JP2004326221A - Household electrical appliance network system, household electrical appliance, and computer software - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a household electrical appliance network system that can shift to a proper operation state coping with an abnormal state, and to provide a household electrical appliance and a computer software. <P>SOLUTION: The household electrical appliance network system is provided with a plurality of the household electrical appliances 1 installed in a house, having the communication function and connected with a communication cable 4 or wirelessly. The plurality of the household electrical appliances comprise the household electrical appliance, having an urgent telegram transmission means 2 for broadcasting-transmitting by preparing an urgent telegram recording a code indicating the classification of a generated urgent state; the household electrical appliance having an urgent condition corresponding means for conducting measures corresponding to the classification code of the urgent state by receiving the urgent telegram; and the household electrical appliance having an echo transmitting means 2 broadcasting-transmitting the urgent telegram received. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a home electric appliance network system, an electric home appliance, and computer software, and more particularly to a home network system in which electric home appliances such as an air conditioner, a refrigerator, a television, and a fire alarm equipped with a communication function are connected to a network.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a so-called home network system technology has been proposed in which home appliances such as a television, an air conditioner, and a refrigerator installed in an individual home are connected via a network, and interlocking control of home appliances is performed via the network. .
[0003]
For example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 disclose a plurality of home electric appliances and a controller (or router) capable of controlling the home electric appliances via a network to control power consumption of home electric appliances in a house, and to control gas leakage and the like. There is disclosed a system for performing control for turning off the power of all devices at times. However, centralized management of home appliances by such a controller requires high performance because the controller needs to know the functions of all the devices. Has the disadvantage of stopping. In consideration of such a point, Patent Literature 3 discloses a method in which all home appliances connected to a network perform a so-called distributed process and execute a client application for coordinating processing of each device in any of a plurality of devices. A home network system as described above is disclosed.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-9-84146 (paragraphs 0041-0043, FIGS. 1-4)
[Patent Document 2]
JP-A-2002-44858 (paragraph 0014-0025, FIG. 2)
[Patent Document 3]
JP-A-2002-95071 (Paragraph 0006-0028, FIG. 1)
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, when an unexpected situation such as an earthquake, fire, gas leak, or destruction by a thief occurs, even if the controller is used and the distributed processing configuration as described above, the client application is executed by chance at that time. If a device (appropriate client) breaks down, the processing of the system stops, and the characteristics of the cooperative operation of home appliances by network connection cannot be used. In order to ensure that firearms are turned off in the event of an emergency such as an earthquake, appropriate operation according to the abnormal state, regardless of whether all devices connected to the network are controllers or clients as appropriate or not. A function that can transition to a state is required.
[0006]
An object of the present invention is to solve a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a home electric appliance network system, an electric home appliance, and computer software that can shift to an appropriate operation state according to an abnormal state.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention is installed in a house, has a communication function, a home appliance network system including a plurality of home appliances connected by a communication cable or wireless, in the plurality of home appliances, a code indicating the type of emergency that occurred A home appliance having an emergency message transmission unit that creates and broadcasts an emergency message recording the emergency message, and a home appliance having an emergency response unit that performs a measure corresponding to the type code of the emergency recorded in the received emergency message, This is a home electric appliance network system including an electric home appliance having an echo transmitting unit that broadcast-transmits a received emergency message.
[0008]
Also, the present invention provides a home electric appliance having the emergency response means, wherein the emergency response means does not perform a countermeasure corresponding to the emergency type code recorded in the received emergency message. This is a home appliance network system having an echo transmission unit that broadcasts a telegram.
[0009]
Further, according to the present invention, when the home electric appliance having the emergency telegram transmitting unit receives an emergency telegram transmitted by another home electric appliance having another emergency telegram transmitting unit, the home appliance has an echo transmitting unit for broadcast transmitting the received telegram. It is a home appliance network system.
[0010]
Further, according to the present invention, the home appliance having the emergency message transmitting means records a code indicating a restriction such as a message expiration date in an emergency message to be created, and the home appliance having an echo sending means records the received emergency message. A home appliance network system having a rewriting transmission unit that rewrites and broadcasts a restriction code recorded in the received message when the restriction code is valid.
[0011]
The present invention also provides an emergency response system for home appliances that are installed in a home, have a communication function, and can be connected via a communication cable or wirelessly, in accordance with the emergency type code recorded in the received emergency message. Means and an echo transmitting means for broadcasting the received message when the emergency response means does not take measures corresponding to the emergency type code recorded in the received emergency message. is there.
[0012]
Then, the present invention creates an emergency message recording a code indicating the type of the emergency that has occurred in a home appliance that is installed in a house, has a communication function, and can be connected by a communication cable or wirelessly, and transmits the message by broadcast. The home electric appliance includes an emergency telegram transmitting unit and an echo transmitting unit that broadcasts the received telegram when the home appliance having another emergency telegram transmitting unit receives the transmitted emergency telegram.
[0013]
Furthermore, the present invention provides a computer software which is installed in a house, has a communication function, and is used for a home appliance which can be connected by a communication cable or wirelessly. An emergency response function that instructs to receive a message and take measures corresponding to the emergency type code, and the emergency response function performs a measure corresponding to the emergency type code recorded in the received emergency message. Computer software that includes a program that causes a computer to perform an echo transmission function of transmitting the received message by broadcast when it is not instructed to do so.
[0014]
In addition, the present invention is directed to computer software used for home appliances that are installed in homes, have a communication function, and can be connected by a communication cable or wirelessly. A computer comprising a program for causing a computer to implement an emergency message transmission function of creating a message and broadcasting the message, and an echo transmission function of broadcasting the received message when an emergency message transmitted by another home appliance is received. It is software.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention will be described.
Embodiments of a home electric appliance network system and an electric home appliance according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a home electric appliance network system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of a communication controller in the home electric appliance network system of the embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a message used in the home appliance network according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart of a program in the home electric appliance network system according to the embodiment.
[0016]
Example 1 will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a home electric appliance network system according to the present embodiment. Refrigerator 1a, air conditioner 1b, vacuum cleaner, television 1c, washing machine 1d, water heater 1e, lighting, security camera, fire alarm 1f, electric power sensor 1g, thief (human detection) sensor installed in the house Communication controllers 2a to 2h are incorporated in home electric appliances such as 1h (hereinafter referred to as "home electric appliances"), and are connected to each other via a cable 4 or wireless communication. Home appliances have their own unique IP (Internet Protocol) addresses and identify each. The communication controller 2 has a function of transmitting and receiving a message such as a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet, and a function of communicating with the home electric appliance. Therefore, each home appliance 1 can exchange various information via the network 4 by the communication controller 2. In addition, an Internet communication terminal such as a personal computer 3 is connected to the network 4 and, similarly, via an IP router (Internet provider) 5 and a PPP (Point to Point Protocol) server of a commercial Internet provider, the base of the Internet provider. It is configured to be able to communicate with an out-of-home Internet communication terminal 3 such as a mobile phone 8, a personal computer, and a PDA (Personal digital assistant) that can be connected to the Internet 6 via the station 7 service. It is also possible to send a message to the product and operate it remotely.
[0017]
FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of the communication controller 2. A network communication unit 21 such as an Ethernet (registered trademark) controller for transmitting and receiving data flowing on the network 4, a main body communication unit 22 for performing data communication with the home electric appliance main body, and an MPU (Micro Processor Unit) 23 and MPU for controlling them. Memory such as a flash memory 24 and a mask ROM (Read Only Memory) for storing programs to be processed and registration data, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 25 for a work area of the program, a system bus 26 for connecting them, a power supply 27, etc. Consists of The network communication unit 21 is a communication interface for transmitting and receiving TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) and UDP / IP (User Datagram Protocol / Internet Protocol) packets. The main body communication unit 22 is a main body of the home electric appliance 1. This is a communication interface that transmits a control command to the board and receives a result of the return operation from the home electric appliance body 1.
[0018]
FIG. 3 is an example of a network layer message transmitted and received on the home network. The communication of the data link layer uses an Ethernet frame.
[0019]
FIG. 4 is an example of a flowchart of a program stored in the flash memory 24 of the communication controller 2 in the home electric appliance network system of the present embodiment. Normally, that is, in non-emergency situations, various application programs, such as remote control from outside the home, energy-saving applications for individual home appliances, and security management in the absence of a personal computer, transmit messages as shown in FIG. It is executed by exchanging on the network. For example, if the microwave oven has a breaker drop prevention function, when the user issues an instruction to start the operation of the microwave oven, the microwave oven transmits a message for inquiring the current power amount of the power measuring device via the network, The power meter that has received the message sends a message in which the current amount of power is used as data as a reply to the microwave oven. The microwave oven operates according to the user's specification according to the power amount of the returned message, or indicates to the user a message such as a breaker being cut off due to an excessive power amount when driving, or during another operation. For example, normal processing such as sending a message of suspension to an air conditioner such as an air conditioner, stopping the air conditioner, and then starting operation is performed.
[0020]
In the network of the present system, home electric appliances and sensors on the network monitor the occurrence of an emergency at the same time as performing the normal operation as described above. That is, sensors such as a fire alarm and a burglar sensor that detects the breakage of window glass directly detect the occurrence of a fire, or sensors that detect the intrusion of a burglar, as well as a gas heater with a built-in gas sensor, If the washing machine can read the earthquake from the level change, it monitors the occurrence of the earthquake. When the occurrence of an abnormal situation is caught, the sensor or the home appliance changes its own operation state such as operation stop as necessary, and sends a signal to notify the communication controller 2 of the abnormal state. In this system, when any of the communication controllers 2 of the devices in the network receives the signal notifying the occurrence of the abnormality from the main body communication unit 22 as described above, the system enters the emergency interlocking processing state. The operation of the present system will be described below with reference to FIGS.
[0021]
First, in the normal processing of step S101 in FIG. 4, when the main body communication unit 22 of the communication controller 2 receives the signal value sent from the home electric appliance main body, it records the signal value in the equipment state reception buffer provided in the RAM 25, and similarly, Upon receiving the message, the network communication unit 21 records the received message in a message reception buffer of the RAM 24. The MPU 23 is in the normal processing state of step S101, and waits for a signal or a message to be taken into one of the buffers. Upon receipt of the signal or message, the process proceeds to step S102, the content of the message or signal is interpreted, and the process branches in step S103. If an abnormal signal has been received, the process proceeds to step S131. The abnormal signal sent from the home electric appliance body is information unique to each device. The communication controller 2 transmits this information in the form of a message representing an event common to all devices in the network, and notifies other devices of the occurrence of an emergency.
[0022]
Here, each home appliance connected to the network system is identified by the IP address as described above, and the data of the source address and the destination address are always included in the message as shown in FIG. included. In the present system, the IP address is used not only for identification of each home appliance, but also as an event code indicating the event of occurrence of the above-mentioned abnormal situation. Therefore, in step S131, a message in which the event code corresponding to the abnormality detected by the main device is written in the destination address column of FIG. 3 is created and transmitted. This system uses Ethernet as described above for data on the cable, that is, the data link layer, but the destination address of the Ethernet frame is a broadcast address. As a result, all the devices on the network receive the message indicating the occurrence of the emergency, and it is possible to know the occurrence of the abnormal condition only by reading the IP address field of the destination. In the expiration date column of this urgent message, the limit of the number of transmissions is written. The number of transmissions indicating the expiration date will be described later. In step S132, the fact that the current home appliance main body is in an emergency response state is recorded in the RAM 25, and in step S141, the state is maintained as necessary.
[0023]
If the content of the received message is abnormal in step S103, that is, the transmission destination IP address column of the message is read, and if the IP address is the value of the event code, it is determined that the message is abnormal and the emergency processing is started. When the IP address is the identification code of the home electric appliance and is the own identification code, normal processing is performed. By the way, in the case of the normal processing, the data column in FIG. 3 should contain processing specific to each device. For example, in the case of a message sent from a mobile phone when it is desired to turn off the air conditioner by remote control, the data column should contain a control command to stop the air conditioner. The normal processing of the present system indicates that the processing contents of the data column are read, a control signal is transmitted from the main body communication unit 22 to the home electric appliance main body in accordance with the contents, and the appliance is operated.
[0024]
If the IP address is an event code, the process proceeds to step S111 to read the transition state of the main device corresponding to the event code. In the flash memory 24, the content of how to control the main device in accordance with an event such as an earthquake, a fire, a gas leak, or a burglary intrusion is registered in advance. The contents of this registration vary depending on the device. For example, in the case of a gas leak in the case of a microwave oven, the control contents for quickly stopping the operation to prevent ignition and turning off the power supply of the home appliance for caution are registered. I do. In the case of a telephone or a personal computer, even if the same gas leak occurs, the control contents to be reported by an automatic dial to a gas company or a security management company as soon as possible to stop the operation are registered. In the case of a fire alarm or a sprinkler, there is no need to shift the operating state due to the occurrence of gas leakage, and the normal processing of detecting a fire and stopping water is continued. In response to a thief intrusion event code, a surveillance camera starts taking evidence, a washing machine or air conditioner sounds the buzzer at the maximum volume and acts as an alarm, and the telephone automatically dials the police. In step S111, the transition state of each device registered as described above is read out, and in step S112, a control signal for setting the home electric appliance main body to the state is sent. Record Then, a copy of the received message is echo-transmitted so that all the devices on the network do not omit the message in the event of an emergency. Here, if all devices that have received the message repeatedly repeat the echo transmission, the message overflows on the network and cannot be collected. Therefore, the message in which the number of times of transmission written in the expiration date column of the message is reduced by 1 is used. send. If the number of successful transmissions is 0, no echo transmission is performed. In step S113, each device maintains the emergency state according to the event, or returns to the normal processing. That is, as described above, in the case of gas leakage, if the microwave oven is in the stopped state, the telephone, the alarm, the fire alarm, the sprinkler, and the like return to the normal processing in preparation for a new emergency.
[0025]
As described above, the emergency interlocking system uses an IP address not only for identifying each home appliance connected to the network but also as an event code indicating an event of occurrence of an abnormal situation. Alerts all devices on the network with a small amount of information when it detects an emergency. In addition, the home appliance that has received the notification can quickly shift to an optimal state corresponding to the abnormal event. As a result, it is possible to configure a system that performs a rational emergency interlocking operation by efficiently using the hardware of each device as the entire network.
[0026]
In the above-described system, a specific IP address is used as a common event code in network devices. However, a code indicating an event does not necessarily need to be represented by an IP address. For example, when using a message of UDP or TCP protocol, a port is used. It may be assigned to a number or, of course, may be in a format written in the data column. In such a case, the message indicating the occurrence of an emergency must reach all the devices, so that the IP address is transmitted as the broadcast address.
[0027]
As described in the embodiment, a plurality of appliances having a communication function installed in the home are connected via a network, the connected device transmits and receives a message via the network, and performs processing according to the content of the received message. In a home network system, devices that have a function to detect disasters or abnormalities are provided with a column for a code indicating the type of emergency and a code indicating the expiration date of the messages in some of the messages transmitted and received between devices. When such a message is detected, a message in which the emergency type code and the expiration date are written is created and transmitted by broadcast, and the device receiving the transmitted message performs disaster countermeasures and the message is valid from the expiration date of the message. And if it is valid, providing means for echoing and broadcasting the message to provide centralized processing / distributed processing. Regardless of, it is enabled to be able to take advantage of the network function in the event of a disaster.
[0028]
Although the home electric appliance has been described in the embodiment, it is installed in a home, has a communication function, is used for a home electric appliance that can be connected by a communication cable or wirelessly, and records an emergency code that indicates a type of an emergency that has occurred. An emergency response function that instructs to receive a message and take measures corresponding to the emergency type code, and the emergency response function performs a measure corresponding to the emergency type code recorded in the received emergency message. By using computer software comprising a program for causing a computer to perform an echo transmission function of transmitting the received message by broadcast when the instruction is not instructed, the conventional home appliance can be replaced by the emergency response means of the present invention. Home appliance having the following.
[0029]
In addition, an emergency message that is installed in a house, has a communication function, is used for a home appliance that can be connected by a communication cable or wirelessly, creates an emergency message recording a code indicating the type of emergency that has occurred, and broadcasts the emergency message. By using computer software consisting of a program for causing a computer to implement a transmission function and an echo transmission function of transmitting an emergency message transmitted by another home appliance when broadcasting the received message, the conventional method is used. The home electric appliance can be an electric home appliance having the emergency message transmission means of the present invention.
[0030]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a home electric appliance network system that effectively utilizes hardware resources of home electric appliances and sensors connected to a network, detects and reports an emergency, and takes countermeasures with a simple configuration.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a home electric appliance network system according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of a communication controller in the home electric appliance network system according to the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a telegram used in the home electric appliance network according to the embodiment;
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart of a program in the home electric appliance network system according to the embodiment;
[Explanation of symbols]
1a to 1h Home appliances 2, 2a to 2h Communication controller 21 Network communication unit 22 Main body communication unit 23 Microprocessor unit (MPU)
24 Flash memory 25 Random access memory (RAM)
26 System bus 27 Power supply unit 3 Personal computer 4 Network 5 IP router 6 Internet 7 Base station 8 Mobile phone

Claims (8)

Installed in the house, having a communication function, in a home appliance network system including a plurality of home appliances connected by a communication cable or wireless,
The plurality of home electric appliances are home electric appliances having an emergency message transmitting means for creating and broadcasting an emergency message recording a code indicating the type of emergency that has occurred, and an emergency type code recorded in the received emergency message. A home electric appliance network system, comprising: a home electric appliance having an emergency response means for taking countermeasures against the above, and a home electric appliance having an echo transmitting means for broadcasting transmission of a received emergency message. The home appliance network system according to claim 1,
The home electric appliance having the emergency response means, when the emergency response means does not take any countermeasures corresponding to the emergency type code recorded in the received emergency message, echoes for broadcast transmission of the received message. A home appliance network system comprising transmission means. The home appliance network system according to claim 1,
The home appliance having the emergency message transmission means, the home appliance having an echo transmission means for broadcast-transmitting the received message when receiving the emergency message transmitted by the other home appliance having the emergency message transmission means. Equipment network system. The home appliance network system according to claim 1,
The home appliance having the emergency message transmitting means records a code indicating a restriction such as a message expiration date in an emergency message to be created, and the home appliance having an echo transmitting means has a restriction code recorded in the received emergency message valid. A home electric appliance network system, comprising: a rewriting transmission means for rewriting a restriction code recorded in the received telegram and transmitting the broadcast at a certain time. In home appliances that are installed in the house and have a communication function, and can be connected by communication cable or wireless,
Emergency response means for taking measures corresponding to the emergency type code recorded in the received emergency message, and the emergency response means taking measures corresponding to the emergency type code recorded in the received emergency message And an echo transmitting means for broadcasting the received telegram when it is not. In home appliances that are installed in the house and have a communication function, and can be connected by communication cable or wireless,
An emergency message transmitting unit that creates and broadcasts an emergency message recording a code indicating the type of emergency that has occurred, and an emergency message transmitted by a home appliance having another emergency message transmitting unit. An electric home appliance comprising: an echo transmission unit that broadcasts a telegram. Computer software installed in homes, having a communication function, and used for home appliances that can be connected via a communication cable or wirelessly,
An emergency response function that receives an emergency message recording a code indicating the type of the emergency that has occurred and instructs to take measures corresponding to the type code of the emergency, and an emergency response function that receives the emergency message Computer software including a program for causing a computer to perform an echo transmission function of broadcasting and transmitting the received telegram when not instructing to perform a countermeasure corresponding to the emergency type code to be recorded. Computer software installed in homes, having a communication function, and used for home appliances that can be connected via a communication cable or wirelessly,
An emergency message transmission function that creates and broadcasts an emergency message recording a code indicating the type of emergency that has occurred, and an echo that broadcasts the received message when another emergency message transmitted by another home appliance is received. Computer software consisting of a program that causes a computer to perform the transmission function.

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