KR100480719B1 - Home Network System of The Digital TV and Method for Controlling Home Network of The Same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a digital TV home network system and a home network control method for controlling a plurality of home appliances simultaneously with a single command through a home appliance that is a main master in a home. In the home network system of a digital TV connected to a plurality of home appliances electrically connected to each other, a memory unit for storing various menu data for controlling the operation of the home network, the menu data stored in the memory unit according to the user's request in the form of OSD menu An OSD processing unit for processing the display, a display unit displaying an OSD menu processed by the OSD processing unit, at least two home appliances and a control command of the home appliance that the user wants to control with reference to the OSD menu displayed on the display unit More than A combination of a home appliance selected through the selection unit and the selection unit and control commands of each home appliance is stored in the memory unit as one command group and included in the command group according to the command group stored in the memory unit according to a user's request. Since the corresponding control command is configured to include a control unit for controlling to be transmitted to the selected home appliances, it is possible to improve the user convenience and system efficiency by simultaneously controlling a plurality of home appliances connected to the network in one command group.

Description

Home Network System of The Digital TV and Method for Controlling Home Network of The Same}

The present invention relates to a home network system, and more particularly, to a home network system and a home network control method using a digital TV.

In general, a home network system (Hmoe Network System) is a home server, that is, a home automation control system built to centrally control various home appliances centering on home appliances corresponding to a main master. In addition, the user controls the operation of other home appliances, that is, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a washing machine, a microwave oven, a boiler, etc. through a home appliance corresponding to the master.

Most of the microcomputers applied to the home application have a serial communication function and are developed to communicate with other home appliances, and the size of resources that can be used for communication varies according to the characteristics of the product.

Network system consisting of PC and its peripherals or multimedia products such as DTV (Digital Television), PC, Internet refrigerator, etc. adopt high-performance hardware specifications to operate basic functions, and therefore high data volume and high speed communication In other words, a communication standard such as HNCP (Home Network Control Protocol), which defines a method of connecting signal lines and a sequence of signal flows for communication between products in a home network, is required.

Referring to FIG. 1, a home TV system of a digital TV according to the related art, which is mainly configured with a digital TV (master) that interoperates with the HNCP concept, will be described below.

As shown, the home TV system of the digital TV according to the related art uses a digital television 1 as a main master to which a plurality of home appliances 2a to 2n are connected, and a power line (Power-Line) It is configured to control a plurality of home appliances (slave 1 to slave n) 2a to 2n electrically connected to the digital TV 1 through 3).

At this time, the digital TV 1 and the plurality of home appliances (2a ~ 2n) is provided with an interface unit (not shown) for connecting to the power line (3), respectively. In addition, the interface unit is a PLC (Power Line Communication) modem.

The home network system according to the related art configured as described above executes a predetermined OSD menu for controlling a home network of the digital TV 1 as a main master, selects a home appliance to be controlled on the OSD menu, and then selects a selected home appliance. Select the control command of the product. In addition, the internal microcomputer (not shown) of the digital TV 1 transmits the selected control command to the corresponding home appliance electrically connected to each other via a power line.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the home network system according to the related art is to control the refrigerator 2a through the digital TV 1 on the OSD menu of the digital TV 1. Select the control command of the refrigerator 2a and transmit the control command to the refrigerator 2a. In addition, the refrigerator 2a that receives the control command from the digital TV 1 performs an operation corresponding to the control command and transmits the corresponding response data to the digital TV 1. The digital TV 1 receiving the response data from the refrigerator 2a determines whether the refrigerator 2a is in normal operation and maintains a predetermined delay time if it fails to perform the normal operation. Resend the command.

Subsequently, when the refrigerator 2a performs a normal operation, it feeds back to the initial state of the digital TV, and when the user wants to control another home appliance, the above process is repeated again.

That is, the refrigerator 2a, the air conditioner 2b, the gas oven range 2c,... In order to control a plurality of home appliances such as a microwave oven 2n, a single home appliance is selected on the OSD menu of the digital TV 1 and a single control command is selected for the selected home appliance. Repeat for each home appliance to control the process of transmitting to the home appliance.

Accordingly, the home network system according to the related art is a method of sequentially controlling each home appliance through a user's setting in order to control a plurality of home appliances interworking with the home network.

As described above, the home TV system of the digital TV according to the related art has the following problems.

First, in order to control a plurality of home appliances, as a plurality of commands corresponding to each home appliance are separately instructed, the time efficiency of the entire system is increased and the system efficiency is significantly reduced.

In other words, in order to control several home appliances (slaves) through the main master, each home appliance and a control command had to be made sequentially through the user's setting.

Second, there was not enough customization for home network-linked home appliances, and it did not provide convenience.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to digitally control a plurality of home appliances at the same time through a home appliance that is the main master in the home The purpose of the present invention is to provide a TV home network system and a method for controlling the home network.

Digital TV home network system according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a digital TV as the main master and a plurality of home appliances in the digital TV home network system is electrically connected to each other, various menus for home network operation control A memory unit for storing data, an OSD processing unit for processing menu data stored in the memory unit to be displayed in the form of an OSD menu according to a user's request, a display unit for displaying an OSD menu processed through the OSD processing unit, and the display unit A selection unit for selecting at least two home appliances and control commands of the home appliances that the user wants to control with reference to the displayed OSD menu, a combination of the selected home appliances and the control commands of the respective home appliances The memory as command group And stored in, it is composed by a control unit for the corresponding control command included in the command group control to be sent to the selected home appliances according to the instruction group stored in the memory unit according to a user's request has its features.

In addition, the method for controlling a home network of a digital TV according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a method of controlling a home network of a digital TV in which a digital TV is a main master and a plurality of home appliances are electrically connected to the digital TV. Generating a command group for a plurality of home appliances connected to the digital TV; And transmitting the generated command group to a corresponding home appliance according to a user's request, and controlling to perform a corresponding operation according to the command group.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, a home network system and a home network control method of a digital TV according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a block diagram of a digital TV home network system according to the present invention. First, the home TV system of the digital TV according to the present invention will be described.

As shown, the home TV system of the digital TV according to the present invention is a digital TV 10 as a main master and a plurality of home appliances 40a to 40n are connected to each other in the home network system of the digital TV 10. A memory unit 14 storing various menu data for controlling home network operation, an OSD processor 12 processing the menu data stored in the memory unit 14 to be displayed in the form of an OSD menu according to a user's request, Display unit 13 for displaying the OSD menu processed by the OSD processing unit 12, home appliances (40a ~ 40n) and the home appliances that the user wants to control with reference to the OSD menu displayed on the display unit 13 A selection unit 11 for selecting at least two control commands of a combination of a home appliance selected through the selection unit 11 and a control command of each home appliance; A control unit for storing the command group in the memory unit 14 and controlling a corresponding control command included in the command group to be transmitted to the selected home appliance according to a command group stored in the memory unit 14 according to a user's request. It comprises a 15.

In this case, the digital TV 10 and the plurality of home appliances 40a to 40n are externally connected for the electrical connection between the digital TV 10 and the plurality of home appliances 40a to 40n or between home appliances and home appliances. Interface units 20 and 30a to 30n respectively connected to the power line 50 are provided.

In addition, the plurality of home appliances 40a to 40n represent a plurality of slaves for performing a corresponding operation according to a command of the digital TV 10 as the main master, and the interface unit 30a to perform a home network. Control units 41a to 41n each having a built-in serial port that can be connected to ˜30n).

Here, the interface units 20 and 30a to 30n connected to the digital TV 10 and the plurality of home appliances 40a to 40n are PLC modems.

The memory unit 14 includes an operating system (OS) for driving a system, a device driver for driving various small circuit blocks, and various menus for controlling the basic operation and home network operation of the digital TV 10. Data, that is, a user interface (UI).

The present invention is constructed by adding an HNCP module and a user interface to a unique area of the digital TV 10. The user interface includes a configuration setting for implementing HNCP, that is, home network control, product search / registration, in addition to a user interface for implementing settings of channels, video, voice, time, general, etc. of an existing digital TV. Predetermined modules for editing and executing network environment settings, command group settings, and the like are further configured.

In the home network system of the digital TV according to the present invention configured as described above, when the system power is turned on, the control unit 15 of the digital TV 10 searches for the home appliances 40a to 40n connected through the power line 50. After that, all the connected home appliances 40a to 40n are initialized to optimize the home network control.

When the user selects a menu for controlling the home network operation through the selection unit 11, the control unit 15 recognizes this and loads the corresponding menu data stored in the memory unit 14 to display the display unit 13. Display in the form of the corresponding OSD menu.

The user selects one or more home appliances to be controlled by referring to the displayed OSD menu and selects one or more control commands of the selected home appliances.

At this time, the control command priority of the home appliances and each home appliance is determined according to the order selected by the user.

For example, assuming that the user selects a control command for each household appliance in the order of the microwave oven 40n-> the refrigerator 40a-> the air conditioner 40b, the priority is also the microwave oven 40n-> refrigerator ( 40a)-> Air conditioner 40b is determined in this order.

When the user's selection of the home appliance to be controlled and the user's control command selection of each home appliance are completed, the controller 15 recognizes this and executes the selected home appliance and the control command of the home appliance through the selection unit 11. Are stored in the memory unit 14 in combination with a command group.

In this case, different command groups may be generated according to the user's setting through the above-described operation.

Subsequently, when a user selects one command group through a predetermined OSD menu or a separate key, the controller 15 determines the home appliances constituting the selected command group and the control command of each home appliance, and then sets the priority order. According to the control to transmit the control command to the home appliance.

The operation of transmitting the control command to the home appliance according to the command group will be described in more detail as follows.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the user selects a plurality of home appliances and one command group combined with control commands of each home appliance, the controller 15 recognizes the home appliance and the home appliance corresponding to the selected command group; Determine the control command of each home appliance.

The control unit 20 controls the interface unit 20 of the digital TV to transmit the corresponding control command of the home appliance to the home appliances of the highest priority group forming the command group, and the control command through data communication with the home appliance. Send it.

When the response data is input from the home appliance that has received the control command, the controller 15 transmits the corresponding control command of the home appliance to the next-order home appliance according to the priority determined by the user.

That is, this embodiment has a plurality of response data structures (1-Request, Multi-Response) for one command group, as shown in FIG.

At this time, Ta is a time taken to transmit response data (Response 1, Response 2, ..., Response n) from one household appliance to one command group (Request A), and Tb is a plurality of command groups for one command group. The time taken to receive all response data from the four home appliances 40a to 40n, and Tc is a delay time between cycles for different control commands.

The Tb is one cycle for one command group,

Tcycle ≥ Nr * Tw

(Nr: maximum number of retransmissions in error, Tw: maximum wait time after transmission).

In addition, as shown in Figure 6, when the plurality of home appliances (40a ~ 40n) is a peer-to-peer (P2P) system that performs a slave function at the same time as the master function, the highest priority appliances that form the command group Send the command group to the product. The home appliance having received the command group directly transmits the command group to home appliances having a next priority according to the priority determined by the user.

Referring to the home network control method of the digital TV according to the present invention operating as described above are as follows.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the system power of the digital TV 10 is turned on (S10), the digital TV may be connected to the digital TV 10 through a power line 50. Search for the electrically connected home appliances (S11).

Then, it is determined whether a new home appliance registration command is input from the user (S12). In detail, when the user executes the main OSD menu of the digital TV and selects the 'Home Network' item among various menus, the submenu corresponding thereto is displayed as shown in FIG. 9A. When the user wants to register a new home appliance, the user selects a 'product search / registration' item through the OSD menu illustrated in FIG. 9A. At this time, the OSD menu of 'Product Search / Registration' displays the list of home appliances currently registered in the digital TV 10, that is, the home network system as shown in FIG. to provide.

As a result of the determination (S12), when the user selects a 'registration' item in the 'product search / registration' menu, the user registers a home appliance to be added to the home network system (S13).

On the other hand, if the additional registration process of the home appliance is completed or there is no registration of the additional home appliances from the user (S12), the connected all the home appliances are initialized (S14).

Subsequently, the user determines whether to set a command group (S15), and if the user decides to set the command group (S15), that is, as shown in FIG. 10A, the command group is set in the 'Home Network' menu. If the menu is selected, the command group is set through the predetermined edit mode (S16).

10B is a 'command group setting' screen, through which a command group to be set is selected. 10C and 10D are screens for selecting a home appliance to be controlled and a screen for selecting a control command of the selected home appliance. After selecting the home appliance through the screen, the control command of the home appliance is selected. Next, select the home appliance and select its control command.

At this time, the priority of each home appliance and each control command is determined according to the order selected by the user.

10C and 10D and the control commands of each home appliance are set in combination with the command group selected through FIG. 10B.

Through the above-described process, a plurality of different command groups can be set, and the command group has a configuration as shown in Table 1 below and is stored in the memory unit 14.

Home code Product code Location code Control command data

Home code Product code Location code Control command data

：

：

Home code Product code Location code Control command data

In this case, the home code is a unique code assigned to each user to prevent data confusion with a neighboring neighbor, and the product code is a product code assigned to each of the plurality of home appliances 20. Code, and the location code is a code assigned to distinguish the location of each home appliance.

Subsequently, when a 'command group selection' command is input through a corresponding OSD menu or a separate key, a screen for selecting a command group as shown in FIG. 11 is displayed.

It is determined whether or not a command group is selected from the user through the 'command group selection' screen (S17). If the command group is selected from the user (S17), the home appliance constituting the selected command group and the control command of each home appliance Determine and transmit the control command to the home appliances constituting the command group (S18).

In addition, it is determined whether the response data is received from the home appliance that has received the control command (S19). If each response data is received from the corresponding home appliance, it is determined whether the normal operation is performed through the response data. (S20).

As a result of the determination (S20), if the home appliance operates normally, the home network control is stopped and the basic operation of the digital TV 10 is performed. If not, the control command is sent back to step S18 to retransmit the control command.

In the method for transmitting a command group to the above-mentioned home appliances, an embodiment according to the home network control method of the present invention will be described in detail as follows.

First, the method for controlling a home network of a digital TV according to FIG. 4 is described below. First, when a user sets a command group, the user turns on the power of the gas oven range 40c through a predetermined edit mode (FIGS. Suppose that it is set in order of 'power on'-> 'power on' and 'rotation on' of the air conditioner 40b, and then set in combination with 'command group 1'.

When the user selects the 'command group 1' through the OSD menu or a separate key, the controller 15 determines the home appliances configured in the 'command group 1' and the control command of each home appliance. In addition, the controller 15 first transmits a 'power on' control command to the gas oven range 40c according to the priority at the time of setting, and when the response data is received from the gas oven range 40c, the refrigerator 40a. Transmits a 'power on' control command. Subsequently, when response data is received from the refrigerator 40a, the air conditioner 40b transmits a 'power on' and 'rotation on' control command. When the response data is received from the air conditioner 40b, the home network control is stopped and the basic operation of the digital TV 10 is performed.

Therefore, when the user selects a command group combined through the digital TV 10 that is the master, the digital TV 10 may sequentially transmit the control command to the corresponding home appliance according to the selected command group and its priority. To control.

On the other hand, the home network control method of the digital TV according to Figure 6, when the user sets the command group 'power on' of the gas oven range 40c-> 'power on' of the refrigerator 40a-> air conditioner 40b Assume that it is set in the order of 'power on', 'rotation on', and then set in combination with 'command group 1', and it is assumed that a plurality of home appliances (40a to 40n) connected to the digital TV 10 are all P2P systems. lets do it.

When the user selects 'command group 1', the controller 15 transmits all of the command groups to the gas oven range 40c according to the priority of the user setting. The gas oven range 40c receiving the command group performs only its own control command 'power on' command and transmits the corresponding response data to the digital TV 10. Subsequently, the gas oven range 40c transmits the remaining command groups except for the control command of the gas oven range 40c to the next refrigerator 40a according to the priority determined at the time of user setting. The refrigerator 40a performs only its corresponding control command 'power on' command and transmits the corresponding response data to the gas oven range 40c, and then supplies the remaining command group to the air conditioner 40b, that is, 'power on' and ' Rotate on 'control command.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, since all home appliances connected to the digital TV 10 are P2P systems, the home network is controlled by controlling the home network and the home appliances rather than controlling all home appliances through the digital TV 10. Control can be implemented.

According to the present invention, a user can simultaneously control a plurality of home appliances and a plurality of home appliances connected in parallel to the main master through a single command group by combining the control commands of each home appliance into one command group. It would be.

The home network system and the home network control method of the digital TV according to the present invention described above are as follows.

First, user convenience and system efficiency can be improved by simultaneously controlling a plurality of home appliances connected to a network with one command group.

Second, in the command group combination, various command algorithms can be implemented according to user definition, thereby realizing more various home network control.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the embodiments, but should be defined by the claims.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a home network system according to the related art.

2 is a diagram illustrating a method of implementing a home network system according to the related art.

3 is a block diagram showing a home network system configuration of a digital TV according to the present invention.

4 and 5 illustrate a method of implementing a home network system according to the present invention.

6 illustrates another implementation method of a home network system according to the present invention.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling a home network of a digital TV according to the present invention.

8 illustrates a main OSD menu screen of a user interface.

9A and 9B show an OSD menu screen for executing product search / registration.

10A to 10D show an OSD menu screen for executing command group settings.

11 is a diagram illustrating an OSD menu screen for selecting a command group.

Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

10: Digital TV (Master) 11: Selection

12: OSD processing unit 13: display unit

14: memory unit 15: control unit

20: master interface unit

30a to 30n: first to nth home appliance (slave) interface units

40a-40n: first to nth home appliances (first to nth slaves)

41a to 41n: first to nth home appliance control units

50: power line

Claims (7)

In a digital TV home network system, where the digital TV is the main master and a plurality of home appliances are electrically connected to each other, A memory unit for storing various menu data for controlling home network operation; An OSD processing unit for processing menu data stored in the memory unit to be displayed in an OSD menu form according to a user's request; A display unit for displaying an OSD menu processed through the OSD processor; A selection unit for allowing at least two or more home appliances to be controlled by the user and at least one control command for each of the two or more home appliances to be directly selected by the user by referring to an OSD menu displayed on the display unit; Combining the control commands of the at least two or more home appliances and the at least two or more home appliances selected through the selection unit and storing the control commands in the memory unit as one command group, and the command group stored in the memory unit according to a user's request And a control unit configured to control the control command included in the command group to be transmitted to the selected home appliance in one of a selected priority or a P2P (Pear To Peer) scheme. Network system. In the home TV control method of the digital TV as the main master and a plurality of home appliances are electrically connected to each other the digital TV, Selecting at least two home appliances and a control command for each home appliance to control a plurality of home appliances connected to the digital TV; Generating at least two selected home appliances and control commands of the home appliances in a command group according to the selected order; And, Sending the generated command group to the corresponding home appliances according to a user's request to control the selected home appliances to perform the operation in one of the priority or P2P (Pear To Peer) method selected according to the command group. Digital TV home network control method characterized in that it comprises a step. The method of claim 2, Generating a command group for a plurality of home appliances connected to the digital TV Searching for the home appliances connected to the digital TV and initializing the connected home appliances; A user executing a home network OSD menu and selecting at least two home appliances to be controlled and control commands of each home appliance by referring to the executed OSD menu; And combining the selected at least two home appliances and control commands of the home appliances into one command group according to the selected order. The method of claim 2, Transmitting the generated command group to a corresponding home appliance according to a user's request, and controlling to perform a corresponding operation according to the command group. Selecting the created command group; Determining a control command of each home appliance and each home appliance pre-combined with the selected command group, and transmitting the control command to each home appliance; And controlling the home appliance to perform a corresponding operation according to the transmitted control command. The method of claim 4, wherein Determining a control command of the home appliance and each home appliance already combined in the selected command group, and transmitting the control command to each home appliance Determining a control command of the home appliance and each home appliance pre-assembled into the command group through a user's selection; Transmitting the control command to the home appliances having the highest priority in the home appliances combined in the command group as a result of the determination; Determining whether a response data is input from the home appliance to which the control command is transmitted; When the response data is input, the home network control method for a digital TV comprising the step of repeating the step by transmitting a corresponding control command to home appliances of the next rank. The method of claim 4, wherein Determining a control command of the home appliance and each home appliance already combined in the selected command group, and transmitting the control command to each home appliance Determining a control command of the home appliance and each home appliance pre-assembled into the command group through a user's selection; Transmitting the control command to the home appliances having the highest priority in the home appliances combined in the command group as a result of the determination; The home appliance control method of the digital TV comprising the step of transmitting the control command to the next-generation home appliances adjacent to the control command. The method of claim 2, The command group A home code assigned for each user, a location code for assigning each location of the plurality of home appliances, a product code assigned to each of the plurality of home appliances, and control to prevent data confusion with a somewhat adjacent neighbor, and Digital TV home network control method characterized by consisting of command data.