detailed malfunction information in a multi-media format. In addition, the present description further proposes a technical solution of connecting a home appliance product to a router, which is described in detail as follows:

In practical applications, a product application obtains a wireless network identifier SSID and a wireless network password of a router to which a user mobile device is currently connected, and then transmits the wireless network identifier and the wireless network password to a home appliance product for network configuration via a communication connection between the user mobile device and the home appliance product. Here, the communication connection can be a communication connection between a Wi-Fi module of the user mobile device and a Wi-Fi (AP mode) of the home appliance module described above. It can also be a NFC connection described above.

Routers currently on the market usually support dual frequency channels (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz). Some routers will set a uniform SSID for the 2.4 GHz channel and the 5 GHz channel. In this situation, with the SSID and a password transmitted to the Wi-Fi of a home appliance product, the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product can successfully connect to the 2.4 GHz access point of the router via the 2.4 GHz channel.

However, some routers will set different SSIDs respectively for the 2.4 GHz channel and the 5GHz channel. For example, the SSID corresponding to the 2.4 GHz channel is “XXY” while the SSID corresponding to the 5 GHz is “XXY-5G.” In this case, the user mobile device usually connects to the 5 GHz access point of the router. Therefore, the SSID obtained by the product application is the SSID corresponding to the 5 GHz channel, instead of the SSID corresponding to the 2.4 GHz channel. Due to considerations of cost, the Wi-Fi of a home appliance product usually supports only connecting to the 2.4 GHz access point of a router via the 2.4 GHz channel. Therefore, the home appliance product is unable to successfully connect based on the SSID corresponding to the 5 GHz channel.

To solve the above-described problem, a solution consists in that, when the Wi-Fi of a home appliance product fails using the SSID transmitted by a product application, which means the router to be connected currently has set different SSIDs respectively for the 2.4 GHz channel and the 5 GHz channel, the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product can scan and obtain a list of SSIDs from the surrounding environment, in which not only including the SSID corresponding to the 2.4 GHz channel and the SSID corresponding to the 5 GHz channel of the router to be connected currently (i.e., the router in the user’s home), but also including SSIDs of other routers in the surrounding environment (for example, routers of the user’s neighbors). In many cases, the two SSIDs of the same router are similar. Therefore, a SSID similar to the SSID transmitted by the product application can be determined from the list of SSIDs obtained by scanning and considered as the SSID corresponding to the 2.4 GHz channel of the same router. Thus, the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product can connect to the router based on this similar SSID.

However, the success rate of network configuration of this solution is not high. The reason is that in actual applications, the naming rules for the two SSIDs of dual frequency routers of different models are usually uncertain and the two SSIDs of the same router may not be similar. In addition, a user can modify the two SSIDs of the user’s own router at will, which makes it even more difficult to use this solution to successfully perform network configuration on a home appliance product.

In view of this, the present description proposes another solution, wherein, for a home appliance product that supports only connecting to a router via the 2.4 GHz channel, when performing network configuration, a product application can transmit the BSSID of the 5 GHz access point of a router to which a user mobile device is connected and a wireless network password corresponding to the router to the home appliance product, and a target module having a Wi-Fi function of the home appliance product can scan and obtain the BSSIDs of a plurality of 2.4 GHz access points in the surrounding environment, determines a BSSID of a 2.4 GHz access point similar to the BSSID of the 5 GHz access point of the router in the results of the scanning, and then connect to the router based on the BSSID of the 2.4 GHz access point determined.

The principle of the above-described solution consists in that, even though dual frequency routers of various models on the market have uncertain SSID naming rules and a user can modify a SSID, the naming rules of physical addresses BSSID of various wireless access points of routers are relatively uniform and a user is unable to modify a BSSID. In actual applications, even if a dual frequency router sets different access points respectively for the 2.4 GHz channel and the 5 GHz channel, the BSSIDs of the different access points are generally very similarly. Thus, successful network configuration of the home appliance product can be ensured.

Specifically, the present description provides a method of connecting a home appliance product to a router, a user mobile device on which a product application is installed being connected to a 5 GHz access point of a router via a 5 GHz channel, the method comprising: the product application obtains the physical address BSSID of the 5 GHz access point to which the user mobile device is connected and obtains a wireless network password corresponding to the router; the product application transmits the BSSID of the 5 GHz access point and the password to a target module of the home appliance product via a communication connection between the user mobile device and the home appliance product; the target module having a Wi-Fi function and supporting only a 2.4 GHz channel; the target module uses the W-Fi function to scan and obtain BSSIDs of a plurality of 2.4 GHz access points in the surrounding environment and determining, in the BSSIDs obtained by the scanning, a BSSID similar to the BSSID of the 5 GHz access point, provided that a certain defined condition is met; the target module connects to the 2.4 GHz access point of the router via the 2.4 GHz channel based on the determined BSSID of the 2.4 GHz access point and the wireless network password.

It should be noted that the home appliance product in the above-described method of connecting to a router can be any home appliance product that has a Wi-Fi function. For example, it can be an A-type home appliance product or a B-type home appliance product. When it is an A-type home appliance product, the target module of the home appliance product is specifically a stand-alone W-Fi module; when it is a B-type home appliance product, the target module of the home appliance product is specifically the above-described communication module that integrates a NFC function and a W-Fi function.

In some embodiments, the above-described communication connection can be: when the W-Fi function of the target module of the home appliance module is set in the AP mode, a communication connection between the W-Fi module of the user mobile device and the target module. Of course, the above-described communication connection can also be: a Near Field Communication (NFC) connection between the home appliance product and the user mobile device.

In some embodiments, the format of any BSSID is: a 48-bit binary identifier; at least the first 40 bits of the binary identifiers of the BSSID of the 5 GHz access point and the BSSID of the 2.4 GHz access point of the same router are the same. Thus, the target module can determine, in the BSSIDs obtained by the scanning, a BSSID of which the first 40 bits of the binary identifier are the same as those of the BSSID of the 5 GHz access point.

At least the first 40 bits of the binary identifiers of the BSSID of the 5 GHz access point and the BSSID of the 2.4 GHz access point of dual frequency channel routers of various brands currently on the market are the same. Therefore, by using this standard to determine “similar,” the BSSID of the 2.4 GHz access point that belongs to the same router as the BSSID of the 5 GHz access point transmitted by the product application can be relatively precisely matched.

Of course, other rules can be used to determine whether the BSSID of a 5 GHz access point is similar to the BSSID of a 2.4 GHz access point, which is not described in detail here.

In some embodiments, the target module may determine more than one similar BSSID of a 2.4 GHz access point. Thus, connection can be made via the 2.4 GHz channel one by one based on the BSSID of each 2.4 GHz access point determined and the wireless network password, until connection is made to the 2.4 GHz access point of the router.

In some embodiments, the product application can also obtain the wireless network identifier SSID corresponding to the router to which the user mobile device is connected and, via the communication connection, transmit the SSID to the target module.

Some routers with dual frequency channels will connect using a uniform SSID for the 5 GHz access point and the 2.4 GHz access point. In this case, the home appliance product can successfully connect to the 2.4 GHz access point of the router by directly using the SSID, without the need to scan a list of 2.4 GHz BSSIDs in the surrounding environment, which can speed up network configuration. After network configuration based on the SSID fails, a list of BSSIDS is obtained by scanning and connection is made based on a similar BSSID, which can ensure successful network configuration.

In some embodiments, before scanning and obtaining BSSIDs of a plurality of 2.4 GHz access points in the surrounding environment, the target module connects to the router based on the SSID and the wireless network password; if the connection fails, then the defined condition is met.

The home appliance product can first use the SSID to connect to the router, and, if the connection fails, then scan BSSIDs of 2.4 GHz access points of the surrounding environment and use a similar BSSID to connect to the router.

In some embodiments, before scanning and obtaining BSSIDs of a plurality of 2.4 GHz access points in the surrounding environment, the target module can determine whether the SSID contains only ASCII codes. If the result of the determination is positive, it then connects to the router based on the SSID and the wireless network password. If it is determined that the connection fails, then it is determined that the defined condition is met. If the result of the determination is negative, then it is also determined that the defined condition is met.

In actual applications, the target module of the home appliance product can usually parse ASCII codes, but may not successfully parse other codes. The SSID of some routers may not be in the form of a pure ASCII code. For the home appliance product, it can very easily fail to parse the SSID and thus fail to connect to the router. Therefore, the target module of the home appliance product can first determine whether the SSID contains only ASCII codes and thus decide whether to connect to the router based on the SSID first.

In addition, it should be noted that the above-described method of connecting a home appliance product to a router can be combined with the method shown in Figure 5. Thus, the product application can also write the BSSID into the NFC of the product. In some embodiments, it can be written into a customized data field of the NFC of the product.

The present description further provides a method of determining a user, which can be applied to a home appliance product that has a NFC function. Specifically, it is described in details as follows:

Sometimes, the product service end of a home appliance product needs to determine the identity of the user currently using the home appliance product, so as to perform some business processing regarding the user currently using the home appliance product.

However, in practical applications, more than one user may take turns to use the same home appliance product (for example, multiple family members in a family collectively use a home appliance product). It can be seen that it is very difficult for the product service end to distinguish the identities of different users currently using the home appliance product.

In view of this, an accumulated value used for counting the number of times that the home appliance product has established a NFC connection, which is equivalent to the number of times that the user has used the user’s own mobile device to trigger the NFC function of the home appliance product, can be stored in a NFC data field of the home appliance product. When any user wants to use the home appliance, the user uses the user’s own mobile device to trigger the NFC function of the home appliance product and can read a latest accumulated value from the NFC data field of the home appliance product and thus can use the user’s own mobile device to send a main user confirmation notification containing the accumulated value read and a user identifier to the product service end. To the product service end, the main user confirmation notification that contains the highest accumulated value is the main user confirmation notification sent by the mobile device of the user currently using the home appliance product, and the user identifier in this main user confirmation notification represents the user currently using the home appliance product.

Thus, by using the near field nature of the NFC connection and the one-way incremental nature of the accumulated value, the product service end can at any time determine the identity of the user currently using the product. The above-described method of determining a user is applied to a system of a home appliance product that has a NFC function, a product service end, and at least two user mobile devices that has a NFC function, different user mobile devices belonging to different users.

The accumulated value is stored in a NFC data field of the home appliance product. Whenever detecting the establishment of a NFC connection, the home appliance product increases the accumulated value by M, M being a natural number larger than 0. As an option, M can be set to 1.

When any user needs to use the home appliance product, the user can make the user’s own mobile device approach the home appliance product. It can be understood that this means that a NFC sensing area of the mobile device approaches a NFC sensing area of the home appliance product.

Specifically, the above-described method of determining a user can comprise the following steps:

1. a mobile device of any user, after establishing a NFC connection with the home appliance product, reads an accumulated value in a NFC data field of the home appliance product via the NFC connection established.

2. the mobile device of any user sends a main user confirmation notification to a product service end.

3. the product service end determines the main user confirmation containing the highest accumulated value and determines the user identifier contained in the determined main user notification as the identifier of the user currently using the home appliance product.

In some embodiments, the NFC data field comprises a standard data field using a NFC Data Exchange Format. The standard data field comprises at least one NFC record used for triggering an operating system of a user mobile device that has read the at least NFC record to launch an installed product application; the accumulated value is stored in one NFC record.

Before the mobile device of any user sends the main user confirmation notification to the product service end, the method can further comprise: an operating system of the mobile device of any user launches an installed product application based on the at least one NFC record, and provides the accumulated value read to the product application. Thus, after the product application is launched, it receives the accumulated value provided by the operating system, obtains the user identifier bound to the product application, and then constructs a main user confirmation notification and sends it to the product service end.

In some embodiments, regarding any user identifier, the product service end can count the number of main user confirmation notifications received containing the user identifier; the product service end analyzes a product utilization frequency corresponding to the any user identifier based on the number counted.

Thus, any user’s utilization frequency of the home appliance product can be counted and marketing and promotion can be done based on each user’s utilization frequency.

In some embodiments, during the course of utilizing the home appliance product, a product utilization record is determined and sent to the product service end; the product service end, when receiving the product utilization record, establishes a corresponding relationship between the product utilization record and the identifier of the user currently using the home appliance product.

Thus, the product service end can distinguish product utilization records created on the same home appliance product by different users, so as to precisely analyze product utilization habits of each user based on the user’s product utilization records.

In addition, in some embodiments, regarding any user identifier, the product service end can determine a product utilization record corresponding to the user identifier. Based on the product utilization record determined, product utilization habits corresponding to the user identifier are analyzed. For example, the home appliance product is an electric cooking device and a product utilization record created on the home appliance product is a cooking record. The product service end can analyze cooking habits corresponding to the user identifier based on the determined cooking record and thus push recipes to the user based on the cooking habits.

Further, the product service end can push messages to the product bound to the user identifier or issue service information to the home appliance product based on product utilization habits corresponding to the user identifier.

The present description further provides a method of pushing a message. It can be implemented with the participation of an A-type home appliance product. It can also be implemented with the participation of a B-type home appliance product. Regarding this method of displaying service information, it is described as follows:

Currently, some home appliance products on the market has a function of message alert. For example, when a user uses a home appliance product for cooking (a home appliance product), if the cooking is completed, the home appliance product can alert the user by way of an audio announcement.

However, currently, this method of pushing a message to a user depends too much on the home appliance product end, which is not convenient enough for a user.

In view of this, the above-described method of pushing a message can achieve pushing a message to a user currently using a home appliance product. Not only does it eliminate the dependence of message pushing on the product and the need for the user to stay besides the product, but also, when there are multiple users in a family who may use the home appliance product, it accurately pushes the message to the main user currently using the home appliance product.

Specifically, the above-described method of pushing a message comprises the following steps:

1. any product application, by means of a NFC module of a user mobile device that has the product application installed, writes a user identifier bound to the product application into the NFC of a home appliance product.

For ease of description, the NFC of a home appliance product can mean both a NFC module of a home appliance product (an A-type home appliance product) and a NFC chip in a communication module of a home appliance product (a B-type home appliance product). The Wi-Fi of a home appliance product can mean both a W-Fi module of a home appliance product (an A-type home appliance product) and a W-Fi chip in a communication module of a home appliance product (a B-type home appliance product).

For ease of description, a user mobile device that has the any product application installed is referred to as any user mobile device.

After the product application of the any user mobile device is launched, the bound user identifier can be obtained. It should be noted that, if the product application is launched in an operating system of the any user mobile device for the first time, then generally the user needs to enter a user identifier in the product application for the product application to interact with the product service end and complete identity authentication of the user identifier. After the identity authentication is passed, the logging-in of the user identifier is confirmed, thus completing the binding of the product application and the user identifier. If it is not the first time that the product application is launched in the operating system of the any user mobile device, then generally it has already been bound to a user identifier. The product application can, provided that it is determined that a write condition is met, provide the bound user identifier to the operating system of the any user mobile device. The write condition can be that the NFC of the home appliance product does not contain the user identifier bound to the product application. Thus, the operating system of the any user mobile device writes the user identifier provided by the product application into the NFC of the home appliance product by means of the NFC module of the any user mobile device.

In some embodiments, the above-described product application can write the user identifier into a standard data field in the NFC of the home appliance product. In some embodiments, the above-described any product application can write the user identifier into a customized data field in the NFC of the home appliance product.

It can be understood that the user identifier most recently written into the NFC of the home appliance product can be considered as the user identifier of the user currently located besides the home appliance product, i.e. , representing the user currently using the home appliance product.

Further, if the customized data field contains another user identifier different from the user identifier provided by the product application, then the operating system of the any user mobile device replaces this other user identifier in the customized data field with the user identifier provided by the product application by means of the NFC module of the any user mobile device. Thus, only one user identifier is contained in the customized data field and this user identifier is always the user identifier of the user currently using the home appliance product.

2. the home appliance control module obtains the user identifier most recently written from the NFC of the home appliance product.

In an embodiment where the NFC of the home appliance product has a customized data filed and the customized data field contains only one user identifier, the home appliance control module reads the user identifier directly from the NFC of the home appliance product and naturally can obtain the user identifier most recently written.

In other embodiments, the home appliance control module needs to determine which user identifier is the one most recently written.

3. the home appliance control module sends a main user confirmation notification containing the obtained user identifier to the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product.

4. the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product uploads the main user confirmation notification received to the product service end.

The user identifier most recently written into the NFC of the home appliance product represents the user currently using the home appliance product. In general, any user that has transmitted a user identifier to the home appliance product by means of the user’s own user mobile device can be a user bound to the home appliance product while the user currently using the home appliance product is the main user among the various users bound to the home appliance product.

On the home appliance product side, the user identifier of the current main user is notified to the product service end, so that the product service side determines the identity of the user currently using the home appliance product.

5. the home appliance control module, when it is determined that a message needs to be pushed, sends a push request to the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product.

6. the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product uploads the push request received to the product service end.

7. the product service end, for any push request sent by the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product and when receiving the push request, executes message pushing.

The product service end, for any push request sent by the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product and when receiving the push request, executes specifically at this time point: determining a corresponding message to be pushed, and, based on the user identifier in the main user confirmation notification most recently received from the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product, pushing the determined message to be pushed to the corresponding product application.

In some embodiments, the product service end can add the user identifier in each main user confirmation notification received to a user list corresponding to the home appliance product; and push the determined message to be pushed to the product application bound to at least one other user identifier in the user list other than the user identifier most recently received.

Thus, pushing a message to various users that collectively use the same home appliance product can be achieved. For example, a message is pushed at the same time to various family members of the same family.

In some embodiments, the product service end can receive a list configuration command sent by the product application bound to an authorized user identifier and delete a user identifier from the user list based on the list configuration command; the authorized user identifier is a user identifier of a user who has configuration permission.

Thus, updating of the user list by an authorized user can be achieved. For example, when an authorized user does not permit a user in the user list to use the home appliance product any more, this user can be deleted from the user list.

In addition, the product service end can, for each user in the user list, delete the user from the user list if it is detected that the user has not used the home appliance product for over a certain period of time.

In addition, an authorized user can be the user who purchased the home appliance product. It can also be the user who has used the home appliance product the most number of times. In actual applications, each time a user uses the home appliance product, the user can use the NFC function of a mobile device to switch the main user bound to the home appliance product to himself or herself. Thus, the product service end counts, for each user identifier, the number of times of receiving a main user confirmation notification containing the user identifier, and determines the user identifier with the highest number of times as an authorized user identifier.

In some embodiments, the product service end can receive a strategy configuration command sent by the product application bound to an authorized user identifier, determine a message pushing strategy based on the strategy configuration command, and perform message pushing based on the determined message pushing strategy; the authorized user identifier is a user identifier of a user that has configuration permission.

Thus, configuration of the product service end’s message pushing strategy by an authorized user can be achieved.

A mode of realization consists in that the product service end can: determine a user sublist contained in the user list and a pushing condition corresponding to the user sublist; when receiving a pushing request, determine whether the pushing condition is met; if it is, then perform message pushing to the product application bound to each user identifier in the user sublist. Thus, conditionally performing message pushing to some of the users in the user list can be achieved.

For example, the user sublist can be set to a child in a family, and the corresponding pushing condition can be set to the determination that an electric cooking device completes cooking at 8 to 10 o’clock in the morning of each day. Thus, the child can be notified of eating breakfast at 8 to 10 o’clock in the morning of each day by pushing a notification of completing breakfast to the product application on a user mobile device of the child in the family.

In some embodiments, the home appliance control module can, when detecting that the Wi-Fi of the home appliance product is connected to a network, determine that a message needs to be pushed so as to alert the user that network configuration is successful.

When the home appliance product is an electric cooking device, the home appliance control module can, when detecting that the home appliance product has started cooking, determine that a message needs to be pushed so as to alert the user that cooking has started and to alert the user as to how long it would take for the cooking to be completed. It can also, when detecting that the home appliance product has completed cooking, determine that a message needs to be pushed so as to remind the user that the cooking has ended and remind the user what is the completed cooking dish. Here, it should be noted that, in order to eliminate erroneous touching by a user, the home appliance control module can determine that the electric cooking device has started only when detecting that the electric cooking device has started operating since a certain period of time ago (for example, half of the time in the first cooking step of a recipe).

In some embodiments, the home appliance control module can, when it is determined that a message needs to be pushed, use an audio announcement function of the home appliance product to perform message pushing.

A message to be pushed herein can include: a multi-media message, and/or a tex message.

In some embodiments, any product application can obtain environment information captured by a corresponding user mobile device and send the environment information obtained to the product service end; the environment information comprises at least one of geographic position information, weather information, and time information. The product service end can determine a recipe matched with the environment information based on the environment information received and push the recipe determined to the product application.

In this embodiment, the recipe matched with the environment information can be a recipe suitable to be had in an environment corresponding to the environment information from the perspective of nutrition.

In addition, the product service end can also analyze eating habits of each user based on cooking records of each user uploaded by the electric cooking device and push to each user a recipe that the user may be interested in. In addition, the present description provides a method of creating an improved recipe. It is described in detail as follows:

Currently, a user often obtains a recipe online and based on the recipe, uses an electric cooking device for cooking. In the course of cooking, the user usually improves the method of cooking food based on the user’s own preferences.

However, if the user wants to reproduce the food last improved in the future, the user usually will forget details of the improvement and therefore find it difficult to reproduce the improved food.

In view of this, an electric cooking device that is able to cook automatically is provided (which can has the structure of an A-type home appliance product or a B-type home appliance product). The electric cooking device can receive a recipe issued by a product service end and a set of control parameters used for realizing the recipe. A user can intervene to a certain extent in the course of cooking when using the electric cooking device to realize the recipe so as to improve the food based on the user’s own preferences. The electric cooking device can detect that the user has adjusted the control parameters of the electric cooking device, record the adjusted control parameters and upload them to the product service end. The product service end can create an improved recipe based on the original recipe and the the control parameters adjusted by the user and create a corresponding relationship between the improved recipe and the user.

Thus, the electric cooking device can timely capture cooking inspirations of the user in the course of using the electric cooking device to cook, record the cooking inspirations, which are difficult for the user to remember later, and feed them to the product service end to form an improved recipe. Later, the user can directly request the product service end to push the improved recipe created historically to himself or herself and can easily reproduce the improved food.

The above-described method of creating an improved recipe comprises the following steps:

1. A product service end issues a recipe and a set of control parameters used for controlling an electric cooking device to realize the recipe to the electric cooking device.

The above-described method of improving a recipe is applied to a cooking system comprising the electric cooking device and the product service end corresponding to the electric cooking device. The electric cooking device can display a list of recipes to a user for the user to browse by means of a recipe display function. The user can select a recipe desired to be realized from the list of recipes displayed by the electric cooking device. In some embodiments, the cooking system can further comprise a product application corresponding to the electric cooking device. The product application is installed on a user mobile device. The user can interact with the product service end and select a recipe desired to be realized from recipes pushed by the product service end by means of the product application.

In actual applications, a recipe is generally displayed in an order of pages, each page corresponding to a cooking step. In the various cooking steps of a recipe, some cooking stepsmay not require the participation of the electric cooking device, for example a step that reminds the user as to what food materials to prepare. Some cooking steps may need the electric cooking device to execute, such as steps of the types of frying, stir frying, stewing, and deep frying.

A set of control parameters used to realize a recipe refers to control parameters corresponding to each cooking step of a recipe that needs to be executed by the electric cooking device. The electric cooking device executes cooking steps based on the control parameters.

The set of control parameters used for controlling the electric cooking device to realize the recipe comprises a parameter of at least one of the following types: temperature, power, rotation speed, and duration.

For a heating-type electric cooking device, temperature is an important control parameter. In general, the power of an electric cooking device determines the operating range of the electric cooking device (for example, the frying range of an electric wok) and the operating range will affect the flavor or taste of food. Some electric cooking devices have a rotating member, such as a mixing head used for achieving a mixing function, and the rotation speed of the rotating member will also affect the flavor or taste of food. The time an electric cooking device takes to execute a cooking step (such as the duration of stewing) will also affect the flavor or taste of food.

In some embodiments, the product service end issues to the electric cooking device the recipe and the set of control parameters used for controlling the electric cooking device to realize the recipe in advance. In other words, many recipes can be stored locally at the electric cooking device in advance. Recipes need not be issued to the electric cooking device only when a user wants to realize them.

Further, the electric cooking device can display a list of recommended recipes containing said recipes to the user. When detecting a cooking request for said recipe entered by the user, the electric cooking device determines that the user requests to realize the recipe. In actual applications, the electric cooking device can have a recipe display function. The electric cooking device recommends recipes to the user and the user can interact with the electric cooking device to select a recipe for cooking from the recommended recipes.

In other embodiments wherein the cooking system comprises a product application, the product application can display a list of recommended recipes containing said recipes to the user and, after detecting a cooking request for the recipe entered by the user, send the cooking request to the product service end. Thus, the product service end can send the cooking request to the electric cooking device. Then, the electric cooking device can, when receiving the cooking request for the recipe, determine that the user requests to realize the recipe. Further, the product service end can also, based on the cooking request, issue the recipe on the spot to the electric cooking device and a set of control parameters used for controlling the electric cooking device to realize the recipe.

2. The electric cooking device, after determining that the user requests to realize the recipe, sequentially for each cooking step that needs to be executed by the electric cooking device, executes the cooking step based on control parameters used for realizing the cooking step.

3. In the course of realizing the recipe, the electric cooking device, if detecting that the user has adjusted a control parameter used for realizing any cooking step, records the adjusted control parameter corresponding to the cooking step.

For example, the user can rotate a knob of the electric cooking device to set the duration of a cooking step in which the electric cooking device executes stewing.

4. The electric cooking device uploads the adjusted control parameter recorded in the course of cooking the recipe to the product service end.

5. The product service end creates an improved recipe based on the recipe and according to the adjusted control parameter recorded by the electric cooking device in the course of realizing the recipe, and creates a corresponding relationship between the improved recipe and the user.

In some embodiments, sometimes, an attempt of the user may be unsuccessful. In this situation, the user actually does not wish to retain the improved recipe. Therefore, the product service can obtain a food evaluation given by the user after the electric cooking device realizes the recipe, and, when it is determined that the food evaluation represents a good evaluation, creates an improved recipe based on the recipe.

Specifically, the user can report a food evaluation back to the product service end by means of the product application or the electric cooking device.

In some embodiments, the product service end issues the improved recipe and a set of control parameters used for realizing the improved recipe to the electric cooking device for the user to use the improved recipe when using the electric cooking device.

In some embodiments, the product application can, in response to a request of the user, obtain the improved recipe from the product service end and display it to the user.

In addition, the user may, based on the user’s own preferences, consider some cooking steps in the recipe to be unnecessary, and/or wish to add a cooking step. In this situation, the electric cooking device will also record and report back to the product service end for creating an improved recipe.

Specifically, in the course of realizing the recipe, the electric cooking device can, if detecting that the user has skipped any cooking step used for realizing the recipe and/or added a cooking step, record the skipped and/or added cooking step. The electric cooking device can report the skipped and/or added cooking step recorded in the course of realizing the recipe back to the product service end.

The product service end creates an improved recipe based on the recipe, the adjusted control parameter recorded by the electric cooking device in the course of realizing the recipe, and a target cooking step. The target cooking step comprises: the skipped and/or added cooking step.

In addition, the user may, based on the user’s own preferences, not use some food materials and/or find some ingredients unsuitable, or modify a food material and/or ingredient, which can be recorded by the electric cooking device and reported back to the product service end for creating an improved recipe. In this embodiment, food materials and/or ingredients are referred to as cooking objects.

Specifically, in the course of realizing the recipe, the electric cooking device can, if detecting that the user has modified a cooking object specified by the recipe and/or the quantity to be used of a cooking object, record the modified cooking object and/or the modified quantity to be used of a cooking object. Then, the electric cooking device can report the modified cooking object and/or the modified quantity to be used of a cooking object recorded by the electric cooking device in the course of realizing the recipe back to the product service end.

The product service end creates an improved recipe based on the recipe, the adjusted control parameter recorded by the electric cooking device in the course of realizing the recipe, and the modified cooking object and/or the modified quantity to be used of a cooking object.

Embodiments of this specification further provide a computer device comprising at least a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, wherein, the processor, when executing the computer program, realizes a function of a product application or a product service end.

Figure 9 shows a schematic hardware structural view of a more specific computer device provided by embodiments of this description. This device can comprise: a processor 1010, a memory 1020, an input/output interface 1030, a communication interface 1040, and a bus 1050. In this embodiment, a communication connection between the processor 1010, the memory 1020, the input/output interface 1030, and the communication interface 1040 inside the device is achieved by means of the bus 1050.

The processor 1010 can be realized by means of a general CPU (Central Processing Unit), a microprocessor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits and is used for executing a relevant program to realize a technical solution provided by embodiments of this description.

The memory 1020 can be realized in the form of a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a static storage device, or a dynamic storage device. The memory 1020 can store an operating system and other application programs. When a technical solution provided by embodiments of this description is realized by software or firmware, the relevant program codes are stored in the memory 1020 and called and executed by the processor 1010.

The input/output interface 1030 is used for connecting an input/output module so as to achieve information input/output. The input/output module can be equipped in the device as a component (not illustrated in the drawing). It can also be externally connected to the device to provide a corresponding function. In this embodiment, an input device can comprise a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, a microphone, and various types of sensors. An output device can comprise a monitor, a loudspeaker, a vibrator, and an indicator light.

The communication interface 1040 is used for connecting a communication module (not illustrated in the drawing) so as to achieve communication interaction between the device and another device. In this embodiment, the communication module can achieve communication in a wired way (for example, by a USB or a network cable). It can also achieve communication in a wireless way (for example, by a mobile network, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth).

The bus 1050 comprises a path for transferring information between various components of the device (for example, the processor 1010, the memory 1020, the input/output interface 1030, and the communication interface 1040)..

It should be noted that, even though in the above-described device, only the processor 1010, the memory 1020, the input/output interface 1030, the communication interface 1040, and the bus 1050 are shown, in a specific implementation process, the device can further comprise other components necessary for normal functioning. In addition, a person skilled in the art can understand that the above-mentioned device may also include only the components necessary to implement the solutions of the embodiments of this description, instead of all the components shown in the figure.

Embodiments of this description further provide a computer readable storage medium in which is stored a computer program that, when executed by a processor, realizes a function of a product application or a product service end.

A computer readable medium includes permament and non-permament, movable and non-movable medium, and can realize information storage by any method or technology. The information can be computer readable instructions, data structures, modules of programs, or other data. Examples of a storage medium of a computer include, but are not limited to, Phase Change Random Access Memory (PRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Random Access Memory (RAM) of other types, Read-Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), Flash Memory or other random access memory technologies, Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), or other optical storage devices, cassette-type magnetic tapes, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other non-transmission medium that can be used for storing information accessible by a computer device. Based on the definitions of the present description, a computer readable medium does not include transitory media, such as modulated data signals and carrier waves.

It can be seen from the description of the modes of realization above, a person skilled in the art can clearly understand that embodiments of the present description can be realized by means of software combined with a general hardware platform. Based on this understanding, the essence or the part that contributes to the prior art of the technical solutions of embodiments of the present description can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product can be stored in a storage medium, such as ROM/RAM, a magnetic disc, and a CD and comprises several instructions used for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to execute the method described in the various embodiments or some part of the embodiments of the present description.

The systems, devices, modules or units described in the above embodiments can be specifically realized by a computer chip or entity, or by a product that has a certain function. A typical realization device is a computer. Its specific form can be a personal computer, a laptop, a cellular phone, a camera phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a media player, a navigation device, an email transceiver, a game console, a tablet computer, a wearable device or a combination of several devices among those devices.

The various embodiments in the present description are described in a progressive manner. The same or similar parts between the various embodiments can refer to each other, and the description of each embodiment focuses on its differences from other embodiments. In particular, as to device embodiments, since they are substantially similar to method embodiments, their description is relatively simple, and for related parts, one can refer to the part of the description of the method embodiments. The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative, and the modules therein described as separate parts may or may not be physically separated. The functions of various modules can be combined in the same or different software and/or hardware when realizing the solution of an embodiment of the present description. An objective of this embodiment can also be realized by selecting part or all of the modules therein based on needs. An ordinary person skilled in the art can understand and implement it without performing creative work.

What have been described above are merely preferred embodiments of the present description. It should be noted that to an ordinary person skilled in the art, many improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principle of embodiments of the present description, and those improvements and modifications shall fall within the scope of protection of embodiments of the present description.

Claims

1. A home appliance product, characterized in that, it is applied to a system comprising a user mobile device including a NFC module and the home appliance product; it has a home appliance control module and a communication module, a same circuit board of the communication module integrating a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, a NFC antenna, a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a W-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface; the communication module establishes a NFC connection between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user mobile device by means of the NFC antenna, so that a product application installed on the user mobile device, when it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own Wi-Fi module, writes network configuration information used by the user mobile device into the NFC chip; the W-Fi chip reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip so as to connect to the network by means of the W-Fi antenna in a Station mode.

2. The home appliance product according to claim 1 , characterized in that the home appliance control module is connected with the communication mode via a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) serial port.

3. The home appliance product according to claim 1 , characterized in that the network configuration information comprises: a wireless network identifier and a wireless network password.

4. The home appliance product according to claim 1 , characterized in that a data field of the NFC chip comprises a first NFC record having a URL-type NFC Data Exchange Format; an operating system of the user mobile device reads all the data in the data field of the NFC chip before the product application writes the network configuration information into the NFC chip; the product application includes: a product client program or a product light application; the first NFC record comprises a URL used for triggering the operating system of the mobile device to execute: when a product client program has been installed, opening the product client program, when no product client program has been installed, opening a product light application.

5. The home appliance product according to claim 4, characterized in that the first NFC record further comprises at least one of the following information: an anti-channel conflict code corresponding to the home appliance product; a unique identifier corresponding to the Wi-Fi chip; a communication malfunction flag; wherein, the home appliance control module modifies the communication malfunction flag to represent a malfunction when detecting that the W-Fi chip of the home appliance product is malfunctioning, and modifies the communication malfunction flag to represent no malfunction when detecting that the malfunction of the W-Fi chip has been repaired; an accumulated number of triggering the NFC chip; wherein, whenever detecting that the NFC chip has established a NFC connection, the W-Fi chip increases the accumulated number by 1 ; a flag related to network connection; wherein, the W-Fi chip sets the network connection flag for representing a state of being connected to a network whenever being connected to a network, and sets the network connection flag to be a flag for representing a state of not being connected to a network whenever being disconnected from a network.

6. The home appliance product according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the data field of the NFC chip further comprises a second NFC record; the second NFC record uses an Android^® application-type NFC Data Exchange Format; the second NFC record includes an Android application identifier used for, when the operating system of the mobile device is an Android system, triggering the operating system to execute: when no product client program has been installed, entering a download path associated with the Android system and downloading a product client program; or, opening a product light application supported by the Android system.

7. The home appliance product according to claim 1 , characterized in that the NFC chip further includes a write control flag configured to be set to a first flag or a second flag; the communication module establishes the NFC connection between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user mobile device by means of the NFC antenna, so that the product application installed on the user mobile device writes the network configuration information used by the user mobile into the NFC chip only when it determines that a write condition is met; the write condition comprises: the write control flag is a second flag; the W-Fi chip being connected with the NFC chip and capable of reading and writing information from/to the NFC chip, and is used for: obtaining from the NFC chip: a NFC sensing signal between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user mobile device; when detecting that the sensing signal obtained changes from a high level to a low level for the first time, setting the write control flag in the NFC chip to a first flag; after a first specified duration has elapsed since the time point of detecting that the sensing signal changes from a high level to a low level for the first time, modifying the write control flag in the NFC chip to the second flag; reading the network configuration information from the NFC chip to connect to a network in a Station mode.

8. The home appliance product according to claim 7, characterized in that the first specified duration is N^*10 milliseconds, N being an integer, 2<N<5.

9. The home appliance product according to claim 7, characterized in that the Wi-Fi chip obtains network configuration information from the NFC chip after a second specified duration has elapsed since the time point when the write control flag is modified to the second flag.

10. The home appliance product according to claim 9, characterized in that the second specified duration is an estimated value of the time needed for the product application to write network configuration information into the NFC chip via the NFC connection.

11. The home appliance product according to claim 7, characterized in that after modifying the write control flag to the second flag, the Wi-Fi chip obtains network configuration information from the NFC chip when detecting that the sensing signal obtained changes from a low level to a high level.

12. A method of connecting a home appliance product to a network, characterized in that it is applied to a system comprising a user mobile device including a NFC module and the home appliance product; the user mobile device is installed with a product application; the home appliance product has a home appliance control module and a communication module, a same circuit board of the communication module integrating a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, a NFC antenna, a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface; the method comprises: the user mobile device establishes a NFC connection with the NFC chip by means of its own NFC module; the product application, after being launched, when it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own Wi-Fi module, determines network configuration information used by the user mobile device; the product application writes the network configuration information determined into the NFC chip via the NFC connection; the W-Fi chip of the home appliance product reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip and connects to the network based on the network configuration information in a Station mode.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that the product application determining the network configuration information used by the user mobile device comprises: the product application obtaining the wireless network identifier of the wireless network to which the user mobile device is connected from the operating system of the user mobile device, receiving the wireless network password input by the user, and combining the obtained wireless network identifier with the received wireless network password as the network configuration information.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that a data field of the NFC chip comprises a first NFC record having a URL-type NFC Data Exchange Format; the product application includes: a product client program or a product light application; the first NFC record comprises a URL used for triggering an operating system of the mobile device to execute: when a product client program has been installed, opening the product client program, when no product client program has been installed, opening a product light application the method further comprises: after the NFC connection is established, the operating system of the user mobile device reads all the data in the data field of the NFC chip via the NFC connection so as to launch the product application.

15. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the NFC chip further includes a write control flag configured to be set to a first flag or a second flag; the Wi-Fi chip is connected with the NFC chip and capable of reading and writing information from/to the NFC chip; the method further comprises: the product application writes the network configuration information determined into the NFC chip via the NFC connection only when it determines that a write condition is met; the write condition comprises: the write control flag is a second flag; the Wi-Fi chip obtains a NFC sensing signal between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user mobile device; when detecting that the sensing signal obtained changes from a high level to a low level for the first time, sets the write control flag in the NFC chip to a first flag; after a first specified duration has elapsed since the time point of detecting that the sensing signal changes from a high level to a low level for the first time, modifies the write control flag in the NFC chip to a second flag.

16. A method of connecting a home appliance product to a network, characterized in that it is applied to a product application installed on a user mobile device included in a system, the system further comprising a home appliance product; the home appliance product has a home appliance control module and a communication module, a same circuit board of the communication module integrating a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, a NFC antenna, a Wreless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a W-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface; the user mobile device includes a NFC module and establishes a NFC connection with the NFC chip by means of the NFC module; the method comprises: the product application, after being launched, when it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own W-Fi module, determines network configuration information used by the user mobile device and, via the NFC connection, writes the network configuration information determined into the NFC chip; so that the W-Fi chip of the home appliance product reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip and connects to the network based on the network configuration information in a Station mode.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that the NFC chip further includes a write control flag configured to be set to a first flag or a second flag; the W-Fi chip is connected with the NFC chip and capable of reading and writing information from/to the NFC chip; the method further comprises: the product application writes the network configuration information determined into the NFC chip via the NFC connection only when it determines that a write condition is met; the write condition comprises: the write control flag is a second flag.

18. A product application for connecting a home appliance product to a network, characterized in that it is installed on a user mobile device included in a system, the system further comprising the home appliance product; the home appliance product has a home appliance control module and a communication module, a same circuit board of the communication module integrating a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, a NFC antenna, a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a W-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface; the user mobile device establishes a NFC connection with the NFC chip by means of its own NFC module and the NFC antenna; the product application comprises: a determining module that, after the product application is launched, when it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to a network by means of its own W-Fi module, determines network configuration information used by the user mobile device and, via the NFC connection, writes the network configuration information determined into the NFC chip; so that the W-Fi chip of the home appliance product reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip and connects to the network based on the network configuration information in a Station mode.

19. A system for connecting a home appliance product to a network, characterized in that it comprises a user mobile device including a NFC module, a product application installed on the user mobile device and the home appliance product; the home appliance product has a home appliance control module and a communication module, a same circuit board of the communication module integrating a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, a NFC antenna, a Wreless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a W-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module is connected with the communication module via an interface; the communication module establishes a NFC connection between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user mobile device by means of the NFC antenna, so that the product application, when it is determined that the user mobile device has connected to the network by means of its own W-Fi module, writes network configuration information used by the user mobile device into the NFC chip; the Wi-Fi chip reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip so as to connect to the network by means of the W-Fi antenna in a Station mode.