JP2007034449A - Home network system, communication method in home network system, and home network server - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a home network system, a communication method in a home network system, and a home network server, which, for example, can be applied to the notification of a mail at homes, and in which even if a user is not present next to an electronic device involved in an alarm, information on the contents of the alarm can be transmitted quickly. <P>SOLUTION: When an electronic device notifies the user of an alarm, it concurrently transmits the information regarding the alarm to a main electronic device. The main electronic device transmits information regarding the alarm to an electronic device, next to which the user is present. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a home network system, an information transmission method in a home network system, and a home network server, and can be applied to e-mail notification at home, for example. In the present invention, when an electronic device notifies an alarm to a user, the information related to the alarm is also notified to the main electronic device, and the main electronic device is in contact with an electronic device in the vicinity of the user. By notifying the information related to the alarm, it is possible to promptly notify the information related to the content of the alarm even when the user is not in the vicinity of the electronic device related to the alarm.

  Conventionally, various electronic devices provided in a home notify a user of work completion or abnormality by an alarm or the like. Even in personal computers and mobile phones carried by users, incoming calls and e-mails are notified by alarms. With regard to such home electronic devices, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-78875 proposes a device for detecting the insertion of a mail piece into a mailbox with a sensor and notifying the user.

However, such various alarms are meaningless unless the user is in the vicinity of the electronic device. Even in the case of a mobile phone, the mobile phone may not be carried, for example, by charging. In this case, the alarm does not make any sense. As a result, in these cases, there is a problem that information relating to the contents of the alarm cannot be acquired quickly.
JP 2001-78875 A

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and even when the user is not in the vicinity of the electronic device related to the alarm, the home network system and the home which can promptly notify the information related to the content of the alarm An information transmission method and a home network server in a network system are proposed.

  In order to solve this problem, the invention of claim 1 is applied to a home network system in which a plurality of electronic devices are connected by a network, and at least one of the plurality of electronic devices is a main electronic device, When the other electronic device notifies the user of an alarm, the electronic device also notifies the main electronic device of the information related to the alarm, and the main electronic device transmits the information related to the alarm. By the notification, the user detects an electronic device existing in the vicinity, and notifies the electronic device existing in the vicinity of the information related to the alarm.

  The invention of claim 2 is applied to an information transmission method in a home network system in which a plurality of electronic devices are connected by a network. At least one of the plurality of electronic devices is a main electronic device, and the information transmission The method includes an alarm notification step of notifying the main electronic device of information related to the alarm when another electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices notifies the user of an alarm, and The electronic device detects the information related to the alarm, and a user detection step in which the user detects an electronic device in the vicinity of the electronic device, the electronic device in the vicinity of the user, the main electronic device in the alarm An information notification step of notifying such information.

  The invention according to claim 5 is applied to a home network server connected to another electronic device via a network. When the other electronic device notifies the user of an alarm, information related to the alarm is also provided. To the home network server, the home network server detects an electronic device existing in the vicinity by notification of information relating to the alarm, and the electronic device in the vicinity of the user Notify information related to alarms.

  According to the configuration of claim 1, when applied to a home network system in which a plurality of electronic devices are connected by a network, at least one of the plurality of electronic devices is a main electronic device, and the other of the plurality of electronic devices When the electronic device notifies the user of an alarm, the electronic device also notifies the main electronic device of information related to the alarm, and the main electronic device is notified by the notification of the information related to the alarm. If an electronic device existing in the alarm is detected and the user notifies the electronic device existing in the vicinity of the information related to the alarm, even if the user does not exist in the vicinity of the electronic device related to the alarm Information can be notified by an electronic device in the vicinity of the user. Thereby, even when the user does not exist in the vicinity of the electronic device related to the alarm, it is possible to promptly notify the information related to the content of the alarm.

  Thereby, according to the structure of Claim 2 and Claim 5, even if a user does not exist in the vicinity of the electronic device which concerns on an alarm, the information in the home network system which can notify rapidly the information which concerns on the content of this alarm A transmission method and a home network server can be provided.

  According to the present invention, even when the user does not exist in the vicinity of the electronic device related to the alarm, the information related to the content of the alarm can be notified promptly.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings as appropriate.

(1) Configuration of Embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a home network system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The home network system 1 includes a router 2 which is a main electronic device, an AV system 3, a mobile phone 4, a music player 5, a water heater 6, a mail detection device 7, a personal computer (personal computer) 8, a security system 9 and the like. Are connected by a home network and execute various processes related to the home network system. Here, the various processes related to such a home network system are processes such as using the music content obtained by accessing the Internet by the personal computer 8 in the music player 5, for example. Further, the home network system 1 provides an alarm to the user via the router 2 via the AV system 3, the mobile phone 4, the music player 5, the hot water heater 6, the mail detection device 7, the personal computer (PC) 8, and the security system 9. Notify and notify the user of information related to this alarm.

  Here, the AV system 3 provides the user with video content by television broadcasting and further video content by video equipment connected to the home network via the monitor 3C, and various types of video content by a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) recorder 3A. Record and play back video content and provide it to users. Here, the DVD recorder 3A is a recording / reproducing apparatus that records / reproduces video content on / from an optical disc by DVD. In this DVD recorder 3A, the controller 3B is arithmetic processing means for controlling the operation of the optical disc player 13 by executing a program recorded in the memory. When the DVD recorder 3A is connected to this home network and the power is turned on, the controller 3B notifies the network connection to the router 2 and automatically obtains an address in this network. It is set so that data communication can be performed with various devices connected to the network via the router 2. At this time, the attribute information of the device is notified to the router 2, so that in this embodiment, the router 2 can grasp the display capability of the information related to the contents of the alarm.

  The controller 3B displays various menu screens on the monitor 3C that displays video related to video content, accepts user operations, and executes a series of processing related to recording and reproduction of content. In this processing, the controller 3B notifies the router 2 when there is a user in the vicinity where various information can be notified by the monitor 3C which is information notification means in the AV system 3. That is, when a remote commander or the like is operated, it can be considered that a user related to this operation is viewing video content on the monitor 3C. As a result, the controller 3B notifies the router 2 of a predetermined code each time various operations are performed by the remote commander or the like, thereby notifying the router 2 when there is a user in the vicinity where various information can be notified. To do.

  In this process, the controller 3B executes a timer recording process according to an instruction from the user. Also, the timer recording failure is detected, and this failure is notified to the router 2. Here, the failure of the timer recording is, for example, when the program desired by the user cannot be recorded in the time zone in which the timer recording is instructed due to the extension of the broadcast time of the immediately preceding program, the temporary program, etc. This is the case when recording is not possible. The controller 13A detects the failure of timer recording due to the extension of the broadcast time or the temporary program or the like based on the data acquired by the data broadcast. Also, the failure of timer recording due to a power failure is detected by monitoring the power supply by the timer.

  The controller 3B executes the notification of the timer recording failure based on the alarm notification. Here, this alarm notification is executed by adding information relating to the contents of the alarm (hereinafter, this information will be referred to as additional information), and the controller 3B uses a message to the effect that timer recording has failed in the added information. Assign text data.

  Further, when the alarm is notified from the router 2 in a state where the video content is provided to the user by the monitor 3C, the controller 13A starts the processing procedure of FIG. Here, the controller 3B moves from step SP1 to step SP2, acquires an alarm, and then notifies the user of the alarm by voice and / or via the display of the monitor 3C in step SP3. Here, the alarm notification by voice is, for example, output of a specific warning sound, and the alarm notification by display on the monitor 3C is, for example, display of a predetermined message or mark.

  When the alarm notification is notified to the user in this way, the controller 3B determines whether or not any of the operators of the remote commander has been operated by the user in the subsequent step SP4, and if a negative result is obtained here, Moving to step SP5, it is determined whether or not the router 2 has instructed to stop the alarm. If a negative result is obtained here, the controller 3B returns to step SP4. On the other hand, if a positive result is obtained, the controller 3B moves from step SP5 to step SP6 and ends this processing procedure.

  On the other hand, if a positive result is obtained in step SP4, the controller 3B moves from step SP4 to step SP7, and returns a predetermined code related to the alarm response to the router 2. As a result, the controller 3B notifies the router 2 of the presence of the user. In subsequent step SP6, the controller 3B acquires the notification information notified from the router 2 by this notification, and in the subsequent step SP9, notifies the user of the notification information by the information notification means of the AV system 3. Here, the notification information notified by the router 2 is additional information of an alarm issued by another device. If it is difficult to notify the user of the additional information by the information notification means of the notification destination, that information Information. In this AV system 3, when connected to the network, the router 2 recognizes that the device can display video based on the attribute information notified to the router 2 when the power is turned on. In the case of information that can be displayed by the AV system 3 such as information by text or bitmap, additional information of the alarm is notified as it is. On the other hand, for example, when the additional information is an e-mail having an attached file, text data by a message notifying the arrival of the e-mail is notified. As a result, the controller 3B notifies the user of the notification information through the monitor 3C, and then proceeds to step SP6 to end the processing procedure.

  On the other hand, the cellular phone 4 is a cellular phone connected to this home network by data communication means based on IEEE 802.11. In this cellular phone 4, the controller 4A is an arithmetic processing means for controlling the operation of the cellular phone 4 by executing a program recorded in a memory. Execute processing related to sending and receiving mail.

  In this series of processing, the controller 4A calls for a response to the router 2 at a fixed time interval. When the controller 4A is carried by the user in the area related to the home network, the controller 4A connects to the home network. At this time, the controller 4A obtains an address in this network and notifies the router 2 of the attribute information of the device, so that in this embodiment, the router 2 can grasp the display capability of information related to the contents of the alarm. . Further, the controller 4A notifies the router 2 when the user is present in the vicinity where various information can be notified by the liquid crystal display panel 5B which is information notification means in the cellular phone. Also in this case, like the controller 3B in the AV system 3, the controller 4A notifies the router 2 of a predetermined code each time various operations are performed by the user, thereby allowing the user to be in the vicinity where various information can be notified. The router 2 is notified of the existence.

  Further, when a call is notified or an e-mail is received, the controller 4A notifies the user of these by vibration, voice, and display on a liquid crystal display panel (LCD) 4B, as in a normal telephone. In this embodiment, the notification of these calls and the text data based on the message indicating that there is an incoming call are set as additional information to notify the router 2 of an alarm.

  On the contrary, when an alarm is notified from the router 2, the alarm is notified to the user by executing almost the same processing procedure as described above with reference to FIG. 2 is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 4B. In this case, the mobile phone 4 performs alarm notification to the user by vibration, sound, and display on the liquid crystal display panel (LCD) 4B.

  On the other hand, the music player 5 is a portable recording / reproducing apparatus that records and reproduces music content on a recording medium such as a memory card or an optical disk, and is connected to the home network by data communication means according to IEEE 802.11. In this music player 5, the controller 5A is an arithmetic processing means for controlling the operation of the music player 5 by executing a program recorded in the memory, and controls the overall operation in response to an operation by the user to control the music content. Play and provide to users.

  In this series of processing, the controller 5A obtains an address by connecting to the home network in the same manner as the mobile phone 4, and notifies the router 2 of the attribute information of the device. The controller 5A notifies the router 2 of a predetermined code each time the operation element of the music player 5 is operated, thereby notifying the router 2 when a user exists in the vicinity where various information can be notified. To do. When an alarm is notified from the router 2, the alarm is notified to the user by executing almost the same processing procedure as described above with reference to FIG. 3 for the controller 3 B of the AV system 3, and further the notification information from the router 2. Is displayed on a liquid crystal display panel (LCD) 5B. Here, the liquid crystal display panel is a display unit that displays the title of music content and the like.

  On the other hand, the water heater 6 is a device for boiling water in a bath and supplying hot water for a shower. In this water heater 6, the controller 6 </ b> A controls the operation of the water heater 6 by executing a program recorded in the memory, controls the hot water of the bath, the temperature of hot water related to the shower, and the like. In this series of processing, an address is acquired by connecting to the home network, and further by starting up the power supply, and device attribute information is notified to the router 2. Each time the operator is operated, the controller 6A notifies the router 2 of a predetermined code, thereby notifying the router 2 when there is a user in the vicinity where various information can be notified. Further, the controller 6A switches the display on the liquid crystal display panel (LCD) 6B by the operation of the operator by the user, accepts the setting of the water heating time, and heats the bath. Here, the liquid crystal display panel 6B is a display device that can display a predetermined number of alphanumeric characters by a so-called segment method. Thereby, the controller 6A notifies the user that the bath has been boiled by a warning sound and a display on the liquid crystal display panel 6B. At this time, the controller 6A additionally sets text data based on a message indicating that the bath has been boiled as additional information, and notifies the router 2 of an alarm.

  Further, the controller 6A notifies the user of an alarm from the router 2 by executing almost the same processing procedure as described above with reference to FIG. 3 for the controller 3B of the AV system 3, and further, the information from the router 2 is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel. Displayed by 6B.

  The postal matter detection device 7 is a device that notifies the user of the arrival of the postal matter, and detects the input of the postal matter by an optical sensor arranged so as to be shielded by the postal matter that is inserted into the input port of the postbox, for example. . In the mail detection device 7, the controller 7A controls the overall operation by executing the program recorded in the memory, acquires an address by connecting to the home network, and notifies the router 2 of the attribute information of the device. Further, when the insertion of the mail piece is detected by the optical sensor, the arrival of the mail piece is notified to the user by the blinking of the light emitting diode (LED) 7B and the warning sound. At this time, the controller 7A also sets, as additional information, text data based on a message that the mail has arrived, and notifies the router 2 of an alarm.

  Further, the controller 7A notifies the user of an alarm from the router 2 by blinking of the light emitting diode 7B and a warning sound by executing almost the same processing procedure as described above with reference to FIG. 3 for the controller 3B of the AV system 3. Notification information from the router 2 is notified to the user. However, in this mail detection device 7, the information notification means to the user is limited to the warning sound generating means for generating a warning sound and the light emitting diode 7B, so that the controller 7A in this case is the information for notification from the router 2. The light emitting diode 7B is blinked according to the above, and a warning sound is generated, thereby notifying the user of notification information.

  The personal computer 8 is a computer that is always connected to the Internet, controls the overall operation by executing a program recorded in a memory, acquires an address by connecting to a home network and turning on a power source, The attribute information is notified to the router 2. The personal computer 8 notifies the router 2 of a predetermined code each time a keyboard, mouse, or the like is operated, thereby notifying the router 2 when there is a user in the vicinity where various information can be notified. When an e-mail arrives, the user is notified of the incoming e-mail by a warning sound and display on the liquid crystal display panel (LCD) 8A. At this time, the controller 7A also sets text data and an e-mail according to a message that an e-mail has arrived as additional information and notifies the router 2 of an alarm.

  Similarly, an alarm is notified by the scheduled time and the scheduled date and time by a timer set in the application program for schedule management. In this case, additional information is set by text data based on a message indicating the contents related to the schedule set in the application program.

  In addition, the controller 3B of the AV system 3 performs almost the same processing procedure as described above with reference to FIG. 3 to notify the user of an alarm from the router 2 by the display and warning sound on the liquid crystal display panel 8A. Notify the user of the notification information.

  The security system 9 includes a sensor 9A for detecting a suspicious person or the like by processing a detection result of this sensor by executing a predetermined processing program recorded in a memory and a sensor disposed in each place of the home related to the home network. It is composed of a light emitting diode 9B that notifies an alarm upon detection of the suspicious person. The controller 9A of the security system 9 acquires an address by connecting to the home network and turning on the power, and notifies the router 2 of the attribute information of the device. For example, when the user sets the security mode to the answering machine mode by operating an operator (not shown), a suspicious person is detected indoors and outdoors and an abnormality is notified to the security center. On the other hand, when the user sets the security mode to the sleeping mode, a suspicious person outdoors is detected, the light emitting diode 9B is blinked, and a warning sound is generated to notify the user of the abnormality. Also in this case, the security center is notified of the abnormality by prior setting. In this sleep mode, the controller 9A sets text data based on a message indicating that a suspicious person has been detected as additional information, and notifies the router 2 of an alarm.

  On the other hand, when an alarm is notified from the router 2, the alarm from the router 2 is indicated by a flashing light emitting diode 9B and a warning sound by executing almost the same processing procedure as described above for the controller 3B of the AV system 3. Is notified to the user, and notification information from the router 2 is notified to the user by blinking of the light emitting diode 9B.

  When each device is connected by executing a predetermined processing procedure, the router 2 assigns an address to each device, thereby setting data communication between the devices. At this time, the information notification capability of each device is recorded and held in a table based on the device attribute information notified from each device. Further, a series of processing related to data transmission / reception is executed between the devices by the address thus distributed.

  In this process, the router 2 calls each device for a response at a fixed time interval, and monitors whether each device recorded in the table can perform data communication according to the presence / absence of a response to the call. Here, when the devices are not capable of data communication, the power is turned off in the AV system 3 or the like, and the mobile phone 4 or the music player 5 is out of the communicable range.

  Furthermore, when an alarm is notified from any of the devices, the router 2 notifies the user of the alarm by executing the processing procedure of FIGS. That is, when an alarm is notified, the router 2 moves from step SP11 to step SP12, acquires this alarm together with additional information, and determines whether there is a device in the vicinity in the subsequent step SP13. Here, the router 2 detects, for a predetermined code notified from the AV system 3, the mobile phone 4, the music player 5, and the like for each user operation, a device for which the code has been notified recently. Further, the passage of time from the notification of the most recent code is determined, and the presence / absence of a device whose elapsed time from the notification of the most recent code is a predetermined time or less is detected. Here, in such a device, the possibility that a user exists in the vicinity is extremely high.

  As a result, when a device having a user in the vicinity is detected, the router 2 moves from step SP13 to step SP14, and notifies the detected device of an alarm. Further, in the following step SP15, it is determined whether or not a response is obtained from this device. If a negative result is obtained here, the process proceeds to step SP16, where an alarm is notified and it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed. If a negative result is obtained here, the router 2 returns to step SP15. As a result, the router 2 notifies an alarm to a device in the vicinity of the user and waits for a predetermined time, and when a response is obtained from this device by the user's operation, the process proceeds from step SP15 to step SP17.

  Here, the router 2 generates display information from the additional information set in the alarm, based on the information notification capability of the device determined from the attribute information of the device acquired in advance. Specifically, when the additional information is an electronic mail having an attached file notified from the personal computer 8 or the mobile phone 4, and the device in the vicinity of the user is the mobile phone 4 or the personal computer 8, these Since the mobile phone 4 and the personal computer 8 have a sufficient information notification function, in this case, the additional information is set as display information as it is. In addition, when the alarm notification is sent from a device other than these, and the device in the vicinity of the user is the mobile phone 4 or the personal computer 8, the additional information can be sufficiently notified to the user in this case as well. The additional information is set as display information as it is.

  On the other hand, if the device in the vicinity of the user is the AV system 3 or the music player 5, the attachment file of the e-mail may not be opened, and further, the e-mail itself may not be opened. If the additional information is an e-mail and an attached file is set, the text data based on the message that the incoming e-mail with the attached file was received by the device related to the alarm notification is used as the notification information. Set. On the other hand, when an attached file is not set, text data based on the content of the e-mail, the transmission source address, etc. is set as display information. In this case, only text data set as additional information may be set as display information.

  On the other hand, in the water heater 6, it can be said that the information notification capability is inferior to that of the AV system 3, the personal computer 8, and the like because the liquid crystal display panel 6B is an 8-segment display unit with a predetermined number of digits. As a result, when the device in which the user exists in the vicinity is the water heater 6, the router 2 sets the additional information as display information only when the additional information is text data in English, and in other cases, Display information is set so that a specific number is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 6B. Here, this display is a display in which all the segments of the liquid crystal display panel 6B are blinked, for example.

  On the other hand, it can be said that the hot water heater 6, the postal matter detection device 7, and the security system 9 notify the various alarms by blinking of the light emitting diodes, thereby further reducing the ability of the information notification means. Thus, in this case, the display information is set so that the light emitting diode blinks.

  When the display information is created in this way, the router 2 moves to step SP18 and instructs the device that sent the alarm to stop the alarm. In the subsequent step SP19, after the display information is notified, the process proceeds to step SP20 and the processing procedure is terminated. In this notification of display information, the router 2 deletes a series of information related to the alarm from the memory only when the additional information set in the alarm notification is notified by the display information.

  As a result, when the user exists in the vicinity of a device having sufficient information notification capability, the router 2 notifies the user of the contents related to the alarm, while the device existing in the vicinity of the user is sufficient. If it does not have the ability to notify information, only an alarm is notified.

  On the other hand, if an affirmative result is obtained in step SP16, the router 2 moves from step SP16 to step SP21, instructs the device that sent the alarm here to stop the alarm, and then moves to step SP22. If a negative result is obtained in step SP13, the process moves from step SP13 to step SP22 in this case as well.

  Here, the router 2 instructs all devices connected to the home network to send an alarm. Further, in the following step SP23, it is determined whether or not a response from the user's operation is obtained from any device. If a negative result is obtained here, the process proceeds to step SP24. Here, the router 2 determines whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed after giving an instruction to send an alarm, and if a negative result is obtained, the process returns to step SP23. As a result, after instructing all devices to send out alarms, the router 2 waits for a response by the user's operation, and when a response to the operation by the user is obtained, the process proceeds from step SP23 to step SP17 to execute a series of processes. To do. Accordingly, when the router 2 cannot determine in which device the user is present, the router 2 notifies an alarm to all devices and notifies the user of information related to the alarm.

  On the other hand, if an affirmative result is obtained in step SP24, in this case, it is considered that the user is absent, etc., so that the router 2 moves from step SP24 to step SP25, and alarms are sent to all devices. Instruct to stop. In the subsequent step SP26, information relating to the alarm is held in the state recorded in the memory, and then the process proceeds to step SP20 and the processing procedure is terminated.

  As a result, the router 2 records and holds information related to an alarm that has not been notified of additional information to the user. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the router 2 regarding processing of information relating to the recorded and held alarm. That is, when starting this processing procedure, the router 2 moves from step SP30 to step SP31 and determines whether or not a new device is connected. Note that the connection of this new device includes the power-on of the device that was previously powered off, and there is a device related to address setting and attribute information acquisition. Means.

  If a negative result is obtained here, the router 2 repeats step SP31, whereas if a positive result is obtained in step SP31, the process proceeds to step SP32. Here, the router 2 determines whether or not the information related to the alarm exists in the memory. If a negative result is obtained, the process returns to step SP31.

  On the other hand, if a positive result is obtained in step SP32, the router 2 moves to step SP33 and notifies the newly connected device of an alarm. Further, in the subsequent step SP34, it is determined whether or not a response by the user's operation has been obtained. If a negative result is obtained here, the process proceeds to step SP35 to notify an alarm, and then it is determined whether or not a certain time has elapsed. If a negative result is obtained here, the router 2 returns to step SP34. Thereby, the router 2 waits for a response by the user's operation, and when the response is obtained, the router 2 moves to step SP36 and instructs the device to stop the alarm. In the subsequent step SP37, display information is generated in the same manner as described above for step SP17, and then the process proceeds to step SP38 to notify the display information. At this time, when the router 2 notifies all of the additional information set in the alarm by the display information, the router 2 deletes the memory record and returns to step SP31. On the other hand, if a positive result is obtained in step SP35, an instruction to stop the alarm is given in the subsequent step SP39, and then the process returns to step SP31.

  In addition, the router 2 receives the alarm and the additional information recorded and held in the memory in this way by accessing from the personal computer 8 and the mobile phone 4 which are devices having sufficient information notification capability by the corresponding application program. The information is sequentially browsed, and the browsed information or the information instructed by the user is deleted from the record.

(2) Operation of the embodiment In the above configuration, in the home network system 1, the AV system 3, the mobile phone 4, the music player 5, the water heater 6, the mail detection device 7, the personal computer 8, and the security system 9 are connected to the network. If these power supplies are turned on while connected to the network or connected to the network, the router 2 as the main electronic device assigns addresses to these devices, and also acquires attribute information of each device. Is done. Also, when the mobile phone 4 and the music player 5 are carried in the data communicable area, the addresses of these devices are assigned by the router 2 and the attribute information of each device is acquired. On the contrary, when the AV system 3, the mobile phone 4, the music player 5, the hot water heater 6, the mail detection device 7, the personal computer 8, and the security system 9 are turned off or disconnected from the network. Further, when deviating from the communicable range, these are detected by the router 2 and the record of the address and attribute information is deleted.

  In this way, each device is monitored by the router 2, and various data are transmitted and received between the devices, so that the AV system 3, the mobile phone 4, the music player 5, the water heater 6, the postal matter detection device 7, In the personal computer 8 and the security system 9, a certain code is notified to the router 2 every time the user operates, so that the current location of the user can be grasped by the router 2.

  In this way, for example, when the user boils the bath by setting the water heater 6, the water heater 6 notifies the user of an alarm by flashing the LCD panel 6B and a warning sound when the bath boils. The router 2 is also notified of an alarm by setting a message indicating that the bath has been boiled as additional information. Thereby, in this home network system 1, an electronic device in which the user is located in the vicinity is detected by the router 2, and an alarm is notified to this electronic device. When a response is obtained by notification of this alarm, additional information is notified from the router 2. Thus, for example, even when the user is absent in the kitchen or the like in which the controller of the water heater 6 is provided, the user can be notified that the bath has been boiled by the mobile phone 4, the music player 5, etc. Even when the alarm is not present in the vicinity of the electronic device, information relating to the content of the alarm can be notified promptly.

  On the other hand, when there is an incoming call, the mobile phone 4 notifies the alarm by vibration, warning sound, and lighting of the liquid crystal display panel 4B. Also, when an e-mail arrives at the personal computer 8 or the mobile phone 4, an alarm is similarly notified. When the DVD recorder 3A fails in timer recording, a mail is put in the mailbox, a suspicious person is detected, a scheduled time and a scheduled date, an alarm is notified by the corresponding electronic device. Is done. In this home network system 1, even in these cases, information regarding the contents related to these alarms is set as additional information, and an alarm is notified from each electronic device to the router 2. In addition, an electronic device in which the user is located in the vicinity is detected by this notification, and an alarm is notified to the electronic device. When a response is obtained by notification of this alarm, additional information is notified from the router 2. As a result, even when there is no user in the vicinity of the electronic device related to each alarm, the information related to each alarm can be notified to the user by the electronic device near the user. Information related to the contents of the alarm can be notified promptly.

  In this home network system 1, the latest notification is detected by the notification from each electronic device operated by the user, and when a certain time has not elapsed since the latest notification, the electronic device related to this notification is A series of processing is executed as an electronic device existing in the vicinity. However, there may be a case where the user has moved to another location. In this way, when an alarm is notified in this way and a response by the user's operation is not obtained, and furthermore, when an electronic device whose elapsed time is less than a certain time from the latest notification is not detected, all electronic devices are alarmed. Will be notified. In addition, the alarm information is notified to the device to which the response by the user operation is returned by the alarm notification. Thus, even when an electronic device existing in the vicinity of the user cannot be detected, the home network system 1 can notify the user of information related to the alarm by the electronic device in the vicinity of the user.

  On the other hand, when no response is obtained by notifying all the devices in this way, there may be a case where the user is absent. As a result, in this case, information related to the alarm is recorded and held, and the alarm is notified to the electronic device when the power of the electronic device is turned on, and further by connecting to the home network by entering the communicable area. The information related to the alarm is notified by the response. As a result, even when the user is absent, when the information can be notified to the user, the information can be immediately notified. Even if the user is not in the vicinity of the electronic device related to the alarm, this alarm It is possible to promptly notify information related to the contents of

  In this way, in this home network system 1, the information notification capability of each device is determined by the router 2 based on the attribute information of each device acquired in advance by the router 2. If it is grasped and information related to the content of the alarm cannot be notified by an electronic device near the user, the information is transmitted by, for example, lighting of a light emitting diode instead of the information related to the content of the alarm. Information is recorded and retained. Thereby, in this case, the information is provided for browsing through access by the mobile phone 4, the personal computer 8 or the like having sufficient information notification capability. As a result, the user can confirm the contents of the alarm by the cellular phone 4 and the personal computer 8 as necessary.

(3) Effects of the embodiment According to the above configuration, when the electronic device notifies the user of an alarm, the information related to the alarm is also notified to the main electronic device, and the main electronic device By notifying information related to this alarm to nearby electronic devices, even if the user does not exist near the electronic device related to the alarm, the information related to the contents of this alarm can be notified promptly. Can do.

  In addition, when the user cannot detect an electronic device in the vicinity, the alarm is also notified by notifying all the electronic devices of the alarm and notifying the electronic device that has received a response of the alarm. Even when it does not exist in the vicinity of the electronic device, information related to the contents of the alarm can be notified promptly.

  Further, when such a response is not detected, the information related to the alarm is recorded and retained, and the user can also notify the information related to the alarm by connecting a new electronic device, so that the user can Even if it does not exist, it is possible to promptly notify information relating to the contents of the alarm.

  In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which a predetermined code is notified to the router for each operation by the user, and this code is monitored by the router to confirm the user's location. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, the location of the user may be confirmed by a dedicated sensor, and further, a person detection result in the security system may be used.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the main electronic device is configured by the router and the alarm is notified from the other device to the router for processing is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the network server is mainly used. The electronic device may be set as the main electronic device, or any electronic device connected to this type of network may be set as the main electronic device.

  The present invention relates to a home network system, an information transmission method in a home network system, and a home network server, and can be applied to e-mail notification at home, for example.

It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the router of the home network system based on the Example of this invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a home network system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a controller of an AV system in the home network system of FIG. 2. It is a flowchart which shows the continuation of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the information which concerns on the alarm recorded on memory.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... Home network system, 2 ... Router, 3 ... AV system 3B, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 9A ... Controller, 4 ... Mobile phone, 5 ... Music player, 6 ... Water heater, 7 ... Mail detection device, 8 ... Personal computer, 9 ... Security system

Claims (5)

A home network system in which a plurality of electronic devices are connected via a network,
At least one of the plurality of electronic devices is
The main electronic equipment,
Other electronic devices of the plurality of electronic devices are:
When notifying an alarm to the user, in addition to notifying the main electronic device of information related to the alarm,
The main electronic device is
By notification of information relating to the alarm, the user detects an electronic device that exists in the vicinity,
The home network system characterized in that the user notifies the electronic device in the vicinity of information related to the alarm. An information transmission method in a home network system in which a plurality of electronic devices are connected via a network,
At least one of the plurality of electronic devices is
The main electronic equipment,
The information transmission method includes:
When other electronic devices of the plurality of electronic devices notify an alarm to a user, an alarm notification step of notifying the main electronic device of information related to the alarm,
A step of user detection in which the main electronic device detects an electronic device existing in the vicinity by notification of information relating to the alarm; and
An information transmission method in a home network system, comprising: an information notification step in which the main electronic device notifies information related to the alarm to an electronic device in the vicinity of the user. In the user detection step, when a user cannot detect an electronic device existing in the vicinity, all the other electronic devices are notified of an alarm to all devices, and an alarm notification step is performed.
A response detection step of detecting a response from any of the other electronic devices;
The information transmission method in the home network system according to claim 2, further comprising: an information notification step using a response for notifying information relating to the alarm to an electronic device in which a response is detected in the response detection step. . In the response detection step, when the response is not detected within a predetermined time, an information recording step of recording and holding information related to the alarm; and
A new device detection step for detecting a connection of a new electronic device;
An information notifying step to the new electronic device for notifying the new electronic device detected in the new device detecting step of the information related to the alarm recorded in the information recording step. The information transmission method in the home network system according to claim 3. A home network server connected to other electronic devices via a network,
The other electronic device is
When notifying the user of an alarm, the home network server is also notified of information related to the alarm,
The home network server is
By notification of information relating to the alarm, the user detects an electronic device that exists in the vicinity,
The home network server characterized in that the user notifies the electronic device existing in the vicinity of information related to the alarm.

Images