JP2005202518A - Adaptor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in a household electrical appliance that an extension of function results in an enlargement in scale of control means. <P>SOLUTION: A control mode acquisition part 204 acquires mode information from the household electrical appliance 7. A program acquisition part 206 acquires a control program corresponding to the mode information through a home network 3. A control part 220 outputs control information to the appliance 7 by executing the control program. The appliance 7 performs a predetermined operation according to the control information. According to this, since it is unnecessary to provide a control means for executing the control program within the appliance 7, the enlargement in scale of control means can be suppressed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to network technology, and more particularly to an apparatus for connecting a home appliance to a home appliance network.

With the advance of network technology, networks such as the Internet are rapidly spreading. Attempts have been made in various places to connect household electrical devices (hereinafter simply referred to as “home appliances”) to such a network so that the home appliances can be operated via the network. Generally, home appliances compatible with a network receive a command for instructing a predetermined operation via the network, and execute an operation corresponding to the command. In order to allow home appliances that do not have a function of receiving such commands to join a network, an adapter is provided between the network and the home appliance and enables participation in the network via the adapter ( For example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-283503 A

  The functions of home appliances are improving day by day. These advances will make home appliances more convenient and easier to use. Household appliances have control means such as a CPU inside, and perform control for realizing various functions by causing the CPU to execute various programs. For this reason, as the functions of home appliances have become more sophisticated, control means such as CPUs and memories installed in home appliances have also become larger.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a point, The objective is to provide the technique which makes the control means mounted in household appliances small, without reducing the function of household appliances. Another object is to provide a technique that enables a user's desired function to be realized even in a home appliance that originally does not have the function.

  One embodiment of the present invention is an adapter device for connecting a home appliance to a home network. The adapter communicates with a home appliance via a second communication line, a network communication unit that communicates via a first communication line with a network that can be connected to a server device that stores a program according to mode information of the home appliance. A device communication unit for performing a predetermined function based on the mode information, a mode acquisition unit for receiving mode information for identifying a predetermined function from the home appliance via the second communication line, and a program for realizing the predetermined function A program acquisition unit acquired from a server device connected to the network via one communication line, and a control information for executing a program acquired by the program acquisition unit and realizing a predetermined function; And a controller that supplies the home appliance via a line.

  According to this aspect, since the program for realizing the predetermined function is executed in the adapter and the control information for realizing the predetermined function is supplied to the home appliance, the control for the home appliance to execute the program is performed. There is no need to install any means. Since home appliances need only have a function of interpreting control information supplied from the adapter, the control means can be configured in a small scale. Further, since the program for realizing the predetermined function is acquired via the first communication line as necessary, it is not necessary to store all the programs in the adapter. That is, the memory size to be mounted on the adapter can be reduced. The “first communication line” may be a communication line for connecting to a network that can be interconnected with a plurality of devices such as a home network. The “second communication line” may be a communication line for directly connecting to a single home appliance.

  The program acquisition unit may change the handling process when the program cannot be acquired according to the type of home appliance or the type of mode information. Thereby, this adapter can take an appropriate error handling measure according to the characteristics of various home appliances.

  If the program acquisition unit cannot acquire the program, the program acquisition process may be performed again after a predetermined time has elapsed, and when the program acquisition has failed a predetermined number of times, a notification to that effect may be made. Thereby, this adapter can take an appropriate error handling measure according to the characteristics of various home appliances, and can notify the user that the program could not be acquired at a timing according to the characteristics of the home appliances.

  When the home appliance provides a function having a high real-time property or the predetermined function specified by the mode information is a function having a high real-time property, the program acquisition unit performs a predetermined time in a direction to shorten the timing until notification. At least one of the predetermined number of times may be changed. As a result, when an error occurs in a situation that requires real-time performance, the timing until notification is adjusted according to the importance of real-time performance in that situation.

  The program acquisition unit may cause the control unit to execute the program acquired based on the information for identifying the home appliance when the control unit finishes executing the program acquired based on the mode information. Thereby, the control content with respect to household appliances can be returned to normal control content.

  The adapter further includes a storage unit for storing the program, and the program acquisition unit records the newly acquired program by rewriting the program already stored in the storage unit with the newly acquired program. The control unit may read and execute a program newly stored in the storage unit. Thereby, the memory size of the storage unit is effectively used.

  When the first control information transmitted / received via the first communication line is different from the second control information transmitted / received via the second communication line, the program acquisition unit exchanges the first control information and the second control information with each other. By acquiring a program for conversion and executing the program, the control unit may enable communication between the device connected to the first communication line and the home appliance. As a result, even when a plurality of apparatuses that perform communication using different communication protocols exist in the same network, it is possible to communicate with each other.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, etc. are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, while being able to simplify the control means mounted in household appliances, the highly versatile and convenient adapter which can perform various control with respect to household appliances can be provided.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a home network system 1 according to the embodiment. The home network system 1 in each home is provided with a home network 3 formed using, for example, a power line, and includes a home server 2 that performs home communication control, a washing machine 5, a microwave oven 6, and an air conditioner. N 14 (hereinafter simply referred to as “air conditioner 14”) is connected to the home network 3. Here, the washing machine 5, the microwave oven 6, and the air conditioner 14 are connected to the home network 3 via the first adapter 100a, the second adapter 100b, and the third adapter 100c, respectively. Hereinafter, the first adapter 100a, the second adapter 100b, and the third adapter 100c are collectively referred to as the adapter 100, and household appliances such as the washing machine 5, the microwave 6, the air conditioner 14, and a video (not shown). Are collectively referred to as home appliances 7. That is, the adapter 100 is connected between the home network 3 and the home appliance 7.

  The adapter 100 controls the connected home appliance 7. That is, the home electric appliance 7 does not control its own function by its own control means, but receives control information from the adapter 100 and controls its function according to the control information. Specifically, the adapter 100 receives mode information as information for specifying a predetermined process from the home appliance 7. Then, the adapter 100 executes a program associated with the mode information and supplies appropriate control information to the home appliance 7. The home appliance 7 operates based on the control information.

  When the microwave oven 6 is connected to the adapter 100, the adapter 100 receives mode information corresponding to, for example, control for heating frozen food from the microwave oven 6, and heats the frozen food corresponding to the mode information. A heating control program is executed. And the adapter 100 outputs control information to the microwave oven 6 according to the heating procedure suitable for the heating of frozen food by running a heating control program. The microwave oven 6 adjusts the output power of the microwave according to the control information.

  The adapter 100 has a function of acquiring such a program via an external network 10 such as the Internet, and appropriately acquires and executes a program corresponding to the mode information. In general, the process in the home appliance 7 can be divided into two processes: a normal process and a process that is performed in response to an operation instruction. In the present embodiment, the state in which the home appliance 7 performs normal processing is referred to as “normal mode”, and the state in which the home appliance 7 performs single processing is referred to as “option mode”. In addition, there is one normal mode for each home appliance 7, and an option mode is defined for each control content in the home appliance 7. For example, when there are three control contents for the home appliance 7, a total of four types of mode information of three option modes and a normal mode are used. A program corresponding to the normal mode is called a “basic control program”, and a program corresponding to the option mode is called an “option program”. The basic control program and the option program are collectively referred to as “control program”. The home network 3 and the network 10 correspond to a “network to which a device that stores a program according to mode information of home appliances can be connected” of the present invention.

  In the present embodiment, the adapter 100 has a function of managing writing and erasing of control programs in order to effectively use a memory of a predetermined size. For example, the adapter 100 acquires the option program corresponding to the mode information from the network 10 when necessary, and acquires and executes the basic control program again when the processing is completed. By providing such a memory management function, the memory mounted on the adapter 100 can be used effectively, so that the size of the memory can be reduced.

  In the transition period until the home appliance network becomes widespread, it is expected that a plurality of communication standards will be disturbed. Even in such a situation, in order for a plurality of home appliances 7 having different communication standards to coexist in the home network 3, communication protocols in different communication standards may be converted to each other. In the present embodiment, this conversion function is realized in the adapter 100 by executing the basic control program. By executing the basic control program, for example, the adapter 100 receives control information such as a command conforming to a communication standard such as ECONET received via the home network 3 (hereinafter simply referred to as “first control information”), Control information such as commands (hereinafter simply referred to as “second control information”) conforming to the communication standard unique to the home appliance 7 being connected is mutually converted, and the home appliance 7 is allowed to participate in the home network 3. Of course, in another example, the conversion function may be realized by an option program.

  The home server 2 is connected to a network 10 such as the Internet via a provider server 9. The provider server 9 and the home server 2 are connected by a communication line such as a telephone line or an optical fiber.

  The soft library server 12 stores various control programs used in the adapter 100. Each control program may include, for example, a program for realizing a function corresponding to mode information from the home appliance 7 in the adapter 100 and various setting data used by the program.

  Then, the software library server 12 provides the stored control program to the adapter 100. Although details will be described later, when the connected home electric appliance 7 is in the normal mode, the adapter 100 acquires the basic control program from the software library server 12. When the connected home appliance 7 operates in the option mode, the adapter 100 acquires an option program from the software library server 12. In this way, by implementing various controls by the control program, the adapter 100 having the same hardware can be used for a plurality of types of home appliances 7.

  The index server 13 stores information for specifying a control program that can be used in the adapter 100 for each home appliance 7 and instructs the control program to be acquired by the adapter 100. For example, the index server 13 holds mode information and information for specifying a program storage location in association with a device identification code for specifying the home appliance 7. For example, the storage location is held as an address such as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). When there is a query from the adapter 100, the index server 13 returns the address of the program storage location associated with the device identification code and corresponding to the mode information. The adapter 100 specifies the software library server 12 from the network 10 based on the address, and acquires a necessary control program.

  In another example, the soft library server 12 and the index server 13 may be provided as a single server. In short, it is only necessary that the network 10 has a configuration for specifying a control program to be acquired by the adapter 100 based on the device identification code and the mode information and providing the control program to the adapter 100.

  The base station 16 receives information for controlling the home appliance 7 wirelessly from a mobile terminal 15 such as a mobile phone. Then, the operation instruction from the portable terminal 15 is transferred to the home server 2 via the network 10. As described above, the operation instruction to the home appliance 7 can be performed not only from a device directly connected to the home network 3 but also from a device outside the home network 3.

  FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of the adapter 100 of FIG. The network communication unit 202 communicates by connecting to the home network 3 through a first communication line 50 such as a power line or 100Base-T, for example. The adapter-side device communication unit 218 communicates by connecting to the home appliance 7 via a second communication line 52 that is different from the first communication line 50. The adapter side device communication unit 218 may perform wired communication using, for example, RS-232C, or may perform communication using wireless or the like.

  The control unit 220 is a unit that implements a predetermined function by executing a program such as a CPU, for example, and reads the control program stored in the program storage unit 210 and executes the control program. The option program execution unit 214 is formed by executing an option program corresponding to the mode information received from the home appliance 7. Thereby, control corresponding to mode information is realized.

  The conversion unit 216 is formed by executing a basic control program of the home appliance 7. The conversion unit 216 converts the first control information received from the home network 3 via the network communication unit 202 into the second control information, and outputs the second control information to the adapter side device communication unit 218. Further, the conversion unit 216 converts the second control information received from the home appliance 7 through the adapter side device communication unit 218 into the first control information, and outputs the first control information to the network communication unit 202 through the network communication unit 202. For example, the basic control program forms a table in which the first control information is associated with the second control information corresponding to the first control information, and the first control information and the second control information are obtained by referring to the table. You may make it convert mutually.

  In this figure, the option program execution unit 214 and the conversion unit 216 are illustrated, but the control unit 220 may be realized at the same time, or one of them may be realized. For example, when the specification of the control unit 220 is high and multitask processing can be performed, the option program execution unit 214 and the conversion unit 216 may be realized at the same time. Further, when the specification of the control unit 220 is low and processing of only a single task is performed, the option program execution unit 214 and the conversion unit 216 are not realized at the same time, and either one is realized.

  In any case, the control unit 220 has one unit that preferentially outputs control information to the home appliance 7, and the priority is set based on the operation mode of the home appliance 7. In the present embodiment, either one of the option program execution unit 214 and the conversion unit 216 is always executed in the control unit 22, and the switching is performed according to an instruction from the program acquisition unit 206. Although details will be described later, when the program acquisition unit 206 acquires a new control program based on the mode information, the program acquisition unit 206 writes the control program in the program storage unit 210. Then, upon completion of the writing, the program acquisition unit 206 supplies the control unit 220 with the start address of the storage location of the control program. The control unit 220 reads and executes the program held in the program storage unit 210 from the position specified by the head address. As a result, either one of the option program execution unit 214 and the conversion unit 216 is formed in the control unit 220.

  The home appliance information acquisition unit 212 acquires the identification code of the connected home appliance 7 via the adapter side device communication unit 218. The household appliance information acquisition unit 212 stores the acquired identification code, and compares the already stored identification code with the newly acquired identification code. If they match, the already stored identification code is held as it is. If they do not match, the newly acquired identification code is stored. Then, the home appliance information acquisition unit 212 instructs the program acquisition unit 206 to acquire a basic control program corresponding to the connected home appliance 7 based on the identification code.

  The program acquisition unit 206 acquires a basic control program corresponding to the identification code from the software library server 12 via the network communication unit 202. The acquired basic control program is stored in the program storage unit 210, and the storage destination address is output to the control unit 220. The control unit 220 executes the basic control program stored in the program storage unit 210 based on the storage destination address. Thereby, the conversion part 216 is formed.

  The control mode acquisition unit 204 acquires mode information from the home appliance 7 via the adapter side device communication unit 218. The control mode acquisition unit 204 outputs the acquired mode information to the program acquisition unit 206.

  The program acquisition unit 206 acquires an option program corresponding to the mode information from the software library server 12 via the network communication unit 202. The program acquisition unit 206 stores the acquired option program in the program storage unit 210 and outputs the storage destination address to the control unit 220. The control unit 220 executes the option program stored in the program storage unit 210 based on the storage destination address. Thereby, the option program execution unit 214 is formed.

  The program acquisition unit 206 stores the received control program in the program storage unit 210. At this time, the program acquisition unit 206 performs a writing process according to the free capacity of the program storage unit 210. When the free space of the program storage unit 210 is small, the program acquisition unit 206 deletes the already stored control program and writes a new control program. When the free space is in the program storage unit 210, the program acquisition unit 206 Writes a new control program.

  When a control program stored in the program storage unit 210 is deleted and a newly acquired control program is written, the program acquisition unit 206 deletes the control program already stored in the program storage unit 210 from the old one. Alternatively, it may be deleted so as to leave a frequently used control program such as a basic control program.

  When downloading of the control program fails, the program acquisition unit 206 may repeat the retry until the control program is acquired. Further, the program acquisition unit 206 may immediately notify the notification unit 208 that the download of the control program has failed without repeating the retry in accordance with the type and operation mode of the home appliance 7. Thereby, when it is necessary to acquire a heating control program quickly, for example like the heating process in the microwave oven 6, a user can be notified that a control program cannot be acquired and a manual operation can be requested | required of a user. In the case of a device that has been driven for a long time such as a refrigerator, the program acquisition unit 206 may repeat the retry until a control program is acquired.

  As described above, the program acquisition unit 206 may change the corresponding process when the control program cannot be acquired, depending on the type of the home appliance 7 or the type of mode information. For example, if the control program cannot be acquired, the program acquisition unit 206 performs the control program acquisition process again after a predetermined time has elapsed, and if the control program acquisition fails a predetermined number of times, the program acquisition unit 206 notifies the fact. 208 may be notified. Specifically, when the home appliance 7 provides a function having a high real-time property or the control specified by the mode information is a control having a high real-time property, the program acquisition unit 206 tends to shorten the timing until the notification. Change at least one of the time to retry and the number of retries. As a result, when an error occurs in a situation that requires real-time performance, the timing until notification is adjusted according to the importance of real-time performance in that situation, so the user can take appropriate action according to the error. Can be taken.

  The notification unit 208 notifies the user according to the acquisition status of the control program supplied from the program acquisition unit 206. For example, the notification may be performed by controlling a display unit (not shown) such as an LED provided in the adapter 100, or display control information is sent to the home appliance 7 through the adapter-side device communication unit 218. By supplying, a message may be displayed on the home appliance 7.

  When the program acquisition unit 206 is downloading the control program, the notification unit 208 causes the home appliance 7 to display a message indicating that the program is being downloaded. Moreover, when the acquisition process of the control program is completed, the notification unit 208 causes the home appliance 7 to display a message indicating that the control program has been acquired. Further, when the program acquisition unit 206 fails to acquire the control program, the notification unit 208 causes the home appliance 7 to display a message indicating that the control program cannot be acquired and a message prompting the next instruction.

  FIG. 3 is an internal configuration diagram of the microwave oven 6 of FIG. The home appliance side device communication unit 264 connects to the adapter 100 via the second communication line 52. When the identification code is requested from the adapter 100, the home appliance side device communication unit 264 reads the identification code from the identification code storage unit 266 and supplies it to the adapter 100.

  The operation menu storage unit 258 stores an operation menu in the microwave oven 6. The operation menu is associated with mode information for each operation item. The operation system processing unit 256 constructs a user interface based on the operation menu information stored in the operation menu storage unit 258. The operation system processing unit 256 displays an operation menu on the display unit 254.

  The input unit 252 is an input device such as a button, a touch panel, a mouse, or a barcode reader, and accepts an operation from the user. The operation system processing unit 256 reads mode information corresponding to the operation item instructed by the user from the operation menu storage unit 258 and outputs the mode information to the adapter 100 via the home appliance side device communication unit 264.

  Upon receiving information related to the operation menu from the adapter 100, the home appliance side device communication unit 264 stores it in the operation menu storage unit 258. By providing a function for updating the operation menu in this way, even when a new option program is created, the home appliance can rewrite the menu so that the user can select the option program. In response to this, the adapter 100 in FIG. 2 periodically checks the control program stored in the soft library server 12 in FIG. And when the control program which can use the microwave oven 6 newly is stored, the adapter 100 provides the microwave oven 6 with the mode information and control content of the newly added control program as an additional operation menu. Upon receiving this additional operation menu, home appliance side device communication unit 264 additionally registers it in operation menu storage unit 258. As a result, the operation menu registered in the operation menu storage unit 258 is updated as needed, so that the microwave oven 6 can also use newly added functions.

  The home appliance side device communication unit 264 outputs the control information received from the adapter 100 to the control system processing unit 260. The control system processing unit 260 adjusts, for example, the output power of the microwave output from the magnetron of the microwave function unit 262 according to the control information, adjusts the rotation speed of the rotary table, and functions as a microwave oven. Control the hardware configuration involved.

  In the control system processing unit 260, for example, when an error such as a state in which microwaves cannot be output or the rotary table cannot be rotated occurs, the control system processing unit 260 outputs the information to the operation system processing unit 256. To do. For example, an error code is associated with each error, and the control system processing unit 260 outputs the error code to the operation system processing unit 256. The operation system processing unit 256 specifies mode information associated with the error code with reference to the operation menu storage unit 258. Then, the operation system processing unit 256 transmits the mode information associated with the error code to the adapter 100. Thereby, when an error occurs, countermeasures are automatically executed.

  In the microwave oven 6 in the present embodiment, the processing system is divided into an operation system processing unit 256 and a control system processing unit 260. The operation system processing unit 256 is a processing unit for providing a user interface. The control system processing unit 260 is a processing unit for controlling the hardware configuration of the microwave oven 6. Thus, by separating the processing system into two, the operation system processing unit 256 for providing the user interface can be shared by various home appliances 7. Thereby, the development period and cost can be reduced.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart of processing in the adapter 100 of FIG. When the power is turned on, the home appliance information acquisition unit 212 of FIG. 2 acquires the identification code of the connected microwave oven 6 via the adapter side device communication unit 218 of FIG. 2 (S50). The home appliance information acquisition unit 212 compares the already stored identification code with the newly acquired identification code, and determines whether or not they match (S52).

  If the identification codes do not match in step 52 (N in S52), the home appliance information acquisition unit 212 deletes the stored identification code (S68). The program acquisition unit 206 acquires a basic control program corresponding to the new identification code from the software library server 12 (S70). The program acquisition unit 206 writes the acquired basic control program in the program storage unit 210 (S72). The home appliance information acquisition unit 212 stores a new identification code (S74). 2 reads and executes the basic control program from the program storage unit 210 (S54). If the identification codes match in step 52 (Y in S52), the control unit 220 reads the basic control program used in the normal mode from the program storage unit 210 and executes it (S54).

  The adapter 100 waits until mode information is received from the microwave oven 6 (N in S56). When mode information is received from the microwave oven 6, that is, when an option program execution request is received (Y in S56), the control mode acquisition unit 204 in FIG. 2 outputs the mode information to the program acquisition unit 206 in FIG. Then, the program acquisition unit 206 acquires the option program corresponding to the mode information from the software library server 12 of FIG. 1 (S58). When acquiring the option program, the program acquisition unit 206 writes the option program in the program storage unit 210 (S60).

  Then, the control unit 220 executes the option program newly written in the program storage unit 210 (S62). As a result, the option program execution unit 214 of FIG. 2 is formed, and the option function instructed by the user is realized. This option program is executed until a series of processing is completed (N in S64). When the execution of the option program is completed (Y in S64), the end of the option mode is instructed (S66), the process proceeds to step 70, and the basic control program is executed again. That is, the adapter 100 automatically switches to the control in the normal mode when the control in the option mode ends.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a detailed flowchart of the option program acquisition process in step 58 of FIG. When this program acquisition process starts, the program acquisition unit 206 in FIG. 2 requests the control program from the software library server 12 (S130). The program acquisition unit 206 determines whether or not the control program has been acquired (S132). If the program has been acquired (Y in S132), the program acquisition process is completed, and the process proceeds to step 60 in FIG. When the program cannot be acquired (N in S132), the program acquisition unit 206 specifies the type of control program to be acquired (S134). For example, in the case of a control program with high real-time properties such as a heating control program (Y in S136), the program acquisition unit 206 notifies the user that the control program could not be acquired (S138). Then, for example, in the case of a control program with low real-time properties such as a refrigerator failure determination program (N in S136), the program acquisition unit 206 repeats retry until acquisition is possible (S140).

  For example, when cooking using a microwave oven, a user puts ingredients before heating into the microwave oven and instructs the start of the heat treatment. Based on this instruction, the microwave oven outputs mode information indicating heating control to the adapter 100. The adapter 100 tries to acquire a control program for heating control corresponding to the mode information. At this time, due to various causes such as a communication error, if the control program for heating control cannot be acquired and the retry process is repeated, cooking does not start indefinitely. In order to avoid such a situation, a handling process when a control program cannot be obtained is prepared separately for a control program with a high real-time property and a control program with a low real-time property.

  A control program with high real-time characteristics is, for example, a process in which a user needs to be near a home appliance, and a step of receiving an operation instruction from a user separately from a start instruction of the process in order to achieve a predetermined event It may be a control program included. In addition, the control program having high real-time characteristics is a process that should be performed in a short period of time, such as cooking by microwave heating, and may be a control program that performs a process that is generally recognized to be completed in a short period of time. The level of real-time property may be determined from the viewpoint of mainly the user, or may be determined from the viewpoint of the home appliance. That is, a control program for realizing a process for providing some result to the user may have a high real-time property, and a control program for realizing a failure diagnosis process in a home appliance may have a low real-time property. . From this point of view, it is possible to determine that all control programs for home appliances that do not provide any result to the user have low real-time properties, and thus it is possible to determine the real-time property of the control program according to the type of home appliances.

  In order to determine the real-time property of the control program according to the type of home appliance, the program acquisition unit 206 in FIG. 2 obtains information specifying the home appliance, attribute information specifying the type of home appliance and the level of real-time property. Hold the associated database. And the program acquisition part 206 specifies the kind of household appliances by referring to a database by using the identification code or mode information of the connected household appliances as a key, and specifies the level of real-time property. In another example, the database may be held in the index server 13 of FIG. 1, and the attribute information of the control program may be provided to the adapter 100 together with the address of the storage location of the control program.

  In another example, the level of real-time property may be determined in advance by the control program supplier, and the control program may be provided in association with attribute information indicating either the real-time property level. In the present embodiment, operation menu storage unit 258 in FIG. 3 stores attribute information in association with mode information. 3 reads the mode information and attribute information corresponding to the operation item instructed by the user from the operation menu storage unit 258, and outputs them to the adapter 100 via the home appliance side device communication unit 264. To do. The program acquisition unit 206 in FIG. 2 identifies the real-time property of the control program being acquired based on the attribute information, and performs a corresponding process according to the real-time property. In another example, the attribute information for each control program may be held in the index server 13 of FIG. 1 and provided to the adapter 100 together with the address of the storage location of the control program. In short, the system may be configured so that the attribute information can be acquired at the timing before the program acquisition unit 206 in FIG. 2 starts the acquisition process of the control program or at the timing when the acquisition of the control program fails.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart of processing in the microwave oven 6 of FIG. 3 receives the identification information from the adapter 100 (Y in S80), reads the identification code from the identification code storage unit 266 in FIG. 3 and outputs it to the adapter 100 (S100). When control information is received via the home network 3 in FIG. 1 (Y in S82), the control system processing unit 260 in FIG. 3 performs processing based on the control information (S102). For example, this control information may be an instruction for confirming the setting of reserved cooking and the operating state of the microwave oven 6.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the input unit 252 in FIG. 3 has been operated (S84). If the input unit 252 has not been operated (N in S84), the process returns to step 80, and the processing from step 80 to step 84 is repeated. When the input unit 252 is operated (Y in S84), it is determined whether the operation instruction is an operation instructing driving of the microwave oven 6 such as a start button (S86). If it is not a driving instruction for the microwave oven 6 (N in S86), it is determined whether or not it is a request for obtaining predetermined information such as a cooking control program or a failure diagnosis program from the server provided in the network 10 of FIG. 1 (S104). . If it is not an acquisition request (N in S104), it is determined that there is an input error, and the process returns to step 80. If it is an acquisition request in step 104 (Y in S104), the requested information is acquired via the adapter 100 (S106), and the process returns to step 80.

  In step 86, in the case of a driving instruction for the microwave oven 6 (Y in S86), the microwave oven 6 starts driving, for example, starts a heating process (S88). The operation is continued until it is determined in step 98 that the heat treatment has been completed (N in S98). When the heating process is ended in step 98 (Y in S98), the microwave oven 6 stops driving and ends the process (S116). Then, the process returns to step 80 and waits until the next instruction.

  While the microwave oven 6 is being driven, in step 90, it is determined whether or not control information has been received via the home network 3 (S90), and if received (Y in S90), processing is performed based on the control information. (S108). In step 92, it is determined whether there is a request for an optional operation (S92). The request for the optional operation may be issued by the user operating the input unit 252 of FIG. 3 or automatically triggered by detecting that an error has occurred based on information from various sensors. May be issued. For example, when an error occurs, the control system processing unit 260 in FIG. 3 outputs a message to that effect to the operation system processing unit 256 in FIG. The operation system processing unit 256 outputs mode information corresponding to the error state to the adapter 100 via the home appliance side device communication unit 264 (S110). As a result, the adapter 100 acquires and executes an option program for failure diagnosis.

  Then, by executing the option program, it is determined whether or not an instruction to start an option operation has been received from the adapter 100 (S94). When the start instruction is received (Y in S94), the microwave oven 6 shifts from the normal mode to the option mode and is in a state where it can be tuned to the control information from the adapter 100 (S112). In step 96, it is determined whether or not to terminate the optional operation based on whether or not an optional operation termination instruction has been received from the adapter 100 (S96). When the instruction to end the option operation is received (Y in S96), the microwave oven 6 shifts from the option mode to the normal mode (S114). Then, the process proceeds to step 98. In step 114, when the mode is shifted from the option mode to the normal mode, the operation system processing unit 256 of FIG. 3 transmits mode information indicating the normal mode to the adapter 100 via the home appliance side device communication unit 264. Thereby, the adapter 100 acquires and executes the basic control program again.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. This embodiment is an exemplification, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of the respective constituent elements and processing processes, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. is there. As such a modification, the second communication line 52 connecting the adapter 100 and the home appliance 7 may be shortened and the adapter 100 may be mounted inside the home appliance 7. Thereby, since the adapter 100 and the household electrical appliance 7 are independent, it can implement | achieve the function mentioned above functionally and becomes the thing excellent in the external appearance. Moreover, although the control mode acquisition part 204 of the adapter 100 demonstrated acquiring the mode information of household appliances from the household appliances via the 2nd communication line 52, this invention is not limited to this, Home network 3 or Mode information may be acquired from the network 10 via the first communication line 50.

1 is a configuration diagram of a home network system according to an embodiment. FIG. It is an internal block diagram of the adapter of FIG. It is an internal block diagram of the microwave oven of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the flowchart of the process in the adapter of FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a detailed flowchart of an option program acquisition process of FIG. 4. It is a figure which shows an example of the flowchart of the process in the microwave oven of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  1 home network system, 2 home server, 3 home network, 6 microwave oven, 7 home appliance, 10 network, 12 software library server, 13 index server, 14 air conditioner, 15 mobile terminal, 16 base station, 100 adapter, 202 network communication Unit 204 control mode acquisition unit 206 program acquisition unit 208 notification unit 210 program storage unit 212 home appliance information acquisition unit 214 option program execution unit 216 conversion unit 218 adapter side device communication unit 220 control unit 252 Input unit, 254 display unit, 256 operation system processing unit, 258 operation menu storage unit, 260 control system processing unit, 262 microwave oven function unit, 264 home appliance side device communication unit, 266 identification code storage unit.

Claims (7)

A network communication unit that communicates via a first communication line with a network connectable to a server device that stores a program according to mode information of the home appliance;
A device communication unit that communicates with the home appliance via a second communication line;
A mode acquisition unit that receives mode information for specifying a predetermined function from the home appliance via the second communication line;
A program acquisition unit for acquiring a program for realizing the predetermined function from a server device connected to the network via the first communication line based on the mode information;
A control unit that executes the program acquired by the program acquisition unit and supplies control information for realizing the predetermined function to the household electrical appliance via the second communication line;
An adapter comprising:   The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the program acquisition unit changes a response process when the program cannot be acquired according to a type of the household electrical appliance or a type of the mode information.   When the program acquisition unit cannot acquire the program, the program acquisition process is performed again after a predetermined time has elapsed, and when the program acquisition has failed a predetermined number of times, the program acquisition unit is notified. The adapter according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that   In the case where the home appliance provides a function having a high real-time property or the predetermined function specified by the mode information is a function having a high real-time property, the program acquisition unit tends to shorten the timing until the notification. The adapter according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the predetermined time and the predetermined number of times is changed.   The program acquisition unit causes the control unit to execute a program acquired on the basis of information for identifying the household electrical appliance when the control unit has finished executing the program acquired based on the mode information. The adapter according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: A storage unit for storing the program;
The program acquisition unit records the newly acquired program by rewriting the program already stored in the storage unit with the newly acquired program,
The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the control unit reads and executes a program newly stored in the storage unit.   When the first control information transmitted / received via the first communication line is different from the second control information transmitted / received via the second communication line, the program acquisition unit may include the first control information and the second control information. By acquiring a program for converting control information to each other and executing the program, the control unit enables communication between the device connected to the first communication line and the home appliance. The adapter according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

Images