JP2006293567A - Household electrical appliance with gps function and its gps function utilization system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make use of information about the location of a household electrical appliance by allowing another appliance to automatically acquire this information. <P>SOLUTION: A household electrical appliance 1 includes a communication part 12 for sending and receiving information to and from an external information terminal device 3, either directly or by way of a communication network 5; a GPS receiving part 11 for acquiring global position information; and a control part 13 for controlling the communication part 12 and the GPS receiving part 11 in accordance with a previously stored program. In accordance with a request received via the communication means 12 from the other device 3 to send the position information, the control part 13 sends to the other device 3 the position information acquired by the GPS receiving part 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a home appliance having a GPS function for acquiring its current position as latitude and longitude information, and a GPS function utilization system.

  GPS (Global Positioning System) that can receive radio waves from multiple (3 or more) artificial satellites and obtain the current position (latitude and longitude) based on comparison (time difference) of received information Widely used in navigation systems. In recent years, GPS has also been used for navigation systems using mobile terminals such as mobile phones and for applications such as specifying the current position.

  On the other hand, along with recent advances in computer technology and communication technology, studies have also been conducted on the exchange of information about home appliances via a communication network, and some of them have been put into practical use. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a network cooking system in which a cooking device in a home is connected to a communication network via a home network terminal, and information such as a cooking recipe is transmitted and received on the communication network. In the future, if network communication functions are installed in many home appliances, it is expected that a more convenient method of using each home appliance will be realized.

Further, when the IP protocol used on the Internet makes a full-scale transition from the current IPV4 to IPV6, the number of bits constituting the IP address increases from 32 bits to 128 bits. As a result, a unique IP address can be assigned to all Internet connection devices, and end devices can freely communicate with each other. In other words, a terminal device that is currently connected to the Internet via a NAT (network address translation) device can communicate directly without an intermediate device such as a NAT device.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-37068

  For example, when a home appliance user receives a request for repair (hereinafter referred to as a service call), a repair service person can use the navigation system to easily reach the user's address (location). There are things to do. In recent years, navigation systems using GPS (so-called car navigation) have been installed in many passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The current position on the map and the position of the destination are displayed on the screen, and the route to the destination is displayed. He / she guides by display and sound. In addition, navigation systems using mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones and PDAs (personal information terminals) have come to be used. However, in order to input a destination in such a navigation system, the person in charge needs to input the address and the like. For example, it is difficult and dangerous to perform such operations while driving a car.

  In addition, it is convenient if information on the location of each home appliance can be automatically collected when the home appliance manufacturer or distributor or its agent collects data for customer management or marketing. . If the Internet IP protocol shifts to IPV6 in earnest, it becomes possible to individually access home appliances connected to the Internet from the management computer side.

  In view of the problems as described above, an object of the present invention is to enable other devices to automatically acquire and utilize information on the installation location of home appliances.

  1st structure of the household appliances which have a GPS function by this invention acquires the communication means for exchanging information directly or via a communication network with an external information terminal device, and the positional information on the earth And a control means for controlling the communication means and the GPS means in accordance with a program stored in advance, wherein the control means transmits position information from other devices received via the communication means. The position information acquired by the GPS means is configured to be transmitted to the other device in response to a request. The GPS antenna, the GPS receiving circuit, and the like that constitute the GPS means may be incorporated in the home appliance or may be provided as an external unit of the home appliance.

  The home appliance having the GPS function having such a configuration can acquire its own location information and transmit the location information to other devices via the communication means. Thereby, various utilizations as shown in the following GPS function utilization system for home appliances are possible.

  According to a second configuration of the household electrical appliance having a GPS function according to the present invention, in the first configuration, a storage unit for storing a history of position information acquired by the GPS unit, and a position information read from the storage unit And a display means for displaying the history. Thereby, when the owner or installation location of the home appliance moves, the history is stored in the storage means as the history of the position information, and the position information history is read from the storage means and displayed as required by the user. Can be displayed. Of course, the history of the read position information may be transmitted to another device.

  According to a third configuration of the household electrical appliance having a GPS function according to the present invention, in the first or second configuration, the location information is transmitted to the other device in response to a location information transmission request from the other device. The user can select whether or not. For example, a changeover switch that can be operated by the user is provided, and the control means transmits position information to another device in response to a position information transmission request if the changeover switch is at a transmission position where transmission is possible. It can be configured not to transmit in the switching position. With this configuration, transmission of position information of home appliances against the user's intention (information leakage) is avoided.

  The first configuration of the GPS function utilization system for home appliances according to the present invention is transmitted from the home appliance in a system including the home appliance having the GPS function of any one of the above configurations and a navigation system device having a communication function. The position information is received by the navigation system device directly or via a computer. According to such a system configuration, for example, when there is a service call such as a repair request from a user of a home appliance, the user's whereabouts are placed on a navigation system device carried by a service person or a navigation system device mounted on a car It is possible to automatically register as a destination, and the service person can easily reach the user's whereabouts.

  A second configuration of the home appliance device GPS function utilization system according to the present invention is a system including the home appliance device having the GPS function of any one of the above configurations and a plurality of computers respectively installed in a plurality of service stations. When the information including the position information is transmitted from the home appliance to any of the plurality of computers, the computer is a computer of a service station closest to the received position information or a portable terminal of a repair service person in charge It is configured to transfer information including the position information. According to such a system configuration, for example, a computer that has received a service call for a repair request that includes location information automatically sends a service call that includes location information to a service station or repair service representative closest to the source of the service call. Since it can be transferred, it can contribute to quick service response and labor saving.

  A third configuration of the GPS function utilization system for home appliances according to the present invention is a system including a home appliance having a GPS function of any one of the above configurations and a customer management computer for the home appliance, The location information transmitted from is received by the customer management computer. According to such a system configuration, for example, a customer management computer connected to the Internet can easily obtain location information of each user's home appliances. It becomes easy to acquire and aggregate data for marketing.

  According to the home appliance having the GPS function of the present invention and the GPS function utilization system, the position information of the home appliance acquired by the GPS function can be received by other devices via the communication means, and obtained. The location information can be effectively used for navigation, customer management, and the like when repairing home appliances.

  Several embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a household electrical appliance having a GPS function according to the first embodiment and a GPS function utilization system. This system includes a home appliance 1 having a GPS function installed in a home, a wireless router 2 for Internet connection, and a navigation system terminal 3 carried by a repair service person.

  The household electrical appliance 1 may be various household electrical appliances such as cooking equipment, video equipment, and audio equipment installed and used in the home. However, equipment that can be carried when the user goes out is excluded. The home appliance 1 includes a GPS receiving unit 11, a communication unit 12, and a control unit 13 in addition to the components that realize an original function (for example, a heating control function in the case of a heating cooker).

  The GPS receiving unit 11 has a function of receiving radio waves from a plurality of GPS satellites 4 and acquiring a current position (latitude and longitude) based on comparison (time difference) of received information. GPS (global positioning system) is widely used in car navigation systems and navigation systems using portable terminals, and detailed description of its structure and principle is omitted. Note that the GPS receiving unit 11 may be incorporated in the home appliance 1 or may be provided as an external unit of the home appliance 1. In the latter case, the GPS receiving unit 11 and the home electric appliance 1 may be directly coupled or may be connected via a cable or the like. For example, when the home appliance 1 is installed in a place where it is difficult to receive radio waves from the GPS satellite 4 in the house (for example, a place covered with a structure such as metal or concrete), the GPS satellite 4 A configuration in which the GPS receiving unit 11 and the home appliance 1 installed in another place where it is easy to receive radio waves from the home is connected by a cable or the like is preferable.

  The communication unit 12 is for connecting to the Internet 5 via the wireless router 2. For example, the communication unit 12 has a function of a slave adapter in a wireless LAN compliant with standards such as IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g. However, not only a wireless interface but also a wired interface may be used as the communication unit 12. Alternatively, the communication unit 12 may be directly connected to the Internet 5 without using the wireless router 2 or the wired router. Desirably, the home appliance 1 (the communication unit 12 thereof) is assigned an IP address according to the IPV6 Internet protocol, and the wireless router 2 corresponds to the IPV6 Internet protocol. This facilitates access to the home appliance 1 from another device (for example, the navigation system terminal 3) connected to the Internet 5.

  The control unit 13 is connected to the GPS receiving unit 11 and the communication unit 12 via the bus line 14 and exchanges data with them. Although omitted in FIG. 1, the home appliance 1 naturally has a control unit (such as a microcomputer) for realizing an original function (for example, a heating control function in the case of a heating cooker). Separately, the control unit 13 may be provided, or both may be configured by one control unit.

  The navigation system terminal 3 carried by the person in charge of the repair service is obtained by mounting the GPS unit 31 on, for example, a PDA (personal information terminal) or a mobile phone. Or the navigation system terminal 3 for exclusive use which incorporated the GPS unit (reception part) may be sufficient. Similarly to the GPS receiver 11 of the home appliance 1, the navigation system terminal 3 receives radio waves from a plurality of GPS satellites 4 and acquires the current position (latitude and longitude) based on comparison (time difference) of received information. Can do. Further, it has a dot matrix type graphic display 32 composed of an LCD (liquid crystal display) or the like, and can display a map on this screen and can display the current position acquired from the GPS unit 31 on the map. .

  Furthermore, if a destination (for example, the installation location of the home appliance 1) is input to the navigation system terminal 3, the destination can be displayed on the map displayed on the screen of the graphic display 32. It is also possible to display a route from the current position to the destination. The navigation system terminal 3 is not limited to a portable terminal but may be a vehicle-mounted terminal (so-called car navigation). As in the current car navigation, it is possible to display an optimal route taking into account road conditions (one-way traffic, congestion), or to display a plurality of routes.

  The navigation system terminal 3 has a wireless communication (mobile communication) function and an Internet connection function like a normal mobile phone, and connects to the Internet 5 through the base station 6 (and the mobile communication network). be able to. The person in charge of the repair service can communicate with the home appliance 1 using the Internet connection function of the navigation system terminal 3 and obtain the position information (position information of the destination).

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for the navigation system terminal 3 to acquire the position information of the home appliance 1. In step # 101, the navigation system terminal 3 designates the IP address of the home appliance 1 that is the service target (destination) and transmits a position information transmission request. As described above, in the IPV6 protocol, a unique IP address is assigned to all home appliances, and the navigation system terminal 3 can directly communicate by designating the IP address of the home appliance 1. In addition, the IP address of each household electrical appliance can be assigned at the time of factory shipment, for example, like a manufacturing serial number. Or you may enable it for the user of the household appliances 1 to acquire an IP address separately.

  When the home appliance 1 (the control unit 13) receives a position information transmission request from the navigation system terminal 3 in step # 151, the home appliance 1 acquires position information from the GPS receiving unit 11 in step # 152. The position information acquired (calculated) by the GPS receiving unit 11 may be temporarily stored in a memory outside the GPS receiving unit 11, and the control unit 13 may read the stored information in the memory. In subsequent step # 153, the control unit 13 designates the IP address of the navigation system terminal 3 that is the location information transmission request source via the communication unit 12, and transmits the acquired location information.

  When the navigation system terminal 3 receives the position information from the household electrical appliance 1 in step # 102, the navigation system terminal 3 sets the position information as the destination (step # 103). Thereby, the destination is displayed on the map displayed on the screen 32, and the route to the destination is displayed.

  According to the present embodiment, the household electrical appliance 1 having a GPS function and communication means uses the position information acquired by the GPS means in response to the position information transmission request from the navigation system terminal 3 of the repair service person in charge. 3 to send. Therefore, even if the repair service person does not manually input the address of the destination, the destination is automatically set in the navigation system terminal 3, and the destination is displayed on the screen (map), or the destination The route can be displayed easily.

  As a modification of this embodiment, instead of the navigation system terminal 3 communicating directly with the home appliance 1 to obtain its position information, a computer installed at a service station or the like communicates with the home appliance 1. The position information may be acquired and the acquired position information may be transferred to the navigation system terminal 3.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a home appliance having a GPS function according to the second embodiment and a GPS function utilization system. The household electrical appliance 1 in this embodiment has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment. In this embodiment, the communication unit 12 of the home appliance 1 is directly connected to the Internet 5, but the communication unit 12 of the home appliance 1 is connected to the Internet 5 via the wireless router 2 and the like as in the first embodiment. You may comprise. In FIG. 3, reference numerals 7 and 8 are computers installed in each service station (or repair shop). Actually, at least one computer is installed for each service station (or repair shop), and the plurality of computers are connected to the Internet 5.

  In the first embodiment, it is assumed that the user of the home appliance 1 makes a call (service call) such as a repair request by telephone. In this example, when the home appliance 1 detects an abnormality or the like, It is assumed that the control unit 13) automatically makes a service call via the Internet 5. In this case, the control unit 13 adds the position information acquired from the GPS receiving unit 11 to the communication message of the service call and transmits it. This forwards the service call to the nearest (or responsible) service station (or repairman) or repair service representative.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a service call transfer procedure according to the second embodiment. For example, a procedure in the case where a computer 7 of a certain service station receives a service call and transfers the service call to another computer 8 of a repair station or repair service person is shown.

  When an event such as abnormality detection occurs, the control unit 13 of the home appliance 1 transmits a service call to the IP address registered (stored) in advance via the communication unit 12 (step # 251). At this time, the location information acquired from the GPS receiver 11 is added to the communication message of the service call and transmitted.

  The computer 7 of the service station that has received the service call from the home appliance 1 in step # 201 checks the position information added to the service call (step # 202), and is closest to the position information (or the position) The service station or repair shop in charge of the area to which the information belongs is searched from the database (step # 203). Alternatively, the repair service person manually or automatically transmits his / her position to the service station computer by a portable terminal or the like (this step is omitted in FIG. 4), and the computer 7 Find the repair service representative closest to the information. Then, the service call is transferred to the service station of the search result or the computer 8 of the repair company (or the portable terminal of the person in charge of repair service) (step # 204). Of course, if the service station or repairer as a search result is itself, that is, if the service station that received the service call is closest to the position information (or is in charge of the area to which the position information belongs), this transfer process Is unnecessary.

  Finally, the computer 7 transmits information on the nearest (or responsible) service station or repair company as a search result to the home appliance 1 (step # 205), and the home appliance 1 receives this information (step # 252). . Thereby, the control part 13 of the household electrical appliance 1 can perform update registration of the IP address of the service contact address registered (stored).

  According to the present embodiment, the computer of the service station automatically searches for the nearest (or responsible) service station or repairer based on its own location information added to the service call transmitted by the home appliance 1. The service call is transferred and the home appliance 1 is notified. Therefore, even if the installation location is moved due to, for example, the user moving the home appliance 1 or when the service station or the like is moved or the organization is changed, the user or the service person manually changes the registration. The service call is automatically transferred to the appropriate service station without having to Furthermore, the registration change of the contact is automatically performed. Thereby, it can contribute to quick service response and labor saving.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a home appliance having a GPS function according to the third embodiment and a GPS function utilization system. The home electric appliance 1 in this embodiment includes a memory 15, a display unit 16, and a changeover switch 17 in addition to the configuration of the home electric appliance 1 in the first embodiment. The memory (storage means) 15 is for storing a history of position information acquired by the GPS receiving unit 11, and the display unit 16 is for displaying it. The user of the household electrical appliance 1 can read the position information history stored in the memory 15 from the memory 15 and display it on the display unit 16 as necessary. Of course, only the current position information can be displayed. In response to a transmission request from another device, the history of position information can be read from the memory 15 and transmitted to the other device.

  The changeover switch 17 is a switch that allows the user to select whether or not to transmit position information (or history thereof) when a transmission request is received from another device. That is, when the control unit 13 receives the position information transmission request via the communication unit 12, the control unit 13 does not transmit the position information (or its history) unconditionally, but the changeover switch 17 is in a transmission-enabled switching position. Just send. If the changeover switch is in a transmission position where transmission is not possible, the position information transmission request is ignored or a transmission impossible response is returned.

  Thereby, it is avoided that the positional information of the household electric appliance 1 is transmitted (information leaks) against the user's intention. Instead of providing the changeover switch 17, a user may set and register a flag indicating whether such transmission is possible or not.

  In the system of the present embodiment, the communication unit 12 of the home appliance 1 can be connected to the Internet 5 via the wireless router 2 as in the first embodiment. Reference numeral 9 is a customer management computer set by the manufacturer or distributor of the household electrical appliance 1 or its agent. In the system of the present embodiment, the customer management computer 9 can communicate with each user's home appliances 1 via the Internet and acquire the position information (or history thereof).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for utilizing position information of home appliances according to the third embodiment. In step # 301, the customer management computer 9 designates the IP address of the target home electric appliance 1 and transmits a position information (history) transmission request. When the home appliance 1 (the control unit 13) receives the position information (history) transmission request at step # 351, it checks whether transmission is possible at step # 352. That is, as described above, it is checked whether the switching state of the changeover switch 17 and the like set by the user is enabled for transmission or disabled for transmission. In this example, if transmission is not possible (No), the process is terminated (transmission request is ignored), but a transmission impossible response may be returned to the customer management computer 9.

  When transmission is possible in step # 352, the control unit 13 reads position information (or its history) from the memory 15 in step # 353. In subsequent step # 354, the control unit 13 designates the IP address of the customer management computer 9, and transmits the read position information (or its history). The customer management computer 9 receives the position information (or its history) from the household electrical appliance 1 in step # 302, and registers (updates) or totals the customer information in step # 303 according to the information.

  According to the present embodiment, the customer management computer 9 connected to the Internet 5 can automatically obtain the location information of the home appliances 1 of each user, so that data for customer management and marketing is acquired. And it becomes easy to tabulate. However, since the user of the household electrical appliance 1 can refuse the transmission of information by switching setting of the changeover switch 17 or the like, it is possible to prevent inadvertent leakage of information. Information such as a manufacturing serial number may be transmitted from the home appliance 1 to the customer management computer 9 together with the IPV6 address. In the IPV6 protocol, a unique IP address can be assigned to all home appliances, so that the IP address can also serve as a manufacturing serial number.

  As mentioned above, although several Example and modification of this invention were demonstrated, this invention is not restricted to these Example and modification, It can implement with a various form. For example, it has been described that the GPS receiver 11 of the home appliance 1 is not necessarily built in the home appliance 1 and may be provided outside the home appliance 1. You may enable it for the control part 13 of the household appliances 1 to acquire position information using the GPS function of another installed household appliances. In addition, the location information acquired by the GPS function of the home appliance 1 is transmitted not only to a usage form transmitted to a remote device via the Internet 5, but also to a personal computer installed in the home, for example, A form in which the computer uses location information for personal authentication or the like is also possible. If the falsification of the position information can be surely prevented, it can be effectively used as information for personal authentication in transactions on the Internet, for example.

It is a schematic block diagram of the household appliances which have the GPS function which concerns on Example 1, and its GPS function utilization system. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the procedure in which a navigation system terminal acquires the positional information on household appliances. It is a schematic block diagram of the household appliances which have a GPS function which concerns on Example 2, and its GPS function utilization system. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a service call transfer procedure according to the second embodiment. It is a schematic block diagram of the household appliances which have a GPS function which concerns on Example 3, and its GPS function utilization system. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the positional information utilization of the household appliances in Example 3.

Explanation of symbols

1 Home Appliances 3 Navigation System Devices 5 Internet (Communication Network)
7, 8 Computer 9 Customer management computer 11 GPS receiver (GPS means)
12 Communication unit (communication means)
13 Control unit (control means)
15 Memory (memory means)
16 Display section (display means)
17 changeover switch

Claims (6)

  Communication means for exchanging information with an external information terminal device directly or via a communication network, GPS means for acquiring position information on the earth, and the communication means according to a program stored in advance And the control means for controlling the GPS means, wherein the control means receives the position information acquired by the GPS means in response to a position information transmission request from another device received via the communication means. It is comprised so that it may transmit to the apparatus of the household appliances which have a GPS function characterized by the above-mentioned. The storage device for storing a history of position information acquired by the GPS device, and a display device for displaying the history of position information read from the storage device. Home appliances with GPS function. 3. The household electrical appliance having a GPS function according to claim 1, wherein a user can select whether or not to transmit the location information to the other device in response to a location information transmission request from the other device.   It is a system containing the household appliances which have a GPS function of Claim 1, 2, or 3, and the navigation system apparatus which has a communication function, Comprising: The said positional information transmitted from the said household appliances is the said directly or via a computer A GPS function utilization system for home appliances, which is configured to be received by a navigation system device.   A system including a household electrical appliance having a GPS function according to claim 1, and a plurality of computers respectively installed in a plurality of service stations, wherein the household electrical appliance is changed to any one of the plurality of computers. When the information including the position information is transmitted, the computer is configured to transfer the information including the position information to the computer of the service station closest to the received position information or the portable terminal of the repair service person in charge. GPS function utilization system for home appliances, characterized by A home appliance having the GPS function according to claim 1, 2 or 3, and a customer management computer for the home appliance, wherein the location information transmitted from the home appliance is the customer management computer. It is comprised so that it may be received by, The GPS function utilization system of the household appliances characterized by the above-mentioned.

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