JP6233719B2 - Service use range determination method, computer program, and portable terminal - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a service usage range determination method.

  In recent years, home appliance information such as home appliance identification information and home appliance operation status is read from an IC tag of a home appliance (hereinafter also referred to as “home appliance”) using proximity wireless communication, and various services corresponding to the read home appliance information are provided. There is known a system for providing to home appliance users.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique relating to alignment for increasing the accuracy of proximity wireless communication in a home appliance including a proximity wireless communication module such as NFC (Near Field Communication). This patent document 1 further discloses that an inexpensive and simple Internet service can be realized by sending home appliance information to a server by bringing a mobile terminal such as a smartphone close to the home appliance (proximity wireless communication). Yes.

International Publication No. 2011-065028

  In such a system using close proximity wireless communication, when the frequency of close proximity wireless communication is low, the amount of data to be transmitted increases in one close proximity wireless communication. Thereby, the subject that the communication time of proximity | contact wireless communication becomes long or the communication error risk accompanying a long communication time becomes high arises.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a service usage range determination method that can prevent a communication time of close proximity wireless communication from being long and can reduce a communication error risk associated with a long communication time.

  In order to achieve the above object, a service usage range determination method according to an aspect of the present invention provides home appliance information indicating a usage status of home appliances used by using proximity wireless communication from the home appliances. According to the step, the frequency of occurrence of proximity wireless communication with the home appliance, and the use frequency of the home appliance determined using the home appliance information, A service usage range determination step to determine; and a notification step of notifying the user of the determined service usage range.

  These general or specific aspects may be realized by a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, or a recording medium such as a computer-readable CD-ROM. The system, method, integrated circuit, computer program Also, any combination of recording media may be realized.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can provide a service usage range determination method that can prevent a communication time of close proximity wireless communication from becoming long and can reduce a communication error risk associated with a long communication time.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a service usage range determination system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the home appliance according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the communication terminal according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the server apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of home appliance information generation and transmission processing by the home appliance according to the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of home appliance information transmission / reception processing by the communication terminal according to the embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of home appliance information reception and service use range determination processing by the server device according to the embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the home appliance according to Configuration Example 1 of the embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the communication terminal according to Configuration Example 1 of the embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the server device according to Configuration Example 1 of the embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the communication terminal according to Configuration Example 2 of the embodiment. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the server device according to Configuration Example 2 of the embodiment. FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a communication terminal according to Configuration Example 2 of the embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the communication terminal according to Configuration Example 3 of the embodiment. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the server device according to Configuration Example 3 of the embodiment. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the home appliance according to Configuration Example 4 of the embodiment. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the communication terminal according to Configuration Example 4 of the embodiment. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the server device according to Configuration Example 4 of the embodiment. FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a home electric appliance according to Configuration Example 4 of the embodiment. FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the home appliance according to Configuration Example 5 of the embodiment. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the server device according to Configuration Example 5 of the embodiment. FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the server device according to Configuration Example 6 of the embodiment. FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the server device according to Configuration Example 6 of the embodiment. FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the home appliance according to Configuration Example 7 of the embodiment. FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the communication terminal according to Configuration Example 7 of the embodiment. FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the server device according to Configuration Example 7 of the embodiment. FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information in the server device according to Configuration Example 7 of the embodiment. FIG. 28 is a block diagram of a communication terminal according to a modification of the embodiment. FIG. 29 is a flowchart of the service usage range determination method according to the embodiment. FIG. 30 is a flowchart of the service usage range determination method in the communication terminal according to the embodiment. FIG. 31 is a flowchart of a service usage range determination method in the server apparatus according to the embodiment.

(Knowledge that became the basis of the present invention)
The inventor has found that the following problems occur with respect to the system described in the “Background Art” section.

  In the Internet service as disclosed in Patent Document 1, home appliance information, which is material information for providing timely services that are more suitable for the user who is using, is continuously and frequently transmitted to the server. is important. For example, in a wellness home appliance such as a body composition meter or activity meter, a user can continuously measure a daily body composition state or activity amount state, thereby providing a more detailed health management service.

  At this time, a system using home appliances having close proximity wireless communication has a problem peculiar to close proximity wireless communication in which communication is not possible unless the home appliance and the mobile communication terminal are physically close to each other. Thus, firstly, it is important to provide a mechanism that promotes the use of home appliances, for example, measurement of body composition or measurement of activity amount so as to be enjoyable.

  In addition, if the home appliance is configured to store and store a certain usage situation, for example, a measurement result of a past fixed period, data that needs to be transmitted from the home appliance to a portable information terminal such as a smartphone by proximity wireless communication increases. This causes a second problem that the communication time becomes long or the risk of communication error associated with the long communication time becomes high. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to cause the user to continuously and frequently perform data transmission by proximity wireless communication between the home appliance and the portable information terminal.

  A mechanism for solving the first and second problems described above is not disclosed in Patent Document 1.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, according to the continuity and frequency of use of home appliances and the continuity and frequency of use of close proximity wireless communication, the authority of services that can be used by the user is broadened, so that A system that can promote the use of home appliances and the use of proximity wireless communication will be described.

  A service usage range determination method according to an aspect of the present invention includes: an information acquisition step of acquiring home appliance information indicating a usage status of home appliances using proximity wireless communication from the home appliances; and the home appliances A service use range determination step for determining a use range of a service that can be used by a user of the home appliance according to the frequency of occurrence of proximity wireless communication and the use frequency of the home appliance determined using the home appliance information; A notification step of notifying the user of the determined use range of the service.

  According to this, the service usage range determination method can increase the usage frequency of home appliances by the user. In addition, since the service usage range determination method can increase the frequency of occurrence of close proximity wireless communication, it is possible to prevent the communication time of close proximity wireless communication from becoming long and reduce the risk of communication errors associated with long communication times. .

  For example, the service may be browsing of content, and in the service usage range determination step, a range in which the user can browse content may be determined according to the occurrence frequency and the usage frequency.

  For example, the home appliance information may include at least one of usage details of the home appliance, information indicating occurrence of use of the home appliance, and use time of the home appliance.

  For example, in the service usage range determination step, the usage range may be expanded when the occurrence frequency is equal to or higher than a predetermined first threshold value or when the usage frequency is equal to or higher than a predetermined second threshold value. Good.

  For example, in the service usage range determination step, the usage range may be expanded when the occurrence frequency is equal to or higher than the usage frequency.

  According to this, since the service usage range determination method can increase the frequency of occurrence of close proximity wireless communication, it is possible to prevent the communication time of close proximity wireless communication from becoming long and to prevent a communication error risk associated with a long communication time. Can be reduced.

  For example, the occurrence frequency may be the number of times of the close proximity wireless communication performed within a predetermined first period.

  For example, in the service use range determining step, the occurrence frequency may be calculated using a time when the close proximity wireless communication is performed.

  According to this, the service usage range determination method can calculate the occurrence frequency with high accuracy.

  For example, in the information acquisition step, the mobile terminal acquires the home appliance information from the home appliance using proximity wireless communication, and the mobile terminal transmits the acquired home appliance information to the server device via the network. In the service use range determination step, the server device may calculate the occurrence frequency using the time when the home appliance information is received as the time when the proximity wireless communication is performed.

  According to this, the service usage range determination method can reduce the processing amount in the mobile terminal and can simplify the configuration of the mobile terminal.

  For example, the usage frequency may be the number of times the home appliance is used within a predetermined second period.

  For example, the frequency of use may be the number of times that a predetermined specific function is used among a plurality of functions of the home appliance within the second period.

  For example, in the service use range determination step, the use frequency may be calculated using the time when the close proximity wireless communication is performed as the time when the home appliance is used.

  According to this, the service usage range determination method can reduce the processing amount in the home appliance and can simplify the configuration of the home appliance.

  For example, in the information acquisition step, the mobile terminal acquires the home appliance information from the home appliance using proximity wireless communication, and the mobile terminal transmits the acquired home appliance information to the server device via the network. In the service use range determination step, the server device may calculate the use frequency using the time when the home appliance information is received as the time when the home appliance is used.

  According to this, the service usage range determination method can reduce the processing amount in the home appliance and the mobile terminal, and can simplify the configuration of the home appliance and the mobile terminal.

  For example, the service usage range determination method may further include a service providing step of providing the service in the usage range determined in the service usage range determination step.

  A computer program according to one embodiment of the present invention is a computer program executed on a mobile terminal, and the home terminal is used to transmit home appliance information indicating the usage status of the home appliance from the home appliance. Of the home appliance determined according to the frequency of occurrence of proximity wireless communication with the home appliance and the usage frequency of the home appliance determined using the home appliance information It is made to function as a portable terminal provided with the display part which displays the utilization range of the service which a user can utilize for the said user.

  According to this, the said computer program can increase the utilization frequency of the household appliances by a user. In addition, since the computer program can increase the frequency of occurrence of close proximity wireless communication, it is possible to prevent the communication time of close proximity wireless communication from becoming long and reduce the risk of communication errors associated with long communication time.

  Moreover, the portable terminal which concerns on 1 aspect of this invention is the proximity | contact with the information appliance which acquires the household appliance information which shows the utilization condition in which the household appliance was utilized from the said household appliance using near field communication, and the said household appliance The usage range of the service that can be used by the user of the household electrical appliance determined according to the frequency of occurrence of wireless communication and the usage frequency of the household electrical appliance determined using the household electrical appliance information is displayed to the user. A display unit.

  According to this, the said portable terminal can increase the utilization frequency of the household appliances by a user. In addition, since the mobile terminal can increase the frequency of occurrence of close proximity wireless communication, it can prevent the communication time of close proximity wireless communication from becoming long, and can reduce the risk of communication error associated with a long communication time.

  These general or specific aspects may be realized by a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, or a recording medium such as a computer-readable CD-ROM. The system, method, integrated circuit, computer program Also, any combination of recording media may be realized.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that each of the embodiments described below shows a specific example of the present invention. The numerical values, shapes, materials, constituent elements, arrangement positions and connecting forms of the constituent elements, steps, order of steps, and the like shown in the following embodiments are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the present invention. In addition, among the constituent elements in the following embodiments, constituent elements that are not described in the independent claims indicating the highest concept are described as optional constituent elements.

(Embodiment)
In the proximity wireless communication home appliance system according to the present embodiment, the use range of the service provided by the user is expanded according to the usage frequency of home appliances and the occurrence frequency of proximity wireless communication. Thereby, the system can increase the frequency of home appliance use and the frequency of proximity wireless communication.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system according to the present embodiment. The system shown in FIG. 1 includes a household electrical appliance 100, a communication terminal 200 (mobile terminal), and a server device 300. The home appliance 100 is a home appliance such as a body composition meter, a rice cooker, a refrigerator, or a washing machine, and has a proximity wireless communication function. The communication terminal 200 is a portable terminal such as a smartphone. The communication terminal 200 can perform close proximity wireless communication with the home appliance 100 and can communicate with the server device 300 via a network.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the home appliance 100. 2 includes an operation unit 101, a use event detection unit 102, a home appliance information generation unit 103, a storage unit 104, a proximity wireless control unit 105, and a proximity wireless communication interface 106 (proximity wireless communication I). / F) and a clock unit 107.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of communication terminal 200. The communication terminal 200 includes an operation unit 201, a proximity wireless communication interface 202 (proximity wireless communication I / F), a proximity wireless control unit 203, a home appliance information acquisition unit 204, a storage unit 205, and a network control unit 206 (NW A control unit), a network communication interface 207 (NW communication I / F), and a clock unit 208.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the server device 300. The server device 300 includes a control unit 301, a network communication interface 302 (NW communication I / F), a network control unit 303 (NW control unit), a home appliance information management unit 304, a storage unit 305, and a service usage range determination. Unit 306, calculation unit 307, service providing unit 308, and clock unit 309.

  First, each functional block with which the household appliances 100 are provided is demonstrated in detail.

  The operation unit 101 operates the home appliance 100 in response to the operation content from the user. In addition, the operation unit 101 provides information indicating the operation content to the use event detection unit 102 and the home appliance information generation unit 103 according to the operation content.

  The use event detection unit 102 receives the user's operation content from the operation unit 101, detects a use event regarded as using the home appliance 100 from the user operation content, and provides the use event information to the home appliance information generation unit 103.

  For example, the operation contents are assumed to be power-on in the weight scale, user selection of the weight scale, pressing of a weight measurement process start button, storage operation of the measurement result, and the like. For example, the use event detection unit 102 considers the measurement result storage operation as the use event target, and notifies the home appliance information generation unit 103 of the operation contents.

  The home appliance information generation unit 103 receives use event information from the use event detection unit 102, and indicates use event occurrence information indicating the occurrence of the use event, use event content information indicating the content of the use event, and a time when the use event occurs. The home appliance information 121 including at least one of the usage event time information is generated, and the generated home appliance information 121 is provided to the storage unit 104.

  In addition, the home appliance information generation unit 103 has a function of acquiring the home appliance information 121 from the storage unit 104 and providing the home appliance information 121 to the proximity wireless control unit 105.

  Moreover, the household appliance information generation part 103 deletes the household appliance information 121 memorize | stored in the memory | storage part 104 according to the user operation content from the operation part 101, or the processing result of the proximity wireless control part 105, The management function of the household appliance information 121 Have

  The storage unit 104 receives and stores the home appliance information 121 generated by the home appliance information generation unit 103.

  The proximity wireless control unit 105 controls connection and communication processing by proximity wireless communication with the communication terminal 200 via the proximity wireless communication interface 106.

  In addition, the proximity wireless control unit 105 receives the home appliance information 121 from the home appliance information generation unit 103 and controls transmission of the home appliance information 121 by proximity wireless communication to the communication terminal 200 via the proximity wireless communication interface 106.

  The close proximity wireless transfer interface 106 is a communication interface using a communication element represented by NFC (Near Field Communication), for example. The proximity wireless communication interface 106 performs signal processing for proximity wireless communication based on the control processing by the proximity wireless control unit 105.

  With the above configuration, the home appliance 100 generates a use event in which the home appliance 100 is used as home appliance information 121, stores the generated home appliance information 121, and stores the stored home appliance information 121 as a proximity wireless communication interface. A function of transmitting to the communication terminal 200 via the network 106 is provided.

  Next, each functional block included in communication terminal 200 shown in FIG. 3 will be described in detail.

  The operation unit 201 operates the communication terminal 200 in response to the operation content from the user. Further, the operation unit 201 provides information indicating the operation content to the proximity wireless control unit 203, the home appliance information acquisition unit 204, and the network control unit 206 according to the operation content.

  The close proximity wireless transfer interface 202 is a communication interface using a communication element represented by NFC, for example, like the close proximity wireless transfer interface 106. The close proximity wireless communication interface 202 performs close proximity wireless communication signal processing based on a control request from the close proximity wireless control unit 203.

  The proximity wireless control unit 203 performs connection of proximity wireless communication with the home appliance 100 via the proximity wireless communication interface 202 and control of communication processing.

  In addition, the proximity wireless control unit 203 receives the home appliance information 121 from the home appliance 100 via the proximity wireless communication interface 202 by proximity wireless communication, and sends the received home appliance information 121 to the home appliance information acquisition unit 204.

  The home appliance information acquisition unit 204 receives a processing request for acquiring home appliance information from the operation unit 201, and sends the processing request to the proximity wireless control unit 203 so as to acquire the home appliance information 121 from the home appliance 100 via the proximity wireless communication. .

  In addition, the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 acquires the home appliance information 121 from the home appliance 100 via the proximity wireless communication, and sends the acquired home appliance information 121 to the storage unit 205.

  In addition, the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 associates at least one of the occurrence event of the close proximity wireless communication and the occurrence date and time of the close proximity wireless communication with the home appliance information 121 as the close proximity wireless communication with the home appliance 100 is generated. Thus, the home appliance information 221 is generated, and the generated home appliance information 221 is sent to the storage unit 205.

  Further, the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 acquires the home appliance information 221 from the storage unit 205, sends the home appliance information 221 to the network control unit 206, and transmits the home appliance information 221 to the server device 300 to the network control unit 206. Request processing.

  In addition, the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 has a management function of the home appliance information 221 that deletes the home appliance information 221 stored in the storage unit 205 according to the user operation content from the operation unit 201 or the processing result of the network control unit 206. Have.

  The storage unit 205 receives and stores the home appliance information 121 acquired by the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 and the home appliance information 221 generated by the home appliance information acquisition unit 204.

  The network control unit 206 controls network connection and communication processing with the server apparatus 300 via the network communication interface 207.

  The network control unit 206 receives the home appliance information 221 from the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 and controls transmission of the home appliance information 221 by network communication to the server device 300 via the network communication interface 207.

  The network communication interface 207 is a communication interface using a public network such as a 3G (3rd Generation: third generation mobile communication) network or an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network.

  The network communication interface 207 performs network communication signal processing based on control processing by the network control unit 206.

  With the above configuration, the communication terminal 200 is connected to the home appliance 100 via the proximity wireless communication interface 202, acquires the home appliance information 121 from the home appliance 100, and stores the acquired home appliance information 121. Furthermore, the communication terminal 200 generates home appliance information 221 by associating information associated with the occurrence of the proximity wireless communication with the home appliance information 121. Furthermore, the communication terminal 200 is connected to the server device 300 via the network communication interface 207 and transmits the home appliance information 221 to the server device 300.

  Next, each functional block included in the server apparatus 300 illustrated in FIG. 4 will be described in detail.

  Similar to the network communication interface 207, the network communication interface 302 is a communication interface that uses a public network such as a 3G network or an LTE network. The network communication interface 302 performs network communication signal processing based on the control processing by the network control unit 303.

  The network control unit 303 controls connection and communication processing of network communication with the communication terminal 200 via the network communication interface 302.

  Further, the network control unit 303 receives the home appliance information 221 by network communication from the communication terminal 200 via the network communication interface 302, and sends the received home appliance information 221 to the home appliance information management unit 304.

  The home appliance information management unit 304 acquires the home appliance information 221 from the network control unit 303 and sends the acquired home appliance information 221 to the storage unit 305.

  The storage unit 305 receives the home appliance information 221 from the home appliance information management unit 304 and stores the received home appliance information 221 as the home appliance information 321.

  The service usage range determination unit 306 acquires the home appliance information 321 from the storage unit 305, and determines the usage range of services that can be used by the user based on the home appliance information 321.

  More specifically, the service usage range determination unit 306 includes a calculation unit 307. The calculation unit 307 analyzes the contents of the home appliance information 321 and calculates a use frequency (use frequency) or a specific use frequency (specific use frequency). Here, the use frequency (use frequency) is the frequency at which the home appliance 100 is used or used. For example, the use frequency (use count) of the home appliance 100 used or used within a predetermined period of time. It is. The specific use frequency (specific use frequency) is a frequency at which a predetermined function of the home appliance 100 is used or used. For example, a predetermined function of the home appliance 100 within a predetermined period is used. It is the specific usage count used or used (specific usage count).

  Furthermore, the calculation unit 307 analyzes the contents of the home appliance information 321 and calculates the proximity wireless communication occurrence frequency. Here, the close proximity wireless communication occurrence frequency is the frequency of close proximity wireless communication that occurs between the home appliance 100 and the communication terminal 200, for example, the home appliance 100 and the communication terminal 200 within a predetermined period. Is the number of close proximity wireless communication (number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences).

  The service usage range determining unit 306 is based on at least one of the usage count, usage frequency, specific usage count, specific usage frequency, proximity wireless communication occurrence frequency, and proximity wireless communication occurrence frequency calculated by the calculation unit 307. Determine the range of services available to the user.

  The control unit 301 is a CPU (Control Processing Unit), for example, and controls each functional block included in the server device 300.

  The service providing unit 308 provides a service that can be used by the user. For example, this service is a reading content browsing service or a game content service for collecting specific items.

  The service providing unit 308 provides a service to the user according to the service usage range determined by the service usage range determination unit 306. For example, when the service is a reading content browsing service, the service providing unit 308 restricts the reading content that the user can browse based on the service usage range.

  With the above configuration, the server device 300 is connected to the communication terminal 200 via the network communication interface 302, acquires the home appliance information 221 from the communication terminal 200, and stores the acquired home appliance information 221 as the home appliance information 321. Further, in the server device 300, the service usage range determination unit 306 determines the usage range of the service provided by the service providing unit 308 to the user from the contents of the home appliance information 321.

  For example, when the home appliance 100 is a weight scale, the number of times the home appliance 100 is used is the number of times the weight is measured by the weight scale, and the service available to the user is a reading content browsing service, the service usage range determination unit 306 The service usage range is determined based on the number of times the body weight is measured within a certain period of time and the number of occurrences of close proximity wireless communication between the weight scale and the communication terminal 200. For example, the service usage range determination unit 306 increases the number of reading contents that can be browsed by the user when the number of times of measurement and the number of occurrences of close proximity wireless communication exceed a specific number of times.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a home appliance information generation and transmission method by home appliance 100 according to the present embodiment.

  The home appliance information generation and transmission method by the home appliance 100 shown in FIG. 5 includes a home appliance use event detection step S101, a home appliance information generation step S102, a home appliance information storage step S103, and home appliance information by proximity wireless communication. Transmission steps S104 to S109.

  In the case of the household electrical appliance 100 that is not always supplied with power, such as battery driving, after the power is turned on, and in the case of the household electrical appliance 100 that is always supplied with power, in the series of processing cycles in the household electrical appliance 100, the household electrical appliance 100 Starts the processing after S101.

  In home appliance use event detection step S101, home appliance 100 detects the use of a predetermined home appliance. For example, the operation unit 101 receives a main body operation from the user to the home appliance 100 and sends the usage content of the main body of the home appliance 100 to the use event detection unit 102.

  The use event detection unit 102 detects the use of a predetermined home appliance by determining whether the use content of the home appliance predetermined in the home appliance 100 matches the use content sent from the operation unit 101. If the use of a predetermined home appliance is detected (Yes in S101), the home appliance 100 next performs the process of step S102, and if not detected (No in S101), then Step S104 is performed.

  Specifically, for example, when the home appliance 100 is a weight scale, the operation unit 101 is an operation button, an operation touch panel, or the like arranged on the top plate of the weight scale. The user instructs the usage content such as the start of measurement of the body weight, the measurement of the body weight, and the storage of the weight value as the measurement result via the operation buttons of the weight scale, so that the processing corresponding to each usage content by the weight scale Is executed.

  Furthermore, the usage event detection unit 102 determines whether the instructed usage content is a storage operation of a predetermined usage content of a home appliance, for example, a weight value as a measurement result.

  Subsequently, in the home appliance information generation step S <b> 102, the use event detection unit 102 sends at least one of the detected use content and use occurrence date and time to the home appliance information generation unit 103.

  The home appliance information generation unit 103 generates home appliance information 121 using at least one of the use content and the use occurrence date and time acquired from the use event detection unit 102.

  Specifically, when the home appliance 100 is a scale, for example, when a storage operation of a weight value that is a measurement result is generated by a user operation, the home appliance information generation unit 103 obtains the weight value that is the measurement result and the measurement date and time. The associated home appliance information 121 is generated. For example, the measurement date and time is generated using the time information of the clock unit 107.

  Subsequently, in the home appliance information storage step S <b> 103, the home appliance information generation unit 103 stores the generated home appliance information 121 in the storage unit 104.

  Specifically, for example, when the home appliance 100 is a weight scale, the storage unit 104 is a memory storage such as a flash memory or a DRAM in the weight scale body.

  Subsequently, home appliance information transmission steps S104 to S109 by proximity wireless communication are performed. In step S <b> 104, home appliance 100 detects an operation for starting proximity wireless communication by the user for operation unit 101. When an operation for starting the close proximity wireless communication is detected (Yes in S104), the home appliance 100 next performs the close proximity wireless communication start step S105. On the other hand, when the operation for starting the close proximity wireless communication is not detected (No in S104), the series of processing ends.

  Specifically, for example, when the home appliance 100 is a scale, a proximity wireless communication start button is provided on the scale body. When the user presses the close proximity wireless communication start button, the household electrical appliance 100 detects a close proximity wireless communication start request.

  Subsequently, in the proximity wireless communication start step S105, the proximity wireless control unit 105 starts polling processing for the proximity wireless communication interface 106 to establish communication with the proximity wireless communication interface of the external terminal, and continues the polling processing for a certain time. To do.

  When the predetermined time has not elapsed in the polling process (No in S106), when the communication terminal 200 that is the transmission destination of the home appliance information 121 is detected and the proximity wireless communication is established with the communication terminal 200 (Yes in S107) Next, the home appliance 100 performs home appliance information transmission step S108.

  If the connection destination cannot be detected even after a predetermined time has elapsed in the polling process (Yes in S106), the household electrical appliance 100 next performs a close proximity wireless communication termination step S109.

  Further, in a state where a predetermined time has not elapsed in the polling process, when the detected external terminal capable of close proximity wireless communication is not the communication terminal 200 capable of transmitting the home appliance information 121 (No in S107), the home appliance 100 is In order to continue the polling process, step S106 is performed next.

  Specifically, for example, when the home appliance 100 is a weight scale and the communication terminal 200 is an NFC-equipped smartphone, the user has also started proximity wireless communication in the same manner as the weight scale that has started proximity wireless communication. Proximity wireless communication is established by bringing the proximity wireless communication element (NFC part) with the smartphone closer.

  Subsequently, in the home appliance information transmission step S108, the proximity wireless control unit 105 acquires the home appliance information 121 from the storage unit 104 via the home appliance information generation unit 103, and controls the proximity wireless communication interface 106 to the communication terminal 200. Home appliance information 121 is transmitted.

  The reception process on the communication terminal 200 side will be described later.

  Further, in the home appliance information transmission step S108, when the proximity wireless control unit 105 completes the transmission processing of the home appliance information 121, the proximity wireless communication end step S109 is performed next.

  In addition, in the home appliance information transmission step S108, the proximity wireless control unit 105, when there is no home appliance information 121 to be transmitted, sends information indicating that the home appliance information is not sent or there is no home appliance information to the communication terminal 200. Send out and finish the transmission process.

  At this time, the home appliance information generation unit 103 receives a notification of the completion of transmission from the proximity wireless control unit 105 and deletes the home appliance information 121 corresponding to the completion of transmission from the storage unit 104 or adds the home appliance information 121 to the home appliance information 121. Processing such as storing information indicating that the transmission has been completed is performed. Thereby, it is possible to avoid retransmission of the home appliance information 121.

  Subsequently, in the close proximity wireless communication end step S109, the close proximity wireless communication control unit 105 performs a communication end process on the close proximity wireless communication interface 106 and ends the close proximity wireless communication.

  Specifically, for example, when the home appliance 100 is a weight scale, the proximity wireless communication state in the weight scale body ends, and the weight scale returns to a state in which normal weight measurement can be performed. Further, the user can start the proximity wireless communication by pressing the proximity wireless communication start button again.

  Thus, one cycle of processing in the home appliance 100 main body is completed.

  Household appliance 100 repeats a series of processing from step S101 to step S109, or appropriately executes it to repeat generation of household appliance information according to specific usage contents in household appliance 100, and accumulate home appliance information for a plurality of times. Or, overwrite and update the home appliance information. As a result, the home appliance information 121 is accumulated in the storage unit 104.

  Note that the home appliance information 121 for a plurality of times stored in the storage unit 104 may be transmitted to the communication terminal 200 together.

  Next, processing by the communication terminal 200 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a home appliance information transmitting / receiving method of communication terminal 200 according to the present embodiment.

  The home appliance information transmitting / receiving method of communication terminal 200 shown in FIG. 6 includes home appliance information receiving steps S201 to S207 by proximity wireless communication and home appliance information transmitting steps S208 to S210 by network communication.

  The communication terminal 200 executes processing step S201 and subsequent steps in a series of processing cycles processed by the communication terminal 200.

  First, home appliance information receiving steps S201 to S207 by proximity wireless communication are performed. In step S <b> 201, the communication terminal 200 detects an operation for starting proximity wireless communication by the user with respect to the operation unit 201. When an operation for starting the close proximity wireless communication is detected (Yes in S201), the communication terminal 200 next performs close proximity wireless communication start step S202. On the other hand, when the operation for starting the close proximity wireless communication is not detected (No in S201), the series of processing ends.

  Specifically, for example, when the communication terminal 200 is a smartphone terminal, when the user performs an operation of starting the proximity wireless communication in the process of the operation application that operates on the smartphone, the communication terminal 200 performs the proximity wireless communication. Detect start request.

  Subsequently, in the proximity wireless communication start step S202, the proximity wireless control unit 203 starts polling processing for the proximity wireless communication interface 202 to establish communication with the proximity wireless communication interface of the external terminal, and continues the polling processing for a certain time. To do.

  In a state where a predetermined time has not elapsed in the polling process (No in S203), the home appliance 100 that is the reception destination of the home appliance information 121 is detected, and the proximity wireless communication with the home appliance 100 is established (Yes in S204). Next, the communication terminal 200 performs home appliance information reception step S205.

  If the connection destination cannot be detected even after a predetermined time has elapsed in the polling process (Yes in S203), the communication terminal 200 next performs close proximity wireless communication termination step S207.

  Further, in a state where a predetermined time has not elapsed in the polling process, when the detected external terminal capable of close proximity wireless communication is not the household electrical appliance 100 that can receive the household electrical appliance information 121 (No in S204), the communication terminal 200 In order to continue the polling process, step S203 is performed next.

  Specifically, for example, when the communication terminal 200 is an NFC-equipped smartphone and the home appliance 100 is a weight scale, the user has started proximity wireless communication in the same manner as the weight scale that has started proximity wireless communication. Proximity wireless communication is established by bringing the proximity wireless communication element (NFC part) with the smartphone closer.

  Subsequently, in the home appliance information receiving step S205, the proximity wireless control unit 203 receives the home appliance information 121 from the home appliance 100 via the proximity wireless communication interface 202, and the received home appliance information 121 is converted into the home appliance information acquisition unit 204. To send.

  Subsequently, in the home appliance information storage step S206, the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 sends the home appliance information 121 acquired from the proximity wireless control unit 203 to the storage unit 205 for storage.

  Moreover, in household appliance information storage step S206, the household appliance information acquisition part 204 produces | generates the household appliance information 221 by adding the time information which acquired the household appliance information 121 corresponding to the household appliance information 121, and produces | generates the produced household appliance information 221. Save in the storage unit 205. Thereby, the time when household appliance information 121 was acquired via proximity wireless communication can be analyzed using household appliance information 221.

  In addition, when the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 completes the storage processing of the home appliance information 121 in the home appliance information storage step S206, the communication terminal 200 next performs a proximity wireless communication end step S207.

  In addition, in the home appliance information storage step S206, if no home appliance information 121 is received, the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 stores information indicating that there is no home appliance information, or displays no information regarding the reception process. Complete the process without leaving.

  Subsequently, in network communication start step S <b> 208, the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 sends a control request and home appliance information 221 to the network control unit 206.

  Furthermore, the network control unit 206 controls the network communication interface 207 to start connection of network communication with the server apparatus 300 via the network network and control of communication processing.

  Specifically, the network control unit 206 performs a process of requesting the server apparatus 300 to transmit the home appliance information 221 using IP-based communication such as, for example, HTTP (Hyper Text Transport Protocol). To do.

  Subsequently, in the home appliance information transmission step S209, the network control unit 206 controls the network communication interface 207 to transmit the home appliance information 221 to the server apparatus 300 via the network by file transmission or the like. When the network control unit 206 receives a response from the server device 300 after the transmission is completed, the network control unit 206 next performs a network communication end step S210.

  At this time, the home appliance information acquisition unit 204 receives a notification of transmission completion from the network control unit 206 and deletes the home appliance information 221 corresponding to the transmission completion from the storage unit 205 or transmits the home appliance information 221 to the home appliance information 221. A process such as storing information indicating that the data has been completed is performed. Thereby, it is possible to avoid retransmission of the home appliance information 221.

  Subsequently, in the network communication end step S210, the network control unit 206 performs a communication end process on the network communication interface 207, and ends the network communication.

  Thus, one cycle of a series of processes in the communication terminal 200 main body is completed.

  Next, processing by the server device 300 will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a home appliance information reception and service usage range determination method of server device 300 according to the present embodiment.

  The home appliance information reception and service usage range determination method shown in FIG. 7 includes a home appliance information reception step S301, service usage range determination steps S302 to S308, and a service usage range update step S309.

  Service use range determination steps S302 to S308 include calculation step S302, proximity wireless communication occurrence number comparison step S303, home appliance use number comparison steps S304 and S307, and service use range setting steps S305, S306, and S308. .

  The home appliance information reception and service usage range determination method may further include a service usage range update notification step S310.

  When the server device 300 receives a request for reception of the home appliance information 221 from the communication terminal 200 via network communication, the server device 300 performs processing after the home appliance information reception step S301.

  In the home appliance information reception step S301, the network control unit 303 controls the communication with the communication terminal 200 via the network communication interface 302, thereby transmitting the home appliance information 221 transmitted from the communication terminal 200 to the home appliance information management unit 304. To do.

  Further, in the home appliance information receiving step S301, the home appliance information management unit 304 sends the acquired home appliance information 221 to the storage unit 305 as the home appliance information 321 and stores it.

  Subsequently, in calculation step S302 included in the service usage range determination step, first, the service usage range determination unit 306 acquires, from the storage unit 305, for example, home appliance information 321 including the occurrence time of proximity wireless communication within a certain period. The acquired home appliance information 321 is sent to the calculation unit 307.

  Specifically, the service usage range determination unit 306 includes, for example, time information when the communication terminal 200 added to the home appliance information 221 in home appliance information storage step S206 acquires home appliance information by proximity wireless communication, the server device 300 has. The home appliance information 321 that matches the condition of being within the past one week based on the time information is acquired from the storage unit 305, and the acquired home appliance information 321 is sent to the calculation unit 307.

  Further, in the calculation step S302, the calculation unit 307 uses the acquired home appliance information 321 to calculate, for example, the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences that are the number of close proximity wireless communication that has occurred within a certain period and the number of home appliance use times. The calculation result is sent to the service usage range determination unit 306. Here, the number of home appliances used is the number of times a home appliance is used within a certain period, or the number of times that a specific function of a home appliance is used within a certain period.

  Subsequently, in the proximity wireless communication occurrence frequency comparison step S303, the service usage range determination unit 306 determines whether, for example, the proximity wireless communication occurrence frequency is equal to or greater than a predetermined number of times.

  Specifically, for example, when the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences that occurred within the past week is equal to or more than a predetermined number of 7 (Yes in S303), the server device 300 next performs step S304. On the other hand, when the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences is less than 7 (No in S303), the server apparatus 300 performs step S307 next.

  Subsequently, in the household appliance usage count comparison step S304, the service usage range determination unit 306 determines whether, for example, the household appliance usage count within a certain period is equal to or greater than a predetermined count.

  Specifically, for example, when the home appliance 100 is a weight scale, the number of times the recording operation of the measured weight value that has occurred within the past week is 7 or more, which is a predetermined number (in S304) Yes), the server apparatus 300 next performs step S305. On the other hand, when the number of measurement weight value recording operations is less than 7 (No in S304), the server apparatus 300 next performs step S306.

  On the other hand, in the household appliance usage count comparison step S307, the service usage range determination unit 306 determines whether, for example, the household appliance usage count within a certain period is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, as in the household appliance usage count comparison step S304. .

  Specifically, for example, when the home appliance 100 is a weight scale, the number of times the recording operation of the measured body weight value that has occurred within the past week is 7 or more, which is a predetermined number (in S307). Yes), the server apparatus 300 next performs step S308. On the other hand, when the number of measurement weight value recording operations is less than 7 (No in S307), the server apparatus 300 performs step S306 next.

  Subsequently, in the service use range setting step S305, the service use range determination unit 306 sets, for example, the expansion range of the service use range to the maximum.

  In service usage range setting step S306, the service usage range determination unit 306 sets, for example, that there is no expansion of the service usage range.

  In service use range setting step S308, the service use range determining unit 306 sets, for example, the expansion range of the service use range as a standard.

  Specifically, for example, when the service is a novel content browsing service that can be read sequentially, in step S305, the maximum permitted number of novel content that can be read by the user is set to the maximum (for example, for 3 content). .

  Similarly, in step S306, the number of permitted browsing of novel content that the user can read is set to zero (cannot be read).

  Similarly, in step S308, the number of permitted browsing of novel content that the user can read is set to a standard (for example, one content).

  As described above, in the service usage range determination steps S302 to S308, the range in which the user can browse the content is determined according to the frequency of occurrence of close proximity wireless communication and the usage frequency of home appliances. Specifically, the usage range of the service is set to be expanded (for example, the content that can be browsed increases) in proportion to the number of times the home appliance is used within a certain period, that is, the usage frequency of the home appliance increases.

  Furthermore, even if the number of times home appliances are used within a certain period, that is, the usage frequency of home appliances is the same, if the number of occurrences of proximity wireless communication for transmitting and receiving home appliance information is large within a certain period, that is, by proximity wireless communication When the frequency of transmission / reception operations of home appliance information is high, the service can be set to be used more widely (for example, more content can be browsed).

  Note that the conditions used for determining the service usage range described above are examples. For example, the above-mentioned fixed period is the past one day from the server time, and the number of times the home appliance is used within the fixed period is one time. The conditions may be set so that both of the above and the number of occurrences of close proximity wireless communication within a certain period must satisfy one or more. In this case, if the user uses home appliances at least once a day, and does not perform proximity wireless communication for acquiring home appliance information between the home appliances and the communication terminal at least once a day, the user can benefit from the expansion of service use. I can't accept it.

  Although an example in which the expansion range of the service usage range is determined has been described here, the service usage range itself may be determined.

  As described above, the service usage range determination unit 306 has the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences (frequency) equal to or higher than a predetermined first threshold and the number of home appliance use times (frequency) equal to or higher than a predetermined second threshold. And expand the scope of use. Note that the service usage range determination unit 306 may expand the usage range when the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences (frequency) is greater than or equal to the first threshold or the number of usages of household appliances (frequency) is greater than or equal to the second threshold. .

  In other words, the service use range determination unit 306 determines the first service use range when the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences (frequency) is greater than or equal to the first threshold and the number of home appliance use (frequency) is greater than or equal to the second threshold. In other cases, the service usage range is determined to be a second range narrower than the first range.

  In addition, the service usage range determination unit 306 determines the service usage range when (1) the number of occurrences of close proximity wireless communication (frequency) is greater than or equal to the first threshold and the household appliance usage frequency (frequency) is greater than or equal to the second threshold. (2) If the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences is less than the first journal value and the number of home appliances used is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the service use range is narrower than the first range. The range may be determined, and (3) when the home appliance usage count is less than the second threshold, the service usage range may be determined to be a third range that is narrower than the second range.

  In addition, the service usage range determination unit 306 determines the service usage range when (1) the number of occurrences of close proximity wireless communication (frequency) is greater than or equal to the first threshold and the household appliance usage frequency (frequency) is greater than or equal to the second threshold. (2) If the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences is equal to or greater than the first journal value and the number of home appliances used is less than the second threshold, the service use range is narrower than the first range. (3) When the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences is less than the first threshold, the service usage range may be determined to be a third range that is narrower than the second range.

  Further, the first threshold value may be higher than the second threshold value. In other words, the service use range determination unit 306 may expand the service use range when the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences (frequency) is equal to or greater than the number of home appliance use times (frequency).

  In addition, here, the service use range determination unit 306 uses one threshold as each of the first threshold and the second threshold. However, a plurality of thresholds may be used as the first threshold and the second threshold. In other words, the service usage range determining unit 306 may determine the proximity wireless communication occurrence frequency in a plurality of stages, and may set the service usage range wider as the proximity wireless communication occurrence frequency increases. Similarly, the service usage range determination unit 306 may determine the number of occurrences of close proximity wireless communication in a plurality of stages, and may set the service usage range wider as the home appliance usage frequency increases.

  Subsequently, in the service use range update step S309, the service use range determination unit 306 updates the service use range by applying any of the settings of the service use range setting steps S305, S306, and S307.

  Specifically, in the case of the above-described novel content browsing service, the service usage range determination unit 306 updates the number of contents that the user can read.

  Furthermore, the home appliance information reception and service usage range determination method includes a service usage range update notification step S310. The server device 300 can also respond to the communication terminal 200 via network communication so as to notify the user that the service usage range has been updated in the service usage range update step S309 or the updated contents. .

  Specifically, for example, as a response to the HTTP request at the time of transmission of home appliance information from the communication terminal 200, the server device 300 increases “readable content has increased!” And “readable content has increased by three in the response body. "!"

  For example, the communication terminal 200 further includes an output unit such as a screen, receives a response including a message from the server device 300, and outputs a message to the user via the output unit. Thereby, it is possible to notify the user that the service usage range has been updated.

  As described above, according to the home appliance 100, the communication terminal 200, the server device 300, and the service usage range determination method according to the present embodiment, the user increases the usage frequency of the home appliance, and the home appliance and the communication terminal By increasing the frequency of use of close proximity wireless communication, the service usage range can be expanded. Thereby, it is possible to achieve both the promotion of the use of home appliances and the promotion of the use of close proximity wireless communication as well as the enjoyment of expanding the service use range.

  Note that the service may be a novel content browsing service as described above, or a mechanism that widens the authority to see answers to the quiz content service. In addition, the present embodiment can be applied to various other services for users.

  In the above description, the service is a service provided by the server device 300, but may be a service provided by a device other than the server device 300.

  Further, the service may be a service related to the home appliance 100. For example, the service may be provision of reading content of information related to the home appliance 100 or provision of quiz content of information related to the home appliance 100. Specifically, the information related to the home appliance 100 may be information related to an effective usage method of the device. In addition, when the home appliance 100 is a health related device such as a body composition meter, the information related to the home appliance 100 may be information related to health. Moreover, when the household appliances 100 are cooking appliances, such as a microwave oven or a rice cooker, the information relevant to the household appliances 100 may be a cooking recipe.

  The service may be customer service. For example, the server apparatus 300 may provide information regarding an operation method to the user according to the frequency of a specific operation and the frequency of close proximity wireless communication. Specifically, when the user performs the same operation or close proximity wireless communication a plurality of times continuously, the server device 300 attempts to perform an operation but cannot perform the operation correctly. Judge that it is trial and error. Then, the server apparatus 300 may provide the user with information related to the related operation method (help information or contact information for the support center) as the service.

  As another effect, when the user continuously increases the usage frequency of home appliances, various home appliance information due to the use of home appliances can be transmitted to the communication terminal or the server device. Thereby, the user can enjoy a service more suitable for the user based on more home appliance information.

  In addition, as another effect, the frequency with which home appliance information is transmitted from home appliances to a communication terminal such as a smartphone and a server device via proximity wireless communication increases, so home appliance information that is relatively transmitted and received per proximity wireless communication. Can reduce the amount of data. Thereby, the improvement of the communication speed of proximity | contact wireless communication itself and the improvement of a processing speed are realizable.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of home appliance information, specific examples of processing in home appliances, communication terminals, and server devices will be described.

(Configuration example 1)
In Configuration Example 1, a specific example of home appliance information in the case of using the home appliance 100, the communication terminal 200, and the server device 300 described above will be described. Hereinafter, a case where the home appliance 100 is a rice cooker will be described as an example.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 121 generated by the home appliance 100. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the home appliance information 121 includes a use event type 131, an occurrence time 132, and use event details 133. The usage event type 131 indicates the type of operation for the home appliance 100. The occurrence time 132 indicates the time when the operation has occurred, and is generated using the time information of the clock unit 107. The usage event details 133 indicate information related to the usage event. For example, when reserved rice cooking is performed, an identifier of a reserved rice cooking course (rice cooking course) is shown in the use event details 133.

  As described above, the home appliance information 121 includes the usage occurrence (use occurrence) of the home appliance 100, the use event type 131 indicating the use content (use content) of the home appliance 100, and the use time (use time) of the home appliance 100. Generation time 132 shown. Note that the home appliance information 121 includes at least one of information indicating usage (contents of use) of the home appliance 100, occurrence of use (use of occurrence) of the home appliance 100, and use time (use time) of the home appliance 100. Good.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 221 generated by the communication terminal 200. As shown in FIG. 9, in the home appliance information 221, the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 is added to the home appliance information 121. Proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 indicates the time at which close proximity wireless communication between home appliance 100 and communication terminal 200 has occurred, and is generated using the time information of clock unit 208. In other words, the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 indicates a time when the communication terminal 200 acquires the home appliance information 121 from the home appliance 100 by the proximity wireless communication.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 321 generated by the server device 300. As shown in FIG. 10, in the home appliance information 321, an API call time 331 is added to the home appliance information 221.

  Here, the communication terminal 200 calls a network communication API (for example, Web API) to the server device 300 only when home appliance information is transmitted and received by the proximity wireless communication between the home appliance 100 and the communication terminal 200. The API call time 331 indicates the time when this network communication API is called, and is generated based on the time information of the clock unit 309. That is, the API call time 331 indicates the time when the server device 300 receives (acquires) the home appliance information 221 from the communication terminal 200. Further, when the home appliance information 221 is transmitted from the communication terminal 200 to the server device 300 immediately after the proximity wireless communication between the home appliance 100 and the communication terminal 200 is performed, the API call time 331 is the same as that of the home appliance 100. A time at which close proximity wireless communication with the communication terminal 200 occurs (a time at which the communication terminal 200 acquires the home appliance information 121) is shown.

  Moreover, the server apparatus 300 calculates the household appliance use frequency and the proximity | contact wireless communication generation frequency using the household appliance information 321 shown in FIG. Here, the predetermined operation with respect to home appliance 100 is “rice cooking reservation setting”. Therefore, the server apparatus 300 calculates the number of times of home appliance use and the number of occurrences of proximity wireless communication using information whose usage event type 131 is “rice cooking reservation setting” among the information included in the home appliance information 321.

  Specifically, server device 300 calculates the number of home appliance use times using occurrence time 132. For example, the server device 300 calculates the number of times the home appliance is used by counting the number of information whose generation time 132 is included in a predetermined range.

  In addition, the server device 300 calculates the number of times of close proximity wireless communication occurrence using the close proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 or the API call time 331. For example, the server device 300 calculates the number of close proximity wireless communication by counting the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrence times 231 of different values included in a predetermined range. Alternatively, the server apparatus 300 calculates the number of close proximity wireless communication by counting the number of different API call times 331 included in a predetermined range.

  Thus, the server apparatus 300 can use the API call time 331 as the occurrence time of the proximity wireless communication. That is, the server device 300 calculates the number of times of proximity wireless communication occurrence (frequency) using the time when the server device 300 receives the home appliance information 221 as the time when the proximity wireless communication is performed. However, in an environment where network communication is poor, it may not always be possible to send the home appliance information 221 from the communication terminal 200 to the server device 300 immediately after the occurrence of proximity wireless communication, so it is more desirable to use the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231. .

(Configuration example 2)
In the configuration example 2, the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 is not added in the communication terminal 200.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 221A generated by the communication terminal 200 in the configuration example 2. The home appliance information 221A illustrated in FIG. 11 does not include the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231. That is, the home appliance information 221 </ b> A is the same as the home appliance information 121 generated by the home appliance 100.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 321A generated by the server device 300 in the configuration example 2. The home appliance information 321A shown in FIG. 12 differs from the home appliance information 321 shown in FIG. 10 only in that the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 is not included.

  FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a communication terminal 200A according to Configuration Example 2. A communication terminal 200A shown in FIG. 13 is different from the communication terminal 200 shown in FIG. 3 in that the clock unit 208 is not provided.

  Thus, in the communication terminal 200A, the processing amount by the communication terminal 200A can be reduced by using a configuration in which the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 is not added to the home appliance information 221A. In addition, since the communication terminal 200A does not need to include the clock unit 208, the configuration of the communication terminal 200A can be simplified.

  In this case, the server device 300 uses the API call time 331 to calculate the number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences.

(Configuration example 3)
In the above description, all home appliance information is sent to the server device 300. In the server device 300, information related to a predetermined operation (in the above example, the usage event type 131 is “rice cooking” among the information included in the home appliance information 321). Information that is “reservation setting”) is extracted. In the configuration example 3, the communication terminal 200 extracts information related to a predetermined operation from the information included in the home appliance information 221, and transmits only the extracted information to the server device 300.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing home appliance information 221B stored in the communication terminal 200. In the configuration example 3, the communication terminal 200 extracts only information related to a predetermined operation (information in which the usage event type 131 is “rice cooking reservation setting” in the above example) from the home appliance information 221B illustrated in FIG. The extracted information is transmitted to the server apparatus 300.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 321B stored in the server device 300 in the configuration example 3. As illustrated in FIG. 15, in the configuration example 3, the server device 300 stores only the home appliance information 321B related to a predetermined operation.

  As described above, unnecessary data transmission from the communication terminal 200 to the server apparatus 300 can be reduced.

  Here, information is extracted in communication terminal 200, but information may also be extracted in home appliance 100.

(Configuration example 4)
In the configuration example 4, the occurrence time 132 is not included in the home appliance information 121C generated by the home appliance 100.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 121 </ b> C in the configuration example 4. The home appliance information 121C shown in FIG. 16 differs from the home appliance information 121 shown in FIG. 8 in that the occurrence time 132 is not included.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 221 </ b> C generated by the communication terminal 200 in the configuration example 4. The home appliance information 221C shown in FIG. 17 is different from the home appliance information 221 shown in FIG. 9 in that the generation time 132 is not included.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 321C generated by the server device 300 in the configuration example 4. 18 differs from the home appliance information 321 shown in FIG. 10 in that the occurrence time 132 is not included.

  Further, in this case, server device 300 calculates the number of home appliances using the time indicated by proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 as the time when home appliance 100 is used. That is, server device 300 calculates the number of home appliance use times (frequency) using the time at which close proximity wireless communication is performed as the time at which home appliance 100 is used.

  Note that the server device 300 may calculate the number of times the home appliance is used by using the time indicated by any of the API call times 331 as the time when the home appliance 100 is used. That is, the server device 300 may calculate the number of times of home appliance use (frequency) using the time when the server device 300 receives the home appliance information 221 as the time when the home appliance 100 is used.

  FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a household electrical appliance 100C according to Configuration Example 4. 19 differs from home appliance 100 shown in FIG. 2 in that it does not include clock unit 107.

  In this manner, in the home appliance 100C, the processing amount by the home appliance 100C can be reduced by using a configuration that does not generate the generation time 132. In addition, since the home appliance 100C does not need to include the clock unit 107, the configuration of the home appliance 100C can be simplified.

(Configuration example 5)
The above-described configuration examples 1 to 4 may be arbitrarily combined. The configuration example 5 is a configuration in which the above-described configuration examples are combined, and a configuration capable of further reducing the processing amount of each device will be described.

  FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 121D transmitted from the home appliance 100 to the communication terminal 200 in the configuration example 5. As illustrated in FIG. 20, only information related to a predetermined operation is extracted in the home appliance 100. Further, the home appliance information 121D does not include the occurrence time 132. Communication terminal 200 transmits home appliance information 121D to server device 300 as it is. That is, the communication terminal 200 does not add the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 321D generated by the server device 300 in the configuration example 5. In the home appliance information 321D shown in FIG. 21, an API call time 331 is added to the home appliance information 121D shown in FIG.

  The server device 300 calculates the number of occurrences of close proximity wireless communication using the time indicated by the API call time 331 as the time when close proximity wireless communication is performed. In addition, the server device 300 calculates the number of times the home appliance is used by using the time indicated by the API call time 331 as the time when the home appliance is used.

  As described above, by using the configuration example 5, it is possible to reduce the processing amount of each device and simplify each device. In addition, the amount of data transmitted between the devices can be reduced.

  Note that the above-described configuration examples 1 to 5 may be arbitrarily combined. That is, if the server apparatus 300 calculates the number of times of home appliance use by using the time indicated by any of the occurrence time 132, the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 and the API call time 331 as the time when the home appliance 100 is used. Good.

  Further, the server device 300 uses the time indicated by either the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 or the API call time 331 as the time when the proximity wireless communication between the home appliance 100 and the communication terminal 200 occurs, and the proximity wireless communication What is necessary is just to calculate the frequency | count of occurrence.

  Further, information that is not used for calculating the number of times of home appliance use and the number of occurrences of proximity wireless communication does not need to be generated (it is not necessary to be included in home appliance information).

(Configuration example 6)
In the configuration example 6, an example in which the home appliance 100 is a body composition meter will be described.

  FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 321E stored in the server device 300 in the configuration example 6. In addition, the meaning of each item contained in the household appliance information 321E shown in FIG. 22 is the same as the above. That is, the usage event type 131, the occurrence time 132, and the usage event details 133 are generated by the home appliance 100 (body composition meter), the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231 is generated by the communication terminal 200, and the API call time 331 is It is generated by the server device 300.

  In this example, the predetermined operation for the home appliance 100 is “body composition measurement”. That is, all the information shown in FIG. 22 is propagated and used in the service usage range determination process in the server device 300.

  In the body composition meter, the utilization event details 133 indicate measurement data that is a measurement result of body composition measurement.

  Note that only one measurement result may be transmitted from the home appliance 100 to the communication terminal 200 for each predetermined period as in the home appliance information 321F illustrated in FIG. Specifically, in the example illustrated in FIG. 23, when measurement is performed a plurality of times in a day, only data measured at the end of the day is transmitted from the home appliance 100 to the communication terminal 200. . Further, as illustrated in FIG. 23, the home appliance information 321F may not include the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231.

  In addition, with respect to the configuration example 6, any one of the configuration examples 1 to 5 described above or a configuration example similar to the combination thereof may be applied.

(Configuration example 7)
In the configuration example 7, the number of occurrences is included in the home appliance information instead of the time information of home appliance use or proximity wireless communication.

  FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 121G generated by the home appliance 100 in the configuration example 7. In addition, below, the case where the household appliances 100 are rice cookers is demonstrated.

  As illustrated in FIG. 24, the home appliance information 121 </ b> G includes a count 134 instead of the occurrence time 132. The count 134 indicates the number of times (total) that the operation indicated by the usage event type 131 has occurred.

  FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example of the home appliance information 221G generated by the communication terminal 200 in the configuration example 7. As illustrated in FIG. 25, the home appliance information 221 </ b> G includes a proximity wireless communication occurrence count 232 instead of the proximity wireless communication occurrence time 231. The close proximity wireless communication occurrence count 232 indicates the number of times close proximity wireless communication has occurred between the home appliance 100 and the communication terminal 200 after the previous transmission of the home appliance information 221G from the communication terminal 200 to the server device 300.

  FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 321G generated by the server device 300 in the configuration example 7. As shown in FIG. 26, the home appliance information 321G includes a previous home appliance information acquisition time 332 and a previous count 333.

  The previous home appliance information acquisition time 332 indicates the time when the previous home appliance information 221G was acquired. The previous count 333 indicates the count 134 indicated in the previous home appliance information 221G.

  The server apparatus 300 calculates the number of occurrences of close proximity wireless communication using the close proximity wireless communication occurrence count 232. For example, the server device 300 calculates the occurrence frequency of the proximity wireless communication using the difference between the previous home appliance information acquisition time 332 and the current time and the number of occurrences of the proximity wireless communication.

  Moreover, the server apparatus 300 calculates the usage frequency of household appliances using the difference between the count 134 and the previous count 333 and the difference between the previous household appliance information acquisition time 332 and the current time.

  For example, when the difference between the previous home appliance information acquisition time 332 and the current time is two days, in the example of FIG. 26, “rice cooking reservation setting (rice cooking course ID: 013)” is performed four times in two days. “Rice cooking reservation setting (rice cooking course ID: 184)” is performed twice, “Reserved rice cooking completion” is performed six times, and “Heat insulation stop operation” is performed six times.

  FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of home appliance information 321H when the home appliance 100 is a body composition meter. Also in this case, the same processing as described above can be performed.

  For example, when the difference between the previous home appliance information acquisition time 332 and the current time is 2 days, in the example of FIG. 27, “body composition measurement” is performed 8 times in 2 days.

  In addition, although the example which counted both the frequency | count of household appliance use and the frequency | count of proximity | contact wireless communication was described here, only one is counted and the other is the same method as either of the said structural examples 1-6. It may be used.

  Here, the total number of home appliances used is counted in the home appliance 100, but the number of home appliances used since the home appliance information 121 was transmitted last time may be counted. Further, the number of occurrences of close proximity wireless communication since the home appliance information 221 was transmitted last time in the communication terminal 200 is counted, but the cumulative number of close proximity wireless communication occurrences may be counted.

  In the above description, the communication terminal 200 and the server device 300 are individually provided. However, the communication terminal may have both functions of the communication terminal 200 and the server device 300. FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing a configuration of communication terminal 400 in this case.

  Note that the processing contents and processing steps of each functional block shown in FIG. 28 are the same as those in the above-described embodiment, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted. The difference from the above-described configuration is that communication between the communication terminal 200 and the server device 300 and addition of the API call time 331 to the home appliance information are not performed.

  However, in order to flexibly cope with the expansion and transition of services based on home appliance information, a configuration in which the home appliance information is accumulated, the service is provided, and the service usage range is determined by the server device is more preferable.

  Further, in home appliance 100 and communication terminal 200, information (user ID) that can further specify a user, information (home appliance ID) that can specify a home appliance, and information (communication terminal ID) that can specify a communication terminal may be used. . In addition, the server device 300 includes a management unit that determines a service usage range for each ID. Thereby, it is also possible to determine different service usage ranges for each user, each household appliance, or each communication terminal.

  As described above, the service usage range determination method according to the present embodiment performs the processing shown in FIG.

  First, home appliance information indicating the usage status of home appliances is acquired from the home appliances using proximity wireless communication (S401). Next, according to the frequency of occurrence of close proximity wireless communication with the home appliance and the use frequency of the home appliance determined using the home appliance information, there is a service usage range that a user of the home appliance can use. It is determined (S402). Next, the determined usage range of the service is notified to the user (S403).

  Each step included in these processes may be performed by a communication terminal, or may be performed by a server device connected to the communication terminal via a network. All of these series of processes may be performed by the communication terminal.

  As described above, when the communication terminal 200 and the server device 300 are used, the communication terminal 200 performs the process shown in FIG.

  First, the communication terminal 200 acquires household appliance information from the household appliance 100 using proximity wireless communication (S411). Next, the communication terminal 200 transmits the acquired home appliance information to the server device 300 via the network (S412). Next, the communication terminal 200 is a user of the home appliance 100 determined according to the frequency of occurrence of close proximity wireless communication with the home appliance 100 and the usage frequency of the home appliance 100 determined using the home appliance information. The usage range of the service that can be used is acquired from the server device 300 (S413). Next, the communication terminal 200 displays the acquired service usage range to the user (S414).

  That is, the communication terminal 200 uses the transmission unit that transmits the acquired home appliance information to the server apparatus 300 via the network, the frequency of occurrence of close proximity wireless communication with the home appliance 100, and the home appliance that is determined using the home appliance information. An information acquisition unit that acquires, from the server device 300, a service usage range that can be used by the user of the home appliance 100, determined according to the usage frequency of the device 100, and displays the acquired service usage range to the user A display unit.

  Further, the present invention may be implemented as a computer program that is executed by the communication terminal 200 and causes the communication terminal 200 to function as a communication terminal including the above-described processing units.

  The server apparatus 300 performs the process shown in FIG.

  First, the server apparatus 300 acquires household appliance information from the communication terminal 200 via a network (S421). Next, server device 300 uses user of household electrical appliance 100 according to the frequency of occurrence of close proximity wireless communication between household electrical appliance 100 and communication terminal 200 and the usage frequency of household electrical appliance 100 determined using household electrical appliance information. The service usage range that can be used is determined (S422). Next, the server apparatus 300 transmits the determined service usage range to the communication terminal 200 (S423).

  That is, the server device 300 is determined using the information acquisition unit that acquires home appliance information from the communication terminal 200 via the network, the occurrence frequency of the proximity wireless communication between the home appliance 100 and the communication terminal 200, and the home appliance information. A service usage range determination unit that determines a usage range of a service that can be used by a user of the household electrical appliance 100, and a transmission unit that transmits the determined usage range of the service to the communication terminal 200 With.

  Further, the present invention may be implemented as a computer program that is executed by the server device 300 and causes the server device 300 to function as a server device including the above-described processing units.

  As described above, the proximity wireless communication home appliance system according to the present embodiment has a viewing range of content such as quizzes, readings, or collections that can be used by the user with the use of home appliances and the continuous use of proximity wireless communication. Can be enlarged. Thereby, the user can continue to use home appliances and close proximity wireless communication happily.

  Moreover, since home appliance information is transmitted to the server more frequently, the proximity wireless communication home appliance system can provide the user with a service that is more suitable for the user in a timely manner.

  As mentioned above, although the household appliances, communication terminal, and server apparatus which concern on embodiment of this invention were demonstrated, this invention is not limited to this embodiment.

  In addition, each processing unit included in the household electrical appliance, the communication terminal, and the server device according to the above-described embodiments is typically realized as an LSI that is an integrated circuit. These may be individually made into one chip, or may be made into one chip so as to include a part or all of them.

  Further, the circuit integration is not limited to LSI, and may be realized by a dedicated circuit or a general-purpose processor. An FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) that can be programmed after manufacturing the LSI or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connection and setting of circuit cells inside the LSI may be used.

  In the above-described embodiment, each component may be configured by dedicated hardware or may be realized by executing a software program suitable for each component. Each component may be realized by a program execution unit such as a CPU or a processor reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory.

  Moreover, all the numbers used above are illustrated for specifically explaining the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the illustrated numbers.

  In addition, division of functional blocks in the block diagram is an example, and a plurality of functional blocks can be realized as one functional block, a single functional block can be divided into a plurality of functions, or some functions can be transferred to other functional blocks. May be. In addition, functions of a plurality of functional blocks having similar functions may be processed in parallel or time-division by a single hardware or software.

  In addition, the order in which the plurality of steps included in the above process are executed is for illustration in order to specifically describe the present invention, and may be in an order other than the above. Also, some of the above steps may be executed simultaneously (in parallel) with other steps.

  As mentioned above, although the household appliances, communication terminal, and server apparatus which concern on one or several aspects were demonstrated based on embodiment, this invention is not limited to this embodiment. Unless it deviates from the gist of the present invention, various modifications conceived by those skilled in the art have been made in this embodiment, and forms constructed by combining components in different embodiments are also within the scope of one or more aspects. May be included.

  The present invention relates to home appliances such as health appliances represented by weight scales and activity meters, white appliances such as rice cookers, and black appliances such as HDD recorders, smartphones, tablet information terminals, mobile PCs, etc. The present invention can be applied to a system including a communication terminal and a server represented by a cloud server.

100, 100C Home appliances 101, 201 Operation unit 102 Usage event detection unit 103 Home appliance information generation unit 104, 205, 305 Storage unit 105, 203 Proximity wireless control unit 106, 202 Proximity wireless communication interface 107, 208, 309 Clock unit 121, 121C, 121D, 121G, 221, 221A, 221B, 221C, 221G, 321, 321A, 321B, 321C, 321D, 321E, 321F, 321G, 321H Home Appliance Information 131 Usage Event Type 132 Occurrence Time 133 Usage Event Details 134 Count 200, 200A, 400 Communication terminal 204 Home appliance information acquisition unit 206, 303 Network control unit 207, 302 Network communication interface 231 Proximity wireless communication occurrence time 232 Proximity wireless communication occurrence count 30 Server device 301 controller 304 home appliance information management unit 306 service area determination unit 307 calculating unit 308 the service providing unit 331 API call time 332 preceding Appliances information acquisition time 333 previous count

Claims (15)

An information acquisition step of acquiring home appliance information indicating a usage status of home appliances using proximity wireless communication from the home appliances;
A service for determining a use range of a service that can be used by a user of the home appliance according to the frequency of occurrence of proximity wireless communication with the home appliance and the use frequency of the home appliance determined using the home appliance information Use range determination step;
A service use range determination method comprising: a notification step of notifying the user of the determined use range of the service. The service is content browsing,
The service usage range determination method according to claim 1, wherein, in the service usage range determination step, a range in which the user can browse content is determined according to the occurrence frequency and the usage frequency. The service use range determination method according to claim 1, wherein the home appliance information includes at least one of use contents of the home appliance, information indicating occurrence of use of the home appliance, and use time of the home appliance. In the service usage range determination step, the usage range is expanded when the occurrence frequency is equal to or higher than a predetermined first threshold value or when the usage frequency is equal to or higher than a predetermined second threshold value. 4. The service usage range determination method according to any one of 3 above. The service usage range determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, in the service usage range determination step, the usage range is expanded when the occurrence frequency is equal to or higher than the usage frequency. The service use range determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the occurrence frequency is the number of times of the close proximity wireless communication performed within a predetermined first period. The service usage range determination method according to claim 6, wherein in the service usage range determination step, the occurrence frequency is calculated using a time when the close proximity wireless communication is performed. In the information acquisition step, the mobile terminal acquires the home appliance information from the home appliance using proximity wireless communication, and the mobile terminal transmits the acquired home appliance information to a server device via a network. ,
The service usage range determination method according to claim 6, wherein, in the service usage range determination step, the server device calculates the occurrence frequency using a time when the home appliance information is received as a time when the proximity wireless communication is performed. . The service usage range determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the usage frequency is the number of times the household electrical appliance is used within a predetermined second period. The service usage range determination method according to claim 9, wherein the usage frequency is the number of times a predetermined specific function is used among a plurality of functions of the home appliance within the second period. The service usage range determination method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein, in the service usage range determination step, the usage frequency is calculated using a time when the close proximity wireless communication is performed as a time when the home appliance is used. In the information acquisition step, the mobile terminal acquires the home appliance information from the home appliance using proximity wireless communication, and the mobile terminal transmits the acquired home appliance information to a server device via a network. ,
The service usage range determination according to claim 9 or 10, wherein, in the service usage range determination step, the server device calculates the usage frequency using a time when the home appliance information is received as a time when the home appliance is used. Method. The service usage range determination method further includes:
The service usage range determination method according to claim 1, further comprising a service providing step of providing the service in the usage range determined in the service usage range determination step. A computer program executed on a mobile terminal,
Mobile device
An information acquisition unit that acquires home appliance information indicating a usage status of the home appliance by using proximity wireless communication from the home appliance;
The use range of the service that can be used by the user of the home appliance determined according to the frequency of occurrence of proximity wireless communication with the home appliance and the use frequency of the home appliance determined using the home appliance information. A computer program that functions as a portable terminal including a display unit that displays to the user. An information acquisition unit that acquires home appliance information indicating a usage status of the home appliance by using proximity wireless communication from the home appliance;
The use range of the service that can be used by the user of the home appliance determined according to the frequency of occurrence of proximity wireless communication with the home appliance and the use frequency of the home appliance determined using the home appliance information. A portable terminal provided with the display part displayed on the said user.

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