KR100369318B1 - Home network Room-bridge system for home automation - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a home network room bridge system for home automation. The room bridge 100 is installed in each room of the home and supports various home network protocols (IEEE1394, USB, IrDA, X-10, and Lonwork) to support general home appliances and digital home appliances (digital TV, DVD, digital camcorder, etc.). And PDA terminals, and the built-in software supports interworking between room bridges installed in each room, and checks and controls the status of each home appliance. Therefore, the user can confirm and operate the state of the home appliance managed by the remote room bridge through the nearby room bridge.

Description

Home network Room-bridge system for home automation

The present invention relates to a home network room bridge system, and in particular, a home network is constructed using a room bridge for interfacing a notebook computer, a PDA terminal, a remote controller, and a general home appliance to manage each subnetwork. The present invention relates to a home network room bridge system for home automation where a user can grasp the state of home appliances throughout the home and operate general home appliances anywhere in the home.

In general, organic communication between home appliances is essential for home automation, and services such as remote meter reading and remote monitoring were partially attempted using a telephone network before the Internet was activated.

Recently, with the activation of the Internet, home networks have been developed for the integrated management of all the devices in the home. Currently developed home network protocols include IEEE1394, CEBus, X-10, and Lonwork. Software and hardware systems have been developed.

Conventional home network-related software and hardware systems are based on the concept that all home appliances are centrally connected and managed and software related to a set-top box for interworking with the Internet. The software and hardware for interworking can control home appliances of the house guide through the Internet, that is, using a web browser.

However, the service that structurally integrates and manages home appliances distributed in house guides has not been proposed yet, so users can only use home appliances through set-top boxes that manage home networks centrally, so that space restrictions do not completely disappear. Have

The present invention has been proposed to solve the above problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to structure the lower home network unit having the meaning of a unit room in the home for home automation structure IEEE1394 for various home appliance interface of each room Install and manage room bridge that provides home network connector 11 such as USB, IrDA, X-10, Lonwork, etc. It provides a home network room bridge system for hierarchical home automation that can check or manipulate the status of all home appliances in the home network through the bridge.

1 is a block diagram of a home network using a room bridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a hardware configuration diagram of a room bridge card according to the present invention.

3 is a block diagram of room bridge software.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

1: flash memory 2: LCD control unit

3: power supply unit 4: CPU

5: main memory 6: IEEE1394 network control chip

7: USB control chip 8: IrDA control chip

9: CAN control chip

11: home network connector

12: device registry database

13: device status information database

14: Network Management Tasks

15: home appliance monitoring and control tasks

16: Bridge communication task

17: priority scheduler 18: real-time operating system

19: network device driver 100: room bridge

200: home internet gateway

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a main computer unit, a home network connector unit, directly connected to the main computer unit, and the home network devices connected to the home network connector unit through an instruction of the main computer unit. A home network control chip unit for establishing a physical connection, wherein the main computer unit includes: a flash memory (1) for storing essential software for the room bridge (100); An LCD control unit 2 for displaying and controlling connection and status information of various home appliances; A power supply unit 3 for supplying power; Main memory 5; And loading roombridge essential software pre-stored in the flash memory 1 into the main memory 5 when the first system is started, and performing at least one of the main memory 5 and the flash memory 1. CPU (4) which displays various status information of the home network stored in one memory on the LCD panel through the built-in LCD control unit (2), and serves as a physical controller for smooth operation of the home network control chip unit connected to the bottom (4). The home network control chip unit includes: a network control chip (6) for establishing a physical connection with at least one of the digital home appliance and the other room bridge (100) of the home network device; A USB control chip (7) for establishing a physical connection with a computer among the home network devices; A short range wireless communication control chip (8) for controlling a connection of a short range wireless communication device among the home network devices; A control network chip (9) supporting a protocol for controlling a general home appliance among the home network devices, wherein the home network connector unit includes a network connector, a USB connector, a short range wireless communication connector, a connector for a general home appliance, A terminal 11 capable of connecting at least one of the Ethernet connectors; It provides a home network room bridge system for home automation, characterized in that the built-in. Preferably, the flash memory (1), the home network information such as the type, address, function of the home appliances connected to each room, A device registry database 12 for storing, a device state information database 13 for storing state information of a device, and directly controlling the home appliance, and periodically collecting and monitoring state information from the home appliance Receives a user's status information request or command signal for a device from a home appliance monitoring and control task 15 for storing in the device status information database 13 and a terminal including a PDA terminal, a remote controller and a digital TV, Whether or not the home appliance that is the target of the signal exists in the subnetwork that it manages The device registry database 12 is searched and checked, and if it does not exist, the device registry database 12 checks which room bridge is managed by the home appliance that the user requests, and transmits the user's request to the corresponding room bridge. When the user's request is a control command or a current state of the home appliance, the user's request is a control command, and when the user's request is a control command, a control command is transmitted to the home appliance monitoring and control task 15 to be a target home appliance And a bridge communication task 16 for requesting the current status information from the device status information database 13 and transmitting the result back to the user in the case of the current status request. Home network room bridge system for automation. Straight to provide a home network system for home automation room bridge, characterized in that connected to the backbone network to the room between the bridge system 100 includes an IEEE 1394, Fast Ethernet and Fast pawooeo line network.

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

Room-Bridge (100) according to the present invention manages the home network in the room, and various home appliances such as IEEE1394, X-10, Lonwork, USB for connecting the home network and the entire home network in the room Built-in port 11, which is a home network connector for connecting devices and sensors, manages home appliances in the room, and a room bridge 100 installed in each room by embedding a port connected to a backbone home network. Alternatively, it can independently communicate with home appliances connected to a backbone network.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a home network using a room bridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the function of the room bridge 100 manages registration information on a state of a first room network, that is, a type, an address, a function, and the like of a home appliance connected to the network, and secondly, a current state of each home appliance. Information For example, it manages the lights on or off in real time and provides status information to the entire home network. Third, in order to relay communication with the home appliances in the room and the home appliances connected to the entire home network, it plays a role of mediating the state of all home appliances through the communication between the room bridges 100. The home Internet gateway 200 such as an ADSL modem and an ISDN modem is installed and used for internet communication with the outside.

2, a hardware system of a room bridge card according to the present invention includes a flash memory 1, an LCD control unit 2, a power supply unit 3, a CPU 4, a main memory 5, an IEEE1394 network control chip ( 6), the USB control chip (7), IrDA control chip (8), CAN control chip (9) and home network connectors (11) connecting them with the associated equipment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the room bridge 100 has a home network connector that includes a CPU and connects with each home network, and chipsets for supporting each home network protocol.

Flash memory (1) for storing room bridge (100) software, an LCD control unit (2) for displaying and controlling connection and status information of a notebook computer, a PDA terminal and a remote control, a general home appliance, a personal computer, a power supply unit (3), CPU 4 and main memory 5 are provided.

The IEEE 1394 network control chip 6 connects a digital home appliance such as a digital TV, a DVD, a digital camcorder, or the like with another room bridge 100 through an IEEE 1394 connector.

The USB control chip 7 controls the connection with the notebook computer through the USB connector.

The IrDA control chip 8 is connected to a PDA terminal and a remote controller through an IrDA connector to wirelessly transmit and receive a control signal through infrared transmission.

The CAN control chip 9 controls general household appliances such as fans, lights, and humidifiers through an X-10 or Lonwork connector.

The home network connectors 11 are connected to another room bridge 100 that manages each lower network (room), an IEEE1394 connector for connecting a digital TV, a DVD, a digital camcorder, a USB connector for connecting a notebook computer, a PDA terminal, and a remote controller. It is equipped with IrDA connector, X-10 connector for connecting general home appliances, and Ethernet connector for connecting personal computer.

The LCD control unit 2 has an LCD panel so that the user can check the current state of the room bridge, and the power supply unit 3 can operate even when the power is supplied by mounting an internal battery.

3 is a block diagram of a room bridge software according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The room bridge software is stored in the flash memory 1, the device registry database 12, the device status information database 13, the network management task 14, the home appliance monitoring and control task 15, the bridge communication task (16), priority scheduler (17), real-time operating system (18) and network device driver (19).

The room bridge software includes various network device drivers 19 in the real-time operating system 18, a priority scheduler 17 for real-time processing thereon, and a device registry database 12, which is software for managing room bridges. , The device state information database 13, the network management task 14, the home appliance monitoring and control task 15, the bridge communication task 16 has a software structure to be raised.

The function of the room bridge 100 is summarized in two ways. The first is to manage the network information (device network address, device type) of the home appliance connected to the lower home network managed by the user in real time, and the network information of the other room bridge connected to the backbone network. It is to process the home appliance control request of the user or the current state information request of the home appliance.

The network management task 14 manages network information (network address of a device, type of device) of a home appliance connected to a lower home network managed by the room bridge 100 in real time and is connected to another backbone network. It manages network information of a room bridge, and functions to receive network information from a lower home network managed by the room bridge 100 and store it in the device registry database 12.

The home appliance monitoring and control task 15 directly controls the home appliance, and periodically collects state information from the home appliance and stores the information in the device state information database 13.

The bridge communication task 16, together with the home appliance monitoring and control task 15, provides a function of processing a home appliance control request or a current state information request of the home appliance by the user of the room bridge 100. The operation process is as follows.

When the user transmits a request for status information of the device or a command to the device using the terminal (PDA terminal, remote control, digital TV), the bridge communication task 16 of the room bridge 100 The device registry database 12 checks whether or not the home appliance which is the target of this request exists in the lower network managed by the device. If not present, the device registry database 12 checks which room bridge the home appliance requested by the user manages and transmits the user's request to the corresponding room bridge. If present, the bridge communication task 16 checks whether the user's request is a control command or a current state of the home appliance, and if it is a control command, transmits a control command to the home appliance monitoring and control task 15. To control the target home appliance, and in the case of the current state request, request the current state information from the device state information database 13 and transfer the result back to the user.

In the present invention, each room bridge stores the device state information in the internal network, and the information is shared between the room bridges so that the connection information is not directly brought to the specific home appliance to confirm the state of the particular home appliance. It has a feature that can have status information directly in the bridge. Therefore, when users use each home appliance through a network, they can easily use the room bridge without the need for multiple information (network address) for direct access to the home appliance. Even if is added, it can be controlled without network information for each of the home appliances has the advantage of easy service development.

Therefore, digital home appliances connected to the IEEE1394 standard in the room bridge, room bridge, notebook computer with USB interface, PDA terminal and remote control with IrDA interface, fan humidifier with X-10 or Lonwork interface with CAN for home automation. By connecting home appliances and the like to build a home network, it is possible to send and receive status information on home appliances connected in a home in real time and provide advanced home automation services.

As described above, the home network room bridge system for home automation according to the present invention is a digital network that is connected to the IEEE1394 standard to the room bridge by subdividing a specific server, which is a home network set-top box, into rooms, unlike a centralized home network. It connects home appliances such as home appliances, room bridge, notebook PC with USB interface, PDA terminal with IrDA interface, remote controller, general household appliance connected with CAN, X-10 or Lonwork interface, and personal computer with Ethernet interface. The fault-tolerant home network, which does not affect the operation of the entire network even in the event of a fault, can provide real-time and various state-of-the-art services by sending and receiving status information about the appliances connected in the home.

For example, the Room Bridge's IrDA port allows you to control all the appliances in your home from a single remote control at any location, retrieve status information about the appliances throughout your home from any room, and connect your home to the Internet. If there is a gateway that provides Internet access, you can use a multimedia content service by installing a VOD server in your home.

Although the above has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art will be able to variously modify and change the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. It will be appreciated.

Claims (3)

Digital home appliances (e.g. digital TVs, DVD players, digital camcorders), computers, short-range wireless communication devices (e.g. PDA terminals and remote controls) and general home appliances (e.g. fans, lights, humidifiers) In the home network room bridge system for home network device automation, The main computer unit, Home network connector, A home network control chip unit connected directly to the main computer unit to establish a physical connection relationship with the home network devices connected to the home network connector unit through an instruction of the main computer unit; A flash memory 1 for storing the room bridge 100 essential software; An LCD control unit 2 for displaying and controlling connection and status information of various home appliances; A power supply unit 3 for supplying power; Main memory 5; And When the initial system is started, the roombridge essential software previously stored in the flash memory 1 is loaded into the main memory 5 and executed, and at least one of the main memory 5 and the flash memory 1 is executed. CPU (4) to display the various status information of the home network stored in the memory on the LCD panel through the built-in LCD control unit 2, and serves as a physical coordinator for smooth operation of the home network control chip unit connected to the bottom Including; The home network control chip unit, A network control chip 6 for establishing a physical connection with at least one of the digital home appliance and the other room bridge 100 of the home network device; A USB control chip (7) for establishing a physical connection with a computer among the home network devices; A short range wireless communication control chip (8) for controlling a connection of a short range wireless communication device among the home network devices; And a control network chip (9) supporting a protocol for controlling a general home appliance among the home network devices. The home network connector, A terminal 11 for connecting at least one of a network connector, a USB connector, a short range wireless communication connector, a connector for general home appliances, and an Ethernet connector; Home network room bridge system for home automation, characterized in that the built-in. The method of claim 1, The flash memory 1, A device registry database 12 for storing home network information such as types, addresses, and functions of home appliances connected to each room; A device state information database 13 for storing information of the state of the device, A home appliance monitoring and control task 15 for directly controlling the home appliance, periodically collecting and monitoring state information from the home appliance, and storing the state information in the device state information database 13; The device registry database receives a user's status information request or command signal for a device from a terminal including a PDA terminal, a remote controller and a digital TV, and checks whether the home appliance that is the target of the command signal exists in a lower network managed by the device registry. 12), if not present, the device registry database 12 checks which room bridge is managed by the home appliance that the user requests from the device registry database 12, and transmits the user's request to the corresponding room bridge. Check whether the control command or the current state of the home appliance is a request, and if the user's request is a control command, the control command is transmitted to the home appliance monitoring and control task 15 to control the target home appliance, If the current status request, the device status information data Home network bridge room system for home automation comprises a; bridge communication task that requested the presence information is passed back to the user the result 16 from the base 13. The method of claim 1, The room bridge system (100) is home network room bridge system for home automation, characterized in that the interconnected backbone network including IEEE 1394, fast Ethernet and fast power line network.