JP2006127432A - Household electric appliance adapter and software development device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a household electric appliance adapter by which software can be downloaded even when there is no Internet connection environment or when a household electric appliance is not operated. <P>SOLUTION: The household electric appliance adapter has: an appliance interface part to be connected with the household electric appliance; a network interface part to be connected with a controller and other appliances on a network; a general interface part to be connected with a personal computer and a work station and a download control part which downloads control software of the household electric appliance adapter from the three interface parts according to predetermined procedures. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a home appliance adapter and a software development apparatus for connecting a home appliance to a network, which employs a method of downloading and executing control software.

  When connecting a home appliance to a network such as the Internet or a home network, a home appliance adapter is used in order to avoid an increase in the cost of the home appliance. Conventional home appliance adapters have been developed as adapters for specific models because interface specifications with home appliances differ from manufacturer to manufacturer and from model to model. However, in order to increase the cost of inventory and distribution, a method of downloading software dedicated to the model to the home appliance adapter later has been proposed. Model information is acquired mainly from home appliances, and dedicated software corresponding to the model is downloaded from a server published on the Internet based on the model information. (For example, patent document 1). There has also been proposed a method in which dedicated software is installed in the home appliance in advance and the home appliance adapter downloads from the home appliance. (For example, Non-Patent Document 1)

JP 2004-229266 A (pages 1-11, FIG. 1) "Echonet Standard ver3.20" Echonet Consortium, January 8, 2004, Part 7 ECHONET Communication Equipment Specifications Chapter 8 ECHONET Middleware Adapter p8-4

Software cannot be downloaded to the home appliance adapter when there is no Internet connection environment or when the home appliance cannot be turned on due to construction work.
In addition, it is necessary to replace software when a home appliance fails.
Executable software can be called because address resolution (function and variable address determination) has been performed, but the software downloaded to the home appliance adapter and the software already incorporated are divided. Therefore, a mechanism for calling each other is necessary.
In software development, compilers and linkers normally perform function call arguments, the number of return values, and type checks. In a download-type program, these checks are left to the developer to be split. If you download software with an incorrect argument or return value, the home appliance adapter will run out of control and become inoperable.
Furthermore, since the software to be downloaded depends on the CPU and configuration of the home appliance adapter, software for each type of home appliance adapter must be developed for one home appliance.
Also, if the software to be downloaded contains code that depends on the network, the download software must also be changed when the network is changed. Need to create.
In addition, every time a new home appliance is developed, development effort is required to create download software.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to obtain a home appliance adapter that can download software even when there is no Internet connection environment or when the home appliance is not operating. And
It is another object of the present invention to obtain a home appliance adapter that downloads software corresponding to a case where a home appliance is replaced due to a failure or the like.
It is another object of the present invention to obtain a home appliance adapter that can be called between downloaded software and already installed software and can check arguments, number of return values, and type of downloaded software.
It is another object of the present invention to obtain a home appliance adapter that can execute software independent of the CPU and configuration of the home appliance adapter.
Another object of the present invention is to obtain a home appliance adapter that does not require a change in download software even when the network changes.
Another object of the present invention is to obtain a software development device that automatically generates download software when a new home appliance is developed.

The home appliance adapter according to the present invention includes a device interface unit connected to the home appliance, a network interface unit connected to a controller and other devices on the network, a general-purpose interface unit connected to a personal computer and a workstation, and predetermined. According to the procedure, a download control unit that downloads control software for the home appliance adapter from the three interface units is provided.

The home appliance adapter of the present invention includes a device interface for connecting to a home appliance, a network interface for connecting to a network, and a general-purpose interface for connecting to a personal computer, and downloads software from one of three interfaces according to a predetermined procedure. With this configuration, the home appliance adapter software can be downloaded from a personal computer or the like via the general-purpose interface even when there is no Internet connection environment or when there is no home appliance.
In addition, when starting operation, device specific information such as manufacturer name, model name, model name, serial number, etc. was acquired from home appliances, and if such information was changed, the download was executed. This also has the effect of being able to download even when household appliances are replaced due to the cause.
In addition, since the functions owned by each of the downloaded software and the already installed software and their storage addresses are held in the accessible shared memory, there is an effect that they can be called to each other.
In addition, since the argument and the return value are described in a data structure description language including at least the number of data, data type, data length, and data value information, the number and type can be checked.
In addition, an interpreter equipped with an API for using software already installed in the home appliance adapter is installed, and the download software is written in interpreter code that runs on the interpreter. There is an effect that can be done.
In addition, the network-specific command received by the network interface unit via the network is converted into a virtual object model that does not depend on the command system by the command conversion unit, and the home appliance-specific command received by the device interface unit Is converted into a virtual object model by the downloaded adapter control software. For this reason, it is possible to exchange commands between the command conversion unit and the adapter control software using a virtual object model that does not depend on the system of commands transmitted over the network. As a result, the adapter control software, which is download software, has the effect of being able to send and receive commands without being conscious of the type of network that is currently connected.
In addition, the download software can be configured to perform all communication processing with home appliances and conversion processing to network commands, and the download software can be easily developed.
In addition, it is possible to take a configuration that realizes all conversion processing between communication commands with home appliances and network communication commands as software embedded in home appliance adapters, which can minimize the amount of code of downloaded software effective.
In addition, since the conversion table and conversion function routine used in the conversion process can be set from the download software, it is necessary to change the embedded software of the home appliance adapter when executing the conversion process with the software embedded in the home appliance adapter. There is an effect that there is no.
Also, the conversion process using the conversion function routine can be configured to be executed on the download software side, and there is no need for a complicated mechanism for registering and executing the function on the embedded software side of the home appliance adapter. effective.
In addition, the conversion function routine necessary for the conversion process is held on the download software side, and the conversion function routine stored in the download software can be used when executing the conversion process with the embedded software of the home appliance adapter. Therefore, there is an effect that a complicated mechanism for registering and executing a function on the embedded software side of the home appliance adapter is unnecessary.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of a home appliance adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, a home appliance adapter 1 includes a home appliance 2 via a device interface 5 realized by a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter), a controller 3 via a network 6 of a home network, and a general-purpose interface realized by USB. 7 is connected to the personal computer 4 through 7.
The home appliance adapter 1 includes a device interface unit 1a, a network interface unit 1b, and a general-purpose interface unit 1c that perform transmission / reception operations of the three interfaces. These include a download timing and a protocol for downloading software. It is connected to the control unit 1d.
In the address table 1e, the storage address of an application program interface (API) that is installed in the home appliance adapter 1 and published by software such as the device interface unit 1a, the network interface unit 1b, and the download control unit 1d is registered. .
The adapter control software 1 f is software that is downloaded and added from any of the device interface 5, the network 6, and the general-purpose interface 7 by the download control unit 1 d.

The general-purpose interface 7 can be similarly configured by using serial communication such as LAN and RS-232C, parallel communication, etc. in addition to USB. The network 6 can be configured in the same manner even if it is a local LAN or the Internet in addition to the home network.

  FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the download control unit 1d. When the home appliance adapter 1 is turned on, the process is executed from step S21. In step S21, the model name is acquired from the home appliance, and it is determined whether there is a change from the previously acquired model name. When the power is turned on for the first time, the model name is not stored, so it is determined that it has been changed. If it has not been changed, the control software has already been downloaded. In step S28, the process jumps to the downloaded adapter control software.

  If there is a change in the model name, the process proceeds to step S22, and the home appliance 2 is inquired as to whether download software is held. Use the “Device Interface Information Recognition Sequence” described in the ECHONET standard document to check for retention. If it is held, the control software is downloaded from the home appliance 2 and stored in a predetermined memory area. The process proceeds to step S28, and jumps to the downloaded adapter control software.

  FIG. 3 shows a memory map of the home appliance adapter in this embodiment. The address 0x3000 is assigned for the adapter control software, and the downloaded adapter control software is stored here.

  Returning to FIG. 2, if there is no download software in the home appliance in step S22, the download software is held for the controller 3 on the network 6 using the model name inquired to the home appliance in step S21. Ask if they are. (Step S23) If held, the control software is downloaded in step S26 and stored in a predetermined memory area. The process proceeds to step S28, and jumps to the downloaded adapter control software.

  In the case where the network 6 is a local LAN or the Internet, it is possible to access the Internet address (URL) of each manufacturer that is held in advance in the adapter and confirm the holding of the control software.

  If the control software is not held in step S23, the process proceeds to step S24, and the holding of the control software is confirmed in the personal computer via the general-purpose interface 7. If it is held, it is downloaded in step S27 and stored in a predetermined memory area. The process proceeds to step S28, and jumps to the downloaded adapter control software.

  If there is no software in the personal computer 4 or if the personal computer 4 is not connected to the general-purpose interface 7, step S24 is executed until downloading is possible.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the downloaded control software. The device interface control software 1f-1 is software of a protocol using the communication parameter setting for the device interface unit 1a and the device interface unit 1a. The command conversion software 1 f-2 is software that executes conversion of commands flowing through the device interface 5 and the network 6. The adapter control software address table 1f-3 is a list of function addresses indicating storage addresses of application program interfaces (APIs) disclosed by the control software.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the control software is stored from address 0x3000. Since it is stored from the adapter control software address table, the storage address of the address to be called can be searched from the address table starting from 0x3000 and jumped from the software already incorporated in the adapter.

  FIG. 5 is an example of the software address table stored from address 0x2000. This table relates to functions published by software already installed in the adapter. It is a table that can search the storage address using the method name as a key. The native_net_set method is a function for sending a setting command from the network interface part, and its storage address is 0x1030. The downloaded control software retrieves the address from the method name and jumps to the corresponding address.

Arguments and return values when calling functions are expressed using ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation One), which is a data structure definition language. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of an argument passed when the operation status of the home appliance is operated from the adapter control software 1f to the network interface unit 1b. The argument (Arg) is represented by a set of three objects (SEQUENCE): objectID, propertyID, and status, where objectID is INTEGER type data, propertyID is INTEGER type data that represents the attributes of home appliances, and status is driving BOOLEAN type data representing the state.
Consists of classID representing the model and instanceID representing the instance

objectID consists of a classID that represents the model and an instanceID that represents the instance.
Figure 7 shows the actual parameters when the air conditioner class ID is 0x50, the instance ID is 0x02, the operation propertyID is 0x05, and the operating status is 0x10. The calling program loads the byte sequence shown in FIG. 7 on the stack and calls the function. The called function extracts the byte sequence from the stack, checks the data structure and data value according to the conversion rules of ASN.1, and executes the function.
The downloaded adapter control software converts the command while calling the method of the device interface unit 1a and the network interface unit 1b, and operates as an adapter.

  In the present embodiment, ASN.1 is used as the data structure definition language, but it can be similarly configured by expressing the data structure of the argument and the return value in XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

Embodiment 2. FIG.
Next, an embodiment in which an interpreter is mounted on a home appliance adapter and adapter control software described in an interpreter code is downloaded and executed will be described.
FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of a home appliance adapter equipped with an interpreter. Compared with FIG. 1, the interpreter 1g analyzes the code and makes a method call, so the address table 1e is eliminated. Further, the adapter control software 1f composed of CPU-dependent machine language is adapter control software 1h composed of an interpreter code. The interpreter 1g discloses the method of the device interface unit 1a as the device API 1i and the method of the network interface unit 1b as the network API 1j to the adapter control software 1h. The adapter control software 1h is a code described using the device API 1i and the network API 1j.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an operation flow of the download control unit 1d when an interpreter is installed. Steps S91 to S97 are the same as steps S21 to S27 in FIG. If there is a change in the model name acquired from the home appliance, the home appliance 2, the network 6 and the personal computer 4 are downloaded in this order, and the software is stored at a predetermined address. After downloading and storing in the memory, jump to the interpreter in step S98 and transfer the execution right.

  FIG. 10 shows a memory map of the home appliance adapter in this embodiment. The address 0x3000 is assigned for the adapter control software, and the downloaded adapter control software is stored here.

When step S98 of FIG. 9 is executed, the home appliance adapter jumps from the address 0x2000 to the stored interpreter. In this embodiment, an interpreter FORTH which is small and can be expanded is used. FORTH is an interpreter that uses a stack, and the code is written in reverse Polish notation, so the syntax analysis is performed by the programmer. Therefore, the interpreter can be mounted in a small size. In addition, since it has a word expansion function, it is possible to expand the device API and the network API.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a network API that uses the word extension function of the FORTH interpreter. The net_set method is an API for setting the properties of devices on the network, and the net_get method is an API for acquiring properties of devices on the network. The argument before "-" in parentheses is the argument, and the one after "-" is the return value. The arguments are listed in the order in which the function caller is stacked on the stack before the call. The return value indicates the contents of the stack when returning to the caller. For example, when calling the net_set method, the setting value value, the property ID propertyID, and the object ID objectID are sequentially stacked on the stack and the net_set method is called. In the net_set method, a transmission message is created using information specified as an argument, and the setting method of the network interface unit 1b is called and transmitted. The net_set method puts the execution result on the stack and returns to the caller. The caller extracts status from the stack and performs processing according to the result.

The adapter control software described in the interpreter code converts the command while calling the method of the device API and the network API, and operates as an adapter.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating functions of a home appliance adapter that uses a virtual object model as an interface. Compared with FIG. 8, a command conversion unit 1k for converting a virtual object model into a command of a network interface is added. The interpreter 1g discloses the method of the command conversion unit 1k to the adapter control software 1h as a command conversion API 1l. The adapter control software 1h is a code described using the device API 1i and the command conversion API 1l.

  FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating functions of the adapter control software 1h and the command conversion unit 1k. The adapter control software 1h includes a device interface transmission / reception unit 1h-1 that transmits and receives a communication command (depending on a command system of the home appliance 2) via the device interface 1a, a communication command and a virtual object with the home appliance 2 The virtual object conversion unit 1h-2 is configured to convert (independent of the command system of the home appliance 2 and the network 6). The command conversion unit 1k converts the network interface transmission / reception unit 1k-2 that transmits / receives a communication command (depending on the command system of the network 6) with the controller 3 via the network interface 1b, and the communication command and virtual object of the controller 3. And a network command conversion unit 1k-1. The virtual object conversion unit 1h-2 and the network command conversion unit 1k-1 are connected via a command conversion API 11 and are accessed using a virtual object.

  FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating functions of the adapter control software 1h and the command conversion unit 1k. The virtual object conversion unit 1h-2 of the adapter control software 1h includes a command conversion processing unit that executes conversion processing, a command conversion table that is used in the processing, and a command conversion function routine. Similarly, the network command conversion unit 1k-1 of the command conversion unit 1k includes a command conversion processing unit that executes conversion processing, a command conversion table that is used during the processing, and a command conversion function routine.

  FIG. 15 shows a system of communication commands (commands unique to home appliances) communicated between the home appliance 2 and the home appliance adapter 1 and communication commands (commands specific to networks) communicated between the controller 3 and the home appliance adapter 1. FIG. The communication command is composed of 1 byte, and is divided into upper 4 bits and lower 4 bits. The upper 4 bits represent the type of data, and in the case of an air conditioner, as shown in the figure, an operation state, an operation mode, a set temperature, and the like are assigned. The lower 4 bits have different meanings for each type of data. When the upper 4 bits are in an operating state, 0x0 indicates a stop and 0x1 indicates an operating state. Similarly, in the case of the operation mode, 0x0 is cooling, 0x1 is heating, and in the case of the set temperature, 0x0 is 20 ° C, and if it is incremented by 1 thereafter, it is incremented by 1 ° C, and 0xa means 30 ° C. .

  FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a system of a virtual object model (a virtual object model that does not depend on a system of communication commands transmitted through the home appliance 2 and the network 6) communicated between the command conversion unit 1k and the adapter control software 1h. is there. The communication command is composed of a 3-byte object model, in which the first byte is an object representing an access device, the second byte is a property representing a data type, and the third byte is a property value representing a data value. In the case of an air conditioner, the first byte is fixed at 0x40, and the second byte is the operation state 0x30, the operation mode 0x40, and the set temperature 0x50. The third byte varies depending on the property. In the operating state, 0x11 is stopped, 0x22 is operating, in the operating mode, 0x10 is cooling, 0x20 is heating, and at the set temperature, 0x14 starts from 20 ° C and 0x1E indicates 30 ° C ing.

  The command conversion table used for the processing of the command conversion processing unit (see FIG. 14) is as shown in FIG. For example, when the communication command on the device interface side is 0x21, the virtual object model is used for conversion as object x040 (air conditioner), property 0x40 (operation mode), and data 0x20 (heating).

  The command conversion function routine (see FIG. 14) is used when the conversion is performed according to the same rule as the set temperature, but if the conversion table is created one-on-one, the table becomes large. A conversion function routine in the case of the set temperature in this embodiment is shown in FIG. (1) is an example described in C language, and (2) is an example described in FORTH language using reverse Polish notation. When the device interface side communication command value 0x30 is input, the network interface side communication command 0x14 (decimal number 20) is output.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart when a communication command transmitted from the home appliance 2 and received by the device interface unit 1a is converted into a virtual object model by the command conversion processing unit (see FIG. 14) of the adapter control software 1h. . The processing starts when a communication command is passed from the device interface transmission / reception unit 1h-1. In step S191, the communication command received using the command conversion table is converted into the object and property of the virtual object. For example, when the communication command is 0x21, the object is 0x40 and the property is 0x40, and when the communication command is 0x31, the object is 0x40 and the property is 0x50.

  In step S192, the process is divided depending on whether the communication command is less than 0x30 or more. If the value is less than 0x30, the value is converted by the command conversion table (step S193). If the value is 0x30 or more, the set temperature is set, and conversion is performed by the command conversion function routine (step S194). For example, when the communication command is 0x21, the value is 0x20 from the command conversion table, and when the communication command is 0x31, the value is 0x15 by the command conversion function routine.

Through the above conversion processing, the communication command specific to the home appliance 2 received by the device interface unit 1a is converted into a virtual object model that does not depend on the communication command system transmitted and received by the home appliance 2. Similarly, a network-specific communication command received by the network interface unit 1b via the network 6 is converted by the command conversion unit 1k into a virtual object model that does not depend on the system of commands transmitted on the network 6. For this reason, between the command conversion unit 1k and the adapter control software 1h, a command is exchanged using a virtual object model that does not depend on a communication command transmitted / received by the home appliance 2 and a command system transmitted on the network 6. Can do. As a result, the adapter control software 1h, which is download software, exhibits an effect that commands can be transmitted and received without being conscious of the type of the currently connected network 6.
In particular, since the communication command shown in FIG. 15 has a system unique to the home appliance 2 or the network 6, when the connection with another home appliance 2 or the network 6 is changed, the communication command system is changed. They are very different (for example, the upper 2 bits represent the type of data and the lower 6 bits represent the operating state). On the other hand, since the virtual object model shown in FIG. 16 has an intermediate command system that does not depend on the communication command system shown in FIG. 15, the virtual object model is temporarily converted into a virtual object model and the adapter control software 1h. Even if the connection with another home appliance 2 or the network 6 is changed by passing between the command conversion unit 1k and the command conversion unit 1k, the command can be continuously executed without downloading the new adapter control software 1h. Can be transmitted and received.
The conversion from the communication command to the virtual object model can be easily performed due to the following circumstances. That is, since the adapter control software 1h is software downloaded from the home appliance 2, the adapter control software 1h has information about a command system unique to the home appliance 2. For this reason, it is easy for the adapter control software 1h to convert the command transmitted from the home appliance 2 into the virtual object model. In addition, since the home appliance adapter 1 itself depends on the network 6, the command conversion unit 1 k in the home appliance adapter 1 has information on a command system unique to the network 6. Therefore, it is easy for the command conversion unit 1k to convert a command transmitted via the network 6 into a virtual object model.
The basic technical idea described above is the same for each embodiment described below.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating the functions of the adapter control software 1h and the command conversion unit 1k when the network interface 1b command is based on the object model and the network interface object model is applied to the virtual object model. Since the object models are equal, the command conversion unit 1k does not have the network command conversion unit 1k-1, but only the network interface transmission / reception unit 1k-2. The virtual object conversion unit 1h-2 of the adapter control software includes a command conversion processing unit that executes conversion processing, a command conversion table that is used in the processing, and a command conversion function routine.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a communication command system communicated between the home appliance 2 and the home appliance adapter 1. The communication command is composed of 1 byte, and is divided into upper 4 bits and lower 4 bits. The upper 4 bits represent the type of data, and in the case of an air conditioner, as shown in the figure, an operation state, an operation mode, a set temperature, and the like are assigned. The lower 4 bits have different meanings for each type of data. When the upper 4 bits are in an operating state, 0x0 indicates a stop and 0x1 indicates an operating state. Similarly, in the case of the operation mode, 0x0 is cooling, 0x1 is heating, and in the case of the set temperature, 0x0 is 20 ° C, and if it is incremented by 1 thereafter, it is incremented by 1 ° C, and 0xa means 30 ° C. .

  FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a system of communication commands communicated between the controller 3 and the home appliance adapter 1. The communication command is composed of a 3-byte object model, in which the first byte is an object representing an access device, the second byte is a property representing a data type, and the third byte is a property value representing a data value. In the case of an air conditioner, the first byte is fixed at 0x40, and the second byte is the operation state 0x30, the operation mode 0x40, and the set temperature 0x50. The third byte varies depending on the property. In the operating state, 0x11 is stopped, 0x22 is operating, in the operating mode, 0x10 is cooling, 0x20 is heating, and at the set temperature, 0x14 starts from 20 ° C and 0x1E indicates 30 ° C ing.

  The command conversion table used for the process of the command conversion processing unit (see FIG. 20) is as shown in FIG. For example, when the communication command on the device interface side is 0x21, the object model on the network interface side is used for conversion as object x040 (air conditioner), property 0x40 (operation mode), and data 0x20 (heating).

  The command conversion function routine (see FIG. 20) is used when the conversion is performed according to the same rule as in the set temperature, but if the conversion table is created one-on-one, the table becomes large. A conversion function routine in the case of the set temperature in this embodiment is shown in FIG. (1) is an example described in C language, and (2) is an example described in FORTH language using reverse Polish notation. When the device interface side communication command value 0x30 is input, the network interface side communication command 0x14 (decimal number 20) is output.

  FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart when the communication command transmitted from the home appliance 2 and received by the device interface unit 1a is converted into a virtual object model by the command conversion processing unit (see FIG. 20) of the adapter control software 1h. . The processing starts when a communication command is passed from the device interface transmission / reception unit 1h-1. In step S191, the communication command received using the command conversion table is converted into the object and property of the virtual object. For example, when the communication command is 0x21, the object is 0x40 and the property is 0x40, and when the communication command is 0x31, the object is 0x40 and the property is 0x50.

  In step S192, the process is divided depending on whether the communication command is less than 0x30 or more. If the value is less than 0x30, the value is converted by the command conversion table (step S193). If the value is 0x30 or more, the set temperature is set, and conversion is performed by the command conversion function routine (step S194). For example, when the communication command is 0x21, the value is 0x20 from the command conversion table, and when the communication command is 0x31, the value is 0x15 by the command conversion function routine.

  Through the above conversion process, the communication command specific to the home appliance 2 received by the device interface unit 1a is converted into a virtual object model that does not depend on the system of the communication command. Therefore, communication commands can be exchanged between the command conversion unit 1k and the adapter control software 1h using a virtual object model that does not depend on the communication command system transmitted and received by the home appliance 2. As a result, the effect that the command conversion unit 1k can transmit and receive communication commands without being conscious of the type of the currently connected home appliance 2 is exhibited.

Embodiment 5. FIG.
FIG. 26 is a block diagram illustrating the functions of the adapter control software 1h and the command conversion unit 1k when the command of the device interface 1a is based on an object model and the object model of the device interface is applied to a virtual object. Since the object models are equal, the adapter control software 1h does not have the virtual object conversion unit 1h-2 but only the device interface transmission / reception unit 1h-1. The network command conversion unit 1k-1 of the command conversion unit 1k includes a command conversion processing unit that executes conversion processing, a command conversion table that is used in the processing, and a command conversion function routine.

  FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating a system of commands communicated between the home appliance and the home appliance adapter. The command is composed of a 3-byte object model, in which the first byte is an object representing an access device, the second byte is a property representing a data type, and the third byte is a property value representing a data value. In the case of an air conditioner, the first byte is fixed to 0x40, and the second byte is an operation state of 0x30, an operation mode of 0x40, and a set temperature of 0x50. The third byte varies depending on the property. In the operating state, 0x11 is stopped, 0x22 is operating, in the operating mode, 0x10 is cooling, 0x20 is heating, and at the set temperature, 0x14 starts from 20 ° C and 0x1E represents 30 ° C ing.

  FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating a system of communication commands communicated between the controller and the home appliance adapter. The communication command is composed of 1 byte, and is divided into upper 4 bits and lower 4 bits. The upper 4 bits represent the type of data, and in the case of an air conditioner, as shown in the figure, an operation state, an operation mode, a set temperature, and the like are assigned. The lower 4 bits have different meanings for each type of data. When the upper 4 bits are in an operating state, 0x0 indicates a stop and 0x1 indicates an operating state. Similarly, in the case of the operation mode, 0x0 means cooling, 0x1 means heating, and in the case of the set temperature, 0x0 means 20 ° C, and if it is incremented by 1 thereafter, 1 ° C is added, and 0xa means 30 ° C. .

  The command conversion table and command conversion function routine used in the command conversion processing unit (see FIG. 26) are expressed as shown in FIG. For example, when the object model on the device interface side is object x040 (air conditioner), property 0x40 (operation mode), and data 0x20 (heating), the communication command on the network interface side is used for conversion as 0x21. If it is better to use a conversion function routine such as the set temperature, an expression is substituted for the value to represent the conversion function routine as in the row of property 0x50. The expression in this case is a function that converts 0x14 (decimal number 20) to 0x30. The home appliance adapter includes a calculation routine for four arithmetic operations such as plus (+) and minus (−) in advance, and evaluates and executes the above function expression.

  FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of the command conversion unit 1k when converting from a virtual object model to a network interface command. When virtual object data is received from the adapter control software 1h via the command API 1l, processing is started. In step S241, it is determined whether the property is less than 0x50. If it is less than 0x50, conversion is performed using a command conversion table. If it is 0x50 or more, conversion is performed using a command conversion table and a conversion function routine. For example, in the case of object 0x40, property 0x30, and value 0x22, the first byte is converted to 0x11 by the conversion table. In the case of object 0x40, property 0x50, and value 0x15, the first byte is converted to 0x31 (0x15-0x14 + 0x30) by the conversion function routine.

  The command conversion unit 1k cannot be changed because it is software pre-installed in the home appliance adapter. The command conversion table and the command conversion function routine can be set from the adapter control software 1h downloaded via the command conversion API 11 so that the conversion rule can be changed. FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an example of setting a command conversion table and a command conversion function routine using the command conversion API. When (1) uses the C language, (2) is an example when the FORTH language using reverse Polish notation is used. Each line of the command conversion table of FIG. 29 is registered via the command conversion API.

  Through the above conversion processing, the virtual object model that does not depend on the communication command system transmitted on the network 6 is converted into a network-specific communication command (network interface side communication command) by the command conversion unit 1k. Therefore, commands can be exchanged between the command conversion unit 1k and the adapter control software 1h by using a virtual object model that does not depend on the communication command system transmitted through the network 6. As a result, the adapter control software 1h, which is download software, exhibits an effect that commands can be transmitted and received without being conscious of the type of the currently connected network 6.

Embodiment 6 FIG.
FIG. 32 is a block diagram illustrating functions of the adapter control software 1h and the command conversion unit 1k. The virtual object conversion unit 1h-2 of the adapter control software 1h includes a command conversion function routine and a command conversion processing unit that converts the command of the device interface into a virtual object using the command conversion function routine, and the network command conversion of the command conversion unit 1k The unit 1k-1 includes a command conversion table and a command conversion processing unit that converts a virtual object into a network interface command using the command conversion table.

The command system of the device interface and the command system of the network interface in the present embodiment are the same as those shown in FIGS.
The command conversion function routine in the virtual object conversion unit 1h-2 is the same as that shown in FIG.

  FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of the command conversion processing unit of the virtual object conversion unit 1h-2. When a device interface communication command is received via the device interface transceiver 1h-1, processing is started. If the received device interface command is less than 0x30 in step S271, no value conversion is performed (step S272). If the communication command is greater than or equal to 0x30, in step S273, since the data is the set temperature, the value is converted using the command conversion function routine. For example, when the communication command is 0x30, the converted value is 0x14. In step S274, the received communication command on the device interface side is converted into a virtual object model. Here, the object is converted to 0x40, the property is converted to the one obtained by replacing the upper 4 bits of the communication command with an unsigned 1-byte code, and the value is converted to the one obtained by replacing the lower 4 bits of the communication command with an unsigned 1-byte code. For example, when the communication command is 0x21, the object is 0x40, the property is 0x02, and the value is 0x01.

  FIG. 34 is a diagram illustrating a command conversion table of the network command conversion unit 1k-1. It shows the correspondence between the objects, properties, and values of virtual objects and the objects, properties, and values of communication commands on the network interface side. For example, when the virtual object is 0x40, the property is 0x02, and the value is 0x01, the communication command object on the network interface side is converted to 0x40, the property is 0x40, and the value is 0x20.

  FIG. 35 is a diagram illustrating an example of setting a command conversion table using the command conversion API. When (1) uses the C language, (2) is an example when the FORTH language using reverse Polish notation is used. Each line of the command conversion table in FIG. 34 is registered via the command conversion API.

  Through the above conversion processing, the communication command specific to the home appliance 2 received by the device interface unit 1a is converted into a virtual object model that does not depend on the communication command system transmitted and received by the home appliance 2. Similarly, a network-specific communication command received by the network interface unit 1b via the network 6 is converted by the command conversion unit 1k into a virtual object model that does not depend on the system of communication commands transmitted on the network 6. For this reason, between the command conversion unit 1k and the adapter control software 1h, a command is exchanged using a virtual object model that does not depend on a communication command transmitted / received by the home appliance 2 and a communication command system transmitted through the network 6. be able to. As a result, the adapter control software 1h, which is download software, exhibits an effect that commands can be transmitted and received without being conscious of the type of the currently connected network 6.

Embodiment 7 FIG.
FIG. 36 is a block diagram illustrating the functions of the adapter control software 1h and the command conversion unit 1k when the command of the device interface 1a is based on an object model and the object model of the device interface is applied to a virtual object. Since the object models are equal, the adapter control software 1h has no virtual object conversion unit 1h-2 and only a command conversion function routine. The network command conversion unit 1k-1 of the command conversion unit includes a command conversion processing unit that executes conversion processing, a command conversion table that is used in the processing, and command conversion for searching for a command conversion function routine. A function table is installed.

  The system of device interface commands and the system of network interface commands in the present embodiment are the same as those in FIGS. The command conversion function routine of the virtual object conversion unit 1h-2 has the same configuration as that shown in FIG.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing a command conversion table and a command conversion function table of the network command conversion unit 1k-1 in the present embodiment. The command conversion table has the same configuration as the previous embodiments. When the property of the virtual object model is 0x50, “FUNC1” is entered in the value column, indicating that the conversion function routine of FUNC1 is used.
FIG. 38 shows a command conversion function table. The conversion function routine FUNC1 is a code starting from the first example on the 127th line of the adapter control software.

  Accordingly, when the property is 0x50, the command conversion processing unit of the network command conversion unit 1k-1 performs conversion processing using the code from the 127th row and the first column of the adapter control software. For example, when the communication command object on the device interface side is 0x40, the property is 0x50, and the value is 0x16, the network command is converted to 0x32 using the command conversion table and the command conversion function routine.

  The command conversion table and command conversion function table of the command conversion unit 1k can be set using the command conversion API as in the previous embodiments.

FIG. 39 is a diagram illustrating an example of an input screen of development software for automatically generating adapter control software to be downloaded to the home appliance adapter according to the present embodiment. A case where the adapter control software 1h shown in FIG. 26 is generated will be described.
On the screen, the correspondence between device interface commands and virtual objects (network interface commands) is entered. For example, in the first line, when the first byte of the device interface command is 0x10, the network mark command object is associated with x0x40, the property is 0x30, and the value is 0x11.

FIG. 40 is a diagram illustrating functional blocks of the adapter control software generation software.
When the input on the input screen of FIG. 39 is completed, the adapter control software generation software of FIG. 40 is started, and first, the initialization module generation unit generates a module for initializing the command correspondence table from the input command correspondence table. To do. One column of the command correspondence table is taken out and put in the argument of the subroutine for initializing the command correspondence table in order from the left column. The generated command correspondence table initialization module is as shown in FIG.

  Returning to FIG. 40, the module combining unit combines the interface module with the device interface unit, the interface module with the command conversion unit, and the command correspondence table initialization module to generate adapter control software. Since the interface module with the device interface unit is a module that depends on the home appliance, there is no need to change it when generating the adapter control software. Further, since the interface module with the command conversion unit is also determined in advance, it does not need to be changed. These modules that do not need to be changed are registered in advance in the adapter control software generation unit as templates, and are used by the module combination unit when generating the adapter control software.

It is a functional block diagram of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart of the download control part of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the memory map of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the adapter control software of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the address table of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure expression of the argument by the household appliances adapter which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the actual condition of the argument of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart of the download control part of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the memory map of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the interpreter API of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function of the household appliance adapter which shows Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function of adapter control software and a command conversion part. It is a block diagram which shows the function of adapter control software and a command conversion part. It is a figure which shows the system of the command communicated between a household appliance and a household appliance adapter, and the command communicated between a controller and a household appliance adapter. It is a figure which shows the system | strain of the virtual object model communicated between a command conversion part and adapter control software. It is a figure which shows the structure of a command conversion table. It is a figure which shows the structure of a conversion function routine. It is a figure which shows the flowchart at the time of converting the command received in the apparatus interface part into a virtual object model. It is a block diagram which shows the function of adapter control software and a command conversion part. It is a figure which shows the system of the command communicated between household appliances and household appliance adapters. It is a figure which shows the system of the command communicated between a controller and a household appliance adapter. It is a figure which shows the structure of a command conversion table. It is a figure which shows the structure of a conversion function routine. It is a figure which shows the flowchart at the time of converting the command received in the apparatus interface part into a virtual object model. It is a block diagram which shows the function of adapter control software and a command conversion part. It is a figure which shows the system of the command communicated between household appliances and household appliance adapters. It is a figure which shows the system of the command communicated between a controller and a household appliance adapter. It is a figure which shows a command conversion table and a command conversion function routine. It is a figure showing the flowchart of the command conversion part in the case of converting into a network interface command from a virtual object model. It is a figure which shows the example which sets a command conversion table and a command conversion function routine using command conversion API. It is a block diagram which shows the function of adapter control software and a command conversion part. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the command conversion process part of a virtual object conversion part. It is a figure showing the command conversion table of a network command conversion part. It is a figure which shows the example which sets a command conversion table using command conversion API. It is a block diagram which shows the function of adapter control software and a command conversion part. It is a figure which shows a command conversion table and a command conversion function table. It is a figure which shows a command conversion function table. It is a figure which shows the example of the input screen of the development software which automatically produces | generates the adapter control software downloaded to a household appliance adapter. It is a figure which shows the functional block of adapter control software production | generation software.

Explanation of symbols

  1 home appliance adapter, 1a device interface unit, 1b network interface unit, 1c general-purpose interface unit, 1d download control unit, 1e address table, 1f adapter control software, 1f-1 device interface control software, 1f-2 command conversion software, 1f -3 adapter control software address table, 1g interpreter, 1h adapter control software (interpreter code), 1h-1 device interface transmission / reception unit, 1h-2 virtual object conversion unit, 1i device API, 1j network API, 1k command conversion unit, 1k -1 Network command conversion unit, 1k-2 network interface transmission / reception unit, 2 home appliances, 3 controller , 4 personal computer.

Claims (16)

From the three interface units according to a predetermined procedure, a device interface unit connected to home appliances, a network interface unit connected to a controller or other device on the network, a general-purpose interface unit connected to a personal computer or workstation A home appliance adapter, comprising: a download control unit that downloads control software for the home appliance adapter. 2. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein, when the control software is downloaded, the download control unit acquires unique information from the home appliance, and executes the download only when the unique information is changed. Equipment adapter. The software pre-installed in the home appliance adapter and the home appliance adapter control software to be downloaded are on a shared memory that can mutually access an address table that describes a set of function identifiers and storage addresses of the respective functions. The home appliance adapter according to claim 1, wherein the home appliance adapter is held in the housing. The argument of the function that the software pre-installed in the home appliance adapter and the downloaded home appliance adapter control software call each other, and the return value are at least the number of data, data length, data type, data value information The home appliance adapter according to claim 1, wherein the home appliance adapter is described in a data structure description language. 2. The interpreter according to claim 1, further comprising an interpreter that publishes an interface (API) with software preliminarily incorporated in the home appliance adapter, wherein the download control unit transfers the execution right to the interpreter after downloading the interpreter code. Home appliance adapter. A device interface unit connected to the home appliance;
A network interface that connects to controllers and other devices on the network;
A download control unit that downloads control software for the home appliance adapter from the device interface unit;
A network-specific command received by the network interface unit via a network is converted into a virtual object model that does not depend on the command system, and the virtual object model is converted into the network-specific command to the network interface unit. A command conversion unit to transmit,
The downloaded adapter control software converts the command specific to the home appliance received by the device interface unit into the virtual object model and transmits the command to the command conversion unit, and the virtual object transmitted from the command conversion unit Convert the model into a home appliance specific command and send it to the device interface,
The home appliance adapter, wherein the virtual object model is transferred between the adapter control software and the command conversion unit. The home appliance adapter according to claim 6, wherein the virtual object model does not depend on a command system transmitted and received by the home appliance. The command conversion unit and the adapter control software each have a command conversion processing unit,
At least one of the command conversion unit and the adapter control software has a command conversion table,
8. The home appliance adapter according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the command conversion unit and the adapter control software includes a command conversion function routine. A device interface unit connected to the home appliance;
A network interface that connects to controllers and other devices on the network;
A download control unit that downloads control software for the home appliance adapter from the device interface unit,
The downloaded adapter control software converts the command specific to the home appliance received by the device interface unit into a virtual object model that does not depend on the system of the command and transmits it to the network interface unit. The virtual object model received by the network interface unit is converted into a command unique to home appliances and transmitted to the device interface unit,
The home appliance adapter, wherein the virtual object model is transferred between the adapter control software and the network interface unit. The home appliance adapter according to claim 9, wherein the adapter control software includes a command conversion processing unit, a command conversion table, and a command conversion function routine. A device interface unit connected to the home appliance;
A network interface that connects to controllers and other devices on the network;
A download control unit that downloads control software for the home appliance adapter from the device interface unit;
A network-specific command received by the network interface unit via a network is converted into a virtual object model that does not depend on the command system, and the virtual object model is converted into the network-specific command to the network interface unit. A command conversion unit to transmit,
The downloaded adapter control software transmits the virtual object model received by the device interface unit to the command conversion unit, and transmits the virtual object model transmitted from the command conversion unit to the device interface unit. ,
The home appliance adapter, wherein the virtual object model is transferred between the adapter control software and the command conversion unit. The home appliance adapter according to claim 11, wherein the command conversion unit includes a command conversion processing unit, a command conversion table, and a command conversion function routine. The home appliance adapter according to claim 8 or 12, wherein the command conversion table and the command conversion function routine of the command conversion unit are set by the adapter control software. A device interface unit connected to the home appliance;
It has a network interface unit that connects to controllers and other devices on the network,
The home appliance specific command received by the device interface unit and the network specific command received by the network interface unit are converted into virtual object models that do not depend on the system of these commands, and passed to each other. Home appliance adapter characterized by. 15. The home appliance according to claim 6, wherein the command system of the virtual object model includes an identifier that specifies an access device, a data type, and a data value. Equipment adapter. The home appliance adapter that automatically generates the source code of the adapter control software including the source code for initializing the command conversion table from the input correspondence set, by inputting the correspondence between the command of the device interface unit and the command of the network interface unit Software development equipment.

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